Rachel the Heroine's Heavy Metal Journey

I want to tell you about brave Rachel and her heavy metal journey.

They think I'm crazy… Rachel told me. For years she had gone from doctor to doctor; together we counted more than forty…

I'm tired, she says, so tired and exhausted that they finally sent me to a psychiatrist as a last stop. But I'm telling you, I haven't lost my mind, I'm just completely worn out, exhausted.

I learned from Rachel that this exhaustion came with other symptoms: migraines, “brain fog,” as she put it, widespread chronic pain, a “pins and needles” sensation, and severe sleep problems, to the point of whole nights without rest.

For more than five years she went from specialist to specialist: a cardiologist, a neurologist, an internist, a gastroenterologist, an endocrinologist and more… but none of them could diagnose the cause of Rachel's problems. Even family and friends didn't believe me when I said how sick I was, she says.

They must think I'm drunk or on drugs, Rachel thought to herself as she sat on the floor of a health food store, hoping to find the energy to get up. She was in the store looking for something that would give her energy and ease her mysterious fatigue and brain fog. I felt so exhausted, I almost fainted in the store and had to sit down on the floor.

Most days I had no strength to do anything, she says. The overwhelming fatigue kept me from concentrating on work, or even on a simple grocery list. These symptoms also forced me to withdraw from almost every aspect of life. After years of struggling, I had to move in with my parents because I could no longer take care of myself. I felt terrible.

After the incident at the health food store, and with no adequate medical answer, she decided to research her symptoms on her own. A few days of self-study and cross-checking information paid off, and she alone uncovered the surprising cause: heavy metal toxicity.

Rachel wondered, like many of us, whether heavy metal toxicity is real.

She brought me the results of her investigative journey after her last doctor had tossed the papers aside, angry that she had tried to diagnose herself.

I hate it when my patients do this, he said, there's no way you have heavy metals in your body.

I'm the doctor, not you.

I was in shock, she said, with tears in her eyes.

Let's take a short break from the story to understand a bit more about what heavy metal toxicity is.

It is a condition that occurs when a person is exposed to high levels of heavy metals, which accumulate and produce a wide range of symptoms. The heavy metals most commonly accumulated are lead, mercury, arsenic, aluminum and cadmium, although other metals can be involved as well. The sources of exposure to these metals can be varied, including air or water pollution, food, medications, cookware with toxic coatings, ingestion of or skin or respiratory exposure to synthetic paints, and much more.

The metals can accumulate in the body's soft tissues and have a wide range of negative health effects. Heavy metals can bind to parts of cells, which prevents organs from doing their job, and the resulting symptoms include fatigue, depression, anxiety, memory impairment and concentration problems. The signs of heavy metal toxicity can appear immediately or develop slowly over time, which makes diagnosis difficult.

Levels of the heavy metal mercury have more than doubled over the past 20 years due to escalating exposure to a toxic environment, say researchers in The American Journal of Medicine.

“This is a serious cause for concern because mercury is extremely toxic to the brain and other organs,” says Fred Pescatore, MD. “So when it builds up in the body from sources like dental amalgams and [foods like] contaminated seafood, symptoms such as fatigue, fogginess and even anxiety states develop.”

Because mercury overload can mimic other conditions, doctors often overlook it. In fact, about 90% of cases go undiagnosed. The risk of overload rises with age, since the metal accumulates in tissues over time: studies show that mercury levels more than double between the ages of 20 and 50.

So at last Rachel was sent for a specific test measuring heavy metal levels, which confirmed that the main cause of her illnesses was indeed toxicity in the liver due to especially high levels of lead and mercury.

Rachel switched to a detox diet, a major change in what she ate and drank. She had to give up the tuna she loved so much, as well as seafood, breakfast cereals and wheat, and even throw out various products from her home.

It wasn't easy for her, but she was determined to cleanse herself of the toxins that had made her life miserable.

She also had to have three fairly large amalgam fillings safely removed after they had been in her mouth for more than twenty years.

After only about six weeks, the switch to clean food, healthier drinking habits and targeted natural supplements began to show results, with rising energy levels and a fundamental change in her test results.

After two months my toxicity levels were already quite close to zero and my health came back, she smiles. I healed myself naturally in two months after more than five years of suffering, she said, wiping away tears, but this time they were tears of joy.

Two months of natural self-treatment versus five years of going from doctor to doctor. A real heavy metal journey, she laughs. I’m going back to the electric guitar.

Listen here to learn more from an evening I hosted on the subject.