I am 57 yrs. old and a stained glass artist of 24 years. I found
out I had lead poisoning Nov. of 2006, purely by the grace of God. I
had health issues that were progessivly getting worse. In the year
prior to finding out about the lead, terrible joint pain in the hips
and knees (but masked it with large amounts of Aleve), weakness in
the right leg (difficulty lifting it into the car to sit down)and
then in June, 2006, my heart was racing at 160 bpm. That sent me to
intensive care for 4 days. All the tests came back normal.
Cardiologist did an ecocardogram and said my heart was enlarged and
the right ventricle was not working properly. It fluttered insted of
pumped. Then a hospital stay to inject dye into the arteries to see
if they were blocked. Nope....clean. On heart medication, blood
thinners and water pill. All prety shocking as I have always been
pretty healthy and outdorsey too. I ride horses and since this has
happened, the muscles in my legs are weak and won't stretch enough
to be able to ride.A friend suggested I look into Vitamin C
Chelation to strengthen my immune system and my heart and repair
tissue. Sounded good to me and I didn't have to stop taking my heart
medicine to proceed. The Clinic I go to is a preventative medicine
clinic. To start you out, they did a heavy metels challange as a
base line to see what is in the system already. My lead came back
at 140 ug/g...according to the lab that is 3 times the 'expected
limit per the referance population'. I didn't know the blood tests
I've had in the past only reflects recent exposure to lead and not
the whole body burden. I have had 30 EDTA chelations so far. A
challance is done after every 10. After the first ten, the lead
droped to 48 ug/g. The second ten, it rose to 89 ug/g. The doc
told me at the begining it mite spike. I just finished my 30th and
haven't gotten the results back from the challange. I am feeling a
god deal better. I can actually do more than one task in a day and
feel good. I actually cleaned the house and had company for dinner
yesterday. That is a very big thing for me!!!!! When I showed the
cardiologist (who wanted to put a special pace maker in my heart or
GIVE ME A NEW HEART ....seriously) the results of the lead test he
replied...."that could definatly effect your heart. we don't test
for that anymore. YOur the first person I've encountered".
My blood presssure is normal and my heart is beating at 81 bpm. My
lungs are "crystal clear" according to the cardio guy. I still have
more chelation to go, as I've decide I will not tollerate ANY lead
in my system. So I will chelate until it is zero. One report I read
said the sysmtoms of leg weekness disappared after the lead was
below 3. I think that was a blood test. Anyway, that's my story.
Mood swings are getting fewer. I can see a light at the end of this
lead tunnel.