Thallium, the overlooked poisonous heavy metal

[TheSpiritualBunny]

A while ago I watched Leos video about detoxing from heavy metals, and as someone who studied Chemistry for almost a decade now I have to say that the information in this video is very good, much better then I would expect from a typical "detox" video. I have to applaud Leo for doing proper research about this topic, there were a lot of things I didn't even know about.

Chelation therapy is a proper treatment for removing many heavy metals like Lead, Mercury and Cadmium from the body. However, there is one really poisonous heavy metal for which chelation won't work, and that is Thallium. Thallium (element Nr. 81) lies between Mercury (80) and Lead (81) in the periodic table and is a metal you probably didn't hear much about besides it having been used for murdering people and as rat poison. In the test results Leo showed in his video the Thallium level was the 2nd highest right after mercury, but surprisingly he didn't even mention this metal once. Thallium causes peripheral nerve damage, hair loss and induces cancer, which is different from Lead and Mercury which mainly cause CNS damage. Acute thallium poisoning makes people feel like they are walking on red hot coal. Sources for Thallium exposure are Vegatables and fruits high in potassium, because Thallium acts like Potassium and therefore gets accumulated in these plants. Cement work, waste from the oil industry and smog from coal burning introduce Thallium into the environment as well.

Lead, Mercury and Cadmium all have a charge of +2 in the body, therefore they bind with sulfur in proteins which usually has a -2 charge, thereby destroying them. Chelating agents like DMSA have negatively charged sulfur in the molecule which attracts the positively charged metals like a magnet. However thallium has only a +1 charge in the body and doesn't interact as much with negatively charged sulfur, so chelating agents like DMSA don't interact with it. In order to remove thallium prussian blue is used which forms an insoluble complex with it. Thallium competes with Potassium in the body, so making sure to get enough Potassium via Food, Potassium suppliments or by using low sodium salt (which has potassium added to it) is also very important for removing Thallium, besides other things these are the two main way you can get rid of Thallium. I would suggest doing more research about this yourself.

Anyway, I hope this interesting and helpful to some people here.

[Leo Gura]

The problem is that I haven't found a good way to detox it.

[ZenSwift]

This is a very interesting thread. 

[TheSpiritualBunny]

On 6/23/2022 at 2:55 AM, Leo Gura said:

The problem is that I haven't found a good way to detox it.

So you mean prussian blue and high potassium intake wouldn't work? Did you find some articles about that?

[Leo Gura]

On 7/2/2022 at 6:33 PM, TheSpiritualBunny said:

So you mean prussian blue and high potassium intake wouldn't work? Did you find some articles about that?

I don't consider Prussian Blue healthy to take. It doesn't seem as safe as DMSA.

This is the best detox method I've come across, but I have yet to really test it:

https://myersdetox.com/how-to-detox-thallium/

It uses a combo of activated silica and grapefruit pectin fiber.

Use at your own risk. I have not tested it.

[mmKay]

@TheSpiritualBunny @Leo Gura 

Book :  Hair Test Interpretation Finding Hidden Toxicities by Andrew Hall Cutler . Page 249

[...] If hair thallium is elevated then careful investigation of whether thallium exposure and problems exist is appropriate except in the unusual cases where many toxic and essential elements are vastly elevated (in which case reasonable elevations of thallium are likely to be an artifact rather than reflecting body burden).

For detoxification, activated charcoal (and in a medical situation where it may reasonably be prescribed, Prussian blue) are given to prevent thallium from being reabsorbed in the intestines. DMSA or DMPS are given to reduce body levels and ALA is added after 2-3 months as is done in mercury toxicity. If DMPS and DMSA are not available or if it is known that exposure was not recent then ALA can be used immediately.

A high intake of potassium increases the rate of thallium clearance and also partially corrects some of the biochemical imbalance thallium causes. The easy way to arrange this is to use a potassium chloride containing salt substitute liberally on food. Potassium should not be taken by itself without food as it can cause dangerous irregularities in heart function. Taste should be relied on as a guide to preventing too great a potassium intake - that is, only salt the food to taste with potassium containing salt and do not eat it if it tastes bad. Some modest metallic taste is to be expected but should not be unpleasant. In any case, intakes of potassium exceeding 1/2 tsp. of potassium chloride based salt substitute spread throughout the day and mixed with food require a physician's supervision and relevant testing.

Due to the colorless, tasteless nature of thallium salts some diligence is needed in ensuring any possible source of exposure has been identified and eliminated. Other supportive therapies that oppose the toxic effects of thallium are biotin 510 mg with meals and at bedtime, riboflavin (most easily obtained as "B50" or "B-I00" tablets at any grocery store or pharmacy) and magnesium (in the citrate, malate, aspartate or amino acid chelate forms) with meals and at bedtime, plus heart supporting supplements like carnitine, hawthorne extract or other relevant herbals, and coenzyme Q-IO. Despite the fact that blood tests may show low thallium levels in the presence of toxicity they are sometimes informative.

At the time of writing this book, the Great Smokies Laboratories erythrocyte element (red blood cells) test checks for thallium which other labs offering similar test panels do not. In addition it checks for potassium and magnesium levels which are relevant in thallium toxicity.

Page 104:

It is relatively difficult to establish good reference ranges for every element under every circumstance. Despite the fact that the statistical definition of the Doctor's Data reference ranges would reasonably be expected to lead to a bar on the plot for thallium most of the time, it is common not to see one.

Blood thallium levels are often falsely normal (low) in poisoned people. Urine levels in a 24 hour collection are somewhat more reliable but false normals are still common. Hair levels are often informative but no estimate is available at present regarding false normal thallium levels in hair from toxic people.

Most thallium salts are colorless, odorless, and tasteless. Thallium is concentrated into certain cells because it binds to a specific site on a cell surface mineral transport protein that is normally used to take potassium up in exchange for sodium (the biochemical term is Na,K A'I'Pase). It concentrates particularly well into the brain, kidney, and the part of the heart called the 104 myocardium.

In addition to binding to the sulfhydryl groups of various enzymes, thallium specifically attaches to vitamin B2 - riboflavin - and inactivates it. Without vitamin B2 fats can't be burned for energy and the main route that carbohydrates take into the energy producing Krebs cycle through pyruvate is also blocked. Citric acid, succinic acid, suberic acid and adipic acid go up on an organic acid test. Only protein can be easily used for energy.

Thallium is also reabsorbed in the kidney by the same mechanism that retains potassium, so people with low serum potassium or low potassium intake retain thallium and are more susceptible to its toxic effects. The half life for thallium elimination from the body is variously given in the literature as 8 to 30 days. It apparently does not clear from the nervous system at a significant rate since neurological problems may persist for years. The majority of excreted thallium leaves the body in the fluids the intestines secrete to help digest food. Lesser amounts are secreted in the bile and also are excreted in the urine. About twice as much thallium leaves the body in feces as in the urine.

The medical literature is full of descriptions of acute poisoning by large amounts of thallium. Typically the symptoms start 12-24 hours after the thallium is eaten. When smaller amounts are eaten the symptoms might not appear for 24-48 hours. The first symptoms are from the digestive tract - abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, perhaps vomiting, with constipation later. One to a few days later neurological symptoms appear. There is hypersensitivity to touch and pain, unusual phantom sensations, as well as muscle weakness that often begins in the soles of the feet and the big toe and slowly spreads up to the body. Movement may also become clumsy. The pain hypersensitivity can be so extreme that the brush of a feather can cause intense pain. The victim may salivate excessively. There may also be excessive thirst. At this point a variety of other problems may appear. Psychic disturbances such as delirium, restlessness, hallucinations and delusions are common. There may be eye turn or crossed eyes. Color perception may be altered or reduced. Blindness (due to optic neuritis) is frequent. Convulsions or seizures are occasionally seen. Liver and kidney damage often occur. About a week after the thallium is eaten the head hair falls out and the outer part of the eyebrows is lost. Children tend to develop the psychic disturbances more while adults are more prone to the weakness, hypersensitivity and heart regulation problems that come from impairment of the nerves that run the body. Heart function is affected and victims are at risk of sudden cardiac death' for at least several weeks. Heart racing is a common symptom as is elevated blood pressure. Chronic toxicity does not have the digestive tract problems or dramatic onset of symptoms that acute toxicity does.

The neurological, psychiatric and vision problems described above are prominent, hair loss does occur, and there can be heart problems and high blood pressure due to impairment of the nerves that run the heart and other intemal organs (autonomic neuropathy in medical terminology). There are typically also sleep problems. Tremors sometimes occur as well. The neurological and psychiatric effects can be severe enough to lead to dementia or psychosis. A slow blurring or dimness of vision is characteristic, with loss of both central vision and also mild constriction of the field of vision. Thallium does cause toxic porphyria through its effect on the liver. In chronic toxicity the symptoms may come on slowly and will usually be subtle rather than dramatic. Mild to moderate chronic toxicities are quite unlikely to be diagnosed (e.g. the combination of hair loss, heart racing and high blood pressure might be misdiagnosed as too much thyroid hormone).

 

Some Thalium Sources :

Thallium is used in pesticides and rat poison though this is no longer permitted in the United States. Thallium used to be ringworm remedies creams. a component of and depilatory Thallium forms a stainless alloy with silver and is used in jewelry, it forms a corrosion resistant alloy with lead. Thallium has innumerable industrial and scientific applications. Among these are its use in optical glasses, in radiation detectors, in low temperature thermometers, in a very dense liquid used for sink-float separation of minerals, and in the synthesis of organic compounds and in luminescent tubes, dyes and pigments. Thallium imparts a green color to some fireworks, Radioactive thallium compounds are increasingly administered to people for use in medical imaging.

Edited July 5, 2022 by mmKay