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Daniel Lewis

This page contains the story of Daniel Lewis and his experiences with mercury from amalgam fillings. Daniel was kind enough to share his story with the world in hope that someone would benefit from the suffering he went through. Click here to view or print the PDF version.

If you'd like to share your story or would like additional information, please contact russ@mercurytalk.com.

A Mercury Story
by Daniel Lewis of Portland, Oregon

First off, it is hard in a few pages to truly illustrate the devastation of mercury toxicity or the tranquility and calmness that follows getting the fillings out. I hope I paint a good picture but my main goal in writing this is that someone will relate to my story in some way and decide to join me in being mercury free.

Growing up I was a happy, well-adjusted kid who loved his family and couldn't wait to meet up with his cousins every summer in Minnesota for skiing and video games. Nothing really got to me, life was great and I enjoyed being alive and free. Things started to change though, in high school my sophomore year. Most of it was neurological with mood swings, paranoid thoughts, vivid dreams and rapid, incoherent thought patterns. There were also some less bothersome symptoms like burning urine, irritable bowel syndrome and frequent nose bleeds. In spite of this, I had many friends, a good family and was a two sport varsity athlete. Most people didn't know how I felt because I locked my feelings inside to deal with in private where it would make me feel worse and eventually due some damage to my thought patterns and outlook on life. I decided to go on Paxil to alleviate the mental pain I was going through since the television and FDA portrayed it as perfectly safe. What I would go through in the next year would take me to a whole other level of mental pain and heartache.

After taking Paxil for a couple of weeks it started to give me an adverse reaction which sent me into a mania-like state of excessive drug use and irresponsible behavior which had never been a part of my life. I stayed on Paxil for a while until it was apparent to me this stuff was not doing me much good in any way (I tend to ride things until they buck me). After going off the Paxil and starting another drug called Buspar for anxiety I headed off to the University of Oregon for my first year of college. I loved college the first term but the medications took away my feeling and numbed me from taking in the atmosphere of a fantastic school like that. The feelings of numbness and isolation and being away from home for the first time was a lot for me to handle. I took a month break for winter vacation to clear my mind and start again in the winter with a clean slate.

When I went back for winter term I decided to try different combinations of drugs to see if that was just a side effect of the drugs I had chosen for myself. I did that with the help of a school psychiatrist who said I had all the symptoms of bipolar disorder and adhd and sent me to the pharmacy with a prescription for Depakote and Ritalin. After two days on Ritalin I got pretty paranoid because I was taking three times my recommended dosage. The reason why I wanted more of it was it made me forget my past with depression, the stress I felt from my rising symptoms and not being able to experience true happiness.

The next couple of weeks I went in to the psychiatrist every week to tell him the meds weren't working and to get him to prescribe me another one. At that point I was like an addict and believed a pill could save me from any unpleasureable thoughts I would have-it was that bad and so much worse. One day I just cracked from anxiety, paranoia and depression and went in to see the psychiatrist one more time. He took one look at me and said I should check into a hospital to get looked at by professionals because he could see how bad I was getting on this road we were traveling. I left school two days later on a medical release and got checked into a psychiatric hospital. While I was there I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and drugged out of my mind with tranquilizers, SSRI's, stimulants and anti-psychotic medications for three weeks. Not to mention that it cost my insurance company $23,000 for my stay. I left with a mix of five different medications that the doctor said was completely safe and a "nice concoction." In other words, I was an experiment where "nice concoctions" could be used to heal me.

Two months after my hospital stay I lost a job for the first time in my life, all my friends and the will to live. The drugs were sucking the human being out of me and I had to get off them. The doctors said this was a bad idea because I would supposedly get sicker and we were on the verge of the "right mix." I was in limbo at this point until I went to a bipolar meeting and heard about this vitamin program for mental disorders (mental disorders are linked to nutrient deficiencies). I thought I'd check it out and the people there seemed to empathize with my situation. I was up to try it since I had literally become a zombie on medications and it seemed like a healthy treatment for a change. The first couple of months were great with good moods and a stable thought pattern, but the drugs started to come out of storage and I began to experience really terrible withdrawal symptoms. I tried to alleviate this with exercise, amino acids to bind to the medications and staying away from soda, coffee, candy and all other stimulants but nothing seemed to make any difference. Twelve months went by with bad weight loss, blurry vision, a dream-like feeling and anxiety even though I ate so well and exercised twice a week. This, I was told, was strictly from the drugs but I had a hard time believing they could be hurting me a year after I got off of them. I also reacted to everything I came in contact with like perfume, gasoline and smoke and if I was in a room with anyone who was wearing perfume I would become paranoid and anxious. I read about candida on the internet and it seemed to fit what was going on with me perfectly. What happened next was the start of my discovery about mercury.

I went to a naturopath to see if she suspected anything and if my hunch was right. After talking to her for awhile she said I might have candida and that I had to get my mercury fillings out before we went any further. I thought she was crazy, my fillings? I dismissed this right as she said it and tried to cure the candida myself since I had researched it and thought I had a good grasp on its actions in the colon. A couple months went by of not being able to kill off the candida and left me very discouraged and out of ideas. I thought to myself "I have tried medications, vitamins, anti- candida herbs, amino acids, liquid-oxygen and everything else under the sun; what else is there?" To put it in mildest terms, I was very discouraged and was ready to throw in the towel because there is only so much falling down a person can do. Just then I thought back to what the naturopath said about the fillings and it seemed like my last and only option. I looked on the internet and could not believe what I was reading about what was put into my mouth. "Mercury causes bipolar disorder," "mercury is the second most toxic element on earth" "Mercury causes candida;" I almost cried when I read this because I remembered back to when I was a kid sitting in front of the fire with my cousins in Northern Minnesota and just how different I began to feel when my four amalgam fillings were put in early in high school. I linked these things together and I thought this was my shot to regain that kid in me who just loved life.

I made an appointment for a consultation and took a reactivity test to see if I reacted to mercury. Sure enough I had built up antibodies against it and my body was reacting to this poison everyday for the last six years!

Two weeks ago I went in to get the fillings out. The whole day was great and I slept great that night. The next few days that followed were continually good, but truthfully, I was waiting for the crash of my mood that I had grown accustomed to with having bipolar disorder. I had no mood changes in the days that followed and that was a consistency that I had not known a long time.

This is where it gets tough for me because it is hard to put into words just what I am feeling inside right now, and honestly, no words do justice to it. I will start off by saying that all I went through in the past is looked at as a learning experience and even though it was hard to forgive sometimes, I know I am getting better because I am able to forgive now. Hate for doctors, withdrawal and loss of so much of my teenage years took over my soul and wouldn't let me go. Two weeks after the amalgam removal I look at what happened as something I can't keep trying to fix and get the upper hand of. These days I just focus all that energy I used to spend on not forgiving to spread the word about mercury. The reasons I feel so strongly about mercury are that mercury caused my pain and illness, mercury caused my body to reject everything I did to alleviate my pain and I am a whole different person now than when I had them in my mouth. I know that it seems crazy to say I am completely different because people overuse this phrase but it is true. The best way I can explain being different is there is a straight line that is happiness. On my best day with amalgams I would have points (my mood, energy, anxiety, clear thinking) on the top or bottom of the line, but never getting close to touching. With the amalgams out I am always on that line and everything just lines up. I forgot life could be this fulfilling and genuine. It almost feels like a newborn baby is in the room and everyone just gets along. All I want to do is help people, be nice to everyone and just smile. I can't remember feeling this way and it should have been this way from the beginning. I don't know how much of America's ills are caused by mercury but I venture to say that it is pretty high because of how I used to feel compared to now. I will leave with the note that vitamins, minerals and amino acids are doing me really well to repair the damage in my body. Without them I don't know if I would be doing as well so quickly.

I hope my story helped and gave an insight as to the effects of mercury toxicity. If I can help or answer any questions or if you just want to talk about what is going on, please e-mail me @ dlew12@yahoo.com. Take care and god bless; the poem is for you to enjoy and I hope it brings some joy.

Dan Lewis
Portland, Oregon
dlew12@yahoo.com

People ask why
There minds jaded and hearts dry
The life so great taken from them
Like a beautiful flower without a stem
They remember what happiness felt like
How they used to laugh or simply ride a bike
They think things could never be that way again and it hurts
This hurting burns in them to find a way to get it back
A feeling or laugh that lets you know you are on track
Never will they give up until they get there once more
Standing there knocking, waiting for an opening of the door
They stand there long enough and finally it lets them in
To rid them of their dry heart and all of its sin
It takes them back to that time and their journey is over
This time there becomes a permanent stem of the beautiful flower

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