My Annual Health Update

It’s been a year since Getting the Mercury Out was published. Hard to believe it–time passes so quickly. Over the past year, my favorite thing has been hearing from my readers, learning their mercury stories and answering their questions.

The top question from readers has been, How do you feel now?

Tied for second most frequently asked question are these two: Is your allergy to gluten really gone–really, really? and Do you still need to chelate?

Since so many people are curious about me, I’ve decided to write this update on how I’m doing. A kind of two-year-post-chelation check-in.

So question number one: how do I feel these days?

Well folks, I feel pretty fantastic. I wrote at the end of Getting the Mercury Out about how I got my strength back, and I was able to do things that I couldn’t imagine tackling while I was sick.

In the year since I wrote that, I’ve gotten even stronger. I have a deep and reliable reserve of physical stamina–not just enough to go about my ordinary day, but extra energy for a regular workout routine. I feel active and healthy–the days of adrenal fatigue when I felt utterly drained by physical activity are long gone.

My mind is doing very well too, thank you. When I think back to those horror-filled days of mercury fear and confusion, it’s like a dim and distant nightmare. It’s almost like it happened to someone else. These days, I can rely on my brain to think and my memory to function. My emotions are consistently calm now, I just have ordinary reactions to ordinary events. No more crazy drama, no more hysterical tears. It’s like my personality went through the car wash and now I’m a brighter and shinier version of myself.

Next question: What about the gluten?

I’ve been cautious about phasing gluten back into my diet. My allergic reaction to it was so strong, it was hard to believe that I could ever be cured. But so far it looks like my allergy to gluten is gone. A couple of weeks ago I was travelling and ate gluten every day for a week–nothing happened. When I got home, I kinda forgot I was supposed to be gluten free and just kept on eating it–still no symptoms.

I know that old allergies can sometimes crop up again, but so far–fingers crossed–it looks like chelation cured this one 🙂

Speaking of chelation–do I still chelate?

I have done some rounds of chelation since I wrote the book–some DMSA, and more notably some ALA which I wrote about here–that turned out to be surprisingly pleasant. But I have gotten lazy about it, and since I don’t feel sick anymore, I’m not very motivated to keep chelating. I’m sure that at some point I’ll take up chelation again, but for right now, since I don’t have any pressing mercury symptoms, I don’t chelate.

Do I still consider myself heavy metal toxic?

Not really. I feel that period of my life slipping away into the mists of memory. I used to spend the majority of my time thinking about my health, now I don’t need or want to. I have moved into a phase where I’m happy to maintain good lifestyle habits, but these things are not at the forefront of my mind. I eat healthy foods, I exercise, I still take some supplements, but fewer and fewer as time goes by. I guess I see my self as recovered–an ex-mercury sufferer.

Do I have any mercury symptoms at all?

Yes! I have one–count it, one!–mercury symptom left. If I eat sugar in any significant quantity, I get a non-itchy fungal rash on my skin. I’ve gotten some clues recently about why this symptom has persisted so stubbornly when I’m so vigorously healthy in every other way–but I’ll get into that in a whole other post. Short answer–no symptoms, just an avoidable rash.

So what’s next?

I’ve gotten better–so much so that I’m beginning to forget what’s it’s like to be sick. I’ve written and published my book, told the world my story. I’ve blogged about what it was like to be sick, and I’ve blogged about what it’s like to be better. What does that mean? Am I done now? Have I written all there is to write about mercury?

Not a chance.

If you’ve been following here, you know that I’m working on not just one novel, but a trilogy starring mercury poisoned characters of all stripes. Who knows when these books will be published, but I’m working as fast as I can, and I promise you will get to read them one day.

I’m excited about those novels, but there’s another project I’m even more thrilled to tell you about. Right now I am in the process of getting a new mercury chelation memoir ready for publication by Capsule Press!

This book is written by Daniel Forsyth–whom many of you know as “Sunshine” from the mercury forums. He has written a fabulous book about his chelation journey and I really can’t wait to share it with you all–it really is fantastic.

I’ve run on long enough here–tune in next week for the full report on what Danny’s book is going to be like. I know you’re all going to love it!

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