Dr. Cooper success stories and mercury amalgams

Oh, so true. SD (and dystonia more so) is extremely complex and all of us are different. You said it so well!

I've written on the BB before about mercury amalgams...many months ago...but I'll say it again since it fits with this thread. My dentist of the past 17 years has always been "state-of-the-art." He was too much so for some of his patients but I've gone along with him because we were born in the same week and I like him and have always trusted him and he helped me be smarter about my own teeth. Thus I had my mercury amalgams replaced gradually, way before my SD started.

I believe that "toxins" (a category which mercury amalgams might possibly fall into) can prompt a "secondary" case of SD. Substantial research has shown this. My case, however, is idiopathic ("primary") thus not caused by toxins in any form. As you said, it's complicated and important for everyone to figure out their own case. It took me over six years to figure out the origins of mine so I respect this journey.

We can also talk about this off the BB; but, with my years of research into causalities of dystonia, I know I'm a genetic case. That's "idiopathic" (primary) v. secondary. As I've said before, my family is full of Parkinson's and other neurological problems which the researchers, over the years, have completely connected genetically. That knowledge is a benefit I've received over many years of personal research and going to symposiums to meet the docs who treat SD'ers and dystonia patients and the genetic researchers who are finding the links and the dystonia chromosomes (that's "genetic links"...not the Internet ones...LOL...kind of a "play on words"!).

I have a very clear genetic case of neurological-disease in my family and a "classic case" of AD-SD. Period. I did a ton of family research also to determine this, in addition to SD-research. Genealogical research and health research into living family-members backgrounds and interviewing family members about their grandparents and aunts and uncles. In other words...I was researching "cause of death."

In doing that, I found out alot I had not known about my family-history. Until I got SD, I did not know that about eight members of my family, in the second and third generations back, had died of Parkinson's. That was an important connection, as it is a VERY-high percentage. All I had known was that my grandmother died of Parkinson's the year after I was born. I still wear her engagement ring on my right hand as our connection. Since then, I have discovered that many people with SD have a family history of Parkinson's and related neurological disorders. Parkinson's is NOT the only neurological-disease I have in my family genealogy, however.

Some SD and dystonia cases can be confusing so I realize others are not so "fortunate." If you can call my severe case "fortunate." I also am very clear on the trigger of my case, due to the timing. Took me many years to figure it all out; but, after I'd completed my research, it was so very clear. And, when I figured it all out, it freed me.

When I was freed from my own case and I figured out why it had happened to me, that's when I started working to help others with SD.

So, it was not old mercury amalgams or any other environmental cause in my case. My genetic connections are crystal clear. I doubt anyone on the BB wants to read the entire history of my family-genetics (four generations back) and how I figured this whole thing out over many years. You'll just have to take my word for it.

As I always say...it's good for patients to do the research to discover their own cases. Speaking for myself, it does free you when you get to the bottom of your own case.

I know that you are dealing with personal trauma with possibly losing your powerful singing voice. The thing is though, with most of us folks with SD, most of us had to use our voices for our careers. I can't work in my field any more due to losing my voice in 1991. I used to have to make major presentations (to represent huge software projects for a major corporation) on a daily basis. Haven't been able to do it since.

Your case is particularly sensitive because you used your voice in both your career as a high-powered sales rep and also, in your avocation, as a powerful singer. I really feel for you.

Unfortunately...once we get SD (and yours/my cases were both severe), we need to move on and just do the best we can for ourselves. You and I have the "need our voices for our careers" in common. Many SD'ers have that in common. There are so many of us who are lawyers, teachers, managers, sales people...who need our voices every minute and hour of every day. SD cuts us off....often in our prime.

I'm sad for the possible loss of your singing voice though. I am only a shower-singer. I know you had a beautiful singing voice. My singing-voice was never that way even though I needed the voice to work.

Also, I respect people who are looking for cause. I found my cause in 1997 but none of this is a perfect-answer. It's a complex disorder. We can never be sure and we just have to move on.

Your story is fascinating. Thanks for sharing it. All my "genetic-history" of neurological syndromes is also on my mom's side.

Once again, I hesitate to say you are "lucky" to know this (but we always have to take a positive-spin) however I would have considered myself lucky if I had known and understood all of this earlier or had any memory of it. It would have saved me alot of time and anguish trying to figure out "why me?" Incredible that you remember someone in your family with voice-issues! I haven't found one of those yet.

All I knew up until I got SD was that my maternal grandmother died of Parkinson's in 1948. I never knew her but I have been told I look like her and have her feisty personality. She survived a bullet-wound to the chest in 1908 due to a "love-triangle" when one man shot her and then killed himself (the other guy was my grandfather). It made the papers all over Northern California for many weeks as she fought for her life. HEY, that's a woman after my own heart! I'm proud to be related to her even though I inherited her nasty, feisty neurology.

Imagine my surprise in 1996 when I started researching the family and also discovered that her father and uncle also had Parkinson's as did other aunts and uncles and cousins. Wow...what a discovery. If I had not gotten SD, I would have never known that! Who ever talks about their old aunt who used to shake? When someone shook, people in the family wrote them off as crazy or something. Also, there are several instances of schizophrenia in my cousin-population (including my mother's schizophrenic first-cousin who is an extremely brilliant author and PhD but a failure as a human). Some people don't admit these things when you try to research your family-history so it wouldn't surprise me if there were cases I don't know about. I continue to believe that all of this is related genetically (with a clear pattern), at least in some of our cases.

Thanks Dawn!

That's an amazing and eye-opening story you posted. My God, what IF mercury dental amalgams do contribute to the demise of the voice, and more specifically, SD! Over the last few years I've had alot of dental problems, included periodontal surgery, root canals, etc. Although dentists use mouth "dams" when they drill, I'm sure some of the amalgam gets filtered into the tissues of the mouth and vocal chord area. In addition to that, I had a chronic sinus infection which kept a steady flow of phlegm passing over the amalgams into my throat. (Sorry to those folks with weak stomachs.)I still have two amalgams left, which I will have removed soon.

Mercury dental amalgams (silver/mercury) used for fillings are the most harmful metals used by dentists. According the the book, Alternative Medicine, The Definitive Guide, compiled by The Burton Goldberg Group, "mercury has been recognized as a poison since the 1500s, and yet mercury amalgams have been used in dentistry since the 1820s. They are still being used today even though the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared scrap dental amalgam a hazardous waste in 1988. Even the American Dental Assoc., which has so far refused to ban amalgams, now instructs dentists to "know the potential hazards and symptoms of mercury exposure such as the development of sensitivity and neuropathy," to use a no-touch technique for handling the amalgam..."

In Germany, the sale and manufacture of amalgams has been prohibited since 1992. In Sweden, amalgams are not used in pregnant women, and Sweden promises to ban amalgams entirely as soon as a suitable replacement is found. Until then, the government pays 50 percent of the cost for removal of amalgams. In the United States little is being done to deal with the effects of mercury amalgams because most dentists still maintain that they are safe. They continue to place mercury in their patients' mouths even though the metal is more toxic than arsenic.

Again I think that the issue of mercury toxicity in SD and other neurological disorders deserves more attention than it has in the medical community (which is nil). And I've never had a good explanation for why mercury is deemed to be a hazardous waste out of your mouth but a safe product inside your mouth, or why dental professionals and paraprofessionals have higher scores on neuropsychological impairment than their peers. But I digress.

Once again I caution that there is no guarantee that having your amalgams out will restore your vocal function. If you have more than 2 amalgams, however, I would consider it worthwhile to go to a mercury-free dentist to discuss your concerns. My bias is that whether or not your voice improves you will have removed a known neurotoxin from your body and THAT is worth the cost (which may come to $5,000 give or take $2,000 depending on your particular situation , but then I spent $5,000 a week on Dr. Cooper's therapy!).