How to test for toxins in your body

We talked about toxins last week and how some particular toxins can affect the body. How do you know if you have an issue with toxins? Functional medicine can be helpful here when you use their timelines and you work with a practitioner to gather information about your health. 

Your practitioner should ask you, “When was the last time you felt good or when was the last time you remember feeling really good?”

There should first be a focus on your symptoms before you spend a dime on lab testing, except your obvious thyroid labs of course. Your practitioner should take a very thorough history and plotting your life on a timeline with you. Plotting all your toxin exposure on a separate timeline can be very helpful for you to be able to see just how much of a burden your body is under. 

Some of the things that are involved in your toxic burden are genetics, things like polymorphisms in your genetic make up called SNP’s. Things that you come with at birth, maternal heath habits and health history. What was it like while you were in the womb? Then think about things you were exposed to as a child or exposure over time to a particular toxin. For me it might have been mercury through a mouthful of amalgam fillings. Next we are thinking about how disease gets triggered. You have a lifetime of exposure to something- for me it was second hand smoke, then I had a root canal as an adult- maybe you had something else. The point is you get this compounding effect and something in your body is triggered. When my son died, I am pretty sure the trigger for the thyroid storm was stress. I didn’t handle stress very well at all back then and didn’t learn how to really manage it until the last couple of years if I am being honest. So stuff is brewing and finally your body breaks. The final straw could be something as simple as gluten. It really depends on you and your bio-individuality. That is why the timeline is so important in helping you figure out your root cause. 

Next you look at what keeps the symptoms going over time. What is making things worse? It could be not enough water or vegetables in your diet or chronic constipation which is common in hypothyroidism and is sure to keep you in higher toxic burden. Maybe it is mold. 

I will share some of my timeline I had to do for my class as an assignment. Each functional medicine timeIine starts with prenatal exposures so we always start there. My mom had rheumatic fever and was on penicillin for ten years so she basically had a completely destroyed gut microbiome before I was born. She grew up on a dairy farm- probably exposed to some chemicals in the fields there and diesel fuel as well. I was born in the early 70’s and it was okay for women to smoke while pregnant so I had that exposure in the womb as well as the occasional bit of alcohol exposure. I had second hand smoke exposure my whole life, ate a Standard American very processed foods diet all while growing up. Both my parents worked so there was a fair amount of convenience foods though my mom did cook meals from scratch most of the time. I consumed a ton of sugar as a kid and young adult- not so young adult as well. I had a mouth full of amalgam or silver fillings, lots of hair perms in the 80’s and early 90’s, regular alcohol use for at least 10 years, Round up exposure for sure over the years but a time frame is hard to pinpoint. Lots of household cleaner chemical exposure as a kid too. My mom used to choke while using a certain cleaning product that took lime off the shower every single weekend. New furniture and new carpet and new construction off gassing over a lifetime, several flu shots in my past until my kids put up such a fight over getting them, we quit going. The use of plastic food containers, heating food in plastic containers in the microwave. Chlorine and fluoride exposure in drinking water, non stick cookware.  

You can see how seemingly small things add up to a lot of exposure over time and can contribute to dis-ease. Plotting all this out can be super helpful for you and your practitioner to see where your exposures were and are and you can start to make small changes over time. 

Some other very important things you need to consider before labs are things that play a role in your overall health and not just your physical health but your mental and emotional health as well. 

How are your relationships? Hashimoto’s and thyroid disease in general can create some loneliness. You don’t look sick but you feel like crap or have zero energy so you don’t make an effort to be with friends or family. You maybe start to stay home more than socialize and people don’t understand. You might feel depressed and certainly there are many of us who have been told by our doctors that we are depressed and there is nothing wrong with us. 

How is your stress level? Not just your physical stress but financial stress, are you a caregiver? cortisol issues, any kind of thing you or your body perceives as stress. 

Diet- what do you eat and drink? Processed foods, foods with little to no nutrient density? Artificial sweeteners? Chemicals, food dyes? Do you eat fish that has high mercury levels?

Are you exercising? All you have to do is just move to start with if you don’t feel like you can do much. Maybe you are working out too hard, too long or too many days a week. That is stressful for your body too. Maybe you are dehydrated or you use energy drinks or caffeine to help you get up and go. 

Are you sleeping? Many of you are not. I spent my college years not sleeping- of course. I recovered on the weekends by sleeping in. Then I had kids. I didn’t sleep through the night for probably 6 or 8 years. Then my blood sugar was a mess and my thyroid problems started so I had a lot of insomnia, tons of fatigue. Then my husband started snoring and having sleep issues. He actually chokes in the night and then flails about, kind of punching his way to a breath so I got woke up by that with a shot of adrenaline and couldn’t sleep. I am 49 this year and I had had enough of the no sleep so I now sleep in a separate room and am sleeping hard and through the night and it feels wonderful. Not so great for my relationship- so that part of my functional medicine matrix paperwork is suffering but I am sleeping and sleep is important to me. I cannot function without it. My brain doesn’t comprehend when I don’t sleep and being in school, brain function is important. I made a choice but so did my husband when he let the doctor tell him he didn’t need a sleep apnea machine because he was borderline.  That is probably more information than you needed but I want to keep it real here. The other important parts of sleep are things like keeping electronics out of your bedroom, keeping the room cool and dark and making sure you have down time. What do you do to relax?

What kinds of dis-ease can be attributed to toxin exposure? Well just about anything but I’ll run down some general things: 

• Poor digestion, constipation, IBS

• Infections, either chronic or things that are recurring, autoimmune disease in general, skin problems, cancer

• Fatigue

• Multiple chemical sensitivities, kidney problems, elevated liver enzymes

• Cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, asthma or things like COPD

• Hormone problems, thyroid problems, type 2 diabetes

• Bone loss, leaky gut

• Brain fog, anxiety, depression, feeling a lack of purpose

For toxic exposure in particular, once you pinpoint the types of exposures you have had, you can then think about potential lab work that might help you set a baseline for measuring how you are moving these toxins out of your system. 

Without addressing your thyroid issue or autoimmune disease, and just thinking about removing toxins from your body, you want to be sure that you have great digestion and you are pooping at least 1-2 times a day so that once you get the toxins mobilized, you can eliminate them without causing you to feel sick.  You will work on avoiding any more significant exposures, probably make some lifestyle changes and then work on a diet plan to clean up your body’s insides. 

Once you do that, then maybe test to see if you are assimilating nutrients meaning- is your body using or able to use the vitamins and minerals you are taking in through your diet. 

But you can take the Toxin Exposure Questionnaire from the Institute for Functional Medicine to get a picture of where exposure is in addition to plotting your life on a timeline. Every one of us has a toxic burden. We want to figure out if your toxic burden is one reason you have thyroid problems or autoimmune disease. So besides doing the questionnaires and having an interview with a practitioner you can have some lab work done. I want to emphasize that the other work should be done first and lab work can come later. 

You can have blood, urine, hair or stool testing done pretty easily to measure some of your toxic load. Maybe have a heavy metal lab test done if you have skin issues, heart disease, high blood pressure (and you know it isn’t from a crap diet), peripheral neuropathy, chronic headache, sleep issues, memory problems or issues with concentration. Anemia, regular abdominal pain, cancer. Any of these can be due to chronic heavy metal exposure. 

Some labs have toxicity panels- I think Genova, Great Plains Labs and a few others offer these types of tests. They are not super cheap though so be sure it is something you need or want. They can test for things like BPA, organophosphates, PCB’s, pesticides, and more. Say you used a ton of plastic over the years- maybe you want a baseline for BPA so you can measure how well your new diet and lifestyle changes are doing at excreting this out of your body. This would be a reason to have a blood test done. 

You can check with your doctor to have a full blood work up done too for things like your blood sugar, maybe mold, your thyroid panel, sex hormones, some doctors do adrenal hormones, homocysteine which measures the level of inflammation in your body, I think you can even get a glyphosate test, red blood cell count, liver enzymes. All those can help you learn more about where your body is at even if they are in the “normal” range. The high end of normal can be indicative that something is going on that you might want to pay attention to. 

IMPERFECT FOODS

Can exposure to toxins cause Hashimoto’s?

Welcome to episode 71. We are discussing toxins today and detoxification. I might have mentioned before that I was on a forum once and I suggested to someone that they may want to work on detoxification in their body in order to help their thyroid work better. I was shunned by the moderator with some links to prove that detoxification is a myth and that it doesn’t really work. I had to explain to this moderator that I was talking about our body’s natural detoxification system which works really hard for us every day. 

We are exposed to a significant amount of man made chemical pollutants in our drinking water, our food supply and the air we breath. We also have to consider all the products we bring in to our homes as well as any pesticides we might use on our yard. The exposure is everywhere. This is not a doom and gloom episode, though it might feel that way. I think education is important because when you know better you do better and that is the case with anything. These toxins are not going anywhere. Some will be here longer than humans so we have to know what to do about them and how we can keep our body as healthy as possible. In other words we have this body burden that we need to be mindful of. 

It is estimated that we each have around 700 contaminants within our body and most of those have not been studied for safety. 

What is a toxin then?  That could be considered anything inside or outside of the body that keeps us from having good health. There are toxic things- physical, mental, emotional, chemical- that are poisonous to us. There are toxicants- a kind of poison, usually man made that is put into the environment by humans. 

Maybe you have heard the term xenobiotic. This is a chemical or organic compound not recognized by the body. Xenohormesis on the other hand is a stress compound made in plants that are beneficial to our health. The prefix xeno means foreign. 

We can be exposed to toxins through heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs- chemicals that stay in the environment for a long time because they are resistant to biodegrading), toxins from foods like GMO’s, hormones, antibiotics, fat loving toxins, aflatoxins, sugar, food allergies, xenoestrogens (a synthetic or natural compound that imitates estrogen). 

One of the big problems we have is the constant exposure to this stuff builds up in our body over time and leads to dis-ease. We have the exposure from the environment, genetic susceptibility, dose after dose of chemical for long periods of time- basically our lifetime which makes the toxins potent and that leads to disease. 

How do toxins affect us?

It often starts with some kind of problem with the immune system and then extends into neurological issues, endocrine system issues or gastrointestinal problems. One toxin can cause multiple issues in the body. 

If you have not responded to specific therapies that are known to be effective for your condition, if you have allergies, infections, autoimmune disease or you have known exposures to toxins from jobs, hobbies, home exposure, whatever- then you probably have an issue with toxicity of some kind. 

Toxin exposures and how it relates to health. 

People with the highest levels of PCB’s were more than 4x more likely to have high antinuclear antibodies than people with low levels of PCBs. These levels are linked to higher rates of autoimmune disease. 

Having high mercury levels in blood or urine were associated with high antinuclear antibody levels. This is coming from the NHANES study done between 1999-2004. 

Chlordane- a chemical used as a termiticide, even when applied per manufacturer directions exposes the homeowner to it for decades and is causing incidence of the development of antibodies against self, specifically against smooth muscle tissue. 

Chlorpyrifos- info from the EPA website: 

Chlorpyrifos has been used as a pesticide since 1965 in both agricultural and non-agricultural areas:

The largest agricultural market for chlorpyrifos in terms of total pounds of active ingredient is corn.

It is also used on soybeans, fruit and nut trees, Brussels sprouts, cranberries, broccoli, and cauliflower, as well as other row crops.

Non-agricultural uses include golf courses, turf, green houses, and on non-structural wood treatments such as utility poles and fence posts.  It is also registered for use as a mosquito adulticide, and for use in roach and ant bait stations in child resistant packaging.

This chemical causes high antibody levels anywhere from 1 to 4.5 years after exposure causing antibodies against the parietal cells in your stomach- this means low stomach acid production and anti-thyroid antibodies as well as hepatitis. 

Formaldehyde— exposure causing antibodies against brush boarder in small intestine, mitochondria and smooth muscle tissue. 

Lupus- has a huge association to certain pharamceutical comounds and with environmental chemicals. Focus here is on the environmental chemicals since that is what I am studying. A neighborhood in Hobbs New Mexico had higher than normal exposure to chemicals like benzene, xylene, toluene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, mercury and more due to living near an oil field waste dump and a very high rate of Lupus- about 870 people per every 100,000. 

Mercury- Those same New Mexico residents were 11x more likely to have inflammation in the joints and they were 19x more likely to be diagnosed with lupus. They had problems with dizziness, balance issues, extreme fatigue, sleep problems, concentration issues and more. 

Antithyroid antibodies are linked with high blood mercury levels. Having blood mercury levels above 1.81 ug(microgram)/L means a 2.2x higher chance of developing thyroid autoimmune disease. Eating mercury containing fish just once a week can give you that level of mercury. 

Heavy metal exposure in general is a problem. These metals will bind to oxygen and other things in the body messing with all the enzyme activity that goes on every second. Chronic exposure can lead to CVD and related disorders, peripheral neuropathy, sensory disorder, anemia, abdominal pain, cancer, skin issues. Dental amalgams are a big culprit for mercury exposure. 

Regular and ongoing exposure to hair dye has been associated with higher rates of lupus as well. People who use nail polish have a 10x higher risk of developing lupus than those who don’t. 

Smoking also puts you at a higher risk of Lupus. 

Living with PCB contamination in your area will give you increased risk of antinuclear antibodies and anti-thyroperoxidase antibodies. Antinuclear antibodies are a general test for autoimmune diseases. 

From EPA: PCBs belong to a broad family of man-made organic chemicals known as chlorinated hydrocarbons. PCBs were domestically manufactured from 1929 until manufacturing was banned in 1979. They have a range of toxicity and vary in consistency from thin, light-colored liquids to yellow or black waxy solids. Due to their non-flammability, chemical stability, high boiling point and electrical insulating properties, PCBs were used in hundreds of industrial and commercial applications including:

• Electrical, heat transfer and hydraulic equipment

• Plasticizers in paints, plastics and rubber products

• Pigments, dyes and carbonless copy paper

• Other industrial applications

Chemical sensitivities are on the rise. This is also known as multiple chemical sensitivity, environmental illness, idiopathic environmental intolerance or toxicant induced loss of tolerance. About 20% of the population has this issue. 

You can have negative physical, mental, or emotional symptoms with minimal exposure to chemicals. Pesticides and solvents are the main culprits in bringing this on with new construction, gasoline and petroleum products a close second. Those of us with this issue may have a genetic SNP or two that lower our ability to break down organophosphate pesticides or solvents. 

Obviously avoiding toxins is going to be very helpful. It is your first line of defense. Clean up all things you can to the best of your ability and finances. Good air filters with a minimum efficiency rating value MERV of 7 on your ventilation system at home. This particular rated filter will help reduce dust particles which are  big culprit in at home exposure to toxins. Getting a good quality air purifier will be even better than a filter. There are things called sham units (no filters) and fully functional air purifiers. Using a reverse osmosis water filter will remove most groundwater contamination. Avoid high mercury fish, see a dentist that doesn’t use mercury in their office and if you need to remove high levels of mercury find a doctor that can use chelating agents.  I will go in to more details on how to clean things up in a future episode but using a sauna or sweating through exercise can be a great way to get toxins out of your system very gently and taking antioxidants or eating a rainbow of fruits and veggies will go a long way to helping your body clean things up and keep you healthy a million other ways.