heavy metals and tobacco

[metropolitan]

last year, while i was a pack and half or more a day smoker, i took an in-home heavy metal test and the results came out that i was verging on an excessive load. The home tests are not very sophisticated, they test for a range of heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, etc.) all at once, not individually like the ones you can take at a doctor's office, so you don't really know what specific heavy metals you might have in your system. My guess was that the culprit was mercury as i eat a lot of seafood and cadmium which is found in tobacco smoke.
i've been on a heavy metal detox diet for awhile and vaping instead of smoking and i'm planning on taking another in-home test in a few months (it takes a good 6 months or so to naturally flush out heavy metals from your system). if the results are not any lower it will be time to get a doctor to take a closer look.
with all that said i would recommend long time smokers to get tested for heavy metals (around $20 for an in-home kit).

 

[oxygen thief]

I hear a lot about this on mental health forums. I rarely respond. Here's what Quackwatch, who has been recognized by many major health agencies has to say about heavy metals.

The Heavy Metal Screen Test: Another Test to Avoid

 

[metropolitan]

well it becomes a "he said - she said" situation as Quackwatch is actually run by a controversial character, stephen barret, who is not a medical doctor, but a (non practicing) psychologist. he is a professional skeptic for a living. among many things he doesn't believe in include such things as anti-oxidants, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, vitamin supplements, lyme disease, herbal remedies etc. on the other hand he tends to believe in big pharma medicine and rarely if ever will you find a prescription only pharmaceutical criticized in his websites. it's all about attacking any form of alternative medicine or preventive care.
he's been around for a long time doing his schtick under various websites.
here's some old articles about him:
Doctor Who? - Page 1 - News - New York - Village Voice
Quackbusters Are Busted!

 

[eddiezheadiez]

I've heard that heavy metals can make you feel drowsy and sluggish throughout the day. I don't know how much truth there is to it though. I wonder if its possible to inhale heavy metals from kanthal wire or SS mesh? For example, when there's a hot spot on a coil. There's always a funky metallic taste when it happens. I wonder what that taste is? Anyway, if you're trying to detox from heavy metals check out Zeolite by Healthforce nutrition. Its made with a certain clay and I've heard its really good at removing heavy metals from the body. Also that quack watch guy seems like the opposite of a conspiracy theorist. He will find one piece of evidence (true or not) to claim something is BS whereas a conspiracy theorist does the opposite.

 

[Baums]

well it becomes a "he said - she said" situation as Quackwatch is actually run by a controversial character, stephen barret, who is not a medical doctor, but a (non practicing) psychologist. he is a professional skeptic for a living. among many things he doesn't believe in include such things as anti-oxidants, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, vitamin supplements, lyme disease, herbal remedies etc. on the other hand he tends to believe in big pharma medicine and rarely if ever will you find a prescription only pharmaceutical criticized in his websites. it's all about attacking any form of alternative medicine or preventive care.
he's been around for a long time doing his schtick under various websites.
here's some old articles about him:
Doctor Who? - Page 1 - News - New York - Village Voice
Quackbusters Are Busted!

Nail on the head.

 

[KENNY V]

yup here is an oldie but goodie

exert

In a shocking report published earlier this year, BNET exposed how WebMD's online test for depression is rigged for profit:

"Feeling depressed? Cheer yourself up by taking WebMD's comical new depression test.

It's sponsored by Eli Lilly (LLY) . maker of the antidepressant Cymbalta – so they must know what they're talking about, right?

In fact, no matter which of the 10 answers you choose on the test, the result comes out the same:

You may be at risk for major depression."

But that's just the beginning. A number of questions about just how 'independent' a source WebMD is have since surfaced, and the answers are not what you'd expect.



This entire story reminds me of the old adage, "with friends like that, who needs enemies?"

If you didn't already know this, WebMD is the second most visited health web site on the entire web. The general belief is that it's a first-rate, trustworthy source of "independent and objective" information about health.

In fact, the only health site more popular than WebMD is the National Institutes of Health (NIH). You also might not realize that earlier this year Mercola.com, moved up to the third most visited health site on the internet. Mercola.com has been the most visited natural health site in the world for the last five years.
You can see a complete listing ofthe top 20 most visited health and natural health sites below

SEE LINK for ENTIRE STORY
WebMD, Not the Independent Health Source You Expected