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A Nice Overview of a Nasty Toxin Called Mercury

Published on September 23, 2015September 26, 2015 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

Since I’ve been affected by the neurotoxin called “mercury” and have invested considerable time and resources into this topic, it seems appropriate for me to provide some resources here. I have blogged about my own health issues related to mercury poisoning. My beloved husband saw my telling test results, witnessed the process of detoxification, and has championed the benefits in improved health that have followed. Then I realized that there is some background information that I may not have shared with him or in Hope Beyond. Steve still has questions. Maybe you do too, Gentle Reader?

Let’s start with a basic video from a scientific perspective of a lab. Looks like mercury is indeed toxic and gives off dangerous vapors:

https://youtu.be/svmst0OFDGo

Now apply the information to a tooth in a human body and the typical scenarios people experience when it is in their mouth. Note that other studies show body burden increasing within hours not just 30 days:

https://youtu.be/hqIdGwAMxxs

Here’s more detail about dental amalgams, its effects, and how the rest of the world has addressed mercury toxicity; this one is older and a little quirky. They call for more research (and that research is now available):

https://youtu.be/WeanAuZK_DY

But how can mercury affect the body? Here’s another genteel overview from a dentist with some studies cited and an explanation of the general mechanisms of action. She is one of many, many who have published videos on this subject. Note the opening remarks about the lungs (which is where most mercury enters the body via vapors):

https://youtu.be/z3bFBMzyKE8

The dentist noted above also has a video series that is well thought out, easy to understand, and contains nice graphics with no hype graphics.

What has been discussed in the videos above is inorganic mercury. To round out this introduction I must add another form which is “organic” or methylmercury from fish. Check out this case study from a city devastated in Japan by mercury from industrial waste. If you watch my videos on YouTube you will see how I can relate to the wretched convulsions of Minamata Disese. Skip to other videos in the series on Minamata Disease for additional history too:

https://youtu.be/Nlt_VCODEJA

In the future I will chronicle my own discovery of mercury poisoning, the best treatment for me, and how reducing toxicity affected my health. Just recently I have found that detoxing from mercury is the largest part of my restoration to health. For the treatment approach that I would recommend as a fellow sojourner (not as medical advice!), please see the Mercury Toxicity Overview page of this website.

And please be encouraged, Gentle Reader. We are going to get well! JJ

He said I was tough

Published on August 25, 2015August 26, 2015 by Jesus is for the Wounded4 Comments

Lying in the dusk immobile on the asphalt was not the place I had intended to be on Sunday night. It was only the second time I had attempted to ride my bike this year and it ended in a bit of a disaster when my toe clip malfunctioned . . .

Lying on my chase lounge icing my sore, bruised, scraped elbow the next day came with a pretty view of our garden. Both the clematis and the wisteria had started climbing the 8-foot trellises that flanked the flagstone patio. From every angle but this one, their foliage plus the hydrangea, Japanese maple, dwarf mugo pine, and two goldenthread cypress blocked the view of the neighbors. Perhaps in another year the landscaping plan will have achieved its goal of complete privacy!

Lying on the grass after dizziness set in post-crash last night, all I could see above me was a few buzzing mosquitos against the early night sky. I had no idea the extent of my injuries. How would I make it home? We were two blocks from our house and I had not yet moved my left arm in searingly sharp pain. Steve hovered nearby, having dismounted his road bike, waiting for a word from me.

Lying in bed this morning, the wretched convulsive episodes were particularly long. They jarred my tender left arm and beaten-up spirit. The tears flowed easily: the big crocodile type ones that come from deep within. “How much more trauma could my broken frame handle?” I wondered. Probably “all of it” would be the Biblical answer but definitely not in my own strength! The Lord breathed life into me once again and helped me get up out of bed when my world stopped shaking. It was afternoon: time to get breakfast I guess.

Lying on the treatment bed in physical therapy today, I was glad that my PT was a competitive cyclist. Like my husband, he had crashed his bike a couple of times as a consequence of the toe clips of his cycling shoes not disengaging from the pedals. Jason made it sound like a normal occurrence. When you must stop suddenly and the quick turn of your ankle fails to disconnect the cleat that attaches your foot to the pedal, you can do nothing to brace yourself from falling. You simply fall straight down sideways to the hard asphalt or concrete below you. Your elbow usually ends up taking the brunt of the impact. Yup. For me this was followed by my knee, hip, shoulder and head. Thank the Lord for my helmet!

Sitting after dinner talking with my beloved Steve this evening, we reviewed the accident. There were misunderstandings between us that needed to be clarified and a plan put in place should an acute situation like this come our way again. This incident was unlike the medical episodes I encounter every night that often require his physical assistance or supervision. Yet it was very difficult to separate the two types of stressors. We agreed: all we really wanted was a nice activity that we could share together. Instead something went terribly wrong . . . again! So sad.

Reliving the whole ordeal yielded two truths that made this experience significant for our future times together. First, when I was crying in pain I was also scared not knowing if I had any serious injuries (as I still couldn’t move my left arm), struggling to get myself up off the ground the second time, and unsure how to position myself to walk home with my bike. Steve had offered to go get my truck to bring me home. Some other ideas he had ended up stirring some resolve within me to force myself to do as much as I could on my own. Even in this time of mini-crisis, I would not fall victim to another major setback in my health. I cried and groaned in agony for two blocks, stopping periodically as needed. I was going to make it home under my own power no matter what! This attitude carried me though the pain of later dressing and icing my wounds. (Gratefully nothing would be broken or even sprained!)

The next morning was difficult as already mentioned. The second truth was realized as I later was able drag my way through my daily routines. For many of us those routines might mean interacting with real people. For a largely homebound person that means checking social media! And what I found under my brief post on Facebook about the accident and my gratitude for no serious injury . . . was as humbling as it was empowering. My beloved made a comment in which he called me a “tough one.” Really? Yes really! And yes, I guess I am! He added a thought this evening that not everyone can keep on going with all of these struggles going on at once. His words meant the world to me. The person closest to me in this time of unbelievable struggle believes in me. He said I was tough!

Now you and I both know, Gentle Reader, the source of the strength that lies within me. It is not my own, it comes from the Lord. I embody His strength when I have none of my own. When my resolve can bring me no further, my Jesus’ hand covers mine over the handlebars and together we roll that crazy thing home. And when I had to wash open wounds it was the Lord showing me what to do, giving me the courage to do it too. My beloved helped me apply the compression bandages to keep down the swelling and pain. It was my Heavenly Husband who gave me the idea to use this kind of dressing of which I had never used before and was incredibly effective. Wow.

Lying in bed later on tonight I will have much praise for my Lord and for my beloved husband. My arm is working fairly well a day later and I will recover fully. I have learned a little more about the physical toughness that goes with the mental toughness of recovery from serious illness or accidents. Both will happen in this life to all of us. It is my prayer, Gentle Reader that no matter what situation you may find yourself in someday that you too will find the Giver of strength available to each us that knows no boundaries. I’d love to hear about your travels with Him too. Kind of like a bicycle built for two, eh? JJ

woman on a bike, woman riding a bike, bicycling, biking, recreational riding, cycling, winter cycling, winter biking — First ride this year: that’s me taking a quick ride around the campground, January 2015

Just another day

Published on August 21, 2015August 21, 2015 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

Today was much of the same:

Back to bed after hitting the wall, so to speak.

Hours later I cleared

And a phone call to my beloved at work

Got me in motion to do the tasks at hand.

The story doesn’t vary much . . .

Maybe an outing to test the waters may come

Only to push me back a few days and then

I wonder if I have really come forward much at all.

But “it takes what it takes” sometimes;

The good, the bad, the ugly like an old western:

I know the patterns at least so I cry less

Resting comes more easily as does opting out

‘Cause life is more about the meaning than the doing anyhow.

The last sentence in this prose

Must point beyond my tale of woe

For when a beloved friend faced losing a family member so dear,

I realized the blessings that abound in my life even so

Even so I will go on and things will get better of this I am sure.

It doesn’t have to be today you know!

Lost in Space

Published on July 23, 2015July 25, 2015 by Jesus is for the Wounded2 Comments

I’ve been up late several nights in a row now, updating my eBook whilst blogging on home safety for my new company: Two Step Solutions LLC. While that may appear wildly productive the timing is just too odd for it to actually be that way for me. I am discovering a few unusual things as I examine this new work, this current blog that you are reading, and the tragedy of illness resistant to treatment.

First, my professional writing lacks clear focus. I add too many words and the flow is not there. Oh the subject matter gets covered yet it is not yet up to par. The short articles I am putting out there are intended to build credibility in my profession and an audience for the time when I want to launch my home safety product. Perhaps I need a check-n-balance system before publishing each piece? Yes, something like that.

I am so very dry with ideas to write about that aren’t a re-hash of the saga, the illness. Sure, I have tried to end each blog with something reflective, insightful, Biblical, creative, humorous or otherwise useful. It is simply getting harder to do so when the head-banging that accompanies convulsive episodes goes on FOR HOURS EVERY DAY! You have heard about all of the test results pending. I continuously try new treatments that make sense to me. The outcomes continue to be disastrous. Sure there is hope on the horizon. But for now it is AWOL!

And if a test showed a particular course of treatment that worked, one could be encouraged as he or she ingested/applied/bathed/drank/swallowed it. As for me, hundreds of remedies, diets, treatments, scans, procedures, therapies, adjustments later . . . I am discouraged. Tens of thousands of dollars later . . . I am discouraged. Moving about while beat up on 3 hours of sleep is virtually impossible yet I was called to do it today anyways. My will has tanked. Yes, I am broken and discouraged.

Lost in space. There is no real sense of time here. It comes and it goes with little of meaning to measure it by. The foam in our bed is permanently dented in both places from my dwelling there. Steve and I pray. I cry a lot. I hear that others pray out there somewhere and yet do not contact me anymore. I am invisible for the most part. And that’s just how it goes when you have dropped out of life for a few years. Even blue jeans from Walmart start looking good when I can finally get out of the house on Wednesdays. Eeeek! I am an Eddie Bauer gal dontcha know?

I probably should not publish this. Well stay tuned. I am bound to bump into some kind of life eventually, eh? JJ

The Tale, The Test

Published on July 16, 2015July 17, 2015 by Jesus is for the WoundedLeave a comment

Once upon a time in a land of giants, lived a woman searching for a dream. The tall buildings and tall tales of love had left her scorned . . . what now to believe in? “Who can I trust with the tender desires of my heart? she pondered. And what would she do to make some sense of this story of hers that has not turned out like anyone had planned really?

Once upon a time in a land of lakes and rivers, backyards that you can really afford, and the modest building of boxes, lived a noble man. He too had been scorned but by a shrewy one, shrinking his honorable stature in society and beyond. And what will he do to calm the distant tempests of this life, to live in peace no matter what may come?

As fate would have it, the two dreamers met over the wires one cold Wintry day. He warmed her with his intellect and she him with her remaining spark. The love between them grew with passion, with promise of a happy ending together one day maybe soon. So they married. And life was good in the land not far away.

She learned to love the countryside, the bearded natives, the giant heart of her Sterjoy. For in his arms she found love like no other. “Jesus with skin on,” she would say. Her night in shining aluminum for sure was now here.

He learned to love the green of the earth, the richness of organic life, the sweet spirit of his Jaboo. For in her keeping he found respect as the man, the leader within that would emerge over time. His delight he spoke of often; her delight to receive.

They found things in common: to write, the open water, a furry Pupster too. Road trips were a perfect match for his love to drive through the night with her lunchbox that was filled with all of their favorite things in tow. Their families said, “at last!” and even the kids eventually came around as well. Theirs was something unique crafted just for these years as all could see. Their heartache had melted into a life that was lovely to the praise of the Lord who brought them together indeed.

Their biggest moment came four years later; no one saw it coming that fateful night. ‘Twas a mystery at first as to why she was so sick and then why it would last so long. They struggled and prayed, they searched and laid hands, they cried and they celebrated when hope would come for a little while at a rest stop in their lengthening journey.

Then things got uglier and she seized relentlessly day after night! She reached for her Sterjoy with angst and often no words would come but the love between them would endure nonetheless. He continued to slay dragons then try to minister to his wife late into the darkness without fail. The toll was palpable yet they lived on, trying and hoping only to have their hearts thrown against the wall time and time again. Herein was THEIR TEST.

Some tests take 2 hours, some longer, up to the duration of your life. How will you respond when the buttons in the fabric of your character are pushed into your soul? Most of us won’t know until it happens to us. And if we make it to the other side who will care when it’s even worse at the next one waiting beyond: oh no, it’s here again, the next trial? When all you know matters not with the tears that collect on your worn sneakers that you are sure can take you no further, no further, I said no further, you are done!

They pondered and prayed some more. They searched the Scriptures of Life. Fellows held them up then held them out for a blessing, for respite, and neither seemed to come as the sunrise cast into its fall. Then they realized that there were wounds in their hearts that their love had blinded them to . . . placing them on the chopping block or maybe for ransom and neither was able to make it different: oh my, just how? They had done all they knew to do, that which prayer and inspiration had taught. But it was their woundedness that needed to go first you see. It had to leave whether she would realize her last breath or not. To go on would require this. How to keep the music playing in their hearts for each other was the real test right now!

So being the faithful man of God, Sterjoy separated the shrewy from his Jaboo. He placed both on the throne of grace and turned his face to Jesus Christ for Thy will to be done. He waited again. He trusted in the Lord over all then waited and waited once again.

She being the receiver of the Spirit’s voice, obeyed in a way like never before. She trusted even in the time when crisis came around again: like a weak muscle that got worked but had only brought forth a crawl thus far. And as she would trust and trust some more until her mind won over her heart, until both of them became strong.

Their story has yet to end while one thing they now know for sure. The trials of this life are never wasted when the Lord carries you through in his chariot of grace, of love, and His promise for so much more. Those two lovers hold out for the hope of heaven and know there they both will find rest. Their love will be perfected by the Giver whose thoughts exceed the sands of the beaches where their lives have taken hold.

This day she has learned to believe her beloved and he, the heart of his dear one.

Gentle Reader, this story is a perfect image of the Groom as He envelopes His bride of Christ, His holy church. How fitting a tale. How fitting a test for us all. Sterjoy and Jaboo will live happily ever after one day without tears for trusting in the One due our complete respect: our Lord in shining honor! He is here for these precious ones in their time of need. He is there for you my dear friend too.

Oh yeah. JJ