FAQ Episode 60: Migraines and detoxification of heavy metals

Frequently Asked Questions about Natural Migraine Relief for Women

Dec 03, 2024

Did You Know Our Bodies Detox Every Day?

“Detox” refers to such a wide range of indications and is used so ubiquitously as to make it an almost useless expression. I think sometimes that it is a term best left to marketing videos on social media.

For the purposes of this discussion, the term detoxification aims to address the underlying questions of:

is there something in my body that shouldn’t be there?
is that something causing damage, or getting in the way of your body’s attempt to repair damage?
what can I do to safely remove that something to restore an optimal state of cellular function?

For many of my practice years I have studied heavy metal toxicology, its affect on cellular physiology, and methods of detoxification. In this post I’d like to share with you how heavy metals can cause damage, and how that could impact having a migraine, among many other health problems. But before we go there, what is a “heavy metal?”

Most elements on the periodic table are considered metals, with examples like copper, silver, and aluminum. Some of these elements have a benefit in human chemistry, for instance manganese, chromium, vanadium, iron, zinc and even cobalt. Then, there are others that can create problems with human chemistry and physiology, such as lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic. Because these dangerous metals have higher periodic chart numbers (like 31-83) vs the nutritionally beneficial metals (3-30) they are referred to as “heavy metals.”

Heavy metals cause two main problems:

they can react with cellular components to produce highly reactive free radicals. These cause oxidative stress (inflammation) and initiate further chain reactions that damage key cellular components like proteins, fats, and DNA. This can reduce the efficiency of enzyme reactions and energy production.
they can occupy the binding sites for nutritionally beneficial metals, and in that process inactivate the cellular engines of repair.

Heavy metals can deliver a cellular “doubly whammy,” first causing damage and then blocking the body’s attempt to repair it.

What are some symptoms of heavy metal toxicity?

In higher doses, heavy metals have clinically obvious symptoms we might associate with “poisoning.” Abdominal pain, nausea, high blood pressure, headaches, cognitive dysfunction, muscle tremors, anemia, kidney failure and many others symptoms up to and including death. For those experiencing non-fatal levels of heavy metals in the system the symptom complex is often less clinically obvious. Many health problems have several interlocking promotional factors. Sometimes they accumulate enough momentum to produce a clinically recognizable event, like a gout attack, or a relapse on multiple sclerosis symptoms, or…a migraine headache. But in between events, some of the root cause factors can be harder to identify. Much like not seeing the hazy shadow of a coral reef at high tide, only to have it split your keel wide open if you cross it at a low tide.

How do toxins effect the expression of migraines?

While hormone levels and their relative ratios get top billing when it comes to provocative root cause factors for migraine in woman, the various expressions of inflammation follow as a close second. Many people already have several elements of inflammation going that are overflowing their cup toward an episode of migraine expression.

How do we get these heavy metals on board?

The most common source of signficant heavy metal levels comes from occupational exposure. In medical practice this is easiest to see in so-called “dirty jobs.” Common examples include diesel mechanics, arc welders, home remodelers and also in recent years, two patients I’ve seen who are owners of gun firing ranges. These are the obvious cases. In a broader context, another example is the Boomer set. Some of those who were raised in the 50s - 70s had childhood exposure to leaded gas, leaded paint and likely lead pipes in older homes (especially < 1978.) But what about the rest of us? Is it really such a big deal for those less than 50-60 years old and in occupations that are not obviously at risk?

Even more so than in the mid 20th century, we live in a society where most of us are well removed from the sources of our sustenence. Our food and water can come from ‘far away’ and go through many hands and processes before we ingest it. The amounts of lead, arsenic or cadmium may be small, but they do add up. They can be found in fish food products, food containers, smoking, makeup and even some nutritionals. A recent article documented how you can even get lead exposure from tampons1

Why does the same exposure cause more problems for some than others?

There are three factors that might predict a variable health response to heavy metals in one’s system:

the amount and duration of exposure. Sometimes the process has been slow, but years in the making. I believe it is likely that much of the heavy metals you carry at age 40 has been accumulating for decades. Consider that the natural “half-life” of lead in the body is 40 years. This means that lead you encountered at age 10 is only “half cleaned up” by your detox physiology by the time you hit 50.
your weight and body composition. If you carry more fat, you have more “room to store toxins.” I have seen exaggerations of health problems when someone loses, or “liquifies” 20, 30, 40 lbs of fat in four to six months (post bariatric surgery, using GLP-1 meds, etc) and has to manage an excess of various toxins,* from years of exposure within a relatively short period of time.
* this can include pesticides, herbicides, organic chemicals-both added and incidental to the commercial food chain, petroleum derivatives, processed food additives, as well as heavy metals from multiple sources.
the ability to detoxify both within the cell, as well as the aggregate capacity of an organ like the kidney or liver, has a strong element of genetic susceptability that can vary widely among individuals.
an individual’s antioxidant defense reserves can help to buffer the process. Both acute and chronic inflammation can result when these reserves are low.

How do we test for excess heavy metals?

Heavy metals are distributed among multiple body compartments, with greater concentrations in lipid rich vital organs like the brain, heart, kidney and liver. Testing options vary in how efficiently they can sample and survey these various compartments. Some of the common options include:

random urine testing
hair analysis
random blood testing
stool testing
IV or oral chelator challenge testing

Each of these will look at levels obtained from specific body compartments. The first three especially sample mostly the intravascular blood compartment, rather than deeper tissue or intracellular locations. In my experience, an IV and/or oral chelator challenge followed by urine collection is the most accurate “big picture“ version to estimate one’s total body heavy metal load.

We could spend hours discussing the pros and cons in comparing each version of testing, but for the purposes of this discussion the bottom line of choosing to test is more of a yes/no answer to the question of “is your heavy metal burden a potential issue for you?“ and “how does its detoxification affect your symptoms and wellbeing?” It can also give you a snapshot view of where you are in the clean up process, and help to direct the future intensity or duration of therapy options. If you have a strong history or symptoms for heavy metal exposure, or would like more specific direction on choosing therapeutic options, it would be wise to find an integrative minded doctor who is familiar with heavy metal toxicology and chelation therapy. You can check the following websites for practitioner resources:

American College for the Advancement of Medicine www.acam.org Look for the ‘Find Practitioner’ tab.
American Academy of Environmental Medicine www.AAEMOnline.org Look under the Resources tab for ‘Find a physician.’
The Alliance for Natural Heath USA www.ANH-USA.org Look under the ‘Unite’ tab for the ‘Find a practitioner’ link. Most of these members are naturopathic physicians, physician’s assistants, or Doctor of Chiropractic.
American Association of Naturopathic Physicians www.Naturopathic.org Look under the ‘Find an ND’ tab.
American Academy of Anti-aging Medicine (A4M) ‘Find a Doctor’ link: www.a4m.com/find-a-doctor.html

A simple way to begin the clean up process

Let’s finish by discussing a simple way to begin heavy metal detoxification and also gain some practical clinical feedback to assess if heavy metal induced inflammation could be part of your migraine story.

The process of heavy metal detoxification has both very simple and very complex descriptions. Let’s start simple. A chelator (from Latin: chele = claw) is a molecule configured to attract and bind its opposite. Think of a sodium (Na) ion attacting a chloride (Cl) ion, and together as sodium chloride it becomes what we know as table salt. Either alone is dangerous, but together they are an inert chemical that we can safely put on an omelet.

There are many configurations of chemicals that can bind the heavy metals. As we get more selective about their use, we use specialty built chelators with acronyms like EDTA, DMSA, DTMP or DMPS. These vary on how they are used and what they bind best, which is why advanced training is advised to use them safely and effectively.

There is a safe and over-the-counter chelator you can begin to use without specialty consultation. Its called called Zeolite. This is a natural volcanic family of minerals found in deposits throughout the western United States (zeolite literally means “burning stone.”) It is aluminosilicate based, which gives it a high absorbency and ion-exchange capacity. It’s framework structure encloses pores that can occupied by heavy metals cations like the ones we would like to clear out of the body.

This cage like configuration also allows it to grasp and remove other toxins like excess ammonia, low level radioactive elements, dietary nitrosamines, petrochemicals and mycotoxins.

Using zeolite for migraine headaches

If you have migraines, reducing the sources of inflammation should be a focused part of your recovery plan. If you have reason to believe that reducing toxins like heavy metals is a part of your inflammation reduction pathway, you may want to pursue a 30-60 day trial of zeolite to assess response. Here are some considerations for such a trial:

Seek out a high-quality source of zeolite that is properly cleansed and sized for absorption. Zeolite particles in the range of 0.5–8 microns seem to have the best absorption and distribution. The product you choose should be pre-cleansed so that the Zeolite particles are not carrying any potentially adverse contents on the way in.
Look for zeolite products with what is called natural clinoptilolite zeolite, which has a high silica/aluminum ratio. The clinoptilolite version has a stable structure, resisting the leaching of its content as it passes through the body (as synthetic versions tend to do.) Look for a product with at 1east 90% plus clinoptilolite content.
Generally a powder form will give you more zeolite per dose, and per dollar.
Taking all of your daily zeolite dose a) at one single dosage b) in the PM and c) with a meal seems to be the best delivery method.
Make sure that you don’t “start too low and go too slow.” That is the opposite of what we usually say about a detox plan! There are several reasons for this, but probably the most important is that a sufficient, or saturation dose of binder to match the amount of toxins available for binding prevents or reduces the redistribution of those toxins. When toxins are removed from their original location and then the available dose of binder isn’t sufficient to remove the “stirred up” toxins from circulation, some of the toxic load isn’t entirely removed from the body, but rather relocated. This can result in a new round of damage and potential immune activation, as well. Typical zeolite dosages are in the 300-400 mcg range, whereas a saturation dose would be in the 5, 10 or 15 gram range, which would be 12-50 times of the “typical” entry level dose for many zeolite products.

I’ve found that using two teaspoons of powder (10 grams) as an initial dose is a reasonable place to start, and then in two to three weeks drop this by 25-30% on the daily dose (to 1-1 1/2 tsp/day) for the following week or two. Consider holding the line on dose reduction if you start to get “detox symptoms.” So for example, if you have improvement of headaches with full dose, you would look at a loss of your progress (a return of headaches) as a sign that you may need to hold that dose longer before trying to taper again.

The only Zeolite I’ve used personally, and also one that meets the requirements I’ve listed above is Zeocharge. which runs ~$55-60 for 30 5-gram doses. This would allow a 20 day trial of 10 grams daily for 10 days, then 5 grams a day for another 10 days.

Another brand a few of my patients have used successfully is SuperSmart Zeolite, which is only $21 for 25 X 10 gram dosages.

One caveat to consider in the selection of brand name and price.

If you have had one or more MRIs, and you think that they may be a factor in the incidence or frequency of your headaches (or any other set of symptoms, for that matter,) you may have a degree of sensitivity to gadolinium, the contrast agent used with the MRI. If that’s the case, aim for a higher grade (and yes, more expensive) zeolite that has been most thoroughly “rinsed free” of potential gadolinium impurities. If you think you may have gadolinium sensitivity, take a look at Dr. Semelka’s site on this issue. He is, to my knowledge, the leading clinician and thought leader on GDD (gadolinium deposition disease.) His blog on that site has almost 300 entries, with more information than I’ve seen elsewhere on the origin, symptoms and management of gadolinium sensitivity. If you think you may have some version of this syndrome, start with his article: Identifying features that make it likely that you have Gadolinium Deposition Disease. If you have a significant version of this disorder, you need the assistance of someone experienced with the treatment of GDD, and you should not use zeolite alone as therapy.

Whichever brand of zeolite you use, consider 1) using enough to saturate the binding of “loose toxins” (~10 grams/day) and 2) be willing to use it for at least 20-30 days to give it an initial trial. Some people need several months of therapy, and its near impossible to know on Day One what duration of therapy will give you optimal benefit.

Help your body help you…to feel better!

No matter what health challenge you encounter, you will have less inflammation and heal faster when you have fewer toxins gumming up the works. We all have them on board, and if you’re not one of the lucky detox gene people who clean and repair like nobody’s business, you need to consider the pro-inflammatory role they play in specific diseases, as well as in day-to-day wear and tear. If you have questions or thoughts on this topic, please let me know!

Natural Migraine Relief