I received 2 hip replacements and then developed cobalt & chromium.

Hi Sue, The blood tests were C-REACTIVE PROTEIN, CBC (INCLUDES DIFF/PLT), COBALT, SERUM/PLASMA, SED RATE BY MODIFIED WESTERGREN. I just had the dr appt with my orthopedist who did my hip 18 years ago on Wednesday ( 2 days ago). He did an X-ray and said the prosthetic looked good, the bones looked good and the placement looked perfect. We are waiting for the bloodwork which should be finished in a day or two . And I don't know how long it will take to get his surgical notes. He said they will tell us what prosthetic he used. It's a third party hired by the group who he belonged to when the hip was done. He has since moved to another group. He did say that if cobalt is found in my system we will go for an MRI.
I assumed the symptoms I listed were related to either my hypothyroidism which has caused half of my thyroid gland to disappear, hormone imbalances , my diagnoses in the past of interstitial cystitis, migraines, arthritis, or age. When my orthopedist said we are doing blood tests for cobalt poisoning from a metal on metal hip implant possibly leaking into my body (for the past 18 years), I wondered if many of these problems could be because of the toxins. Do you have any recommendations for additional tests to request? I read many comments and it seems the most logical remedy is revision surgery to stop the implants from continuing to do harm. I would hope that most of the pain and other symptoms will eventually stop, or at least improve. Thank you for your input.

@maureen716 It sounds like your doc is on top of things - I wouldn't know what other tests to recommend as I am a patient, not a professional. And, all of this happened to me 15 years ago while the cobalt toxicity had me in a serious brain fog. Once treated, almost all of my symptoms went away within 6 months to a year, and the cobalt and chromium levels returned to normal.

Thank you Sue, I am happy to hear that most of your symptoms went away after treatment. That's very encouraging. I am probably getting ahead of myself when I think of surgery type and prosthetic type for revision. So I will wait to see how my tests come before asking those questions. Thanks again!

@janneg
I insisted on metal allergy testing before my knee replacement implant several years ago. The blood test was sent to a lab in Illinois and came back showing allergies to 5 metals. My ortho was surprised and need less to say I canceled my scheduled surgery. I'd rather be crippled than dealing with an inflamed and painful artificial device in me that my body was rejecting and attacking my immune system.

@sueinmn
I have 5 metal allergies diagnosed via a blood test and thus canceled my knee implant surgery.
If you haven't had your blood detoxed medically I want to share about an at home heavy metal detox.
I also have several forms of eczema, Grover's Disease, GD aka Transient Acantholytic Dermatitis, TAD. On the Mayo site blogging about GD in Feb 2019 I learned about the success of others detoxing heavy metals and putting their GD into remission. My angel was a blogger going by Kimass1 who in Feb of 2019 mentioned that some sufferers of GD believed this form of eczema was caused by heavy metals. Cilantro consumption was one way to detox at home. I had just begun a new outbreak cycle, normally lasting for 6 months and so I blended up 1/2 a bunch daily and chugged this tonic down daily for 3 weeks and began noticing a reduction GD papuales. After 2 months I was convinced of improvement, after 3 months no new papuales and so I drank this tonic,- 1/2 bunch cilantro with about 1/2 cup of water for a total of 6 months. Today 6 years later still no outbreak. As a precaution I usually ingest a bunch or 2 of cilantro a month just in case. No I don't like the way it tastes. But pain is a serious motivator in taking "my medicine". Heavy metals are tied to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and to Grover's Disease. I don't know why my medical professions don't recommend a simple at home detox.

@gardeningjunkie Cilantro does not detox either Cobalt or Chromium. The only way to prevent further deposits is to remove the implants causing the problem. I do not know about other metals, or which they are, so cannot comment on them.
I only know that once the implants were removed, the chromium and cobalt levels in my blood returned to normal.

Even the though our body will naturally release metals though sweat, urine, feces or bile I read on the internet cilantro is listed among other foods that speed up the process of heavy metal detox. Learning about my heavy metal allergies to aluminum, nickel, cobalt, chromium and vanadium saved me from having a metal implant inserted into my body.
Even if cilantro didn't detox my heavy metals, it is obvious to me that some element in the herb changed my immune system. Grover's Disease aka Transient Acantholytic Dermatitis I dealt with for 5 years- first outbreak was 1 full year, then 4 years with a pattern of 6 months of activity and 6 months of dormancy which is a classic transient pattern. No expensive prescription helped- no steroid or anti itch prescription provides any relief, believe me I tried them all. Dermatologists simply can't help. That said fresh cilantro helped about 40% of us following a blog on the Mayo site. A very few wrote that they were improved taking cilantro tablets, but I tried that easy approach to begin with and found no benefit.
Many metal implant recipients report pain, burning, inflammation and other painful symptom's after getting joint replacement and I wonder how many are allergic to metals or if not allergic simply being poisoned by the metal particles being released into their bodies which their body can't excrete quickly enough.
I wonder how many, like you, had their implants removed and in your case replaced and resulted in their blood improving. I'm very happy to learn you were able to find an implant that you tolerate and have tolerated for years now. Living pain free or with little pain is a blessing.

@sueinmn My blood test for cobalt serum/plasma is back and it is 0.5 and spiking as high. It says the reference range for normal is 0.1 to 0.4.
My white and red blood cell counts are showing as low.
My hematocrit and hemoglobin counts are low as well. The rest of the panels are normal ranges (c reactive protein and sed rate). I have been noticing more pain and aching as well as heat in the area more now. Maybe just because I am hyper aware and paying attention. I have my Dr appt on the 28th with the orthpedic surgeon who did my hip 18 years ago. I feel like any spike in pain and cobalt levels should warrant revision . I pray my tissues are not being affected thus far but if he wants a MRI hopefully that will indicate whether there is tissue damage?

@maureen716 Those are curious results - cobalt and chromium levels should be reported as two separate numbers.
Normal cobalt levels are below 1.8 mcg/l; chromium below 1.4 mcg/l. I am not sure what kind of test you had that is returning a single number, or what units it is measured in. When I was having issues, my Cobalt was at 18-20, chromium was over 10. I no longer have access to the precise numbers after over 13 years.

When I was having symptoms, both MRI and x-ray images showed degraded tissue around the implant; I had serious pain and degrading mobility as well.

My revision surgeon was reluctant to do the second hip until he saw the damage on the x-ray because my Cobalt had fallen to 10, which back then was the threshold for considering revision.

If I was in your situation, I would talk to the surgeon about whether what you are noticing is from the implants, or whether they are reaching the end of their life. Do you know for sure that you have metal-on-metal implants?

@sueinmn There was only a cobalt test. Called cobalt serum/plasma. I go to quest for bloodwork. I copied it here:
COBALT, SERUM/PLASMA
0.5 H (here they are showing (in red) that 0.5 H is High)
Reference Range: 0.1-0.4 mcg/L
So the value that you are giving as 1.8 mcg/l that you say is normal - quest says is High.
So confusing...