This posting is one in a set:
- Why I wanted hair analysis done: Diagnosed with childhood polio, but was it polio or heavy metal poisoning? (includes chronology)
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2017-09-29: Lab Report on the hair analysis
- 2017-12-15 Now, what do I do with the Lab Report? First, try to digest it.
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I was a statistic that helped document the 1952-53 polio epidemic, diagnosed with polio in November 1952 (age 3 years, 7 months).
Less than 2 months prior to the diagnosis, I had my first dental filling (mercury amalgam). Prior to that I had the series of childhood vaccinations administered by the Health Dept. (details below). Was mercury being used as a preservative in vaccinations, in the early 1950’s? What were the ingredients in the vaccinations at that time?
ASIDE: At that time, the vaccinations started when you were one year old. Today, there are jurisdictions where they begin at birth, when, in addition to other factors, some parts of the immune system are net yet fully developed. . . .
I was curious. If you have the same questions as I had, I’ll save you some time: 3 short paragraphs in answer to:
- How long does it take for a newborn’s liver (part of the immune system) to mature?
- What are the consequences of a damaged liver?
- Why do the Americans administer the Hepatitis B vaccine to newborns? (Hepatitus B is a sexually transmitted disease, also transmitted through needle exchange, or when body fluids from an infected person come into contact with another’s body fluids. If mothers are drug users they would normally be tested for Hep B prior to the birth of their at-risk baby. (Hep B is like HIV.) During birth, or in the hospital, is a newborn at risk of coming into contact with blood infected with Hep B?. . . to the degree that ALL newborns should be vaccinated for Hep B (mandatory), at a time when their immune systems are not yet fully developed? . . . is this rational?)
- Additional food for thought: How Much Money Do American Pediatricians Really Make From Vaccines?
If I was making a decision whether or not to vaccinate a newborn, or a toddler, I would want to have some inkling of the answers to the preceding questions.
BUT! back to this posting.
Today, there is controversy over the polio epidemics. Were they epidemics, were the diagnoses accurate, were the trend-lines for polio already on the way down, were other factors at play?
My Mother kept pretty good records, including hair from our first hair cuts.
I recently sent it for analysis because I am curious whether my “polio” might have been poisoning by heavy metals, maybe not polio?
I know that ancient hair samples are tested for levels of heavy metals (e.g. the Inuit: https://books.google.ca/books?id=mWkYGpmzQXMC&pg=PA166&lpg=PA166&dq=lead+in+ancient+hair+samples&source=bl&ots=FsX0cytTMK&sig=GZw8HpVT-90V8MnT5ZGUxX-nU6k&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjbmfKGlqHXAhVF7mMKHdyDCQcQ6AEIODAD#v=onepage&q=lead%20in%20ancient%20hair%20samples&f=false)
My childhood hair isn’t quite “ancient”, but I wondered if an analysis might be helpful. It would at least be interesting.
Copy of the results of the hair analysis, Sept 29, 2017. (Mercury isn’t the stand-out heavy metal in the 65-year-old hair sample. Other heavy metals are.)
I have more work to do, in sorting out what the analysis might mean, if anything. (Note to self: take a look at Measuring Our Mercury Exposure Through Hair Samples)
CHRONOLOGY
(Tedious details below are because there is more research to do (e.g. what ingredients were in the vaccines), in order to arrive at any clear understanding.)
1948-49, In utero exposure to mercury. Input from Valerie Finley, my mother, she had a “pile of fillings”. Her mouth was full of them. “Would have 6 or 7 done at a time.” In the spring of 1951 (at age 23) she and a friend had all of their teeth extracted at one time. My Aunt did the same. The three of them got false teeth. They have had good health and good minds to this day. My mother is 90 years old.
1949, April 1: I was born
1949: Exposure to mercury through mother’s breast milk.
1949 – 1958: Exposure to lead from (almost certain) lead water pipes and lead soldering. (Water was piped to our first house from my Uncle’s, two houses away. Generally, copper started to replace lead pipes in the 1960’s.)
1950, IMMUNIZATION RECORD, original card:
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH
R.M. #351, Luseland, Saskatchewan (Canadian prairies, rural)
DIPHTHERIA TOXOID
Dose 1. March 31
Dose 2. April 22
Dose 3. May 25
SMALLPOX VACCINE – blank
SCARLET FEVER TOXIN – blank
PERTUSSIS VACCINE (whooping cough)
Dose 1. March 31
Dose 2. April 22
Dose 3. May 25
1951, re-designed card stapled on top of the 1950 card:
The column for DIPHTHERIA TOXOID is blank. The dates for the 1950 Diphtheria shots, doses 1, 2, and 3, are written in on the revised card, in the column
DIPH. TOX. & PERT. V. (Comb). Added to the record:
Dose 4. June 25, 1951 (Mother’s handwriting on backside of original card says Booster – June 25 – 1951)
In pencil on front of 1951 card, Mother’s handwriting: Polio May, June 25 Oct? No date.
Other Blank columns on the 1951 card:
- D. Txd, P. V. & TET. TXD.
- PERTUSSIS VACCINE (record on the 1950 card)
- SCARLET F. TOXIN
- DICK TESTED SCHICK TESTED
- SMALLPOX VACCINATION
1952 – Polio epidemic in the U.S. Fear.
1952 – (Mother’s record): Sandy’s talking was very hard to understand until she was three & even then she talked so fast & inarticulate that many had a time understanding her til she repeated a couple of times & she thought the listeners very dumb at not understanding her.
(I record this because the majority of accounts of vaccine-damaged children report language delay or regression. It may have nothing to do with my case.)
1952, Sept – Mother’s handwriting, Had her first filling in Sept. ’52 by Dr. Sills at Unity (Dentist in another town).
1952 – November 6 – Mother’s handwriting, . . . we took her into Dr. Kinnear in Saskatoon (closest major city, 3 hours away) because she complained of pains in her right leg & he diagnosed it as polio. Had affected muscles in the right knee & she had a bit of a sidle in her walk. Skating seemed to be the answer in helping it. (At age 3+, I was taken to the skating rink in the wintertime, almost daily, as I understand.)
1953 – March 2 – Sandy’s hair cut . .. short . . . (hair sample, age 4. Sent for analysis in 2017.) (Note: The average hair growth rate of Caucasian females is a little more than 5 inches (13 cm) per year. I don’t know if the rate is different for child vs adult.) So, mercury filling in Sept (don’t know the day), and hair cut on March 2; the hair sample was taken between 5 and 6 months after the filling. Let’s say 6 months which means one half a year of new hair growth = approximately 2.5 inches (6.5 cm).
The mercury from the one source (the filling) that may have made its way to the hair for excretion would be captured in the hair sample, IF the sample included hair taken from within (approximately) 2.5 inches (6.5 cm) of the scalp. Can’t know if it did. Affects the results. 2017-09-29: Lab Report on the hair analysis
1953 – Polio epidemic in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Fear.
1954 – tonsils removed
1955, Oct – Mother’s record: First permanent tooth (lower front) came thru in Oct 55. This was a deformed tooth both in shape & in enamel. Removed in 1959. (I record this because, see 19?? below, the Macklin dentist said that another dental abnormality was related to the polio. But was it? Are there other causes?
1956, Dec – (Mother’s record) Sandy had x-ray treatments thru Dr. Scharf to do away with adenoids that had grown back in & were causing earaches.
19?? – Dentist in Macklin said that the missing permanent tooth in upper front right quadrant was because of the polio. See 1955 above, also re dental.