Mercury poisoning? Could ds1's learning difficulties be from this?

[lilgreen]

I'm ashamed of my past ignorance about this and even more fearful of your responses, but I need to know.

I broke a mercury thermometer when ds1 was 3 and vacuumed it up (!!) without any ventilation in winter in his bedroom, another when he was 4 (this time I knew to pick up the pieces and not vaccum, although I did eventually vacuum his room), then I broke one of those new fluorescent light bulbs in the living room when he was 5 and vacuumed it up (before I knew they contained any mercury) without ventilating.

My ds1 is 8. When he was younger (as in before he was about 3 or 3.5) he was extremely bright. He learned very easily and could do 40 signs by age 1.5 and could recognize the whole alphabet at 2.5 - and lots more, but that's enough. Since then, he's struggled learning very basic things, although he hasn't been diagnosed with a learning disability. I think he's absolutely wonderful, but he's far from what I would consider 'bright'. I'm not saying that he'd be better if he were 'smarter', but I just say this to explain my concern. His younger brother is extremely bright and learns very, very easily (please don't take this as me thinking ds2 is better... that's not it at all!)

Is there any possibility that ds1 had some level of mercury poisoning? I honestly lay awake at night feeling horribly guilty. I haven't been able to even suggest this to my dh.

I hope I'm blowing this WAY out of proportion, but what I've read suggests that I might not be.

Any insight on this?

Thank you in advance.

[ttcintexas]

I have no answer for you, but wanted to give you a big cyber hug (I can't find that icon!). I know how horrible it feels to think that something you did may have negatively effected your LO--and the stress of not knowing. Try to be gentle with yourself. We can only do the best we know how to do at the time. We are always learning, and do the best by are kids in the moment. The only thing I can think to suggest would be to have him tested for heavy metals, and move on from that point with whatever information you gather from the results. I know there are hair tests for that, but don't know any more than that. There are many wonderful mamas here who know more about testing for metals.

[Marnica]

I agree...get a heavy metal test and go from there. Don't beat yourself up. It may be related, it may not be. Get the test and you will be armed with knowledge. On a side note, is your son vaccinated? Some vaccines contain/ed thimerosal.

[tanyalynn]

I don't know if that level of mercury exposure could cause the issues you're seeing. I agree with the PP's--we know what we know, when we know it. When we know more, we do better, but before then, we really need to cut ourselves a break.

I think the best way to look for mercury toxicity is described in the 2nd post down on this page. Read the whole thing, it's a very specific hair test from a specific company, and the interpretation isn't straightforward, you aren't just looking for high mercury (though that would be a problem), you're looking for the minerals to be widely scattered in specific ways.

http://mothering.com/discussions/sho...lating&page=30

It's work, but it is possible to get mercury out of a person. You can read more at the autism mercury yahoo group, there's a lot of information in the Files section.

[MyLilPwny]

I don't think its related, that would be my guess. My husband broke 2 if those mercury light bulbs when my daughter was a baby, one on the kitchen floor and he vacuumed it up, the other over a laundry basket containing my dd's clothes (some may have gotten in, I don't know but this happened in the laundry room and I think some fell through the cracks of the wood floor which I never could reach) I washed her clothes and she wore them anyway. So back then I researched it and its such a small amount where the mercury becomes airborne and ventilation gets rid of it or of you vacuum it, then the mercury just goes into the vacuum and contaminates the vacuum. I think its the same with the thermometers where its such a small amount and they might not even have been mercury thermometers that you had anyway. I've had the hair elements test done for my dd and she's not showing mercury toxicity nor deranged minerals. Her learning abilities have been fine too (recognized and said most the phonic sounds for the alphabet at 21 months old) I would be much more concerned about dental amalgams in kids (or mothers), which are constantly leaking mercury into the body. The environmental mercury like you described were just one time things, which I don't think that is enough to do significant damage. I had 8 dental amalgams that I had as a kid, even on my baby teeth (I know because I remember losing teeth with amalgams in them) and I think I turned out fine and my hair elements test doesn't show mercury toxicity nor deranged minerals either.

[sbgrace]

I don't think it's likely related. I'm being completely honest. There is a lot of difference between the learning that goes on at the ages up to 3 or 3.5 and then the learning afterward. This is especially true when we're talking about learning disabilities. Many of those you just won't see until the expectations change as the child is older. You didn't see loss of skills in that time frame (as in he lost words/signs/that sort of thing)? Even if you did there are other reasons for that too.

Are you sure they were mercury? Red liquid or silver? Did it bead up? It's hard to find mercury thermometers now and most are not mercury. Even if it was many, many of us played directly with mercury beads in childhood. I did. I have no cognitive/learning issues. Beyond that I just don't think the level of exposure he had is enough to cause what you're seeing.

And then there is the whole nothing you can do to go back and you didn't intentionally harm him. When my son was two weeks old he had a head CT. They told me it was safe. It's been linked to attention issues and learning issues among other things. Then he had surgery at 18 months and that also has links to similar issues. He's my typical kid with the attention of a child much, much older. I don't see anything learning wise with him yet. But if we do we do. I feel sad about it all but I can't redo the past and spending time blaming myself (esp. the head CT which I could have refused) does no one any good. I do my best. You did your best.

[ainh]

OMG. Hugs to you. I know the laying-in-bed-at-night-and-fretting thing! So hard to think back on all the preventable things -- like giving vaccines before I knew better and the non-stick pan that I burned next to my sleeping baby for like 5 minutes before I noticed the rancid stench. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

It's true that pre-3 and post-3 learning is often different. Just like you hear of kids that didn't talk at all and seemed "slow", but then they turned into little geniuses at about age three (my ex-boyfriend was like this and went to Harvard full ride, having not talked at all for three years and diagnosed with autism, which was totally wrong, as he's completely social too).

That said, I might do a heavy metal testing, just to alleviate your worries