Gadolinium, and Other Heavy Metal Testing for Deposition Disease. Easy, Cheap, Safe (if done right).

I was just sent an article on the death of Brittany Murphy from the LA Times by a colleague , that part of the issue was the cause of her death and could it have been heavy metals. She died at 32 a number of years back from according to the medical examiner report was pneumonia and anemia . I really like her in the movies she was in... I have to say I did not know she was dead or forgot she was dead. Dying at age 32 when you are well off (hence good hygiene environment and presumably good diet) is an extremely rare and of course tragic occurrence. I do not know if she had a heavy metal deposition disease state, but she could have. In fact I am quite convinced that a number of celebrities who have weird sickness may have at their core Gadolinium Deposition Disease or another heavy metal deposition disease state. The tragedy for them is that their physicians do not consider it, because generally they are unaware of these conditions, so do not look for it. Of course what is worse is that they will dismiss it as not possible with the confidence generally reserved for the ignorant and pompous.

If I was very sick and given some diagnosis like fibromyalgia, chronic inflammatory response syndrome, MCAS, stiff person disease, etc, etc, the first thing I would think about is: did I receive a GBCA injection with an MRI in the past, and can I relate my symptom development to within a month or two of that injection? Then Gadolinium Deposition Disease (GDD) would be high on the list to exclude.

The diagnosis, and first treatment is through chelation with iv DTPA with obtaining pre- and post-chelation 24 hr urine. If the likelihood is high, dedicated concurrent steroid treatment at the time of chelation is wise to control the Flare. If Gd in urine goes up post chelation and I experience Gd removal Flare and subsequently Gd re-equilibrium Flare, then you have the diagnosis: simple, cheap, safe (if done correctly with steroids) and definitive. Maybe amongst the best diagnosis of a complex disease that can be made in medicine. The diagnostic procedure is also the first treatment session. This same basic approach can be used with other heavy metals, and for lead it is identical as for Gd.

If you do not have a history of Gadolinium administration, two possibilities: 1) you did, but you did not know it or were not told it, or 2) you have another heavy metal deposition disease state. Probably Lead Deposition Disease is the most common. Lead Deposition Disease is treated with the same chelator and same approach as described for Gd. Other heavy metal deposition disease states I am currently in the process of working out chelation strategies.

The big mistake that nearly all practices that chelate make is the belief that treating heavy metals can be done by the same approach for all of them, and will try some chelator randomly and think this is good to use: such as deferoxamine use for GDD, or more commonly EDTA or DMSA. The first rule for using a chelator is know what the stability constant is for the metal you are intending to remove - never just randomly use some random chelator and think this is a good idea. This generally is a very bad idea. Use the chelator with the highest stability for the metal you are intending to remove. Expansion on this subject will be made in future blogs.

So bottom line: testing for GDD and other heavy metals, right now lead is done exactly the same as for Gd, is cheap, easy, fast and safe (if done well). This is what I do all the time. GDD is highly treatable to near cure, with often limited number of treatments. Incorrectly diagnosed as some weird condition will result in a remainder of life in intense agony, constantly feeling that you are going to die. This is a great tragedy, that perhaps the primary culprit is the lack of knowledge by physicians and other health care workers.

Chronically sick... maybe you have heavy metal toxicity. Fast, easy, cheap, and safe to find out. And can be treated relatively well (Gd and Lead) to get back to yourself from your current state as a zombie in constant pain.

Richard Semelka, MD