Dear Detox Diary is a series I created so you can follow my own detox journey. Hopefully, it inspires you to walk down your own road of detoxification and healing when you see my incredible results. You can see the first in this series on Dear Detox Diary #1, my first entry.
As one begins to mineralize their body with the suggested minerals from their first test, their body is slowly able to release the toxic heavy metals that are poisoning their body and metabolism. This process is slow in some, dramatic in others. I find I’m a bit of a slow poke. The metals are taking their sweet time coming out.
Mineral deficiency and slow detox are the reasons many don’t see much in the way of heavy metals on their first test and mistakenly think they are given a clean bill of health. Guess again. It takes time for metals to be released; the body has stored them away in the bones, brain, organs and other tissues to prevent as much harm to the body as possible. The body must be ready and have the energy to release them. This energy is given to the body in the form of minerals on a Myers Detox Protocol.
Improvements
On my second test, done three months after my first test, you can see some marked improvements. Physically, I could feel the improvements as a result of beginning to remineralize my body and release some metals.
First, my sleep improved within a month of being on the program. For years, I had woken up in the middle of the night for an hour or two (I watched every movie Hollywood produced). While my knowledge of indie films was impressive, my nightly wakings were getting old. To this day, I sleep through the night, with only the occasional normal waking. This is a relief beyond belief. Deeper healing cannot occur without adequate sleep (8-10 hours per night).
I was simply deficient in calcium and magnesium. Without these minerals to relax your muscles, body and brain, you’re destined to have sleep issues. These major minerals had a calming effect on me as well. I wasn’t having as much daily irritation, anger or depression. My day flowed a bit smoother emotionally. I hadn’t exactly turned into the mad hatter, but I had not been myself emotionally in years. I have always prided myself in being solid emotionally with nothing ever ‘getting’ to me. Cool as a cucumber was my middle name. I wasn’t reactive. This was no longer my reality and I hated it. I wanted to revisit the old me.
I had been constantly pulling muscles for three years. I mean, not once a month – every two frickin’ weeks! I started to think I was really just a big wimp, but the true culprit was underlying inflammation, adrenal fatigue and calcification of my tissues (evidenced in high calcium levels on my test), which can cause stiff, hardened muscles that pull easily. My calcium level had come down a bit so I wasn’t pulling as many muscles. When you have high calcium levels on your hair tests like mine, it means that your body is dumping biounavailable calcium for elimination into the hair (and your tissues, including the arteries) that it can’t use.
A rash had been irritatingly lingering on both my hands and feet for years – ever since my child was born. I had gone to two different doctors and tried a few different prescription creams to no avail. This was after I tried every spendy natural antifungal and natural anti-itch cream and slathered them on for months. This was a high maintenance rash! Looking back, I realize it was merely copper toxicity coming out through the skin. Copper causes rashes, among a hundred other symptoms. It disappeared in month three on the program never to return again. I’m sure I’ll get another one when I dump some more copper, though. That’s how the detox cookie crumbles.
Healing Reactions (Detox Symptoms)
Healing reactions are another word for detox symptoms. They are to be welcomed and are the whole point of detoxing! You must ‘walk through the fire’ to find optimal health on the other side.
Metals and chemicals are causing you ill health, but they really cause trouble when mobilized from storage sites on a Myers Detox Protocol and begin wreaking havoc on your body and brain. Since I clearly had some metals coming out, I was feeling a bit crabby during the first three months. It’s not always fun when metals are coming out. But it’s only temporary. Once a metal is mobilized, the body excretes it out of the skin, kidneys, liver and intestines. The lungs, too. Once the metal is out of your body, it’s smooth sailing – until the next dump.
During this three months I had episodes where I was extremely irritable and emotionally volatile – meaning I was quick to anger when my husband looked at me sideways. I got frequent mild headaches, which I typically rarely suffer. Fatigue would overcome me on some days, but never to the point where I couldn’t function. Clearly, it takes energy to detox and for your body to process this gunk. Frequently, I would get sore throats and feel like I was going to come down with a cold, but the next day it would never materialize. Totally manageable. No big deal.
Test #2 Interpretation
Minerals
Calcium/Magnesium. First, my calcium and magnesium went down to a more normal level. Awesome! They are now in the ideal blue range on the graph, but the ideal goal is to get them level with the grey bar running through the middle of the top mineral graph labeled Nutrient Minerals.
Sodium/Potassium. Sadly, my sodium and potassium, indicators of adrenal activity both went down, revealing that I have even more adrenal fatigue that I first thought. This is why my energy has been low over the course of the last three months since my last test. This is common, as toxic heavy metals are stimulating the adrenals to a degree, ‘propping them up.’ They are typically falsely elevated on the first test.
Iron. My iron levels are quite low, which could mean I’m really low on iron (due to being vegetarian for two years). It could also mean that iron is not coming out in the hair because my body does not have the energy to release toxic forms of iron. It will soon enough. Iron is frequently stored in the liver, causing anger.
Copper. Copper levels look good on this test, but I have other hair test indicators of copper toxicity. This hidden copper will be coming out on future tests. Stay tuned.
Manganese. This level is very low, but don’t let this fool you. The only reason it’s not higher is because I don’t have enough energy for my body to release it. It will pop up later.
Zinc. My zinc went up a lot because I began eating red meat regularly. I had been vegetarian for two years prior to my first test so my zinc was very low. You can only get adequate levels of zinc from red meat in the diet. Of course, you can always supplement, too.
Chromium. My chromium levels went up, which reduces sugar cravings.
Selenium. My selenium levels went up. This program supplements selenium as it’s levels are very low in soils and the food supply. It is, however, abundant in sardines. It took me awhile to adopt this aspect of sardine eating on a Myers Detox Protocol.. I now gobble them up happily!
Phosphorus. My phosphorus levels went up. Phosphorus levels show your digestive ability. Mine was increasing, meaning I was getting more nutrients from my food, which will diminish cravings.
Metals
Arsenic. On this test, only my arsenic went up a lot, which means my body needed to get rid of the arsenic first and foremost. It was what the body decided needed to go first. Going from .003 to .013, this level rose 400%! an ideal hair arsenic level is about 0.007 to 0.009 mg%. Funny, it looked perfectly normal on the first test. Arsenic is used as a pesticide on rice, especially in Asia. It can also be used on fruits, vegetables and tobacco. Could the sushi rice from my sushi habit be to blame for my arsenic level? Arsenic is also used in mining operations, and sometimes is just a natural contaminant of some drinking water and soils.
Arsenic is a powerful nerve and enzyme poison. Just for thoroughness’ sake, here’s a list of symptoms that can be caused by arsenic toxicity. It is associated with hundreds of symptoms, beginning with fatigue, vague aches and pains, weakness, dizziness and neurological symptoms. Specific toxic symptoms include:
- cancer
- anemia
- blood sugar disorders
- enzyme inhibition
- anorexia
- weakness
- diarrhea
- edema
- keratosis
- impaired healing
- dermatitis
- liver dysfunction
- hair loss
- sore throat
- kidney damage
- vasodilation
- peripheral neuritis
- goiter
- vitiligo
- fluid loss
- headache
- vertigo
- muscle spasm
- fever
- jaundice
- abdominal pain
- herpes
- abnormal ECG
- interferes with uptake of folic acid
- inhibition of sulfhydryl enzymes
Mercury. My mercury level is 0.86. Hair levels of mercury should be below 0.02 mg%. Quite a difference.
My mercury is high because I’m still eating too much-contaminated fish. I admit it!! I was having too much sushi!! Old habits die hard. My old practitioner always busted me on this one. You can tell from a hair mineral analysis who is eating sushi and other contaminated seafood. You’re only supposed to eat small fish that don’t accumulate mercury like salmon, sardines, anchovies and other small fish. I suffer from an addiction, okay?!
Common toxicity sources include fish and seafood and dental amalgam fillings. Among the hundreds of other sources of mercury in our environment are bleached flour, some Chinese herbs, cleaners including Ajax, Lysol, Comet, Derma Scrub, Dove Soap, Ivory Liquid, some bleaches, some cosmetics, dyes, paints, inks, embalming fluid, engraving supplies, exhaust fumes, fabric softeners, feeding tubes, felt, fertilizers and many more. It’s hard to escape mercury toxicity.
Hundreds of symptoms may be due to chronic mercury toxicity. The organ affected most often is the brain. Children suffer the most from many mercury-related disorders. Mercury may be a factor in increasing birth defect rates, autism and other developmental delays, ADHD and other learning disorders, anxieties, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive behavior, panic attacks, neuroses, and paresthesias. Almost every case of multiple sclerosis involves mercury.
This list of mercury toxicity symptoms is so exhaustive that I decided to just give you a link to Dr. Wilson’s article on mercury if you’d like to explore the list of symptoms. It’s handy to know that almost everyone is mercury toxic today because the burning of coal for energy releases it into the air. If you breathe, you’re accumulating mercury.
Mineral Ratios
Ca/Mg Ratio. You may recall that Dr. Eck called the calcium/magnesium ratio the sugar and carbohydrate tolerance ratio because a high ratio indicates that a person is eating excessive carbohydrates in their diet – more than their body can handle. My calcium/magnesium ratio went down. By following the recommended diet for a slow oxidizer, I began eating fewer carbs and sugar. As a result, I developed a better level of carbohydrate tolerance.
Ca/K Ratio. The calcium/potassium ratio on a hair mineral test is called the thyroid ratio. My calcium to potassium ratio increased. This means that my thyroid activity worsened a bit. On the second test it is revealing my true level of thyroid functioning, which was quite a bit worse than what the first test revealed. This can happen because metals are ‘propping up’ the thyroid and thus the reading. Metals stimulate and irritate the thyroid, causing it to have a higher reading on an initial test. The second test reveals more accurate functioning.
Na/Mg Ratio. Sodium/Magnesium is called the adrenal ratio. As the ratio elevates, it reflects an excessive adrenal effect, while a low ratio indicates underactivity. My sodium to magnesium ratio decreased even further, indicating reduced adrenal function. Ugh. This explains why I got pretty tired after beginning the program. Again, metals are ‘propping up’ the reading. Metals stimulate and irritate the adrenals, causing them to have a higher reading on an initial hair mineral analysis. The second test reveals more accurate functioning.
Na/K Ratio. This ratio indicates a tendency for acute stress, inflammation or pain somewhere in the body. My sodium to potassium ratio decreased, meaning I had a reduction in inflammation. Hello, injury-free workouts!
Things are looking good! After getting these results back, it inspired me even more to follow my Myers Detox Protocol as closely as possible. I faithfully am choking down my pills, sweating bullets in the infrared sauna and doing my coffee enemas even though my husband looks at me funny. I want to get straight A’s on my next hair test, meaning I want to see a ton of metals coming out! Next results soon! Stay tuned for Dear Detox Diary Entry #3.
My goal is ultimate health and brain functioning. I want to achieve levels of health and energy I’ve never experienced.
