Arsenic levels, Madness

[Guest guest]

Anyone else test high for arsenic in a heavy metals test? I did! I

know Dr. Kolb did too. I am not sure what the connection is to

implants, but I do know that I suffered that terrible cognitive

dysfunction after implants.

I did chelation therapy to bring the arsenic levels down. My brain

fog is gone and my cognitive function has returned.

Patty

King 's Madness Linked to Arsenic By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical

Writer

LONDON - Scientists have found high levels of arsenic in the hair of

King III and say the deadly poison may be to blame for the

bouts of apparent madness he suffered.

In 1969, researchers proposed the strange behavior of the monarch

who reigned during the American Revolution resulted from a rare

hereditary blood disorder called porphyria.

However, a study this week in The Lancet medical journal found high

concentrations of arsenic in the king's hair and contends the

severity and duration of his episodes of illness may have been

caused by the toxic substance.

The 18th-century king, under whose reign Britain mastered the

oceans, defeated Napoleon and expanded its empire to superpower

dimensions, was best remembered for the humiliating loss of the

American colonies and for the periods when he lost his mind.

While on the throne, had five episodes of prolonged and

profound mental derangement. At the time, his malady was thought to

be a psychiatric disorder.

But in 1969, psychiatrists investigating his documented symptoms

such as lameness, acute abdominal pain, red urine and temporary

mental disturbance, proposed he suffered from porphyria. Subsequent

studies that examined records of his ancestors, descendants and

other relatives refined the diagnosis to a certain type of porphyria.

However, the research did not explain the unusual persistence,

severity and late onset of attacks.

" People can have the faulty gene which makes them susceptible to

attacks, but in about 80 percent of cases they never have any

symptoms, " said Warren, a professor of biosciences at the

University of Kent in England who led the latest study.

" If you are unfortunate enough to get them, porphyric attacks can be

deadly and some patients die from their first one, but in many cases

the attacks tend to be much less severe, and certainly not for the

same duration that III had, " he said.

Warren and his team set out to examine a sample of the king's hair

on display at London's Science Museum for traces of mercury or lead,

metals known to make porphyria worse.

" What surprised us was there were very high levels of arsenic.

Arsenic is also known to push porphyric patients into a worse

state, " Warren said. The semi-metallic element was found to be at 17

parts per million in the hair. Levels are normally found at less

than one part per million.

Arsenic interferes with the production of heme, a key element of

blood and the central problem of porphyria. The blood then gets

toxic, which can cause mental disturbance and severe pain.

However, Henry, a toxicologist at Imperial College in London,

said he was cautious about interpreting the findings.

" He may have accumulated significant amounts in the last few months

of his life, but that doesn't prove it caused his illness all his

life, " Henry said. " It's a nice theory, but it's just that — a

theory. "

Museums sometimes spray artifacts with arsenic to preserve them, but

the arsenic was evenly distributed along the whole length of the

hair, which is consistent with the toxin being within the hair

rather than dusted on it.

Wig powder and skin ointment were other possibilities, but the

levels were too high for that to be a plausible explanation, Warren

said.

The king's medical records revealed he had been consistently given a

medicine containing antimony, a mineral often found in the ground

with arsenic.

" The way antimony was extracted 200 years ago means that it was

often quite contaminated with arsenic, " Warren said. " The king was

given large doses of antimony for his abdominal pains and that was

probably the source of the arsenic. "