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The kids are late, their bus is coming
My body's tired, my brain is numbing
My husband's words have left me limp
He called to me, you're just a wimp
It's all in my head, that's all they say
With tests and probes, I'm A-OK
They draw my blood and take my temp
The answer's clear -- I AM a wimp
What's up this week? Many folks tell me it's anything but energy. Why do so many people suffer from
chronic fatigue? Don't we get enough sleep? Let's look at the example of the woman who gets 10 hours
of sleep per night, goes to bed
exhausted, and wakes up (only to a lengthy alarm) feeling
exhausted. I use the female example because we saw a high
predominance of females with this problem. There was a scenario
that followed. Females are different, you know, primarily
different from their male doctor counterparts.
When women are fatigued for a few years, they are much easier
to beat up. And there is a pattern of treatment. I saw this
pattern hundreds of times. It may seem familiar to some of
you reading, for either you have experienced it, or had a
wife or mother who experienced it. You may note a hint of
sarcasm on occasion, for it really irritates me to see women
treated in this manner.
H stands for husband, W for wife,
and D for doctor.
H. Why don't you see a doctor? You aren't
the same person I married 10 years ago. You were so cheerful,
active, fun to be around, and now look at you.
W. Hummmm. Dear, would you set the alarm for just
5 more minutes?
H. You have already been asleep for 10 hours. The bus
will be here for the kids in 20 minutes and I can't
find Jenny's left shoe. She won't wear any
color but red today. And where is my paisley tie? I have a
meeting with the boss today, and I've got to look
my best. I'll call for an appointment for you. What
kind of doctor do you need, anyway?
W. Ten minutes....just ten more min....
Doctors must get tired too. Tired of seeing the same woman
with the same problems several times every day. Different
name each time, but it's still always the same.
D. What's your name, age, problem, how
long have you thought you were tired? Married? [now the routine
really get monotonous] There are only two possible answers.
Yes or no. If yes, how long? You and your husband get along
OK? To himself: denial, just like all the others. Simple,
really. If you are married, the husband is the problem, if
not, that is the problem. Now on to the next series:
Do you have children? Again, two possible answers. If you
do, they are the problem. Copping out. If not, again, simple,
you feel inadequate. Treatment: Blood test to determine if
anemic. If anemic it is expected because you are female, and
females do that thing once a month that is so bizarre. They
lose blood. Of course they are anemic. Men don't
do it, so it is abnormal. Give iron, and see me next month.
If the blood test is OK, one choice. Shrink.
The blood test is usually normal, in fact, many times what
is called high normal. Aside from confirming that you need
a shrink, what does this blood test mean?
Most of the time, this blood test is a Complete Blood Count,
or CBC for short. It includes a count of your red and white
blood cells. Let's focus on the reds for today. The
red blood cells can be counted so you know how many cells
there are per cubic millimeter of blood. Hemoglobin tells
how much hemoglobin, or potential oxygen carrying capacity
you have. And the hematocrit (formerly called cell volume
- perhaps a better term) is a measurement of the percentage
of blood that is composed of cells that contain hemoglobin.
There are other breakdowns of counts that refer to the size,
volume, etc. of the cells, but the hemoglobin and hematocrit
will tell us the story we need to understand.
Hemoglobin is a gihughic molecule that contains 4 parking
places that can carry oxygen. These parking places are called
binding sites, or places that oxygen can bind to the molecule
for a free ride throughout your blood vessel system. When
a hemoglobin molecule travels through an area that is short
on oxygen, the tissue that is in need creates a chemical affinity
for oxygen, such that the oxygen will jump off the hemoglobin
and join the depleted tissue. This binding of oxygen to hemoglobin
is not real strong, so that oxygen can jump off, and the hemoglobin
can return through your veins to the heart, to the lungs,
and pick up another load.
Silver-mercury fillings are constantly giving off mercury
atoms into the mouth which can be inhaled into the lungs and
from there go into the blood stream, or swallowed, go into
the stomach, on to the intestines, and into the blood stream
-- which ever way, mercury can end up in your blood. Being
a highly reactive atom, mercury immediately starts looking
for a binding site with which to set up a permanent relationship.
The binding sites on hemoglobin look ideal, so mercury tends
to bind to the hemoglobin.
There is another fact that may explain why chronic fatigue
is a modern issue. In the late 1970's dentistry began
using "high copper amalgam". Instead of the usual 2 to 6%
copper, a new amalgam containing up to 33% copper was introduced
to the market.
In U.S. tests, and later published in Europe, it was found
that the high copper amalgams emit 50 times more mercury vapor
than the conventional amalgams of the previous century.
There is one big difference though. When oxygen binds, it
is for a short period of time. When mercury binds, it may
be forever. Out of the four available binding sites, if one
mercury atom attaches, then you have lost 25% of the oxygen
carrying capacity of that molecule. If two attach, you have
lost 50%. You can see that it really doesn't take
much contamination to eventually have an effect on your energy
level. Sleeping doesn't help this problem either.
To confirm this, we have tested the "oxyhemoglobin" levels
in the blood. This test tells of your "oxygen saturation",
or how much oxygen you are transporting relative to how much
you really could be transporting. If all your hemoglobin was
contaminated with two atoms of mercury on each molecule, your
level would be 50%.
Now we have an explanation. Many of our female patients had
high hemoglobin levels. Why? Because the body was aware of
the mercury contamination, and COMPENSATED by forming additional
red blood cells, giving more hemoglobin, and a higher hematocrit.
These gals all looked like olympic athletes from their high
cell counts, but without an oxyhemoglobin level to see how
much oxygen was really there, your wimpy attitude confirmed
the "It's All in Your Head" diagnosis.
Venous oxyhemoglobin levels are rarely done on a routine basis,
so do not criticize your doctor for not doing them. Most oxyhemoglobins
are done on arterial blood anyway. Venous levels give an idea
of what life is like in the trenches. How much oxygen is utilized
for just keeping your organs and tissues alive? Venous blood
after supplying oxygen for maintenance housekeeping should
have around 60 to 70% saturation. This leaves 60 to 70 percent
of your oxygen income available for challenges like finding
Jenny's shoe, fixing breakfast, finding the tie,
making love, working 8 hours away from the home, all those
little expected normal things we face. Most of our patients
had around 40% saturation or less. Twenty-something was not
unusual in females. The implications here are mind-boggling.
What do you do about the situation?
Granted, mercury may also be altering thyroid, cell membrane
permeability, and a bunch more things that contribute to chronic
fatigue -- not to mention foods, and digestion, but we are
facing a primary problem with constant mercury contamination.
None of the other avenues of treatment are going to be nearly
as effective as long as you have amalgam spewing out mercury
vapor into your blood stream. Amalgam removal sequentially,
and with the most protection you can find (rubber dam used
by the dentist to reduce your exposure during removal, lots
of water flowed onto the filling while it is cut out - more
than the little spray offered by the drill itself - vitamin
or IV protection)... there are a lot of things that can be
done, but the important thing is to reduce your constant daily
exposure.
Amalgam removal, protection procedures and nutrition are other
chapters all in themselves, but the important thing you need
to know is that you are not a wimp -- you are not shirking
your responsibilities, and that it is not "All in Your Head".
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