10 Signs Your Body Has Too Many Toxic Heavy Metals
Do you feel sick lately for unknown reasons? The culprit might be heavy metal poisoning. The symptoms of heavy metal poisoning are vague and can only be confirmed through blood testing. It’s essential to know the preventive measures, manifestations, and treatment of heavy metal poisoning to ensure health and safety.
Learn the signs that your body tells you when you too many toxic heavy metals by reading below.
What Are Heavy Metals?
Heavy metals like lead, mercury, and arsenic, are everywhere. They can be found in water, dental amalgams, consumer products, and building materials. When ingested, they can cause short-term and long-term health effects. This article about the most common mediums in which humans contact heavy metals, which is a great post to read.
The confirmatory test to detect heavy metal poisoning is through a blood test called the heavy metals panel test. Your doctor will advise you to have additional tests, such as liver function studies and kidney function tests if the blood test result traces levels of heavy metals.
Signs of Having Too Many Toxic Heavy Metals in the Body
The signs and symptoms of heavy metal poisoning differ depending on the metal consumed or the metal the patient came in contact with. The general signs and symptoms of heavy metal poisoning include the following:
- Breathing Problems
Cadmium poisoning can result in breathing problems. Workers in industrial settings are exposed to smelted or processed ore. Inhaling cigarette smoke and welding on alloys contains cadmium which can cause difficulty of breathing.
- Severe Abdominal Pain
Acute lead poisoning causes severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. For some patients, lead poisoning can causes behavioral disturbance, fatigue, irritability, and anorexia.
- Diarrhea
The body attempts to eliminate too many heavy metals in the body through increased bowel movement or diarrhea. High levels of arsenic and chromium which are heavy metals that are present in pesticides, contaminated seafood, insecticides, and contaminated drinking water, usually cause diarrhea.
It’s critical to treat heavy metal poisoning because diarrhea can lead to the following:
- Severe water-electrolyte disorders
- The increased mild acidity of body tissues and blood (acidosis)
- Inadequate blood flow
- Shock
- Constipation
Constipation pertains to the passage of infrequent stools. Lead is considered an environmental cause of constipation. While acute lead exposure causes diarrhea, chronic lead exposure causes irritability, anorexia, weight loss, and constipation.
- Irritability and Aggressive Behavior
Lead poisoning is prevalent in old houses that were painted with high levels of lead-based paints. Also, people working in industrial construction settings, smelter operations, and radiator repair are most likely exposed to higher lead levels. Progressive hair dyes and using kohl cosmetics can also cause lead skin contact poisoning.
Lead affects different organs and systems in the body. It increases blood pressure and causes infertility, muscle weakness, joint pain, and nerve disorders. Lead can make you irritable and it can affect your concentration. Health indicator monitoring and prompt medical intervention are important when suspecting lead exposure.
- Lack of Coordination
Mercury poisoning causes a lack of coordination due to nervous system effects. People working in mining and manufacturing tend to have higher blood levels of mercury and chronic exposure which causes a lack of coordination and muscle weakness over time.
- Tingling Sensation
Because heavy metals are neurotoxicants or toxic to the brain, they can cause damage to peripheral nerves. When this happens, patients will feel a tingling sensation in their hands and feet.
- Hearing and Speech Difficulties
Hearing and speech difficulties can occur as well as changes in vision because of a damaged nerve or even the part of the brain that is connected to these areas was damaged or affected by heavy metal poisoning.
- Sleep Problems
Too much heavy metal concentration in the body causes sleep problems. It affects the production of melatonin which is the body’s natural sleep aid.
- Decrease Consciousness
Untreated metal poisoning may cause shock, seizure, toxic encephalopathy (cerebral edema), and coma. In severe cases, loss of developmental skills (children), anemia, and memory loss can also occur.
Conclusion
Heavy metal poisoning damages almost every organ and system in the body, especially the nervous system, causing nerve damage, irritability, poor concentration, and coordination. When it comes to digestive system manifestations, they include diarrhea, constipation, nausea, and vomiting. Chronic lead exposure affects the digestive tract, causing constipation. Breathing problems also happen, irritating the respiratory tract, like in cadmium poisoning.
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