The past two weeks have been a bit quiet here at The Science Mom and you may have noticed that I've missed two of the proposed regular weekly posts - originally the "Sunday Surprise," later the "Monday Surprise." I wish I could say we've been at the beach the last few weeks, but the truth is that the last two Mondays were not so great for me - migraine the Monday before last and something strange going on this past Monday.
The migraine last Monday was surely brought on by a night of mostly-care free dining. Friends wanted to take us to dinner to celebrate that the Professor is now a tenured member of the faculty (yay!). I decided to only worry about gluten, keep it simple (ha ha), and try to enjoy the evening out.
I truly did enjoy the evening out. The food was fabulous - a yummy tomato/basil/mozzarella salad, a tasty filet with casein- and egg-laden accompaniments, fine wine, and good company. It truly was wonderful to be out with good friends and enjoy a meal without thoroughly grilling the server and/or chef. I give lots of kudos to our server and the chef that night for seeming to be quite well-versed in all things gluten. I don't think I'll "let loose" like that again any time soon on account of the repercussions I experienced, but it was a lovely evening.
I could go on and on with my theories of what in the world was going on this recent Monday. I first thought I was still getting over the migraine and having a little added fatigue from Little O's late night/early morning wakings twice this weekend. I was fatigued. Very sensitive to light. Having a hard time keeping a train of thought going.
I started to think maybe it was viral as it felt as though a cold sore was coming on. (Interesting observation: the other times I've had a casein "infraction" in the past year or so, one of the repercussions has been getting a cold-sore - as though it taxes my immune system in a way that allows the virus to emerge again.)
Taking some lysine and Olive Leaf Extract seemed to be helping, so I'm thinking the latter hypothesis is a more reasonable candidate.
I can say that I don't even have to look at the clock to know when I need to take my next dose, I start feeling badly - tired, brain fog, grumpy - and the tingling of the emerging cold sore comes back. I can't thank the parents at the various autism/bio-med Yahoo! groups enough.
The Os are not on the autistic spectrum, but some of Big O's digestive issues and our mercury issues have led me to these groups and those parents are brave, smart, and caring. They openly and generously share their personal experiences (both positive and not so positive) with the various biomedical and natural remedies out there. Without their collective help, I would never have thought to look to Olive Leaf Extract and Lysine for helping my body beat down a virus. Shoot, I'd have never even agreed to try these things without seeing such extensive anecdotal evidence produced by these families. Thankfully, here I am, trying it out, and experiencing results!
But, there's this other pesky little thing lingering in my head - quite literally in fact - mercury. It's in my mouth - lots of it. It's in my body according to a urine porphyrins test. It's in at least Big O's body (also determined via urine porphyrins testing) and I'm fairly sure if we tested Little O we'd see his body has some, too.
It makes me sad, angry, frustrated, worried. The Professor and I want to have more children, but there's part of me that just cannot enter another pregnancy with so much mercury in my body. Thankfully, the Os are truly amazingly healthy and happy little boys. They are intelligent, kind, rambunctious, energetic, adorable, handsome, special people. They are. I know this and am grateful.
But, there are little things that I am certain can at least, in part, be blamed on the mercury. It's nearly impossible for me to articulate and every time I consider trying, I realize how trivial most parents would think my concerns to be. I realize this. I do. But I also know there are things mercury is doing to their (and my) bodies that are less than ideal. It's that whole mother's intuition tainted by science thing again...
The thing is, I am on the cusp of having the opportunity to have my amalgams removed finally and to begin chelating myself, and hopefully at least Big O. It's an expensive endeavor - both in terms of money and in terms of health. (It is truly unfortunate that children are still burdened with these mercury laden dental fillings.) It should, and I believe will, ultimately result in better health. But, it can be a tough road.
I have this constant battle in my head about the next baby. The Professor points to our two perfect little boys and wonders why I am concerned about having another before removing amalgams and chelating. Sometimes I wonder, too. But, the bottom line is that in my heart and way down deep, I know I know too much now. No, we aren't getting any younger and I realize that as I push closer to 40 before having another baby our risk of issues like Down's syndrome and other chromosomal conditions increases. But, I also want to be happy about being pregnant. Enjoy it. Savor it. I want to enjoy breastfeeding again. Relish in providing my baby with the most natural, healthy nourishment intended just for her (yes, of course I'd love to add a girl to our brood!). But, as long as there is mercury running rampant in my body, I will have an underlying degree of guilt and concern throughout pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Aside from that, mercury toxicity can manifest in many ways and can take a slow toll over time. Who knows how my health might be in two or three years? If I got pregnant this month, I would not be able to have my amalgams removed and chelate until I'm finished breastfeeding. That could be at least two, probably three or more years. By then, maybe my health would really decline, who knows?
I think I'm at peace with taking a year off from trying to have another baby to get myself to at least a lighter mercury load. I'll be 38 this year in November. If I get amalgams out and chelation under way by, say, June, I might be in position to work on getting pregnant again by next June or July. Yes, our chances of certain complications will increase over the next year. But I still think the benefits of removing the mercury from my body before getting pregnant again outweigh the risks of not getting the mercury out before getting pregnant again.
Perhaps the weekly "surprise" post will now evolve into the random update on our mercury eradication process. . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment