The body of most patients who suffer from fatigue is strained by heavy metals. Due to the industrial pollution of the environment, chemicals and heavy metals enter our body through the air we breathe and the food we eat. Dyes, woodworking products, insecticides, pesticides, oil combustion, vaccinations, marine pollution (heavy metals and PCBs in fish!) and dental amalgams are the main sources of this poisoning of the body.

Dental amalgams mainly contain mercury, with also smaller quantities of silver, copper, zinc and tin. Mercury from dental amalgams also contributes to fibromyalgia, CFS, MS, depression and anxiety attacks. I always advise patients with serious fatigue problems (as well as patients with auto-immune disorders like rheumatism and MS) to remove dental amalgams in case they have more than three amalgams.

When you have dental amalgams or when you eat a lot of fish, and you’d like to know to what extent your body has been poisoned by mercury, you can opt for a chelation test. Hereby, the mercury is attracted by a chelator (DMPS) which is administered intravenously (or orally in the form of tablets). Then you must collect your urine for six hours. The urine is then used to measure how much mercury you have excreted. This gives you an impression of the mercury level in your body. However, do keep in mind that many laboratories (as well as physicians) do misinterpret the so-called ‘normal’ levels of heavy metals. Basically, there is no such thing as ‘a normal level’: mercury does not belong in the body. However, chronic mercury poisoning always falls under ‘normal levels’. High mercury concentrations can only be traced in the blood when dealing with acute intoxications.