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Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.

Signs and Symptoms of Arsenic Poisoning

Most arsenic poisoning is chronic: Through global trade, we are ingesting more and more arsenic-contaminated products – mainly rice, tea, medicinal herbs. Acute arsenic poisoning usually is accidental or occupational (mainly workers in pest control, electronics manufacturing industry and pressure-treated carpentry). Few are homi- or suicidal. Earlier this year I have been diagnosed with arsenic-induced ataxia. Ataxia means imbalance, wobbliness. For me, I am glad that I have “just” ataxia, and not more. The list below contains Latin as well a common names to make it easier to find things. Here is the short of what I have been doing to reduce my arsenic levels: 1. Stop using tainted products; look for safer sources. 2. Sauna as often as possible to sweat out heavy metals. Sweating through exercise and summer heat also helps. 3. Eating fresh garlic and cilantro bind and expel heavy metals 4. Vitamin C, selenium, vitamin B12, zinc, folate and methionine add to the elimination of arsenic. 5. And, of course, all the other lifestyle goodies: A healthy diet heavy on vegetables. Movement. Enough sleep. Plenty of water (some areas of the US have arsenic-contaminated drinking water from wells – careful!). Signs and Symptoms The myriad manifestations of arsenic intoxication do a roller coaster through all medical specialties, it seems. Since there are so many overlapping features with many diseases, it will take an open mind and special alertness to make a diagnosis. Just to show the enormous scope of signs and symptoms, I have thrown together acute and chronic arsenic intoxication. The list is not thought for diagnosing yourself - consult your physician. Here is the list: Abdominal discomfort Abdominal pain aches and pains Acrocyanosis Acute respiratory failure Acute tubular necrosis Adult respiratory distress syndrome Agitation Alopecia Altered mental status Anemia Anemia, aplastic Anhidrosis Anorexia Anxiety Aplastic anemia Arrhythmias Ascites Ataxia Atherosclerotic disease Autonomic neuropathy: unstable blood pressure, anhidrosis, sweating, flushing Basal cell carcinomas Basophilic stippling Birth defects, Blackfoot disease – black, mummified dry gangrene Bladder cancer Blood in the urine Bone marrow suppression Bowen disease Brittle Nails Bronchitis Bronchospams (inhaled arsenic) Burning in mouth/esophagus/stomach/bowel Cancer – lung, liver, kidney, bladder, skin, colon, larynx, lymphoid system Capillary dilation with fluid leakage and third spacing Cardiac arrhythmias Cardiac arrest Cardiomyopathy Carotid atherosclerosis Cerebral infarction Cerebrovascular diseases Chills Cholangitis Cholecystitis Chronic lower respiratory diseases Cirrhosis Clear skin lesions such as acne CNS depression Colitis Colon cancer Coma Concentration - poor Confabulation Confusion Congestive heart failure Conjunctivitis Convulsions Coordination difficulties Corneal necrosis Corneal ulcerations Cough with/without expectoration Cramps, cramping muscles Cyanosis of the fingers Death Dehydration Delirium Depression Dermatitis Dermatitis allergic-type Dermatitis, exfoliative Desquamation of skin Diabetes Diarrhea, often severe and/or bloody Disordered thinking Disorientation Disseminated intravascular coagulation Drowsiness Dyspnea (when inhaled) Dysphagia Eczema Edema – non-pitting of hand and feet EKG changes: ST changes, QT prolonged, Torsades de pointes, T wave inversion Encephalopathy, acute Enzyme inhibition Esophagitis Eyes blood-shot Eyes burning Facial edema Fatigue Fatty liver Fever - lowgrade Fibrillation, ventricular Fingernail pigmentation Fingernails with white marks Fluid loss Flushing Folic acid deficiency Gallbladder inflammation Gangrene of limbs Garlic-smelling breath or body fluids Gastritis Gastro-intestinal bleeding Generalized muscle aches and body pains Gingivitis Goiter Guillain-Barre syndrome - resembling Hair loss Hallucinations Headaches Hearing loss Heart disease Hematuria Hemoglobinuria Hemolysis Hepatomegaly Herpes Hormone imbalance Hyperesthesia Hyperpigmentation of the nails and skin Hyperpyrexia Hyperkeratosis thickening of the skin of the palms and soles Hypersalivation Hypertension Hypertension-related cardiovascular disease Hypopigmentation – “raindrop” areas of lost skin color Hypotension Hypovolemia Immune functioning impaired Immune suppression Impaired healing Inhibition of sulfhydryl enzymes – garlicky odor to breath/stool Insomnia Irritability Ischemic heart disease Jaundice Karyorrhexis Keratosis Kidney cancer Kidney damage Kidney failure Korsakoff’s psychosis Lack of appetite Landry-Guillain-Barré syndrome - resembling Larynx cancer Laryngitis Leg cramps Lens opacity Lethargy Leukemia??? Leukocyturia Leukonychia striata Leukopenia Lightheadedness Listlessness Liver cancer Liver: central necrosis Liver congestion Liver dysfunction and elevated liver enzymes Liver: fatty degeneration Low grade fever Lung cancer Lung: Chronic restrictive/obstructive diseases Lungs: Inflammation of respiratory mucosa Lung irritation Lymphoma??? Major depression – mimicking Malabsorption Malaise Mees's lines, or Aldrich-Mees's Melanosis of the eyelids, areolae of nipples, and neck Memory loss Memory – poor Mental retardation Mental status altered Metallic taste in mouth Microcirculation abnormalities Mitochondrial dysfunction Movement disturbances Muscle aches, spasms, weakness Muscle fasciculations Muscle tenderness Muscle twitching Muscle wasting Muttering Myocardial depression Myocarditis Nasal mucosa irritation (when inhaled) Nasal septum perforation Nausea Neuralgia Neuritis Night blindness Nightmares Numbness Oliguria Oral burns (acute, when taken by mouth) Pancreatitis Paralysis Paranoia Paresthesia – symmetrical, stocking-glove Pedal edema Pericarditis Peripheral neuritis Peripheral neuropathy Peripheral vascular insufficiency Personality change Pigmentation changes – hypo and hyper Pins and needles in hands and feet Pneumonia, bronchial Polyneuritis Portal fibrosis Proteinuria Psychosis Pulmonary edema Pulmonary insufficiency (emphysematous lesions) Pulse – irregular Quadriplegia Raynaud’s Syndrome Renal cortical necrosis Respiratory failure, acute Respiratory muscle insufficiency Respiratory tract infection Rhabdomyolysis Rhino-pharyngo-laryngitis Rouleaux formation of red blood cells Salivation excessive Seizures Sensorimotor peripheral axonal neuropathy Sensory changes Shock Singing Skin bronzed Skin cancer Skin lesions and rashes, including vesiculation Skin pallor Sore throat Splenomegaly Squamous cell carcinoma Stomach pain Stomatitis Stroke Stupor Suicidal Swallowing difficulty Sweating, excessive Sweet metallic taste Tachycardia Throat constriction Thirst Thrombocytopenia Tingling Tracheobronchitis Tremor Tubular necrosis, acute Unsteady gait Uremia Vasodilation Vasospasm Vertigo Visual hallucinations Vitamin A deficiency Vitiligo Vomiting Vomiting blood Weakness of distal muscles – hands and feet Weight loss Read More 
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Diseases of the Gut Show at Your Skin

Less than a month ago, a young woman in her mid-twenties called me for “lumps in my armpit”. Now, that can be a thousand different things, not all easy to diagnose, some with dire prognosis. So, I told her I needed to see her. She came, and the diagnosis needed one look only: Hidradenitis suppurativa. This poorly understood skin disease can’t be confused with any other: The patient has multiple red swellings and scars in the axilla, sometimes at other areas, too. You could describe it as boils in the armpit. They are painful and disfiguring. Conventional medicine describes them as inflamed sweat glands (which is what “hidradenitis” means, and suppurativa means “leaking pus”). They are similar to boils, pilonidal cysts, chronic abscesses, fistulas and different kinds of cysts. They might be exacerbated by hormones, excessive sweating, and overweight. Genetic factors clearly play a role – hidradenitis suppurativa is more common in females, and in people of Mediterranean and African-American descend. Medicine might not understand the cause of it, but any layperson can see that hidradenitis suppurativa is a highly inflammatory disease. This young, pretty woman was slightly chubby – not badly, indeed. But I advised her to eat more vegetables with olive oil, and leave out all sugars and dairy products, as the most inflammatory foods. She also was bloated and had a family history of gluten problems, so I asked her to leave out gluten, too; at least for a few months. I also recommended anti-inflammatory fish oil and probiotics to help her poor, inflamed bowels to heal. What happened to the young woman? - Within two weeks, she was dramatically better and had lost some pounds, and all the bloating. I never counsel to lose weight; I recommend a better diet, and the weight loss will follow automatically. She was happy about the result. Unfortunately, then she went to a party where she indulged in all the wrong foods, including pizza, cheese, and sweets. The boils immediately recurred. I was not worried about the relapse: It only confirmed what she had learned: That what she eats has a beneficial or not so beneficial effect on her digestive system, and her health. – Her choice, really. I know that at this age, all the young woman wants is to look good and be able to were a sleeveless top, and there is nothing wrong with that. But I will make a prognosis – even if I might not be around to see the result: If this twenty-five year old will be able to stick to her resolutions (at least most of the time), she one day will be vibrant fifty-year old. If not, she will go the way most people go in our society that adores foods that I’d call “non-foods” – and she will experience obesity, diabetes, cancer and the myriad of chronic diseases that seem to pop out of nowhere as we age. – Let’s see which way she chooses … Read More 
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Summer Heat

A tremendous lightning-and-thunder storm brought a huge downpour and a bit of cooling to our region. Not much so. It is nearly ten o’clock at night, and I am still sweating. You hear me often talk of the benefits of a cold shower (after the hot one). The cold water mimics the exposure to cold we need for a functioning immune system. Since we live in rooms with central heating and are not working outside so much, we don’t get enough of our birthright: cold exposure. We likewise don’t get enough of the summer heat because most of us live in air-conditioned rooms. Not we though. In twenty years, we have used our central air conditioner a single time. We didn’t like it. We prefer to sleep with window open to get cleaner air. Contrary what you might think, the indoor air pollution usually is much worse than the outdoors air pollution. Hint: Houseplants help cleaning up indoor air. We sleep with window open even in winter, in severe minus grades. I lie under about five duvets then and stay snugly warm. Now, in summer, I am sweating – I can’t remember a hot and humid summer like this one. But sweating: That is what summer is for. Summer is a season that gives you a sauna for free: You can sweat out toxins which otherwise are hard to eliminate. Now I am getting rid of waste and damaging agents about twenty hours a day. Of course, I make sure that I take in enough water and salt, to make up for the losses. And be reasonable about it: If you have a medical condition, switch on the air conditioner. Keeping a cold facecloth at hand or taking a short cold shower can keep you cool. I feel uncomfortable now, sweating. But I know I good I will feel come September: Cool and ready to work hard again. In this heat, I admit, working and writing comes nearly to a standstill; the garden slowly turns into a jungle again as if the months of weeding and pruning never happened. This is the time for cold black tea with mints from the garden, reading in the shade, enjoying delicious music and light dinners – cold fish with a salad and some cherries afterwards. On the weekends, I am planning long afternoon naps, This is not my most effective time – but it is getting me ready for work and creativity in the fall. Soon I will give you my summer reading list. But for now I am in the middle of the summer string camp with two hundred kids playing violin, viola, cello and bass – and I am one of them. The one who plays cello badly. But having fun. In an air-conditioned room, actually. Read More 
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