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Nina Strugar

This page contains the story of Nina and her experiences with mercury. Nina was kind enough to share her story with the world in hope that someone would benefit from the suffering she went through.

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My Mercury Amalgam Story
by Nina Strugar, Serbia

Part One:
The Yeast Connection

It all began with my dental visit in Ann Arbor, Michigan back in 2000, as far as I can remember, where a dental clinic by the name of Gental Dental inserted 2 large amalgam fillings in my mouth. I was about 23 year old at the time the fillings were placed in. I was asked whether I wanted the silver fillings or the white ones, but having no idea what the difference was between the two, except for asking the dentist which ones my insurance would cover, she said the silver ones. So being a broke student, of course the choice was obvious. Give me the ugly silver ones so I don’t have to pay anything out of pocket. Its enough that every book at college costs $100 or more so my teeth were not my financial priority number one as you can imagine. Having no idea what was in the silver fillings, my only worry was that they did not look so nice, but hey, no one could really see them since they are far inside my mouth anyways, so I said go ahead...do the silver ones. WHAT A MISTAKE that will come to haunt me years later.

Since that year I had started to experience vaginal yeast infections. At first I would get one every few months and was put on diflucan and then the problem started to escalate. Over the next few years the infections got worse and worse and I was put on more diflucan every time just getting a simple answer from my gynecologist saying that my immune system is weak and therefore I get these infections. That was the only reply I ever received from the doctors and I didn’t quite understand why my immune system got weak when I have always been reasonably healthy. My vaginal yeast infections started to be painful in the abdominal area and although my doctors claimed that yeast infections are not painful I felt there was a connection as every time I had the infections under control the pain would go away. The pain was sharp and would last anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or so and would be unbearable. I started doing research on yeast infections and somehow linked it to candida but was on diflucan for a year or so before I realized something was wrong and that my symptoms are almost always present to some degree. It was not until late 2004 that I started doing more serious research online and found out all I could on candida and realized that I had it, although I could not find a single doctor that would believe me and always talked me out of it saying that candida does not exist anywhere else in the body even though at this point I suspected it was present in my intestines as well. They all repeated the same things as if they were programmed. Finally I got a book called The Yeast Connection and the Women’s health which also had a link to a great website (www.yeastconnection.com) where I joined the forum and found thousands of other people who have been affected by candida. I shared my frustrations with them and started a rigorous diet, stopped taking diflucan and went on numerous natural antifungals and bought some supplements to fight candida. It was just after New Year 2005 that I got really serious with this and decided to get rid of candida once and for all. I started loosing weight and experiencing many symptoms typical of ‘die-off’ which is the fungus dying inside my body. Talking to other people online I realized the symptoms I was experiencing were ‘normal’ for the massive die off of candida which I have now been harboring for years. I also read somewhere in that book which has one short chapter on amalgams that these are bad and there is a link between candida and these fillings, so in February I decided to visit a dentist and get my fillings out. I thought this would help my candida problem. Little did I know that all of this was mercury related and that my visit to the dentist will set off a ticking bomb…

Part Two:
Visit To the Dentist

February 8, 2005

I had already started to feel weak because of the diet and candida die-off but I wanted to do all in my power to get rid of it. So, on this day I went to the dentist in Tampa, FL that would remove my two amalgam fillings and replace them with composites.
I have spent almost 2 hours in the dental office having my amalgam fillings drilled out and replaced and during this procedure I have been exposed to the mercury vapors from the fillings. Of course at this point I still had no clue that this is what was going on. A few times during the procedure I felt dizzy and light headed but I thought this was normal from the anesthetic and the drilling itself. So right after this hour and a half I went straight to work with my sore mouth..

Things really started to go downhill from this day on. Perhaps this is the hardest part to write about and to put to words how I have felt in the months to follow and what symptoms I have experienced. In short it felt like I was going completely mad and that I was completely losing control of my body and mind. My digestive system was affected the worst perhaps. I could hardly eat anything and felt nauseous most of the time and had bad diarrhea. There was a constant growling of my stomach or intestines. I started losing weight uncontrollably and lost about 17 lbs in 2-3 months time. I could no longer sleep either. Every time my tired and worn out body wanted to sleep I would twitch so bad that I would wake myself up continuously. I had started to feel weird sensations in my chest and heart like something horrible is passing through my body. Heart palpitations were almost constant and my heart had lost the regular normal rhythm. This was followed by immense feelings of panic and near hallucination visions of black shapes floating around the room and I had visions of myself dying as my body was so weak and exhausted I felt I would not be able to make it. My body was sensitive to touch, light and sound. I could not even turn on a blender without closing my ears because the sound alone was enough to drive me mad. My central nervous system was therefore failing. The worst thing was that I had to keep employment throughout this experience, and apart from 5 days that I was completely bed-ridden I actually forced myself to go to work as I could not afford to lose my job. Of course it was so hard for me to focus at work and I found it hard to get any work done. I would get shivers and chills and start shaking at work and would have to run outside so that my boss and other co-workers would not see me and wait for it to pass. The panic attacks got worse and it was hard for me to spend 45 minutes in the car which was my regular commute to work one way. I would feel like I needed to get out, out of the car and out of my body and I was freaked out so bad I just wanted to scream. My head would feel like it’s about to explode from the pressure in the back of the head and I had weird creepy crawling feelings on my head most of the time. Of course at this time I still believed all of this was from candida as mercury poisoning and candida symptoms are somewhat similar. I then started seeing numerous doctors who would look at me shake like a leaf in their offices, giving me no diagnosis, just a few medications for symptoms such as nausea and something to help me sleep which did not help much as you can imagine.

I then found a homeopathic doctor in Tampa whom I told I have been suffering from candida and she also thought from my symptoms that it’s candida related. She did ask at one point if I have any amalgams but I told her I had them removed and did not go into detail so she never suspected anything further with this. She gave me some advice and natural supplements for candida, but I just kept getting worse and worse. So I decided to stop taking all the supplements.. It wasn’t until early April when I had a massive kidney pain attack that I found out what’s really going on. I suspected it was my liver because of all the strain that I put on from my detoxing candida. My right kidney started pulsing and it felt like it was going to explode. The pain came out of nowhere and it was so bad that I was rushed to the emergency room as it was Sunday when this happened. After waiting a couple of hours in the ER they took me in, did the kidney and liver ultrasound, all blood work and found everything to appear normal. They gave me something for pain, suspected that it was some gastrointestinal problem that caused it and sent me home. At this point I was happy that I did not have a terminal illness because I really thought that’s what was going on.

Part Three:
Self-Diagnosis and The Roller Coaster Ride

After this experience I have continued searching for answers online since I could get none from the doctors. I knew something was wrong and I needed to find out what.. Somehow I came to a website that mentioned heavy metal toxicity and the pounding in the kidneys so I immediately suspected this! I then continued searching online and somehow found the herb allure website (herballure.com) which has really been a life saver! I then realized that I suffer from mercury poisoning. As freaky as it was to find out I have this horrible amalgam illness, I was relieved to finally find out what is wrong with me and was able to get some answers from Russ and others on the forum as far as what supplements are beneficial. I immediately got vitamin C, selenium and vitamin E at my regular vitamin store and it wasn’t too long before I ordered Algin and magnesium/calcium after speaking to Laura on the phone who was very kind and explained her situation and how she suffered as well.

I must say that I noticed effects from Algin right away, I did get some relief from my digestive symptoms about 20-30 mins after taking Algin. However the panic attacks I found the worst to deal with and when the symptoms got really bad it was hard to keep going I must admit. It’s like Russ said, mercury detox is a game of endurance. I know this so well now. It has been very tough for me to endure. It was like my whole body is taken from me and I would lose all energy and would feel horribly depressed and afraid, terribly afraid. I stayed on Algin persistently and the other supplements I mentioned above for months to follow. There were a few ups, however most of the time I felt bad and every day functions such as having a conversation with someone, watching TV or reading a book were very difficult and sometimes impossible. I moved back home to Serbia to seek out help and support from my family and friends as my feelings of isolation in Tampa only grew and my fears got worse. I got somewhat better in May, although the only time I could truly sleep though the night was when I took enough sedatives to put me out. June and July followed with some really bad days and I went back to the doctors once again to check my body even though I really knew in the back of my mind that I will get neither help nor recognition of the poisoning. I told a few doctors what I think is causing it and they dismissed it by saying that this is not possible and that even if this was the case, the mercury would have been removed by now. Yeah right. So they sent me to a neurologist who diagnosed me with severe depression and wanted to put me on Prozac. This was my last visit to the conventional doctor which left me saddened, frustrated and disappointed as once again time, money and energy was wasted to see them and to answer their stupid questions and get no help whatsoever. The only thing they found was some candida in the stool sample which I assume is still somewhat present but since the mercury poisoning I figured candida will eventually disappear on its own as soon as I detox enough mercury. I do take some acidophilus every day but I am not on a diet any longer. I eat pretty much everything now, eating mostly home made food and have gained about 8 pounds back which helps since I am of petit build. Almost 7 months later I am starting to look and feel more like myself. There are now even a few nights that I am able to sleep through the night without the help of any medications. My panic attacks and other symptoms are subsiding. But I am still watching out for the bad days, as symptoms do come back except they are slowly fading away and I believe that at this point enough mercury has been removed that I can continue to live my life in a reasonable fashion to keep my employment, social life and family life under control. I look forward to feeling even better in the months to come and perhaps choosing a supplement later on when I am stronger that will get the remaining mercury out such as cilantro etc. For now, I am just trying to get my life back and I am enjoying feeling better again. I hope that my health will improve more as it feels like recovery and healing is under way. However, the story of course does not end here, but I wanted to share this with people around the world what I have experienced so far so they too can be warned about the dangers of amalgam fillings. I cannot undo the months of suffering and misery it has caused me and to those around me and this has left an enormous wound on my soul, but I am hopeful about the future of my health.

I also wanted to thank Russ and Laura for providing us with the herb allure website (HerbAllure.com) and recommending Algin which has been a great help in detoxing and getting rid of mercury through normal elimination channels. I believe I will keep taking it for many months to come.

Thank you for reading my story.

Nina

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