DIAGNOSIS OF HEAVY METALS(from Dr. Klinghardt, MD PhD practice and publications)
"� History of Exposure: (Did you ever have any amalgam fillings? How much fish do you eat and what kind? A tick bite? etc)
� Symptoms: (How is your short term memory? Do you have areas of numbness, strange sensations,etc)- A complete neurotoxin questionaire is available from AANT@425 462 1777
� Laboratory Testing:
direct tests for metals: hair, stool, serum, whole blood, urine analysis, breath analysis
� xenobiotics: fatty tissue biopsy, urine, breath analysis
� Indirect tests: cholesterol (increased while body is dealing with Hg), increased insulin sensitivity, creatinine clearance, serum mineral levels (distorted, while Hg is an unresolved issue), Apolipoprotein E 2/4 , urine dip stick test: low specific gravity (reflects inability of kidneys to concentrate urine), persistently low urine ph (metals only go into solution in acidic environments - which supports detoxing), urine porphyrins
� Autonomic Response Testing: (Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt M.D., Ph.D.)
� BioEnergetic Testing (EAV,
kinesiology etc.)
� Response to Therapeutic Trial
� Functional Acuity Contrast Test (measure of Retinal Blood Flow)
� Non-specific neurological tests: upper motor neuron signs (clonus, Babinski, hyperreflexia), abnormal nerve conduction studies, EMG etc . non-specific MRI/CT findings: brain atrophy as in AD, demyelination
� Several �challenge tests`` are used today. They generally involve measuring the urine metal content, then administering an oral or iv. mobilizing agent and re-mesuring the metal content in the urine after a few hours. Most well known is the DMPS challenge test:
However, there is agreement amongst most researchers, that the urine Hg content does not reflect total body burdon - only the currently mobilizable portion of Hg in the endothelium and kidneys. If nothing comes out, there can still be detrimental but non-responsive amounts of Hg in the CNS, connective tissue and elsewhere.
� I have developed a simple approach that works well. I use autonomic response testing (muscle biofeedback) to determine what metal is stored where and what detox agents would be most suitable for this individual. I obtain a hair sample and have it analyzed. It may or may not show any toxic metals. Metals reach the root of the hair via the blood stream. Hair only can show those metals, that have been in the blood in the last 6 weeks.
That means, hair only reflects acute toxicity or recently mobilized metals but not the true body burdon. Then we embark on the detox and mobilizing program. In 6 weeks another hair samle is send to the lab and analyzed. If for example manganese is now high, mercury starting to rise (mostly it is methyl Hg, that is reflected in hair), aluminum is at the same value as before, it means, that this program is starting to mobilize Mn ad Hg, but not Al.
Through minor adjustments and following the client closely, we observe as the levels in the hair may rise for months or years before returning to low or absent levels. That is the end point. At that time biochemical challenges with Ca EDTA, DMPS or DMSA can be valuabe to see if there are still hidden pockets of metals somewhere in the system that have been ovrlooked with the other methods. In general, the hair-mineral analysis is often overinterpreted. Hair minerals are a reflection of the toxic-metal induced distortion in mineral metabolism.
D. TREATMENT
Why would we want to treat anyone at all? Is it really needed? Can the body not eliminate these toxins naturally on its own?
First we need to consider a multitude of risk factors, which influence later decisions:
Here is a short list of independent risk factors which can either cause accumulation of metals in an otherwise healthy body - or slow down, or inhibit the bodys own elimination processes.
� Genetics - Several genes are involved in coding for the production of inherent detox mechanisms. Example: ApoE being the major repair protein in neuronal damage and responsible for removing mercury from the intracellular environment. There are 4 different subtypes, one of them making the individual prone to accumulating Hg: (Danik, M. and Poirier, J. Apolipoprotein E and lipid mobilizatin in neuronal membrane remodeling and its relevance to Alzheimer's disease. In: Brain Lipids and Disorders in Biological Psychiatry, edited by Skinner, E.R.Amsterdam:Elsevier Science, 2002,p.53-66.)Also well known and studied are the individual genetic differences in glutathione availability. Several companies in the Integrative Medicine Field are offering genetic testing today. So far my clinical results were not impressive when I based my detox program on genetic testing only.
� prior illnesses (i.e. kidney infections, hepatitis, tonsillitis etc.)
� surgical operations (scars often restrict the detoxifying abilities of whole body sections, such as the tonsillectomy scar with it�s effect on the superior cervical ganglion - restricting lymph drainage and blood flow from the entire cranium)
� medication or �recreational� drug use (overwhelming the innate detox mechanisms)
� emotional trauma, especially in early childhood. This issue is huge and almost never appropriately adressed
� social status (poor people may still drink contaminated water)
� high carbohydrate intake combined with protein malnutrition (especially in vegetarians)
� use of homeopathic mercury (may redistribute Hg into deeper tissues)
� food allergies (may block the kidneys, colon etc.)
� the patients electromagnetic environment (mobile phone use, home close to power lines etc. Omura showed that heavy metals in the brain act as micro antennae concentrating damaging electro smog in the brain)
� constipation
� compromise of head/neck lymphatic drainage (sinusitis, tonsil ectomy scars, poor dental occusion)
� number of dental amalgam fillings over the patients life-time, number of the patient's mother amalgam fillings."
Take care.
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