“I was taught in neurology residency training in the early 1970’s that when symptoms cannot readily be explained, look for toxic metal poisoning,” Robert A. Nash, MD, writes in his article “Metals in Medicine”
Clinical and laboratory research has found that the toxic heavy metals such as mercury and cadmium have affinities for various organs and are associated with hypertension, angina, peripheral arterial disease, neurological and memory problems, kidney disease, cancers, macular degeneration, and cataracts.
Most doctors today when testing for heavy metals will look at just the blood levels. This can be very misleading in that heavy metals will only show up in blood if the patient is currently being exposed to the heavy metal. A much more accurate test is to give the patient DMSA (a chelating agent) in the morning and then have him collect his urine for 6-12 hours. The DMSA binds to the heavy metal that has accumulated in the body tissues and pulls it out so that it is excreted in the urine.