Diagnose und Therapie von Schwermetallbelastungen

Abstract: The rising contamination of the environment increasingly impairs our health. Therefore, doctors are more and more often faced with patients whose symptoms are so diverse and changeable that even extensive tests only permit uncertain diagnoses and, thus, only unsatisfactory strategies of action. lt is the task of the ecologically oriented doctor to follow the diagnostically and therapeutically right path.Diagnosis: The standardized chewing gum test informs about the extent of the individual daily mercury abrasion from dental amalgam. lt can be used to assess the quality of the fillings, thus being a valuable aid to decide about the necessity of an amalgam removal. The DMPS-stimulated renal mercury excretion' is a suitable method to determine the amount of mercury accumulated in the body. For better standardization, however, everyone should employ the same method as the different forms of application (intravenous versus oral administration) lead to very unhomogeneous levels in spontaneous urine. Therefore, direct comparisons have not been possible up to now. Blood tests are only partially suitable for diagnosing a mercury burden because after being taken up by the organism, mercury is removed from the bloodstream within a short time and accumulated in organs such as the kidney. Thus, the blood mercury level is quickly back to normal. Hair analysis is little meaningful in the determination of a mercury burden caused by amalgam fillings; therefore, it should not be employed in this field.Treatment: In case of a moderate mercury burden, the substitution of the essential trace elements selenium and zinc has shown good results. Selenium acts as a natural antagonist of mercury and other toxic heavy metals, and it is able to detoxicate them if it is supplied in sufficient amounts. An increase of the zinc supply causes the excretion of heavy metals: firstly by regenerating the zinc metalloenzymes blocked by heavy metals, secondly by inducing the synthesis of the metal-binding protein metallothionein, which is able to bind and cause the excretion of heavy metals. In case of an increased heavy metal burden, an additional slow oral administration of DMPS is advisable (a maximum of 3 capsules of 100 mg each per week) because DMPS only binds extracellular mercury. After the extracellular mercury has been excreted, the intracellular mercury is slowly redistributed into the extracellular compartment due to balancing reactions, so that this mercury can be excreted as well. This treatment is continued until the mercury levels have been reduced to normal values after DMPS mobilization.

Keyword(s): Kaugummitest

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