Overwhelmed by Hair Elements Test Results - Help?

[echoecho1528]

DD has exhibited symptoms of Zinc and Mag deficiency for some time, and I have amalgam fillings, so I decided to have a Hair Elements Test done on her hair.
I am not surprised to see both Zinc and Mag low, but I am ASTONISHED and confused about the number of toxic elements that register as high. Aluminum(!), Antimony, Arsenic(!), LEAD, Uranium, Silver and Tin are all considered high. Her "total toxic representation" presents at just under the 95th percentile. There is an explanation of each element attached to the chart depicting her results, but I just don't understand how she would have been exposed to these elements.
Does anyone have any experience in interpreting these graphs? Can someone give me some insight into what DD's pedi might think of the results? Her pedi is a real PITA and thinks I am crazy and we are on a waiting list to get in to see a holistic practitioner in our area.
Here is a link to the results
TIA!
Amber

[marimara]

Well I don't know anything in particular about hair tests, but I've been researching air and water quality quite a bit recently and honestly, it's no surprise. Many of the books and websites I'm reading talk about how lots of us are walking around with way high toxic body loads. I believe that air and water is where we're getting it. I want this test done on us as well, can u tell how you did it?

This is a main reason I am researching water filters. I live in an area w/city water but our report isn't that clean so I need a better filter. I believe I read that in CA the water is really bad. I don't know about your specific town though. Let me see if I can dig up some links for you.

What's in this stuff? ( not really about air and water but more about products)

Environmental Working Group


That should get you started with water. I'll have to come back for air stuff. Sorry I'm not too much help interpreting

[tanyalynn]

For my kids, the biggest source is me. Bioaccumulation happens over our lifetimes, but also intergenerationally. Some folks detoxify better than I do, and so they don't accumulate as much--well, _most_ people detoxify better than I do, plus for decades I didn't think about environmental toxins, cleaning products, clean drinking water, weird food additives--and that's part of adding in too much to detoxify. It's not a huge issue for everyone, and looking at your personal health and family health history can help tease out whether this is significant in your case.

The single one that I see that's most troubling is the lead. I wouldn't mention this at all to your pedi, but if you haven't had a blood test for lead, ask for one, just to rule out current exposure. If there's current exposure, you'd need to remediate.

This could be older exposure, for some people it's from mom, maybe from years ago, sometimes it's just an unknown source. Lead levels in our environment are a LOT lower than they were a generation ago, and blood test cut-offs are a lot lower than a generation ago. But that means that kids, 30 years ago, may have been exposed to amounts of lead that we KNOW are a problem now, but we didn't know then, and now they're adults. I don't know of any way it magically leaves a person's body, and during pregnancy, a lot of minerals do a lot of moving around to build a baby. That's not the only possibility, but given the big reduction in enviro lead in just one generation, it's something to keep in mind.

So, did you do the test trying to figure out a health or behavioral problem?

You can google online for sources of current exposure for stuff like aluminum and arsenic and antimony, and that's something to look into and try to eliminate as many as you can. That's an important long-term step, for everyone.

And next you want to look at how our bodies excrete these metals. Methylation jumps out at me, folate and B12 and methionine (an amino acid, if you eat meat you should get plenty), but the folate part is interesting.

Here's a page, it's a bit technical but you can skim, near the bottom are some summaries, and I've found it really helpful:
http://tuberose.com/Liver_Detoxification.html

Some people have a gene variant that means they need more folate than others, and real folate, not folic acid. Here are two pages that discuss it--think about family health history, if you need more folate and don't get it, some health problems occur more frequently, some cancers, strokes, early heart disease, allergies, stuff like that....

http://www.detoxpuzzle.com/folate.php
http://www.detoxpuzzle.com/mthfr.php

The folate gene issue? Not shockingly rare, and maybe helpful to a lot of families out there.

If you're trying to problem-solve a health or behavior issue, this seems helpful. It's a good place to start. Doing reading in the world of autism spectrum disorders, the group of people who see it as a health/detoxification issue, would discuss metals in more detail. The autism mercury yahoo group is a big group, even just the Files section would provide some helpful reading.