DI hair test - mercury toxicity

General Discussion
#1

Hi Guys,

I wondered if anyone here has had a DDI (Doctors Data Inc.) hair test and can tell me their results? I am interested because I have had one recently and it seems to indicate mercury toxicity.

For a bit of background, Andy Cutler, who is basically the number one guy when it comes to understanding mercury toxicity, invented a methodology for working out if someone has mercury toxicity. It involves taking a hair test from DDI and counting how many of the results for the range of minerals measured is above the 50th percentile. The 50th percentile relates to the average level of each mineral. If your results meet one of four ‘counting’ rules, then it indicates mercury toxicity, with a c. 1 in 200 chance of it not doing so. Cutler is very well respected and his counting rules generally thought to be a sound methodology. I have since had a further test, which provided the same result, so it seems pretty much certain that mercury is implicated in my case.

I am intrigued at this finding because mercury toxicity is likely to have been present prior to propecia, and I wonder if it could be a reason why I haven’t been able to regain my health. In case you don’t know, mercury is known cause of, or contributor to, many chronic illnesses. I’m not suggesting that mercury caused my problems, which are clearly related to propecia, but it could be a reason for why I suffered and have been unable to recover, whereas most men do not.

I would be grateful if anyone else that has had a DDI hair test could let me know of/post their results, just in case there is some correlation here.

Many Thanks

#2

Just be aware of this.

quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRel … _data.html

#3

I’m glad there is renewed interest in heavy metals. There was a very exciting thread on this here:

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5491&hilit=renew+life+heavy+metal

Joetz had a very quick, positive response to the heavy metal cleanse… which is unusual for heavy metal chelation. From reading around, heavy metal chelation can be painful and drawn out. So I’m unsure of what was happening there.

I took the DDI urine heavy metals test. The only thing that was elevated was Lead. The value was 3.9 on a typical range of less-than-2.

But this was a provoked test, meaning I took a chelator (DMSA) to flush out more metals during the time of the collection. The problem is, as posted by tim1911, there are no ‘provoked’ reference ranges. Which is a major source of controversy for this test. So I’m unsure of how severe my lead levels are relative to symptoms. The professional that ordered the test said not to worry, this was a clean result compared to what she sees.

I still think it would be good to get more data on this. I posted a theory on glutathione depletion (viewtopic.php?f=27&t=7178), under which your detox machinery would be come compromised, thus leading to heavy metal build up. This is a documented side effect in communities with a ‘methylation block.’ So heavy metal toxicity is not a cause, but a side effect that would hold you down.

#4

Droit, this is interesting - did you look into methylation any further, or attempt to implement a protocol?

It makes sense that poor ability of the body of PFS sufferers to detoxify (ie diminished glutathion/methylation pathways) could be a factor in side effects that is worth investigating, given the fact that now 4 for 4 people on the forum have tested low for glutathion.

I am particularly interested in my hair test result because, if it is correct in saying that I have a high burden of mercury, poor methylation pathways could be a contributing cause for why metals were able to build up in me, whereas they do not in most people, as my detoxification systems have been impaired.

Of course it is possible that the hair test meets one of Cutler’s counting rules because of propecia (which he has never looked into), rather than mercury. I guess that’s an unknown, and is why I am interested to see other hair tests. Although he is adamant that mercury is almost certain to be implicated in distorted mineral transport.

To the reply which suggests DDI are quacks, I have had hair tests with two different labs, and both provided the same result. Whilst I don’t hold massive sway in hair tests, I think the correlation is significant particularly as the trend that it showed is a very rare one (according to cutler, who viewed thousands of tests in his work).

This is all just speculative stuff at this point and is in no way meant to be a defined ‘theory’ yet.