Dear Subscribers,

Thanks so much for all the mail. The notes keep coming in, and I really appreciate the exchange of thoughts as well as your feedback. I want to be practical now and see if we can just go from one issue to the next with a solution for each. As I was trying to figure out what is redundant and what is not, my grandfather popped on my radar again. I'm sure I mentioned before that he was a metallurgist. Since there are some Swedish subscribers on this list, I could mention that my family were Walloons who came to Sweden during the reign of Napoleon to help develop the steel industry. The highlight of my grandfather's career was that Woodrow Wilson personally asked him to design a floating dry dock, nice task for someone with his mentality and background. Anyway, that's how he got to the U.S. and he went back to Sweden when he retired.

As you might appreciate, metallurgists are very well schooled in metals and alloys so we were warned never to use aluminum cookware and never to put mercury in our teeth. My mother had all porcelain restorations in her mouth but did not heed her father's advice when it came to me so I had the mercury removed as an adult. Now, as I look back on my childhood, I have a lot of questions, not merely about parenting but about the symptoms I had as a child. I always attributed my nervousness to my father's extremely bad temper. Walking through a room was like navigating a mine field, but I doubt the spasms and twitches I had disappeared when he was away on trips. They have now, but were the symptoms related to the fragility of childhood or amalgams?

I know I have mentioned this before, but there are always new subscribers and others who could use a nudge to jog their memories. I made a mistake. After attending the seminar on oral toxicology, I was a believer with tremendous zeal for fixing the problem. There were not many environmental dentists in Santa Fe at the time so if there were not many in Santa Fe, you can imagine how few there were in Omaha or Fargo. The one I went to said, "Ingrid, if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Well, I can be stubborn so I told him to proceed with the lower right quadrant. He used composites which turned out to be a can of worms. I am repeating this because someone sent me a protocol for Lyme disease a few days ago that urged sufferers to remove the amalgams and replace them with composites. Based on what I now understand, I feel this is very poor advice, and for some people, it would be disastrous.

Composites are made from synthetic resins and are a nasty estrogenic material that is almost certainly a major hormone disruptor. Between the anesthetics used and the composites themselves, a patient could be exposed to truly excessive levels of xenoestrogens. Decades ago, I read somewhere that the level of xenoestrogens vastly exceeds what the body produces naturally between puberty and menopause. I will not try to find the source at this time, but the numbers were staggering. On top of this, a dentist explained to me that composites are caustic. They are acidic and just why would anyone want to put an acidic caustic on a tooth?

We should however rewind considerably. Besides mercury, there are lots of other toxic metals and people are surely exposed to many of them. When I was little, the pantry was full of cans. Frozen food came later. I wonder if I ever tasted fresh vegetables except at Chinese restaurants. Cans have seams and heaven knows what was used there, surely lead, and lead was in the gasoline and paint and probably some plates and cups and serving bowls, who knows. There are nasty metals in batteries and herbicides and pesticides and hence in our food and water. Mercury or thimerosal is used as a preservative in many vaccines. Aluminum and barium and probably also strontium are being rained on us from the sky. If you live near a paper plant or mine, you would probably be heavily exposed to mercury. It is absolutely inconceivable to me that anyone, even in a truly remote area of Mongolia would be absolutely free of exposure to toxic metals. On top of all this, there is radioactive fallout from nuclear testing, depleted uranium blow back from the weapons used in wars, and nuclear power plant hazards, not just accidents but release of water used for cooling and vapors into the atmosphere. Depending on the fuel, we might be exposed to a whole Smörgåsbord of toxins.

So, what do the metals do? First of all, they are toxic and they kill white blood cells. I don't know why, but white blood cells attack metals. They ought to have more sense, but they are valiant. White blood cells run away from mold and from certain parasites, but they are bold to the point of folly with metals and they do not survive their efforts. This is just the beginning of the problem. When the white blood cells die, they "mess up" the plasma. This could look like blobs or stringy ropes in the plasma. Almost every degenerative disease has some evidence of this kind of toxicity; the spectrum goes from chronic lymphatic stagnation to severe neurodegenerative conditions like multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, and Parkinson's disease. The list is very long.

Thus, while it might be fair to say that something like Lyme disease is caused by a tick bite that results in an infection of spirochetes, the differences in responses on the part of one patient as compared to another may well be attributable to co-factors such as toxic burdens, other medications, and which co-infections happen along the way. As such, there is a slight temptation to compare Lyme disease to AIDS since not all opportunistic infections have the same symptoms or consequences for the sufferer. When however Lyme disease is treated with antibiotics, the white blood cells will be finished off regardless of the level of toxic metals. From this point on, it is more or less roulette. Since the defenses are weak, any exposure to anything could result in a complication, but it is not clear to me whether the complications are directly related to the spirochetes or more opportunistic.

This image was taken in Switzerland. The patient was German and could have had her amalgams replaced at government expense, but she had not done so. She died of metastatic breast cancer that penetrated her chest wall and caused her lung to collapse. The red blood cells are clustered because of fibrin underneath (not visible) and the white spots in the plasma are dead white blood cells.

Now, however, I have to adhere to my own ethic which is not to dwell on the problem but focus on the solution. In general, one has to reverse the disease by eliminating the aggravating factors. Toxic metals are always a serious concern, but there are some situations in which another issue ought to have priority over the metals. Stronger people can generally tackle more than one challenge at a time. Weaker people often need to take baby steps, but steps in the right direction.

As I said yesterday, it is possible to chelate a bit without replacing amalgams, but let me tell a short story first. Many years ago, I was on a professional e-list. One of the other members owned a laboratory for testing for contaminants. Normally, he tested hair, but in the case reported to the list, he took two pieces of gauze from the same wrapper. One he tapped lightly between teeth and the other he tested straight out of the wrapper. The one that he had tapped between his teeth, one tiny tap, had a higher level of mercury than the clean piece.

Okay, so we are grinding and chewing and drinking and swallowing our own saliva constantly, not to mention what happens when lips meet! I do not want to discourage any amorous adventures, but it's possible two people could heal with one trip to the dentist. In animal tests, an amalgam was placed in a tooth and removed six months later for examination. The amount of mercury had gone from 49-53% to 9-13%. How the filling retains its structural integrity is anyone's guess; but the test involved sheep, ruminants who chew on plants, some of which could be mercury chelators. Obviously, unless one collected samples of what the body excretes, we would not know exactly where the mercury went, but with autistic children, we know that the level of excretion is weaker than that of healthier children. This gave rise to the theory of good and bad excreters; and while we do not want to foul our septic systems, it's obviously healthier to excrete the mercury. You can imagine however what the problem is for waste management because this mercury inhibits normal biological breakdown.

When I said recently that if someone is very careful, he or she can chelate some mercury without replacing the amalgams, I really meant careful. This would be the poor man's alternative to ceramic or gold restorations. If 40% of the mercury has already been leached as was the case with the sheep, oral chelation is definitely worth a go. However, it is extremely important that the chelating agent does not make any contact with the amalgam fillings.

In the studies run by Dr. Omura, cilantro was used. A lot of people have added chlorophyll to the protocol but it was not used in the original studies, and I stopped carrying chlorophyll after Fukushima. I am in discussions with a company that claims its chlorophyll is clean, but I think there are enough alternatives that we do not need to take any risks.

Where the dots begin to connect is that with a burden of toxic metals, there will be more free radicals. Interestingly, nearly every herb being considered for soil remediation is detoxifying when taken internally, and more important yet, almost every rasayana herb that has been tested for its free radical scavenging ability is not only a good antioxidant but also regenerative. All rasayanas are believed to promote longevity, and most also promote memory and brain function. A few are extremely important neurological herbs and nearly all, if not all, cross the blood brain barrier.

I tried to make it easy for people by putting colorful labels on the formulas that combine several rasayana herbs, such as Deep Sleep and Rasa. The single herbs have blue labels to differentiate them from the herbs that are not necessarily regarded as rasayanas. Over the last couple of weeks, I ran a number of tests with shilajit and am absolutely convinced it is everything it is said to be: excellent rasayana and free radical scavenger. I only ran the tests using purified shilajit because I believe purified shilajit is a kind of alchemical substance. The Russian studies of mumijo do not refer to alchemy, merely to adaptogenic, bone healing, and libido enhancing properties.

What is fascinating to me is that quite a long time ago, I read a good book by Steven Schechter on "Fighting Radiation" and one of the theories he advanced was that the body can kick out radioactive isotopes if a similar but safe isotope can be provided in the form of food or herbs. This was the theory I relied on when formulating Pacifi Ka and several more blends that will be released next week. To make this very simple, let's say that the thyroid is hypofunctioning because of lack of nutritional iodine. The body will grab radioactive iodine in a desperate attempt to rev up the thyroid, but there would be risk involved. If, however, one supplied a high quality natural form of iodine, the body could eliminate the radioactive iodine, and the thyroid might be spared from delayed onset cancer.

Countless children in Japan now have enlarged thyroids. The usual sources of iodine in the Japanese diet are seaweed and seafood, much of which must be highly contaminated at this point. I looked for land sources of iodine, preferably from south of the equator, in order to try to overcome the risks. These are huge statements. I am not sourcing Rain Forest herbs just because I love everything foreign. Rather, there are sometimes sound reasons for flying things in from afar. So, lately, I have added more Himalayan herbs and more equatorial plants because these are presently safer.

My apologies to Steven if I have warped his statements beyond recognition. I bought lots of copies of his book and sent them to doctors in Iraq and Afghanistan to encourage them to overcome the problems of depleted uranium. I value his contributions to our understanding, but the elaborations and mistakes are my responsibility, not his.

Now, back into focus.

Chelating is tricky. When the body is efficient, the toxins will be excreted fairly rapidly. If the kidneys are weak, this may not happen. The kidneys, as we know, are full of filters, and they reabsorb some minerals. You could say the kidneys are part of a great recycling operation. However, we need to understand where the minerals are needed and what happens to the ones that are not excreted, like iron. These are used to build hemoglobin, not just iron but lots of minerals. Shilajit transforms erythrocytes into gorgeous cells in a very short time. My theory is that when tissues are healthy, they are much less likely to retain counterfeits. So, combining shilajit with a good roto rooter like triphala is not a bad idea, but purified shilajit has already been purified, many times over, with triphala.

Now, try to imagine what happens if the body is low in iron but exposed to plutonium or low in calcium but exposed to strontium. You don't want to go there, do you? Now however you realize that we cannot pour toxins on our plants and expect the soil to provide the nutrients needed by the plants. Likewise, we cannot expect the plants to provide the nutrients we need if they were grown in depleted soil. Now, you also have a better idea of why some shilajit has 35 minerals and some has 85 minerals but all probably have more than what is growing in my backyard as we speak. You also understand why I formulate the way I do and how much thought goes into the formulation before I come up with my formulas.

A formula like Whale Tear's was on the drawing board for three years before it went into production. Pacifi Ka is in its fourth reformulation because I try to keep pace with the latest information on what is being released from Fukushima.

So, here is the rub.

If the white blood cells are dead because of toxins or antibiotics, immune enhancing formulas will not work very well. We have to start with the worst offender, eliminate it, and then work on the resurrection of the immune system.

If you have amalgams, you should be very careful about your use of cilantro. There are cilantro chutneys and cilantro pestos and cilantro extracts, but you need to avoid allowing any contact with the silver fillings. If you do take cilantro in extract form, make sure the drops are put way in the back of the mouth and swallowed without contacting the teeth. If they do contact the teeth, spit out the cilantro, rinse your mouth, and start over again with more caution. Once downing the drops, rinse your mouth several times and spit out the water.

If it were me, I would do this just a little at a time, very little at first. When I first started, there was one day when mercury came out of the pores of my skin and the bottom of the bathtub looked like someone had broken a thermometer in the tub. It was horrible, but little by little, I made huge strides. Keep in mind that besides the fillings, I had also worked for the government and been exposed to absolutely countless vaccines. Some of the boosters were every three weeks. Anyone who has been in the military service or foreign service or in a job requiring vaccines needs to consider the consequences of endless exposures to morbid substances with preservatives.

I do not want to end on this note. Tomorrow is Independence Day. As you know, I do not believe the U.S. ever really got its independence from Britain. We got rid of a monarch but not the bankers. The freedom I wish to celebrate tomorrow is the freedom to be myself, to be who I am in a world that has veered off course. I wish to liberate my mind from fetters, my emotions from fear, and my body from illness. For you, I wish you whatever is your bliss. Let's celebrate!

Many blessings,

Ingrid

Copyright by Ingrid Naiman 2013

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