Yesterday I had to take my daughter to an urgent care. She was using a Q-tip knockoff product and a cotton part of the Q-tip got stuck in her ear. So the doctor had to pull it out. It was fine but be very careful and don’t stick Q-tips in your ear. However that’s not the point of the story. When we were leaving I was walking with my walker, she was next to me, and a gentleman was making room for me to walk to the car and he asked me “what happened?”   I know it’s odd to see someone young walking with a walker but to ask what happened by a complete stranger….is also a little odd.  I’d love to say this is so weird it never happens, but it happens all the time. Luckily,  i’m very honest can usually care less what other people think so I answered I had a MS.   Then the gentleman said “I’m so sorry to hear that” but it’s usually a reaction from everybody that asked me what happened and of course then the “I know someone who has MS” the other reaction usually yet. Then came the other strange thing, he asked me if I had a lot of teeth fillings as a child? A strange myth of a lot of people to think that MS is caused by mercury poisoning.

Many in the world have been exposed to mercury in the form of dental amalgam of silver. Then the exposure in our fish like salmon and tuna. Hence the rise of the wild caught salmon as opposed to the farm raised salmon that it has less mercury and is healthier but that’s another topic altogether.  Mercury poisoning was first linked to multiple sclerosis as early as the 1950’s. Why? Mercury poisoning symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, narrowing of the field of vision and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cases paralysis, coma, and even death were possible. Sound familiar? So of course it made sense why it could be linked. However an MRI of a patient with multiple sclerosis and one with mercury poisoning is nothing alike. To the point it would rule out MS completely in this day and age.

Yes, it is very likely that those old amalgam silver filings leak some mercury but MS has NEVER been linked to its cause.  Actually for some reason people with MS seem to have less mercury  in our brain. It has been proven that multiple sclerosis has absolutely nothing to do with mercury. Nothing from filings or from fish. So if someone is asking that question you can be mean and say they don’t know what they are talking about you ignorant fool, sit and explain the actual findings that there is no correlation or smile be nice agree and go about your day.  Mercury poisoning didn’t cause your MS, eat salmon.