We are living in an increasingly polluted and toxic world. Estimates are that blood lead levels are ten times to 100 times higher than people living in the preindustrial era.
After the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, I began to learn more about heavy metals and started to test for heavy metals in my patients. Since then I am increasingly convinced that exposure to heavy metals is a significantly overlooked cause of disease and illness today.
Here in New Orleans, I am increasingly finding worrisome levels of heavy metals in my patients. Some of these patients come to me complaining of symptoms like depression, brain fog, joint pain, while in others the elevated levels are found as part of their well screening when I am thinking about getting them as healthy as possible.
One patient became extremely depressed and developed memory problems along with devastating fatigue. We found high levels of lead in his body. After some investigation, we discovered that he had grown a vegetable garden during COVID, but unfortunately his soil was contaminated with lead. Within a few weeks, after stopping his consumption of home grown veggies and faithfully taking the detoxification support that I gave him his depression and memory improved, and after a few months reported that finally felt back to his normal self.
Gluten free … but full of lead!
Another culprit for heavy metal problems is cinnamon. I’ve seen at least one patient who, in an attempt to lower their blood sugar, was adding generous helpings of cinnamon to oatmeal and yogurt on a regular basis without realizing that cinnamon sometimes contains high amounts of lead. In recent months, we’ve learned that applesauce pouches marked to kids contains dangerous levels of lead and cadmium - most likely because lead based dyes can be added to spices to color them.
Unfortunately, these types of problems are not likely to get any better in the near future, and I predict that our exposures are only growing as our world becomes increasingly toxic and polluted.
What can you do to protect yourself?
The first thing to do is to identify if you have problematic levels of metals in your body or not. This can be done by pairing a single blood draw from a lab like Quest or CPL with a $99 urine test from the lab Doctors Data. The urine test helps me to find metals like cadmium, chromium, thallium and others that might be missed on a regular blood draw.
If worrisome levels are found, then I help you figure out where the metal is coming from then slowly treat the problem using a gentle detoxification program that I have taught to other doctors around the country. The idea is to very slowly help the body remove these toxins without causing any symptoms or flares. In general, it takes 3 months on my program to reduce most metals around 50%.
Lastly, I do not recommend IV chelation. These treatments are much more aggressive than the average person with metal exposure needs. Unfortunately, patients can be hurt by overaggressive chelation treatments, and the treatments themselves can cause severe side effects by mobilizing more metals than the body can eliminate.
If you would like to be screened and treated for heavy metals, schedule an appointment today.
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