Positive Health Online

Imagine seeing a horror movie where the characters slowly become mentally and physically ill for no obvious reason and there appears to be no available cure for any of their mysterious symptoms. Although most of us know from experience that fact can sometimes be stranger than fiction, it's sad that my friend's life was almost ruined through a similar scenario which affected most of her adult life through no fault of her own.

Pam Clayton, the author's friend whose life was seriously blighted by mercury

Pam always had a lot of energy as a child and teenager, and lived life to the full. Then about twenty years ago, when she was in her late twenties, it was discovered that the dizzy spells and fuzzy headaches which left her drained and exhausted were due to an allergy to chocolate. Then asthma developed. Next, she noticed her arms and legs had begun to feel numb. Never having been seriously ill before, she was really frightened as she also had some of the classic signs of Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer's Disease – blurred vision, slurred speech, short term memory loss, but her doctor just gave the reason for them as 'nerves'.

As the years passed, the existing symptoms got worse and new ones developed. Her hair and skin were in poor condition and her throat felt as if it were seizing up. Irritable Bowel Syndrome was diagnosed. By her own admission, she looked and felt a mess. Permanent tiredness and lack of concentration meant she had difficulty in performing the simplest of tasks and her job as a sales rep was proving to be too physically and mentally demanding. Eventually she had no option than to give it up altogether.

The crunch came when she collapsed on getting out of her car, and had to be helped home. Her GP was called out, but was found to be totally unhelpful and unsympathetic. Again, nervous trouble was cited as the cause. At that point desperation had set in; she'd heard it all before. She just wanted to die. The future was too depressing to contemplate. When finally she was admitted to hospital after being taken ill at home, she thought, at last, somebody will be able to find out what's really happening to me and why. How wrong she was. All the doctors could say was that she needed to see a psychiatrist; they thought it was 'all in the mind' as if she were deranged and mad.

Disappointed and upset that nobody wanted to listen, she left hospital, determined to find out at any cost the real cause of her deteriorating health. After all, she was only in her forties, hardly old and senile.

For some time, she had noticed that alternative remedies were becoming increasingly popular, especially in the areas where conventional medicine failed to give relief from pain and discomfort. Eventually, after much searching, she found a radionics therapist who carried out what is known as a VEGA test to determine the precise substances which were having such a negative effect on her.

The test showed that there was strong evidence of the presence of mercury in Pam's system, producing sensitivity to electricity and chemicals. Each time she brushed her teeth or ate, an electric current went round her mouth, causing the mercury to leak into the body, poisoning the brain, the central nervous system, tissues and organs. She was told that unless all her eight amalgam fillings (a mixture of mercury, tin, copper, silver and zinc) were carefully removed, her immune system would be permanently weakened.

At last she had some answers, and it was such a relief to know the truth, and that there was a good chance of recovery with the right treatment. It was now clear why she reacted badly in a car or when using an electrical appliance; her body was already overloaded with the metal that had leaked from her fillings. It is a fact that a weakened immune system causes certain food allergies, and the chemicals in cleaning fluids had an adverse effect for the same reason.

Without hesitation she took the advice given, and found a private specialist dentist who extracted and replaced the fillings. As the NHS don't usually recognise that there is a link between mercury fillings and illness, there are very few mercury-free dentists, so it was expensive, but she had no choice if she was ever to regain her health and sanity. She was told that as it takes time for all the mercury to be eliminated from the body, and for the immune system to recover, chelating minerals in liquid form need to be taken to aid recovery.

Fortunately, when she was tested again several months later, the results were favourable, although recovery was slow. A year later, I was pleased to see a vast improvement in Pam's wellbeing, but I sensed she was also angry and bitter from the experience. After all, she had been unwittingly robbed of her life for so long and her illness had undoubtedly had a deep impact on her family, who had supported her wholeheartedly throughout.

Pam is nearly fully recovered now and runs a busy Helpline to give information and advice. She is constantly trying to raise widespread awareness of this 'hidden' problem through the media so that we understand the risks involved to ourselves and our children. Cases have even come to light pinpointing the danger to babies whose mothers had dental treatment involving the use of mercury whilst they were pregnant.

According to Pam's research, some dentists are now beginning to admit that there could be a link between poor health and our fillings, so perhaps we should be given the option of having our teeth repaired with the more expensive white plastic or porcelain fillings instead. Ultimately, our health is so precious it should be safeguarded, whatever the cost. A final thought: if we can't even trust the professionals, who can we turn to?

Further Information

For further information about mercury poisoning, the Helpline number is 01933 653339.