Counting Rules question - Andy & others

[Guest guest]

Hi,

We recently got back a DDI hair analysis for our son, age 4yr 11mo. I'm not

sure if I'm understanding Andy's counting rules correctly. Is high/low

defined as out of the green? Out of the middle, meaning even within the

green is a high or low?

Anyway the largest offenders are

mercury & silver - both above the 95th percentile

potassium & copper - elevated to the very end of the chart

sodium - 2.5th percentile

On the less extreme results

aluminum, arsenic, lead & titanium are in the 70-80th percentile

iodine, selenium, cobalt & germanium are in the 12-16th percentile

phosphorus 90th percentile

My son uses both Loreal and Hannaford kids' shampoo if that explains anything.

What we plan on doing now is sending in hair samples from his two sisters

6yr 10mo & 10 1/2 to get a comparison. Clinically my son is doing quite

well, has been gfcf for just over a year now and may be losing his

diagnosis of pdd-autism soon.

What struck my untrained eye right away with these results was the mercury

and silver charting at the max. These are the two main ingredients of

amalgam fillings, aren't they? My wife has lots of these so if my son was

vulnerable to accumulating these while still a fetus is that where it would

have come from? He has no fillings btw and we've now told the dentist to

use white - composite fillings for the whole family.

Or is silver another ingredient in thimerasol, along with the mercury? So

that this could be explained by early childhood vaccinations. He was fully

vaccinated through age 3 1/2; my wife and I have recently reexamined our

religious convictions and decided that we are strongly and religiously

opposed to vaccines so there will be no more of these.

Also my wife received rhogam for each of her three pregnancies and our son

is the youngest.

Just trying to make more sense out of this - and counting my blessings each

and every day.

Marty

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[Guest guest]

Hello Marty,

>We recently got back a DDI hair analysis for our son, age 4yr 11mo. I'm not

>sure if I'm understanding Andy's counting rules correctly. Is high/low

>defined as out of the green? Out of the middle, meaning even within the

>green is a high or low?

Andy's " rules " have 3 separate " rules " , each of which is different.

Have you read the file? or maybe just heard people talking about it?

It is here:

/files/Counting%2BRules

If you quote one of the rules, I can tell you which " colors " .

>Anyway the largest offenders are

>

>mercury & silver - both above the 95th percentile

>potassium & copper - elevated to the very end of the chart

>sodium - 2.5th percentile

Well, since you say that MERCURY shows up as " above 95th percentile "

then you don't need the counting rules! MANY or MOST people who ARE

mercury toxic will get a normal (green) reading for mercury -- it is

not a fault of the test--- mercury is stored well in some body

tissues (e.g. brain) and usually doesn't " show up " beyond a fairly

short time after exposure (it is all stored away causing damage).

In your case, you KNOW there is mercury--- don't bother with the

rules. (Unless you are terribly curious whether your kid has

disordered mineral transport--- which is what the counting rules

actually test for.) You are " lucky " and have a clear result without

any of the other rigaramore with counting rules or other tests.

>On the less extreme results

>

>aluminum, arsenic, lead & titanium are in the 70-80th percentile

>iodine, selenium, cobalt & germanium are in the 12-16th percentile

>phosphorus 90th percentile

>

>My son uses both Loreal and Hannaford kids' shampoo if that explains

anything.

holy cow--- do these shampoos have mercury, arsenic, aluminum, and lead in

them? I hope not. If they do, please discard them, or take them to

the nearest hazardous waste station.

>What we plan on doing now is sending in hair samples from his two sisters

>6yr 10mo & 10 1/2 to get a comparison. Clinically my son is doing quite

>well, has been gfcf for just over a year now and may be losing his

>diagnosis of pdd-autism soon.

Your wife may also want to get a hair test.

Excuse me for saying so, but I really think testing the biological

father & mother, (along with biological siblings) would make total

sense. (I don't know the parentage of these kids, and am not asking

or intending this as any sort of commentary--- other than that I'm

pretty big on testing for toxic metals in anyone who is biologically

related to someone with mercury poisoning or biologically related to

anyone with developmental delays.) This is just my opinion. I try

not to rant about it too often on the list I may be a bit

" over the edge " -- I would probably want ANYONE to get tested!

Also, in addition to using the tests for " comparison " I hope you

will use them to determine whether the other kids & adults have metal

poisoning which should be addressed.

>What struck my untrained eye right away with these results was the mercury

>and silver charting at the max. These are the two main ingredients of

>amalgam fillings, aren't they? My wife has lots of these so if my son was

>vulnerable to accumulating these while still a fetus is that where it would

>have come from? He has no fillings btw and we've now told the dentist to

>use white - composite fillings for the whole family.

Well, it *could* be--- mercury is passed to fetuses in gestation.

I don't know about silver.

It could also be from the mercury in vaccinations--- has he been

vaccinated?

>Or is silver another ingredient in thimerasol, along with the mercury? So

>that this could be explained by early childhood vaccinations. He was fully

>vaccinated through age 3 1/2; my wife and I have recently reexamined our

>religious convictions and decided that we are strongly and religiously

>opposed to vaccines so there will be no more of these.

Oh, well this answers my question about whether vaccinated.

I am also religiously opposed to vaccination of any child who

has any developmental disorder, or has any blood relative with mercury

poisoning, or reasonably relevant disorder.

>Also my wife received rhogam for each of her three pregnancies and our son

>is the youngest.

Well, there is yet another source for you besides the fillings.

best,

Moria

[Guest guest]

At 08:36 AM 12/30/01 -0800, you wrote:

>Have you read the file?

I've read it.

>Well, since you say that MERCURY shows up as " above 95th percentile "

>then you don't need the counting rules!

The article Andy wrote didn't say that, thanks for the info.

>Excuse me for saying so, but I really think testing the biological

>father & mother, (along with biological siblings) would make total

>sense.

And what would be suggested if my son's two sisters showed similarly

elevated levels? After all, neither of them have had the kinds of health

problems my son has had, including pdd-autism, cerebral palsy, asthma, and

eczema.

>Also, in addition to using the tests for " comparison " I hope you

>will use them to determine whether the other kids & adults have metal

>poisoning which should be addressed.

For arguments sake, suppose all three of my kids have similar hair test

results. As Andy's page says, mercury in the brain doesn't leave. Just

finding mercury in the hair then doesn't prove there is a cause for

concern, or does it? What are we to do if we find this in our two healthy

daughters?

>Well, there is yet another source for you besides the fillings.

Moria, I'm also specifically interested in whether silver is an ingredient

of thimerasol. The folks that promote silver as an alternative to

antibiotics say that silver kills foreign agents such as germs within the

body. This along with the DDI results has made me wonder if thimerasol

contains silver in addition to the mercury.

Best,

Marty

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[Guest guest]

> >Well, since you say that MERCURY shows up as " above 95th

percentile "

> >then you don't need the counting rules!

>

> The article Andy wrote didn't say that, thanks for the info.

My omission. This is correct, if the mercury is frankly elevated you

can stop there and assume mercury is a problem.

> ... testing biological relatives ...

> ... what if they are high? ...

If there are definitively NO PROBLEMS and they are in EXCECLLENT

HEALTH and doing WELL in school, then there is no need to test.

I would generally err on the side of caution and test, since some of

the susceptibility is genetic, some of the problems are due to

unrecognized domestic sources of exposure, and a lot of people could

be doing a LOT better than they are despite not being clearly " sick "

or " dumb. "

If you DO get a positive test, you aren't obliged to do anything. But

you have the opportunity to decide if there is an issue and do

something about it early, when it will be most effective.

Andy