Mercury fillings in MS: Hal Huggins and Blanche Grube

Dr. Hal Huggins was a dentist who was diagnosed with MS as a young man shortly out of dental school. He was having vision difficulties which hampered him from working as a dentist. At one point, he was walking with lofstrad (forearm) crutches. He recovered by having his mercury fillings removed and hanging his diet (in a nutshell).  Over the years he has helped many with MS and other conditions recover from their illness by removing their mercury (amalgam) fillings and root canals. Huggins reports several patients rising from a wheelchair to walk and one patient rising from a wheelchair to run a marathon [2] Huggins performed a trial in which he removed mercury fillings of 4 MS patients and observed a normalization of their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) following the dental revision [1].

Huggins has recently passed away. His protégé, Blanche Grube continues his healing protocol. Dr. Grube is a Doctor of Integrative medicine in addition to being the former president of the International academy of Biological Dentistry and Medicine (IABDM). She practices in Scranton, PA. Her website is Drblanchegrube.com. 

Dr. Blanche performed my dental revision and removed the rejected bone graft I had in late 2013.

Thank you Blanche. I wouldn't be here without you.

1.         H.A. Huggins and T.E. Levy, Cerebrospinal fluid protein changes in multiple sclerosis after dental amalgam removal. Altern Med Rev. 1998; 3: 295-300

2.         Huggins, Hal A. Solving the MS Mystery. Colorado Springs, CO: Dragon Slayer Publications, 2002. Print.

Friendship

I like to focus on the physical ways to heal because it is so concrete with plenty of evidence and the emotional ways are so abstract.  But, when I was down and out…too sick to ride in a car without chest pain, …trapped in my parents house in New Jersey with plenty of family tension and almost no friends around, it was friendship I really needed. It was all of the prayers and love people sent to me when I posted on facebook that I thought I was dying. It was my friends rising and falling with me and sharing my heartache, sharing my journey, that really got me through. I try to remember to thank the people that really helped me. Jon, Des, Alli, Danielle, Josh, Nolan, Carmen, Mom, Pop pop, Darlene, everyone who prayed for me and really lifted me up, thank you so much. I can’t put into words how much it helped me. I tried to put it into words, but I can’t even do it justice. Thank you so much.

Struggles in Physical Therapy School - headaches and blood flow

Physical Therapy was the only thing I've struggled with academically. I did well with High School and Pharmacy School and PT school until I was diagnosed with MS. My first symptom for MS was optic neuritis. A had a fuzzy spot right in the middle of my sight and couldn't read well. With that as my only symptom, I actually did just fine. I had family members or friends read me my notes before tests and I'd retain it and do well on the tests…printed in big font for me. It was fine. The problem started a month later with the IV steroids, which take symptoms away for some. For me, it cleared up my vision, but I lost 15 lbs and became increasingly fatigued during the steroids (1000mg/day with a taper for 2 weeks). When the steroids stopped,  I became very very fatigued, only getting out of bed to eat or maybe 1 or 2 more things. I began to have weakness developing in my forearms and lower legs which seemed to get worse every few days. I also had headaches, was depressed and couldn't think very clearly. I had symptoms of sensory overload, not wanting to make eye contact with people and not able to hold conversations with people or be around people too long. It was very scary. I thought it was progressive MS, the kind that comes on gradually without relapses and doesn't respond to steroids or other MS meds and doesn't improve. I had thoughts pop into my head of being in a wheelchair. I had a knee injury and hadn't been exercising but I thought to myself 'who cares about a knee injury if u can't feel your legs'. I began exercising at times when I had a bit of energy and stopped my other medication I was on: Interferon Beta because that was making me more fatigued and I'd get symptoms when i used it. I was finally able to read again and wasn't impressed by the research behind it.

 The exercise and stopping the med stopped the decline. Also some great advice and inspiration from Direct-MS. Use of probiotics and their other recommendations helped me put back on the 15 lbs in 3 weeks and I was inspired by Matt Embry who was diagnosed with MS in 1995 and is now symptom free. Terry Wahls' diet recommendations and her inspiration helped me also She was in a power wheelchair for 4 years with MS and now rides her bike and is in good health.

As I began exercising, I'd get a buildup of pressure in my neck and then my head. I was able only to run for a few minutes before having to rest or stop due to head pressure. Things turned around as I got strength back and even gained muscle to where I was 15 lbs heavier than before the diagnosis. However, the headaches were getting worse. I was only able to study for about 15 minutes at a time and was failing many of my classes. I missed many classes or left in the middle of class because I felt bad and had to lie in bed. I failed a few competencies. On one competency, I was the only one to fail it twice. Many of my professors were upset with me for my poor performance.

I diagnosed myself with CCSVI, something many with MS are reported to have, poor bloodflow from the brain due to inadequate jugular veins. I scheduled a surgical procedure, a venous angioplasty which had showed success for people with MS. I scheduled it twice and cancelled it both times.
I had never really had a headache before in my life. I thought to myself, this too started with the steroids. Also, I kept coming across information about vitamin K2 on Mercola.com. Vitamin K2 moves calcium from soft tissues (like veins) to bones and teeth. Then I heard it mentioned that it may be helpful for MS due to its role in building myelin. Whoa, I had to look further into it. I found that the higher your vitamin D intake, the higher your need for vitamin K2. I hypothesized that maybe the steroids calcified the jugular vein valves causing the issue and that all the vitamin D and tanning I was doing without vitamin K2 was actually adding to the problem. I stopped vitamin D for a few weeks and began vitamin K2 and did a lot of walking outside barefoot. I feel like both helped. In late April, the situation resolved itself without surgery. "Pop!" along the left side of my neck. Just like that, my 4 month long headache was gone…on the left side of my brain. The right side of my neck and brain followed suit the next day. That night I studied with a small group for the upcoming final. I studied for 2 hours! without needing a break. My brain was working again :) Just in time. I did well on all my finals and practicals and passed all of my classes. That "pop" was one of the most relieving moments of my life up to that point and very encouraging that I was doing the right things. I struggled with the rotation following this semester also with my brain still 'calibrating' itself after the months of decreased flow and the missed information from school.

Healing the Earth

I mentioned in an earlier post about seeing ourselves as a part of something bigger than ourselves. You and I are a small part of the Earth and something much larger. Just as we want our body to function as a whole for the good of the entire body, we must put the entire Earth's health before our own. The Earth is "sicker" than it has been in the past. And unfortunately, it is us humans who have been polluting it.

What does it take for us to be a sustainable part of this Earth?

The answer may not be that far out of reach. To think that we discovered electricity 250 years ago and are where we are at now technologically, it is not unreasonable to think that we will be able to store the massive amounts of potential renewable energy that are available to us and probably other forms of renewable energy we have not even discovered yet.

Another problem which is not particularly light to talk about is our population size. 1.5 Billion in 1900 and 7+ billion now. Again, the answer is not out of reach, but right before our eyes. Populations can only grow if couples have more than 2 children. If we, as a race, believe our population should stop growing, and want to avoid war (and disease and disaster) as means of accomplishing this, this would be the way to do it. This part requires us coming together. This requires communication.
Is there any other way for us to live long term on this Earth?...peacefully.? Be the change. starting meow.

Solitary Confinement

From Jan to May 2014, I was in a state of extreme sensory overload. Loud noises, an unexpected touch on the back or an intense conversation would sometimes give me an adrenaline rush and even at times cause me pain in my mid back (adrenal glands). Needless to say I was in no shape for a shouting match. Unfortunately, that's what I was up against almost every day as my father and I had disagreements about....everything. We have always had an amazing relationship and after a lot of healing, do again today. But it seemed, the sicker i got, the worse our relationship got. I decided to take my aunt's offer to live by myself in her shore house in Ocean City to get some peace and quiet in April 2014. I put my phone on silent and unplugged their phone and finally..gradually, I began to feel safe. I slept 16 hours a day, then 14, then 12. After a week or two, I was able to sleep through the night without my heartbeat fading to the point that an adrenaline rush would wake me up (due to a probable MS brainstem lesion). I remember the first night, I had an adrenaline rush during a dream and kept on sleeping. It was awesome.

Many days, I made goals for myself like 'i will walk around the block today'. That was exercise for me at the time. Too much like a sprint and i'd feel it in my heart or lifting weights and i'd feel it in my adrenal glands. I was a wreck lol. I read a book called 'adrenal fatigue syndrome' which i had a severe case of. I had to not let it scare me when i read things like 'this doesn't have to be fatal.' Like, geeze, i wasn't even thinking that!. Don't put it in my head lol. But things did get better and that book was full of very good advice.

Maybe it's my personality to look back and search for mistakes when things just don't feel right.  I looked back at this through that lens only because before i went, I heard my grandfather's voice in my ear telling me not to go there, that i'd be lonely. But i heard him tell me something a few days before which didn't seem to be true so i did what i thought was best. When I got there, i just felt great and relieved like I could finally put my feet back on the ground instead of paddling for dear life.  Pounds of emotional grief came out of me that month when I was there. Past relationships. Heartbreak, guilt. I was bawling my eyes out. I ended up feeling guilty about a lot of relationships and people I hurt. Kind of regretting them because they had to end.

I always saw living there as a good thing but I wonder looking back at this if thats what my grandfather meant saying i'd be lonely. Living there, i'd say, helped me physically get from 1/10 to 3/10 health, but maybe it left me not only with a guilty, fearful view of relationships but also had me associate retreating from the battle with healing. I'd say grandfather's been right. But also, I wouldn't judge someone for making the same choice I made. It was not an easy one and seemed like the best one.