Metal Toxicity, Kidneys, Minerals and Hairloss

[Scuffernoose]

i was wondering if anyone has any expirience with these causing hairloss. i am 28 and i am a diffuse thinner for about 2 years. i have been on propecia for 1 years and i just started minoxidil 2 months ago. i never shed with propecia, but i think i had a decent shed with minoxidil that seems to have stabalized a bit. i still have a decent amount of hair, but it is very fine. the temples have receeded, and of course took even more of a hit with minoxidil, but i was a norwood 0 2 years ago, and im still a norwood at the time. propecia never seemed to do anything. i think i have lost at the same slow pace that i have been untill i took minoxidil and lost alot of density.

about a year ago i went to a regular doctor to see if it was induced by something else because i went through a bad loss and had a decent amount of stress. i wanted to see if hairloss maybe caused by a deficiency. the doctor did all the blood/mineral work and it came back fine, but she also did a hair analysis kidney dialisys, and a urine test. the urine test came back that my kidneys showed to be physically fine werent functioning properly and that i was "spilling" too much protien in my urine. no answers to why. then my hair analysis came back and it showed that i was 2x above the toxic amount in arsenic, .7x in lead, 2.3x in uranium and 2x in antimony out of about 12 total tested. the doctor said that they "could" cause hairloss, and that the accumulation in my kidneys "could" be causing them to not function properly. she said that i "may" be one of a few percentage of people who dont properly pass small amount of toxic metals that everyone gets from time to time. unfortunately, the fda doesnt approve celation therapy, which involves using an iv to use toxin removers that can help clear those metals. there are doctors out there that do it, but the process is very time consuming and expensive not covered by insurance because it is considered a "far east" method, and doctors are into treating symptoms not causes.

my question for any doctor or expert is this: since kidneys regulate hair growth, and protien is a building block for it, multiplied by the fact that arsenic is known to cause hairloss, how much of a chance is it that this is cause for hairloss?? my hair doesnt seem to be falling out as if i had radiation therapy, but cycling finer and finer each time. the hair on the back and sides has gotten a bit finer, but the density is still there. the top of my head is losing scalp coverage and has gotten thinner along with some loss. right now i can still hide where my scalp shows with toppik, but i was suprised that propecia did nothing that i noticed since i started it at the first sign of thinning 1 year ago. i am hoping minoxidil does some good, but if it doesnt, than that is all i can do. if i knew that celation therapy would reverse this, i would stop using the treatments that havent so far worked, and do this, but im afraid to lose money for things that dont work and give up on things that might keep me from being a cue ball. i know nothing is a guarantee when trying to figure out if there is a cause other than bad genes, but how big of a factor are those things that i mentioned??

 

[Kevin fretwell]

I have the answer for you . Your going to want to purchase a detox cleanser called EDTA or ethelenediaminetetraacetic acid . Its nothing new since its been out since the 50's but it basicly does a really good job of taking metals out of system . Your concerns are over .

 

[Scuffernoose]

well, im not sure if my concerns are over because im not certain that this isnt a genetic thing. that was the part i was wondering about. i figure that people that lose hair because of a chemical or your body not functioning properly results in a much faster rate of hair loss that resembles hair actually falling out much like a shutdown of production, instead of becoming gradually finer. but im not sure because i dont know of any cases where someone lost their hair due to kidneys not functioning properly or heavy metals poisoning the system. i know it CAN cause hair loss, but i dont know the probability of it. i find very long whispy hairs that i can pull out with alot of ease and without feeling it, along with a general thinning of all my hair, morso on the top. ive heard of the celation therapy that you can purchase, but i dont think they are totally effective at removing it all.

does anyone know if the result of hair loss by a non genetic cause resembles that of a genetic hairloss?? i would really like to stop using hairlosss products that are expensive and might not be working if that isnt the cause.

thanks for any responses.

 

[asolof]

Scuffernoose,

Since your concerns are primarily based on the results of the hair analysis, I thought you would find this interesting:


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1: JAMA. 2001 Jan 3;285(1):67-72. Related Articles, Links


Comment in:
JAMA. 2001 Jan 3;285(1):83-5.
JAMA. 2001 Mar 28;285(12):1576-7; author reply 1577-8.
JAMA. 2001 Mar 28;285(12):1577; author reply 1577-8.

Assessment of commercial laboratories performing hair mineral analysis.

Seidel S, Kreutzer R, Smith D, McNeel S, Gilliss D.

California Department of Health Services, Environmental Health Investigations Branch, 1515 Clay St, Suite 1700, Oakland, CA 94612, USA. sseidel@dhs.ca.gov

CONTEXT: Hair mineral analysis is being used by health care practitioners and promoted by laboratories as a clinical assessment tool and to identify toxic exposures, despite a 1985 study that found poor reliability for this test. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether the reliability of data from commercial laboratories advertising multimineral hair analyses for nutritional or toxicity assessment has improved since the 1985 study. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A split hair sample taken from near the scalp of a single healthy volunteer was submitted for analysis to 6 commercial US laboratories, which analyze 90% of samples submitted for mineral analysis in the United States. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Agreement of test results for each analyte, laboratory reference ranges, laboratory characteristics, and interpretation of health implications. RESULTS: Laboratory differences in highest and lowest reported mineral concentrations for the split sample exceeded 10-fold for 12 minerals, and statistically significant (P<.05) extreme values were reported for 14 of the 31 minerals that were analyzed by 3 or more laboratories. Variations also were found in laboratory sample preparation methods and calibration standards. Laboratory designations of normal reference ranges varied greatly, resulting in conflicting classifications (high, normal, or low) of nearly all analyzed minerals. Laboratories also provided conflicting dietary and nutritional supplement recommendations based on their results. CONCLUSIONS: Hair mineral analysis from these laboratories was unreliable, and we recommend that health care practitioners refrain from using such analyses to assess individual nutritional status or suspected environmental exposures. Problems with the regulation and certification of these laboratories also should be addressed.

>>

 

[Scuffernoose]

thats interesting. you always have to wonder how accurate some tests are. but there is still the issue of my kidney function and the amount of protien that is in my urine. i have heard that kidneys are regulators of hair growth. and we all know that hair is made up of protien. so i still wonder to what degree this could affect hair, and how hair loss caused by health problems might differ if at all from genetic hair loss. i know there is hair loss that strikes fast and hard, and patchy hair loss that is created by non-genetic things, but i wonder if it can resemble genetic hair loss. i believe that the chances are that it is genetic, but the fact that propecia didnt even seem to slow it down in a year, and im not sure if minoxidil is going to work, im wondering if there might be another cause. nearly every hair that i find has fallen out looks to be thicker near the end, and thinner at the shaft. my dads grandfather had some significant hair loss when he was in his 30s, and was pretty bald when he was much older, but my father has good hair for being in his 60s, and his older brother has excellent hair. my mothers father had a natural receeding hairline but had great hair for being in his 70s before he died. i know that chances are my hairloss is genetic, but im suprised at the timing, and the uselessness of these hair loss products.

thanks for your response.

 

[asolof]

Scuffernoose,

You weren't very specific about the protein in the urine. How much protein? How was it measured? (on a routine urinalysis reported something like 1+, 2++, 3++, etc. or on a timed urine collection such as grams per 24 hours or as a protein/creatinine ratio). The reason this is important is because a routine urinalysis has a very high false positive rate for proteinuria (protein in the urine). A large percentage of the population has a condition called "orthostatic proteinuria" in which the affeccted people spill protein in their urine while in an upright posture during the day, but it disappears when they are lying down sleeping during the night. This is completely benign and does not reflect kidney disease. It certainly does not measure kidney function. To do that you need a serum creatinine or better yet a creatinine clearance test. The point of all this BS is that from what you reported one can not be sure there is anything wrong with your kidneys.
To exclude othostatic proteinuria you repeat the urinalysis on a "1st AM voided specimen". If the protein is no longer present then there is probably no true proteinuria.

Documenting heavy metal poisoning is very difficult.

 

[grinja the ninja]

When I started panicking 4 months ago about the fact that I really was losing hair, I did a lot of research into all possible causes. Having ruled out thyroid problems, I decided that I would have all of my mercury amalgum fillings removed. They probably only had a minor role in my hair loss, if at all, but I know that some people suffer chronic health problems from accumulated mercury.

It cost a bit, and I didn't have a stack of mercury (5 small fillings) but I'm glad I had it done, just takes a while for your body to naturally flush it out. I didn't want to use chelaters as they are toxic themselves. I really haven't done much but I have taken garlic and coriander leaves, coriander is commonly listed as a natural heavy metal remover.

Removing anything that is affecting your health is important to preventing hair loss, especially poor diet, stress, and toxins. Granted it is mainly gonna be the DHT that kills your hairs but other things can speed up the loss.

 

[asolof]

If heavy metal poisoning is occuring, the 1st step would be to identify the source and avoid furthur exposure. Removed from furthur exposure, the levels in the body will gradually diminish.

Chelation only removes the small amounts of metals circulating in the blood, not the larger amounts stored in tissues like bones. This limits its effectiveness, and as you point out, chelation itself has side effects / toxicity.

 

[Scuffernoose]

i can describe exactly what i went through, but i cant tell you what the diagnosis was.

when i went in, the doctor had me take several tests. one was the hair analysis, one a blood analysis, and a urine test. from the initial urine test (piss in a small glass), they found a small amount of blood, and what she said was more than usual protein content. she scheduled me for a kidney dialysis a few days after, so i had to do the cleansing thing. they injected me with dye, and xrayed my kidneys to see if anything might be abnormal because my father and sister had 1 abnormal kidney, so it was a small concern. the tests came back that the kidneys looked fine in size etc, but there was still the protein thing. she gave me a container to do a 24 hour urinalysis where i had to piss in that bucket for the day and keep it refrigerated. after bringing in the sample, they found that the protien content was high. she didnt try to explain HOW high, but it was enough for her to still be concerned that it wasnt a normal amount. she didnt lead me to believe that it was life threatening, at least for the immediate future, but it was a flag that something could be wrong and cause problems later in life. this is a doctor that i trust, and would not send me through meaningless tests to make a buck, so i trusted that although it shouldnt scare me, something wasnt working right. she said that she "thought" the toxic metals "could" cause the kidneys not to function right. she said it was not one of those things that she could she could properly diagnose the cause. then sent me to a kidney expert who agreed that the protein content was high. i talked to him, but he suggested running some tests that involved shoving a tube down my urinary tract. im sure you all know what that means, and that was the point where he lost me. im not a big fan of doctors and their runaround, and i wasnt sure about this guy, but i had something similar done when i was very young, and all i remember is that it was a horrible pain, and the idea of it was something i would rather not go through again. so i never followed up past that point. i figured that it probably wasnt life threatening, and to pay all that money and go through all that to possibly hear that there was nothing they could do or that it wasnt the cause of my hairloss was not worth it to me.

i figure that my problem is that dht is thinning my hair, but ive noticed that the sides and back seem to be softer an lighter also (although still dense), because i have been able to shave the sides with a 4 guard and it looks about as light on the sides now as it did when i shaved it with a 2 guard, but i noticed that happening before i started a minoxidil shed. i never used to be able to keep the hair on the sides and back that long without it looking puffy. my eyebrows seem to be lighter too, and i can easily pull some hairs out without much effort. many hairs in the front of my head can be gently tugged out too, but it seems that they are of the finer variety. and the fact that in a year there was no noticeable difference with propecia has me wondering. i started taking minoxidil all over 2 months ago, and it has really made my hairline much more diffuse and receeded along with my entire head, and what seems to be left of my hairline are poor quality hairs. sure hope minoxidil gives me some growth and thickens the temples.

 

[asolof]

Scuffernoose,

Ok, this is much more specific. The combination of blood + protein in the urine is more likely to be the result of a real problem (not a false positive), than finding either alone. The results of a 24 timed collection interpreted by a nephrologist showing excess protein in the urine should be considered abnormal. The X-ray you describe is an IVP (intravenous pyelogram). Mild to moderate toxicity from heavy metal poisoning would not show up on that test. I never meant to suggest that your doctor(s) were doing anything wrong. The point I was trying to make was that YOU were reaching conclusions unsupported by the original information you posted.

You might want to discuss the proposed testing with your nephrologist to be sure you really want to skip it. If you have heavy metal poisoning or another posibly serious kidney disease it would be important to know about it. This is a life / health issue, not a cosmetic issue. Think about your priorities.
Urethral catheterization in an adult male may feel strange and a little uncomfortable, but should not be something excruciatingly painful as you say you previously experienced.