Important Update
I sent my original complaint to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the UK equivalent of the FDA, on 4th February 2021. I assumed that they would handle the complaint and get back to me. However, I eventually received an email from someone who asked for permission to send my information to the manufacturer which I gave on 29th March 2021. This person told me that the manufacturer would get in touch with me directly. Unfortunately, I am still waiting to hear from them more than four months later.
If I am correct, the model of blood analyser used by my hospital for decades has a serious bug which means that people who've been poisoned by mercury from dental amalgam or perhaps other sources and have the characteristic combined microcytosis and macrocytosis, are falling through the cracks in the medical system as a result. I don't know if other blood analyser models from the same manufacturer do the same thing or, indeed, if other blood analysers from other manufacturers perform similarly. I think this is likely to be the case, however, as it would be expected that they all produce similar results and such an anomaly would, I hope, stand out and have already been detected. Millions of people in the UK have had dental amalgam fillings over the decades of the NHS's existence and may be suffering from chronic health problems as a result. Ultimately, I think that the long term health consequences of mercury poisoning, if they remain undiagnosed and untreated, will probably be fatal.
Is it possible that there are so many people around the world suffering from mercury poisoning from dental amalgam that the algorithm was chosen to filter them out? Was it simply assumed that since so many people had this problem it could be safely ignored? Why would doctors, dentists, scientists and even government health systems deny that mercury from dental amalgam and other sources is a problem for humans when even the WHO and EU admit that it is? How can we trust a medical system which may have been poisoning us for years and is still denying it, particularly given what is happening at the moment? I would like answers to these questions and I hope you do too. I think that this problem may have such serious ramifications that it could be undermining much of modern medicine and associated science as we know it. How can they produce accurate diagnoses when they are clearly failing to take into account something as elementary as the patient's metabolism? How much of the chronic ill-health so many of us suffer from is actually due to poisoning by such toxins? I've frequently heard doctors scoff at the idea of "detoxification" when it's clearly vital when one has been poisoned and the likelihood is that, once any toxins are removed, the body will recover to full health on its own.
One positive piece of news is that I believe that my message is getting out to general practitioners (GP) here in the UK at least. I was reading posts on a Facebook group dedicated to B12 deficiency and spotted one that seems to confirm that GPs are finally getting the idea: this person's GP told them that their haemoglobin was high because that is something the body does to compensate when you are lacking in B12. Of course, this isn't the whole story and the GP failed to tell the patient that s/he was hypoxic. They were clearly referring to the body adapting to low oxygen levels by increasing the amount of haemoglobin in his red blood cells. At least, however, this patient is finally receiving vitamin B12 injections and I hope will eventually get the treatment s/he needs. The unfortunate thing, of course, is the fact that there is nothing in place to help NHS patients detoxify mercury or any other toxic metals for that matter and GPs know nothing about methylation or how to restore the metabolism using nutrition, even though they should. This should be the simplest thing for a GP to diagnose and treat but, unfortunately, it isn't although I hope it will be soon.
I hope that more honest doctors will discover that they've been missing something as obvious as hypoxia in many of their patients for so many years and begin to diagnose and treat them. Of course, it would be ideal if the medical establishment were to acknowledge this problem itself and simply direct the profession to diagnose and treat it as a matter of urgency. I'm rather disappointed that they haven't responded to my original article given that they now know they're using obviously flawed blood analysers which, I fear, together with the general negligence of doctors and their failure to use cell histograms for diagnosis despite their easy availability, have caused enormous suffering and death.
One last thing. I was rather shocked to learn recently that Professor Chris Exely of Keele University has been let go by them. He has been doing a lot of very interesting work on aluminium and how it affects us neurologically. I wonder why they felt so threatened by his work. Could it be that the idea that we're being poisoned by the likes of aluminium and mercury in our medicines, food and environment is becoming a rather hot topic? It seems like it: https://www.thelibertybeacon.com/leading-scientist-brought-to-his-knees-by-gates-big-pharma/.
Introduction
This article is a vital public service announcement. I hope that it will be of extreme interest to everyone who has or has ever had dental amalgam fillings or received any medical treatment in which mercury in any form was used. It will be of particular interest to anyone who is suffering from vitamin B12 deficiency of unknown aetiology, ADHD or other neurological and metabolic conditions. My information may enable you to prove that you are suffering from mercury poisoning due to the known haematological effects this has and the associated nutritional deficiencies caused.
Everyone with a chronic medical condition should be aware that their condition may be due to the rather shocking failure of the medical profession to understand how to read the simple full blood count (FBC), as it is known in the UK, or complete blood count (CBC), as it is known in the US and logically analyse what the simple statistics contained therein actually mean. My own FBC contained several red flagged, over the top-of-the-range parameters for decades which I knew nothing about until I got a copy of my own medical records. I strongly recommend that people obtain copies of their own medical records and check for such issues. Demand an explanation for any red-flagged parameters and obtain your cell histograms from your FBC which are essential as I explain below.
The FBC is the most fundamental tool in the doctor's toolbox and as such it was truly astonishing to me to find that they appear to be so inept at understanding it and so unwilling to investigate red-flagged results. I have discovered that many people who believe that they might be suffering from some form of macrocytosis and/or microcytosis, may actually be suffering from hypoxia caused by mercury poisoning or some other toxin that is capable of binding to haemoglobin. This results in symptoms similar to those of anaemia but the patient is not anaemic as their haemoglobin and/or red blood cell count are in the normal range. Consequently, doctors often reject the symptoms as not serious and do not even consider the possibility of hypoxia even though it is an elementary diagnosis that features frequently in all the undergraduate haematology textbooks for medical students. One such recent edition of an undergraduate haematology textbook contains 17 references to hypoxia. As if this were not bad enough, I have recently discovered that at least one of the automated blood analysers we all rely on may have a very serious bug which effectively hides the existence of the microcytic red blood cells (RBC) which I believe are characteristic of mercury poisoning and cause anomalous results. The information necessary to spot the problem in my case was present in the results including the cell histograms but, apparently, doctors, scientists and laboratory technicians were unable to analyse and solve this problem logically leaving me and I fear, many millions of other people to suffer debilitating symptoms unnecessarily for many years.
There is No Safe Threshold for Mercury in the Human Body According to the WHO and EU
Apparently it is now a requirement to agree with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in all things medical, otherwise you are not allowed to speak. So, I hereby swear or affirm that I believe the WHO when it wrote the following in its policy paper Mercury in health care : policy paper[13]:
a) "Around 80% of the inhaled mercury vapour is absorbed in the blood through the lungs."
b) "In 1991, the World Health Organization confirmed that mercury contained in dental amalgam is the greatest source of mercury vapour in non-industrialized settings, exposing the concerned population to mercury levels significantly exceeding those set for food and for air."
c) "Adverse health effects from mercury exposure can be: tremors, impaired vision and hearing, paralysis, insomnia, emotional instability, developmental deficits during fetal development, and attention deficit and developmental delays during childhood."
d) "Recent studies suggest that mercury may have no threshold below which some adverse effects do not occur."
So, essentially, the WHO states that mercury vapour from dental amalgam causes adverse health effects and that there really is no safe level for mercury below which it is not harmful to some degree. I rather suspect this will come as news to the millions of people in the UK and abroad who have had dental amalgam fillings. There was no recall and the NHS have not offered to pay to have my fillings removed and replaced with safer white fillings.
Not only the WHO acknowledges the adverse health effects of mercury but the European Union (EU) does too. In the document Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament - Community Strategy Concerning Mercury {SEC(2005) 101} /* COM/2005/0020 final */[19], they state: "The largest source of mercury exposure for most people in developed countries is inhalation of mercury vapour from dental amalgam." They also acknowledge that, "Mercury and its compounds are highly toxic to humans, ecosystems and wildlife," and, "High doses can be fatal to humans, but even relatively low doses can have serious adverse neuro-developmental impacts, and have recently been linked with possible harmful effects on the cardiovascular, immune and reproductive systems." Therefore, they say, "Hence exposure of women of child-bearing age and children is of greatest concern." In fact, studies have shown that the level of mercury found in foetuses is strongly correlated with the number of dental amalgam fillings and these may be a continuous source of organic mercury, which is more toxic than inorganic mercury and is almost completely absorbed by the human intestine[2].
Shockingly, however, dental amalgam fillings are still available from NHS Dentists according to this webpage: What Are NHS Fillings and Crowns Made Of[22]? Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Germany, Finland and Slovakia are among countries which have banned their use or are phasing them out over the next few years. The British Dental Association's position is that they are lobbying to be able to continue to use dental amalgam and avoid a full ban despite the steps taken to ban its use altogether in the aforementioned countries[23].
The apparent concerns of the WHO and EU seem at odds with the views of Peter Ward, the former Chairman of the British Dental Association:
He claims, in the interview, that there is "no real evidence that mercury does cause any problems in that way." However, it certainly seems to me as though there is quite a lot of evidence that even small amounts of mercury cause problems in the human body as the list of references beneath this article attests. Interestingly, there are many papers associating mercury and other metals poisoning with vitamin B12 deficiency and anaemia[4][7][8].
How My Health Problems Due to Mercury Poisoning Occurred
When I was young, unfortunately, my parents took me to a dentist who I believe deliberately damaged my teeth in order to fill them with dental amalgam. He would ram the dental explorer very hard into my teeth. I told my parents about this but they assumed that it was not harmful as they couldn't believe a dentist would deliberately do such a thing. However, he finally rammed the explorer so hard into one of my upper molars that he almost lifted me out of the chair. I yelled out in pain to my father who came running into the room. After I told him what had happened, we left and that was that but I had a large number of dental amalgam fillings in every molar in my mouth as a result.
Subsequently, I suffered from a number of chronic health problems, the worst of which was being diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency of unknown aetiology when I was 24 years old. I was told by doctors that this was very unusual in someone my age and I was very lucky to have had my deficiency diagnosed so early. All I needed, according to them, was a vitamin B12 injection (hydroxocobalamin) three or four times a year and I would be fine from then on. Sadly, this was not to be the case. My health continued to decline for many years with my memory gradually worsening to the point in 2006 that I was no longer able to get work as a contract software engineer. During this period, I went to my GP asking for an increased frequency of B12 injections and a trial prescription of 5mg folic acid as recommended by the [Pernicious Anaemia Society] (https://pernicious-anaemia-society.org) (PAS), which also helps those with B12 deficiency of unknown aetiology, but was refused. I was also referred to several consultant haematologists, including paying to see one privately, but they also refused to give me a trial of increased frequency B12 injections and 5mg folic acid. I will save the details of how the vitamin B12 deficiency affected my health for future posts but, in essence, I had got to the point where I believe I was slowly dying and I suspect that, had I not taken matters into my own hands, I would probably have become severely disabled and died in relatively few years. Given how unwell I was by 2011 even with very large doses of vitamin B12 and other supplements, I doubt I would've still been alive at that point without it.
The Struggle to Find the Cause of My Health Problems
I was obliged to research haematology and scientific disciplines such as genetics, biochemistry and physiology for myself in an attempt to try and figure out what was wrong with me. Around 2008, I finally obtained a copy of my medical records in order to see my blood test results for myself. I was horrified to see that all of my FBC tests contained red-flagged parameters, specifically the mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) among others. In more than a decade, I had never been told there was any issue at all with my FBC. I was shocked that a doctor would not even mention such a thing to a patient.
When I asked my GP about all of these red-flagged blood parameters, he was very dismissive and said that this was "normal" for me which I found astonishing. He then told me that 5% of people had abnormal FBC parameters and they did not know why. Clearly they were never likely to find out why if they simply ignored the problem and hoped it went away.
As far as I was aware at the time, he had never even tried to find a possible cause for it and had simply rejected out of hand at least one possible cause and solution from another doctor at the practice. Indeed, the only experiment or trial he had ever done was to deny me my B12 injection for 6 months because he felt my serum B12 levels were so high that he thought I could not possibly have a B12 deficiency. This spoke volumes for his lack of knowledge of B12 deficiency treatment: it is advised not to retest serum B12 once on replacement therapy because levels will be high as a matter of course and do not mean that the original deficiency has been cured. PAS frequently have to deal with distraught patients in a similar situation whose GPs have stopped their injections. In some cases, the consequences can be severe and people have been known to end up sectioned in mental hospitals as a result. Vitamin B12 replacement therapy is for life for a reason and injections should never be stopped. Certainly not by a GP on a whim.
I subsequently encountered a lot of resistance from him with regard to being referred to a consultant haematologist and he did not even want to refer me privately, i.e. with me paying the costs. In the UK, of course, medical treatment is supposed to be free at the point of use but people frequently have to resort to paying to see NHS trained doctors privately when their GPs refuse to refer them to consultants. Eventually, after some quite unpleasant rows, I was referred privately, went to see a world-renowned expert in B12 deficiency and was eventually referred to a consultant haematologist at my local hospital. To my deep distress, however, neither of them managed to diagnose me. They were not even interested in recommending that my GP increase the frequency of my vitamin B12 injections and/or doing a trial of 5mg folic acid to see if it helped me. I envisaged a very bleak future for myself indeed after this as I was feeling very unwell indeed at that point. Was it really possible that they didn't know what was wrong with me? I could scarcely believe it given that they had some clues to follow.
Fortunately, however, I am nothing if not stubborn and over the past ten or so years I have taken matters into my own hands, gradually learned what I needed to know to at least treat myself sufficiently such that I am still alive and finally arrived at the proper diagnosis on my own. I learned the basics over the course of a few years but no doctor was prepared to even entertain what I was pointing out to them as far as the simple problem with my FBC goes. The FBC is, after all, based on very simple, school-level statistics which any doctor should understand forwards and backwards. They are highly trained in advanced statistics because they need to be able to read scientific papers which require a far more sophisticated understanding of the subject than most people ever attain. Quite why a GP, much less a consultant haematologist, was unable to think their way through the possible causes of my FBC results is a mystery to me. It is, quite simply, totally illogical and makes no sense to me whatsoever. How could so many highly trained people fail to arrive at the correct diagnosis over so many years when even the WHO and EU had acknowledged the serious issues with mercury poisoning from dental amalgam?
Four years ago I wrote the following Steemit post based on what I had learned at that point: How big are your red blood cells? Too big? Too small? Just right? Find out here[20]. I expected to update it long before now and to write many other posts on the haematological problems I had investigated and how they affected my health. However, I am delighted to say that I think you will find that this update has been well-worth the wait. What I am about to reveal is actually a shocking indictment of our medical and dental systems which I think will change the lives of many people for the better. It is difficult to believe that there is so much negligence, perhaps worse, at the heart of this but I am afraid that the evidence shows that it is true: simple haematological problems caused by mercury poisoning from dental amalgam are, in my opinion and experience, causing widespread ill-health unnecessarily and I will explain why in detail. At least, these would be simple haematological problems if doctors and haematology lab technicians were well trained and the equipment they used worked properly. Unfortunately, it seems, they are not and it does not.
How Can Mercury From Dental Amalgam Harm Your Health?
I was completely unaware, until eighteen months or so ago, that the dental amalgam fillings I had had as a child really could have caused the vitamin B12 deficiency of unknown aetiology that I have been suffering from for more than thirty years. I had heard stories from people who had spent many thousands of pounds having their mercury fillings "safely" removed and claimed it had helped them. However, for better or worse, I believed what I had been told by the authorities about there not being enough mercury in dental amalgam to cause health problems until I saw evidence to the contrary. I had not seen the evidence from the WHO and other organisations such as the EU at that point. I certainly did not want to spend many thousands of pounds to find out that it did not help.
I discovered that mercury vapour from dental amalgam is released, inhaled and enters red blood cells (RBC) via the lungs where it binds to haemoglobin [1] reducing its oxygen carrying capacity by 50% I have read. I have not yet found a source in the scientific literature for the 50% figure so if anyone reading this knows of one, please let me know.
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Over time, as the mercury accumulates in your RBC reducing their oxygen carrying capacity this obviously causes your oxygen levels to fall thereby reducing your metabolism. Naturally, it is common knowledge that oxygen is required to produce energy in your mitochondria. Eventually, your oxygen levels fall to a point at which the body must respond by attempting to increase them. Most people are probably aware that mountaineers who intend to climb a mountain like Everest, ascend to a base camp where they stay for a period as their body acclimatises to the low levels of oxygen at altitude. Their bodies adapt by creating more RBC containing higher levels of haemoglobin. Well, unsurprisingly, once you have been thoroughly poisoned by mercury, your body thinks it is at altitude and begins to adapt in a similar way. Unfortunately, however, this is not as successful as you might imagine because of the nature of illness caused.
Not all of the mercury vapour ends up in your RBC via the lungs. Some is ingested and ends up in your lower intestines where it can interfere with your absorption of iron. This occurs because mercury displaces copper in your intestinal lining which is essential for absorbing iron[9]. So, gradually, you also acquire an iron deficiency in addition to the copper deficiency. Iron deficiency results in a microcytosis which further reduces your oxygen levels in a pernicious, negative, feedback loop.
Mercury in the human body continuously damages our cells causing inflammation and resulting in an increased demand for DNA synthesis and repair. Zinc is essential for detoxifying mercury but, unfortunately, given the continuous demand for mercury detoxification due to the continuous off-gassing of mercury from dental amalgam, this results in a chronic zinc deficiency effectively stopping the mercury detoxification process. If the body cannot detoxify the mercury due to zinc deficiency, then the damage is constantly occurring and accumulating due to the continuous accumulation of mercury in the body. Some people have a lower capacity for DNA synthesis than others as a result of genetic polymorphisms associated with a biochemical process known as methylation. If the body's requirements for DNA synthesis exceeds its ability to meet it, the inflammation becomes chronic and the body's ability to remethylate homocysteine to produce methyl groups is compromised leading to it entering a state known as the methylfolate trap or hypermethylation. When in the methylfolate trap, there is a build up of 5MTHF causing underlying folate (tetrahydrofolate/THF) and B12 (methylcobalamin) deficiencies[16]. Since THF and methylcobalamin are required in mitochondria to produce energy, this reduces the metabolism even further. When the metabolism falls below a certain threshold, the low cellular energy levels impair cellular biochemical function to the extent that this causes epigenetic changes. My understanding is that those with heterozygous methylation related polymorphisms experience worse effects. Once in this state, serious adverse effects occur such as extremely low neurotransmitter levels, impaired DNA synthesis and repair, macrocytosis, impaired detoxification, impaired immune system, etc.
Once macrocytosis and microcytosis have set in, even if the body manages to adapt to the low oxygen levels by increasing the amount of haemoglobin in the RBC, thereby theoretically increasing the amount of oxygen they can carry, this will be much less effective than if the RBC were healthy because macrocytic and microcytic RBC are not flexible and cannot deform in order to enter capillaries to carry oxygen where it is needed[24]. In this state, many people with vitamin B12 deficiency of unknown aetiology report suffering from something they refer to as the "sighs" whereby they have to breathe very deeply, periodically, in order to get enough oxygen. I didn't actually realise that I did this because my condition deteriorated so slowly over so many years that I didn't even notice when I began to do it.
How to Diagnose Mercury Poisoning from Cell Histograms
I was fortunate to encounter cell histograms when I paid to see a consultant haematologist at a private clinic. I had never seen them before and did not even know that such things existed. Apparently all automated blood analysers have been able to produce them for at least a decade and I believe that the first analysers capable of producing them became available in 1999. Previously a peripheral blood smear would need to be performed in order to check the morphology of RBC, WBC and platelets. Cell histograms display the red and white blood cell and platelet distributions as histograms so that they can be easily analysed at a glance. Unfortunately, it seems that few doctors outside of a hospital setting use these histograms to help diagnose their patients. Even fewer doctors seem to understand what they mean in combination with the red cell indices produced by way of diagnosing and treating anaemia or hypoxia.
Automated blood analysers calculate the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) from the haematocrit (HCT) and RBC count which it measures directly from the blood sample. There are a number of manufacturers who make the blood analysers and they use different, patented technologies for determining the volume of a cell.
The platelet and RBC histograms are calculated at the same time and plotted on the same histogram. The two histograms are then displayed separately by splitting it at a point between 25 and 30 fL volume. It is important to note that microcytic RBC may be displayed on the platelet histogram (PH) rather than the RBC histogram (RCH). This is described in the following paper: Clinical Utility of Blood Cell Histogram Interpretation[21].
I recently discovered a document that details how the blood analyser used by my hospital calculates the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and actually confirms that it is not a mean but, rather, it is an average. I have discussed this with an expert statistician who agrees with me on this. Statistically speaking, the red cell histogram (RCH) of a normal blood sample is Gaussian, i.e. a sharp peak, symmetrical in shape, so the average could be said to be the mean in that case under ideal circumstances. However, if there are problems with the sample, particularly more than one cell population, then the average will not be the mean. It could be either higher or lower than the mean and provide a misleading picture of the underlying condition of the patient. The blood analyser calculates what are known as red cell indices from the measured values in order to help distinguish such cases.
It is important to note that this document states the following: "The MCH value tends to be proportional to the MCV." In other words, in a normal sample, if the MCV is in the middle-of-the-range, the MCH will be too. This means that if the MCV and MCH diverge, there is an underlying problem that needs investigating because this could suggest that there are macrocytic and microcytic cell populations the average of which is falsely increasing or decreasing the MCV. This is what I discussed in my original Steemit post: How big are your red blood cells? Too big? Too small? Just right? Find out here[20]. In my case, I had a significant macrocytosis and microcytosis so my MCV was reduced to the normal range because it was the average of large and small RBC rather than the true mean. This is the first indication of a problem in my FBC which was not identified and investigated in my sample.
One of the red cell indices calculated by the machine is the red cell distribution width (RDW-SD), which is a measure of how different the volumes of the RBC are. The paper describes the algorithm used: If either tail of the histogram curve fails to extend below a relative height of 20% above the baseline, the RDW value cannot be calculated and will not be displayed. This will alert the operator to the fact that there may be multiple cell populations and that they should investigate.
I obtained a print out of the FBC for one of my tests including the cell histograms which I would like to attach but, unfortunately, it would identify the make of the analyser so I cannot at the moment. The print out does not include ranges but, as usual, the MCH and MCHC are above the top-of-the-range:†for my hospital the MCH range is 27-32 so at 33.5 my MCH is over the top-of-the-range as was usual and my MCHC, range 31.5-34.5, was also over the top-of-the-range at 35.9. The red cell histogram (RCH) appears to show a normal, Gaussian distribution. However, on checking the platelet histogram (PH), it can be seen that there is a small peak above 25-30 fL and the left hand edge of a second, larger peak rising to the right which are clearly microcytic RBC populations. Therefore, my sample is clearly dimorphic and contains at least three differently sized RBC populations. This is the second indication of a problem in my FBC which was not identified and investigated.
It can be seen from the numerical data that the RDW-SD results are displayed, hence the algorithm used by the machine to determine whether or not there is more than one RBC population has failed to identify the multiple cell populations in my sample. Clearly, however, it does display the microcytic RBC populations where it should in the PH. I believe it is illogical that a competent laboratory technician, GP or consultant haematologist should have failed to spot the main issues with my FBC in the 15 or more years they have been testing my blood using such a machine. The information which ought to have brought about the necessary investigations to diagnose me was ignored and the necessary questions were not asked. Regardless, it is clear that the algorithm used by the blood analyser failed to identify the multiple cell populations in my sample and erroneously calculated and displayed statistically meaningless RDW-SD values. This is the third indication of a problem with my sample which was not identified and investigated.
It is possible that the RCH is what is known as left shifted which is why the microcytic populations are not visible on the RCH, i.e. they have dropped off the left hand side of the histogram. Apparently the analyser can flag this in some way but this is not described in the document and will require further research. This is the fourth and last example of a problem with my sample I am aware of which was not identified and investigated.
Nonsense Spouted by Consultant Haematologists
Bizarrely, several consultant haematologists have been very dismissive of the red cell indices when I have discussed my condition with them. One described them as "numbers the computer spits out" and another described the MCH as a "derived index of little value". Neither seemed to be able to consider why blood analysers were designed to produce these values in a logical manner. I did point out to both of them that it seemed to me that these indices indicated boundary conditions of interest particularly when trying to diagnose conditions such as anaemia but, unfortunately, this got me nowhere. Clearly they were either being totally illogical or gaslighting me for some reason. For consultant haematologists to say such things is utterly unforgivable. A thorough understanding of the red cell indices should be essential for a GP much less a consultant haematologist.
It will be interesting if my medical negligence case were ever to come to court to have those two gentlemen in the witness box explaining their understanding of the red cell indices and why they said what they did. Those are not the only bizarre things said to me by such people, of course, there's much more to say in due course but, suffice to say, the haematology profession clearly needs to get to grips with the basics of the FBC as it's clearly a dismal failure at the moment. This is really school-level statistics and there's just no logical reason or excuse for top consultant haematologists failing to understand such simple concepts.
N.B. I'm not just referring to conversations. I have some of this drivel in writing. One of these consultants was an expert witness I was considering employing. Needless to say I refused his kind offer to take my money upfront to consider it further after he'd demonstrated his dismal grasp of the basics of the FBC. It's no great surprise that I've been unable to find an expert witness in haematology to take my case on. They're clearly terrified to publicly demonstrate how little they really know. I'm sure there's at least one such expert witness out there who's capable of producing a competent diagnosis in my case but I've been unable to find one. If you're that person, please get in touch below. Someone needs to clean up your profession as soon as humanly possible.
The Correct Diagnosis
The correct diagnosis is that I was suffering from hypoxia as a result of mercury poisoning from dental amalgam. I was, effectively, living my life as though I were breathing the low levels of oxygen a free-climbing mountaineer on Everest would experience. When the body adapts to altitude, it produces RBC containing more haemoglobin. It is crystal clear that that was why my MCH and MCHC were high. Note that my haemoglobin was in the normal range because the microcytic cells could not contain as much haemoglobin as the macrocytic cells and so the average was reduced. To be clear, the microcytic RBC in this case are substantially smaller than macrocytic RBC given that they did not even fit on the RCH.
Please note that it is possible that other metals, viruses, fungi and other chemicals may enter RBC and bind with haemoglobin causing hypoxia. Aluminium poisoning is known to cause anaemia so I suspect it may do so via the same mechanism and may also cause hypoxia. This requires further investigation. For instance, it was discovered early on that the COVID-19 virus was binding to haemoglobin, preventing the RBC from carrying as much oxygen as normal and causing hypoxia.
The scientific literature associates iron deficiency with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)[17]. Remarkably, however, it seems they have thus far failed to identify mercury poisoning as a possible cause of the iron deficiency. I received a diagnosis of Adult ADHD in 2010 and I believe that mercury poisoning was the cause. Furthermore, I suspect that it is associated with the severe adverse reaction I had to the smallpox vaccine as a baby in 1968 as this vaccine contained mercury left over from the purification process. The metabolic dysfunction mercury causes may also be associated with autism caused by vaccines according to experts.
The issue of metabolic blocks such as the methylfolate trap/hypermethylation is being recognised by scientists. Such metabolic blocks block the healing cycle and cause chronic inflammation and disease[25]. Imagine how much chronic disease could be eliminated globally if people received the necessary treatment to detoxify mercury and restore their bodies to homeostasis. Certainly anyone who's ever had dental amalgam fillings ought to investigate the issue for themselves. I think that if they can point to the haematological effects of the mercury poisoning in the form of a red cell histogram in black and white, doctors in the allopathic medical system will have no choice but to treat it even though this is essentially an entirely nutrition related issue once the toxins have been successfully removed. We the people will then have the medical system we deserve, i.e. one that functions for our benefit and not its own. Currently, people like me have no choice but to pay privately for diagnosis and treatment from naturopaths, functional medicine doctors or traditional Chinese medical practitioners when we're already paying for the NHS and/or private medical insurance. It's particularly galling when it's the allopathic medical system that made us sick in the first place.
So, for many people suffering from vitamin B12 deficiency of unknown aetiology, recovery depends on restoring the metabolism and hence ensuring that their genetics are able to function normally, i.e. they are able to absorb all of the nutrients necessary from their food and process them as efficiently as intended by their genetics. This will mean that they will have no biochemical deficiencies or metabolic blocks preventing their bodies from working as normal and being able to maintain homeostasis. Some people, including scientists, have objected to what I'm saying because it sounds too simplistic and it does sound simple but the reality of the diseases caused by these metabolic blocks is complex due to the effects of impaired metabolism in terms of epigenetics. The metabolic dysfunction will cause a wide range of diseases depending on people's genetics but each disease has the same underlying cause. Ultimately, restoring the metabolism will heal these underlying conditions.
I'm not claiming that detoxifying all of the toxins causing problems and restoring a person to full nutritional health is easy because all manner of other things can go wrong while they're sick and will need to be dealt with too. For instance, mercury circulating in the enterohepatic system will change the pH allowing fungal and bacterial infections to proliferate resulting in the loss of nutrients which would otherwise be efficiently recycled by the body. This is something that will need to be tackled as part of the detoxification process and there will be other issues for other people depending on their particular circumstances. Also, mercury is an effective antibiotic and so it will kill off essential bacteria in the microbiome which will need to be restored once the mercury has been detoxified. This isn't an exhaustive list, of course, so people will need to be aware that they will have a number of additional problems to deal with and so restoring the metabolism on its own isn't a magic bullet.
What do people have to lose?
Ensuring that your RBC are the optimal size, present in the optimal number so that your metabolism is capable of producing all of the energy it needs to run all of the biochemical systems in your body would seem to be a no-brainer to me. This means that you will have the energy reserves to deal with anything that nature throws at you such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and other toxins. Particularly in the current climate, it's such an obvious thing to want to achieve. The allopathic medical system plays lip service to it by testing our blood as a first step in diagnosing us but, as you can see from my case, they really don't follow through. Absolutely everyone should take an interest in the health of their RBC and how well their metabolisms are functioning as this obviously one of the keys to the foundation of good health.
All you really have to do is ask your doctor to request that the haematology laboratory sends them a print out of the cell histograms from a recent FBC. If they refuse to do so, remember that this is your information, held on a computer and so you're entitled to it. In the UK, simply use the Data Protection Act to request your data from the haematology laboratory. Most other countries have similar laws and so I'm sure you'll be able to get this information too if you want it.
Once I have named the manufacturer of the blood analyser I'll be able to post my own cell histograms as examples but, in the meantime, there are many examples online detailing how to interpret cell histograms[21]. If your red cell histogram indicates that you have enlarged RBC, i.e. a macrocytosis, then your metabolism may be impaired and reversing this will help reverse any chronic conditions you may have.
I first developed hay fever suddenly when I was around 19 years old. I had had no problem until then with allergies. This progressively worsened until I got to the point where I had what I was told was allergic rhinitis. I would have sinus and throat infections three or four times a year leaving me ill with streaming eyes, sneezing and throat infections for three or four weeks at a time. Now that I have significantly improved my metabolism my allergies have almost cleared up. I barely sneeze now. Obviously there are huge numbers of people with hay fever, etc., who would love to cure it. I am hoping that once I've finally fully detoxified the mercury and achieved homeostasis my allergies will be a distant memory entirely.
Please note that it can take decades for the problem I'm talking about to become obvious in the FBC. I know someone who also ended up with excessive numbers of dental amalgam fillings but who took more than 40 years to end up with a FBC like mine. He was never diagnosed with B12 deficiency so didn't even have the marginal benefit I had from B12 injections. He definitely, however, has a combined macrocytosis and microcytosis according to his FBC.
Also, I know a woman who had similar issues with large numbers of dental amalgam fillings. Her RCH, which she sent to me, is very similar to my own. However, her macrocytosis was less severe and her microcytosis was more severe meaning that there was no ignoring it. She therefore received treatment for iron deficiency but I don't think it was particularly successful unfortunately. I believe that that was due to her impaired metabolism and the effects this was having generally on nutrient absorption and the associated epigenetic changes. Like me, she really needs help to detoxify the mercury in her body, restore her metabolism and nutrient levels.
Ultimately, we all have slight genetic differences which will affect not just how quickly we get sick but how sick we will get. The amount of dental amalgam is another variable. I had a huge amount in all of my molars which is why, I think, I got so sick so young. People will have to take an interest in getting to the bottom of their own problems as the medical profession and the alternative medicine scene gets to grips with these issues. It's clearly essential that we all have healthy blood so this is really one of the first places to start on the road to recovery for us all.
Why has my hay fever/allergic rhinitis cleared up?
RBC are manufactured in the bone marrow therefore macrocytosis and microcytosis are caused by the bone marrow's inability to produce normal RBC. I believe that this is due to impaired metabolism, meaning that the bone marrow doesn't have the energy necessary to manufacture healthy RBC. Folate and B12 are both essential to produce energy in mitochondria so it's hardly surprising therefore that their deficiencies are related to macrocytosis.
WBC are also manufactured in the bone marrow and so it's reasonable to conclude that impaired metabolism also affects the health of the WBC produced. In my case I gather that I had a condition called neutropenia which causes difficulties fighting infection. I haven't been able to analyse my white blood cell histogram thoroughly but it was certainly clearly abnormal when I was at my sickest. Indeed the consultant haematologist I saw commented on it with reference to my white cell histogram. Now, given that my RBC are more or less healthy, I think it's reasonable to assume that my WBC and their distributions are also fairly healthy too. I suspect that this is what has cleared my allergies. I no longer suffer from the kinds of infections I used to either. I think that this demonstrates the underlying principle that restoring your metabolism to normal resolves health conditions which may have been caused by epigenetic and associated biochemical changes caused by the impaired metabolism. Other symptoms I used to have have also resolved but this really ought to have its own article at some point.
Methylation and Metabolism Related Symptoms
I regularly hear people describe symptoms which are clearly related to methylation issues.
Vitamin B12 and folate deficiencies are a consequence of people descending into the methylfolate trap where they then experience impaired DNA synthesis along with metabolic and immune related symptoms. Once in methylfolate trap, as my case demonstrates, very severe vitamin B12 (methylcobalamin) deficiencies occur. B12 deficiencies result in demyelination problems where the body is unable to maintain the myelin sheath around the nerves and it breaks down causing neurological problems. In my case I ended up with peripheral neuropathy and electric shocks in my hands as a result. There are many neurological conditions in which demyelination is a symptom, e.g. multiple sclerosis, autism, etc.
Folate deficiency caused by excessive demands placed on DNA synthesis and repair results in chronic inflammation. In my case, this was caused by the constant cellular damage done by mercury circulating throughout my body.
Choline deficiency is also associated with methylation issues. Dietary choline is converted into phosphatidylcholine via the cytidine diphosphocholine (CDP-choline) pathway or through methylation of phosphatidylethanolamine. Phosphatidylcholine is then used to make acetylcholine which is necessary to regulate the production of stomach acid. Therefore, people with impaired methylation may have problems producing stomach acid. In particular, people who have polymorphisms of a SNP called PEMT are more likely to have such issues. Needless to say, low stomach acid can cause things like vitamin B12 deficiency because adequate stomach acid is required to absorb it. Many people suffer from acid reflux which is in fact, counterintuitively, caused by low stomach acid and therefore may be the result of impaired methylation and deficiency of phosphatidylcholine.
The methylfolate trap also results in a deficiency of SAMe which is known as the universal methyl donor. A consequence of SAMe deficiency is difficulty producing neurotransmitters. I believe that this is what caused my extreme difficulty with sleep and suspect that this is also the problem for the very many people who have sleep disorders.
Yellow Card Report to the MHRA Regarding the Blood Analyser Bug
I was so horrified when I realised that there is a clear bug in the firmware of this particular blood analyser, which may well have killed me if I hadn't taken matters into my own hands, that I decided to report it to the UK Government Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) which is the equivalent of the US FDA.
It is possible that, as part of my medical negligence case, I will be obliged to take action against the manufacturer of the blood analyser as well as they're clearly liable for such failures in their algorithms. The algorithm they use to determine whether or not the blood sample is dimorphic is clearly inadequate and there is no fail safe to ensure that haematology technicians don't miss the obvious signs of dimorphic red cell populations when they're clearly visible on the platelet histogram as in my case. There are very simple and far better means of determining whether there is more than one cell population in the blood sample. It is clearly wrong to print the RDW-SD when there is more than one distinct cell population according to their own documentation, particularly when its existence has a significant effect on the numerical parameters displayed, e.g. the MCV was reduced to the normal range preventing my severe macrocytosis being diagnosed and the microcytosis was simply ignored by all medical professionals involved. In my case, the distribution width was actually enormous and would be massively out-of-range if it were properly calculated, immediately alerting the laboratory technician to an extremely serious problem. Instead, they ignored it and that could well have killed me.
Hopefully it is obvious why I cannot name the manufacturer for the moment. I will need to discuss this with my solicitor once I can afford to pay him again at which point I will name them if at all possible.
My Medical Negligence Case
Obviously my main motivation has been to get to the bottom of what caused my ill-health in order to get the right treatment. My memory problems were the main reason why I ended up unable to work but I also developed physical problems such as very severe back pain which has affected my ability to walk on and off for more than ten years. While the supplements I have been taking improve my back pain to a level where I can walk sufficiently well most of the time, things like injectable methylcobalamin and even 5mg folic acid have not always been easy for me to obtain and when I have not been able to take them my condition deteriorates quite markedly. I also suffer from very low energy levels due to severe metabolic dysfunction, poor motivation and poor concentration which has made producing this and other documents extremely difficult. I have essentially been trying to produce this document for more than eighteen months.
I managed to begin a medical negligence case in 2015 but, unfortunately, for some strange reason, I was unable to find an expert witness in haematology prepared to act for me. Fortunately, however, I have managed to find an expert witness who recognised the role of mercury poisoning in my case and has indicated that he will be able to produce a report that will ensure a positive outcome. Unfortunately, however, despite having had sufficient savings to live off for roughly 13 years, including a small inheritance from my father, I finally ran out of money in 2019.
I am sure that very many people will benefit from the information in this article. If they investigate their own cell histograms with reference to their own medical histories they may well find the answer they have been looking for for many years: what caused their vitamin B12 deficiency of unknown aetiology. Many of them will have had their lives ruined as have I and will be able to obtain redress from whoever is responsible for failing to diagnose and treat them. There are many horrific stories of the consequences of the failure to diagnose and treat vitamin B12 deficiency on the website b12deficiency.info.
At the moment, my medical negligence case is in limbo because I am unable to pay for the expert witness report. Although I own my own property, I am unable to borrow against it because I have no income. I hope to find a benefactor or benefactors sufficiently interested in my case to be prepared to lend me enough money to pay for the legal fees and expert witness report necessary to get it underway. I firnly believe that my case will transform medical care globally for the better. There is precious little the medical establishment can do when you can prove that they've been failing to understand their own blood tests properly, thereby failing to diagnose and treat such a well-known illness as hypoxia. It will be very interesting too to find out why, exactly, they've failed to spot the tell-tale signs of mercury poisoning when it must be so common given the sheer number of people who've had dental amalgam fillings over the two centuries they've been used. If you are interested in helping, please contact me at jimherd at protonmail dot com, https://www.twitter.com/bloody_scandal or https://gab.com/jim_herd.
References
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What Are NHS Fillings and Crowns Made Of
([https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/dental-health/what-are-nhs-fillings-and-crowns-made-of/]))
- British Dental Association: Dental Amalgam
- Shape and Biomechanical Characteristics of Human Red Blood Cells in Health and Disease
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Metabolic features and regulation of the healing cycle—A new model for chronic disease pathogenesis and treatment
([https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1567724918301053]))