Tests for Heavy Metals in our Bodies
 

I've read numerous references to "simple blood tests" and other "tests" for heavy metals and other lampworking by products in our blood / bodies. I discussed this with my doctor but he wasn't sure which test to order. One is a 24 hour test for heavy metals. The other tests your hair for heavy metals. Does anyone know if either of these or if another test is appropriate for lampworkers? Better yet, does anyone know which LAB does the testing and what CODES are needed? Thanks, ~Juliet

I just asked my doctor to test for heavy metals and she drew some blood and sent it off. It came back clear and I've never asked for another one. I guess she knew what I needed and I didn't really know what to ask for. I explained to her what I did. This was a few years ago.

I'm sure there will be people to disagree with me on this, but the scientific community does not look favorably on the hair tests; most consider it unreliable. Blood work or urine testing is the way to go . . .

different labs use different codes; actually, you might want to try calling a couple labs directly & asking their opinion on what test would be best for you. i agree though, i think a blood draw would be the best & most accurate way to go.

Mine was a urine test. I got an IV full of something that is supposed to bond to the heavy metals in your system and you pee them out to test the concentration. You then collect your urine for 6 hours. It gets sent to the lab. They test for I think 14 heavy metals. It isn't just if the levels are high, but how many of them are even showing up. If you have a bunch of heavy metal in your system, but not all of them at a high level, it is just as bad as having one or two at high levels. I will get the name of the lab that does it. I can't think of it right now. I believe it cost about $250

each year as part of my annual physical, my dr. just writes "lead levels" on the requisition for my blood tests

You would want more than just lead levels though. You should ask for cobalt, silver, gold, cadnium, magnesium, etc, etc, etc.

Where is Indgrid, she used to work in a lab, she may know.

Thanks for the input so far folks! ~Juliet

My doctor started with a hair test. Since several things came back high, he wanted to do a urine test (same as Corri's description). He explained that there was a whole host of ways the hair could come back with false positives.

ETA: Evidently the five metals that have the most long term health consequences are Aluminum, Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead and Mercury. If those five are low and the others are high, that isn't as worrisome.

My Aluminum, lead, and one other were high. I am doing Chelation every week. At least 10 IV chelation treatments alternated with nutritive IVs every week. So 20 treatments in all. Then we retest and see what my levels are. I was told he can retest sooner, but levels may show higher than they should be depending on how much stuff the chelation has pulled out, if it is pulling out of bone or tissue, etc. So I decided to do the full treatment and then retest.

Thanks. CorriDawn if you can dig up the name of the lab that did the test I'd really appreciate it! In the meantime I have 2 Quest codes on the order form from the doc, plus a hair test. I think I'll skip the hair test and see if Quest can tell me more about these 2 tests - I think they're urine tests. My nurse wasn't sure if it was of the kind CorriDawn has had or not. ~Juliet

Is there anyway to know why they are high? Do we assume it is from lampworking or just living life in such a polluted world? or both?:cry:
Lorraine

heavy metals in our body
 

Good morning everyone,

I have recently been through a very rough time having strange symptoms that where baffling the doctors. I asked them to check me out for lead which they used a simple blood test. It came back negative and they wanted to put me on "prozac" because they thought it was all in my head! HAHAHA!!!
I decided to go to a Naturalpath/Doctor and had them give me an I.V chelation shot called "DMPS". This shot provokes heavy metals out of the cells themselves and is excreated through your urine. The test result where amazing, it lists all heavy metals. Far superior to the blood test, which only test what is in your blood at the time using a pretty lame scale of what is normal and not!!! Most doctors DO NOT reconize "DMPS" treatment as it is fairly new to this country and very few doctors are able to perform this test. I suggest to anyone who thinks they may have any heavy metal problems to seek out a doctor, via the internet in your area and go get tested... It could save you alot of uncomfortable symptoms you may be experiencing.
Needless to say, I drive 8hrs. round trip e/o week to get a shot and let me tell you how much better I feel after just three sessions, WOW. No stomache aches, less headaches, able to sleep at night and think clearly...
It doesn't pay to play without PROPER VENTILATION, ever...it's not worth it, no matter how healthy you think you are. You can't see or smell the fumes of lampwork, but they are there. And you sould also beware that your kiln should probably be under your ventilation system also, it produces just as harmfull of toxins, think about it. I beleive that is why my issue has occured. And believe me, I will not make another bead untill my new shop and ventilation are installed correctly. Detox is relatively cheap... But an ounce of prevention is more affordable... If anyone lives in the state of Washington and is interested in a doctor refferal, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Peace on Earth

Elizabeth

Juliet,
Skip the invasive hair test for sure. See if there is a doctor in your area that can administer a D.M.P.S. shot and test your urine. It is the MOST reliable test there is without loosing your hair over it.

Elizabeth

Sounds like what CorriDawn is going through earlier in the post. Do they tell you specifically what's in the shot?

I think I might have metal poisoning too. I have been going to the doctor for about a month now and she couldn't figure out what is wrong with me, she had done x-rays of my spine all the way up and down, Blood pressure, a EKG, a heart monitor, complete blood work for sugar, cholesterol and thyroid, and several other things like being low on potassium, and other stuff. Everything is fine, except a little degeneration in the disk in my neck.

I think I might have metal poisoning too. I have been going to the doctor for about a month now and she couldn't figure out what is wrong with me, she had done x-rays of my spine all the way up and down, Blood pressure, a EKG, a heart monitor, complete blood work for sugar, cholesterol and thyroid, and several other things like being low on potassium, and other stuff. Everything is fine, except a little degeneration in the disk in my neck.

What has been happening is I am in a headache, fog, dizzy, drunk feeling, tired, weak, don't feel like doing anything, can't remember anything, can't concentrate. I also have had numbness and cramping in both my legs and my arm and my legs go weak, it started after I started doing boro, I thought I was venting well enough but it is funny all this happened in at least 3 weeks of starting boro, I burnt my finger and had to take a break from it for 2 weeks and felt better during that time. Then when my finger healed I went back to boro and it started back worse, so I told the doctor about how I felt she can't find anything but wants to do a CT scan and a MRI. I went to her today and insisted on having a heavy metal test, I had talked to my cousin who is a doctor and he said to get her to do a heavy metal test, let just say she wasn't happy about it but she did it, she would only do a blood test, she didn't know of any others and they had to call a lab to find out how to do the blood test as they have never tested anyone for heavy metals. I told her I wanted the urine test, she said there wasn't one. I figure she is mad because I talked to my cousin but she wasn't finding anything out and when I said something about the glass doing it she said it wouldn't without even listening to how I worked with it. She said that my kidneys and liver function would have came back bad if it were and they didn't.

I don't know if the blood test will show anything I haven't lamp worked since Friday, today is Monday, and the headache has pretty much gone away and head feels clearer. I think she was upset because I had talked to my cousin the doctor I just don't know. I hope this is it as I don't want anything wrong in my head causing it that might be worse than metal poisoning.
I don't know if the blood test will show anything I haven't lamp worked since Friday, today is Monday, and the headache has pretty much gone away and head feels clearer. I think she was upset because I had talked to my cousin the doctor I just don't know. I hope this is it as I don't want anything wrong in my head causing it that might be worse than metal poisoning.

Sandra, can you take a pic of your setup?

wow metal poisining eeee....i randomly just throw up sometimes....i always wondered if glass was slowly poisining me....i m curious to get checked to now.
Jodi

I got a hair test done before I started lampworking - all metals that showed up were well below the 'at risk' level. Except titanium? That was off the scale. They said they had no information on negative health effects of it. The only time I know I've been in contact was with some titanium earwires that I mislaid before I got to use them . . .
Just call me Queen of the Fairies. :wave:

i have a bachelors degree in chemistry and a medical degree. i am not trying to bash anything just make sure that the tests and treatments are valid. cover all your bases both alternative and traditional. more than once i have worked up patients with vague symptoms to find that they have developed a connective tissue disorder or worse a malignancy.if things dont make sense explore further.

Wow I am glad I searched a bit... I might have to ask to be tested. So far my MRI is healthy and my blood work didn't show any infection... had my sight tested and nothing that would cause the headaches, dizzyness or nausea. I am lethargic and I don't feel like I am getting enough oxegyn if I do work up enough energy to workout. Aspirin doesn't work and the doctor gave me a pain killer to help... but it knocks me out.

Ive only been lampworking for 4 months, I have a bench set up in my wood shop directly in front of a window. Box fan in window blowing outwards. Both gable ends of my shop have vents in them for inbound fresh air. Im using a HH with propane. I have had a severe runny nose since I started lampworking. I thought at first I was allergic to the dust in the fired bead release, so I started removing and clean my beads underwater in a sink, no difference in the symptoms. I dont feel sick or have any other symptoms. Just clear liquid running constantly from my nose. anyone else had this problem? Prior to lampwork I worked with wood mostly doing Intarsia and always wore a resperator mask when working with hard woods and exotic woods. Im 51 and one of those people that never gets sick.

Pete aka worlds worst spelker

Woods, that's not really a ventilation system.

Look into the ventilation system threads. I can't say what you are doing is causing your snot problem, but I'd personally figure it might have something to do with it.

I have the same fan set up - thought I read that it was ok if it passed the smoke test? I know it's not optimum, and an exceptable temporary measure before a ventilation system could be installed?

yeah I know. Its just temporary till I can build a new shop this spring after we sell our first cutting of hay and I got some spending money. plan on upgrading my torch as well. untill then just call me snot-nose lol

I'm due for a physical so I'll ask for metals testing as well.

I only lampworked for a short time before I got a respirator, a half-mask made by North with P-100 cartridges. I use it every time I'm on the torch regardless of what I'm doing. I also have a great ventilation system.

I have headaches, dizziness, fatigue, mental fog and nausea most of the time, but then I've been like that for almost 14 years. All the tests said there was nothing wrong. So, if I was getting any metals poisoning, I don't know if I'd even notice it. Changing to a hypoglycemic diet helped, but didn't fix the whole problem.

Oh, and I've only been doing this for a year.

yeah after reading this thread I think im going to wear my respirator untill I get some proper ventilation set up.

Pete aka worlds worst spelker

The respirator may help you reduce heavy metals, but you're still at a level of risk without adequate ventilation that I personally wouldn't take. As was mentioned, fan in a window is truly not ventilation.

A more significant contributor to the symptoms some of your are describing, or at least a more immediate one, may be due to breathing the spent exhaust gases produced by the flame's combustion. The kinds of torches we use produce carbon monoxide and NOx - not having good ventilation is akin to sitting in front of your car's tailpipe and breathing the exhaust. And since these noxious products are super hot, they rise super fast, making it critical to get them extracted from your face ASAP. Further, there was a rather interesting article published last year in either the Annealer or The Flow where the author took pictures of the plume around the flame - putting a rod in it actually causes the fumes to bend back toward's the face. This carries both the spent combustion fumes and any heavy metals present in the glass to your face very, very quickly. No way can a fan in a window protect against that exposure, which is why it's so important to do ventilation right.

It's good that folks are still reading and participating in this thread. Some of us are more sensitive to CO and NOx as well as any heavy metals than others, but there seems to be no good way to know ahead of time, unfortunately. All we can do is be smart about ventilation, and then add extra protective measures like masks where it seems warrented for additional fume/heavy metal protection.

Linda

If it works, I'd call it an adequate (though not good) temporary solution. If you are having issues that you think are attributable to lampworking, it's not working.

;)

Hard to determine 'adequate' and 'it works' relative to a temporary solution. As some members on LE have posted, it can take a period of time before certain health impacts appear and to be sure it's really linked to their lampworking environment, so it's possible to be in a situation that's not actually 'adequate' without realizing it immediately. Some members have then posted that it took a while to recover, and some of their symptoms sounded very unpleasant. One young man in NM apparently even died a couple of years ago as a result of inadequate ventilation - he had come to this forum for advice and scoffed at the excellent inputs some of the very knowledgeable people on this forum had given him. Terrible price to pay for denial....

Over the years of reading this and related forums, I've seen an increasing number of people posting about health issues similar to those folks have described here Many of those posting having issues were trying to get by with just fans in windows. The popularity of silver-rich glass, fuming, and the use of metal inclusions like copper may be compounding the problem - heavy metal poisoning on top of combustion exhaust poisoning. One LE member who had particular problems with copper poisoning posted having to do quite a few upgrades to her ventilation system and take other precautions to recover and continue to lampwork.

While it's good to do follow up testing, since each of us have unique sensitivities, I think butterflyb65 was right on point in her post last year - better to be proactively safe with the right ventilation than try to recover afterwards. I know that advocating proper ventilation even before beginning lampworking isn't, unfortunately, particularly popular. As someone who respects the real health concerns posted by folks here and in other threads, I don't personally feel comfortable doing anything less.

In the spirit of offering information that might help others, below are links to some excellent places to learn more about ventilation and other safety topics:

http://mikeaurelius.wordpress.com/ventilation-primer/

and

http://www.artglassanswers.com/

What other folks have posted here in LE is that, in addition to top-class ventilation, particularly if they are fuming with silver or gold, they wear fume-grade face masks and wear long sleeves to provide protection to their skin.

Hope this information helps folks.

Linda