Heavy metals blood test results for Metal on Metal hip joint

Here is what I was advised about metal purging - lots of water, exercise and healthy diet. Chelation for these metals is not a proven therapy. There have been suggestions to Use Vitamin C, EDTA and MAC (N-acetyl cysteine) but none has been shown to be more effective than removal of the source and time. Science may have a newer answer for you, but I haven't found any literature.

I am glad you are being fast-tracked back to health.
Sue

Hi Sue, it’s me again haven’t been on “hips” in a while…mainly I can’t keep a straight thought. We’ve “spoke” b4. I’m sure you can look me up. I’ve done all the things you mentioned previously except C-EDTA & …the other. I’ll take any advice…I know my mind is wavering & not improving..
I see cognitive abilities fading away slowly. I don’t know what to do. It’s been 2 years since rev. Is there a point where there’s nothing to do, but sit & watch 1/2 your life & memories fade? Or worse, come back & wonder…”what was I thinking”?

Good morning Tina - Have your metal levels been rechecked? That would be step 1, because it sounds to me like you may have something else going on. The sooner they can rule out metal and track down the real cause, the sooner you can get to healing.
If you no longer have contact with your surgeon, your primary can order the tests.
Sue

Wondering what type of physician is open enough to oversee ordering/monitoring the blood work for cobalt and chromium toxicity? I have slightly toxic levels of both 2° to two hip replacements and one revision over a 16 year period. My components are intact though 2° to sciatic pain, blood work was ordered via a hip revisionist to be certain that pain was not coming from malfunctioning components in hip prior to my having back surgery. Components looked fine but cobalt and chromium both elevated. BUT no one seems to know how to deal with this issue other than revision surgery, which technically I do not need (and was not offered) as hips are intact. Is there no way to remove these excess metals from my system? The hip revisionist, my PC and my rheumatologist all state they have no idea how to deal with this issue. I have been treated for "Lupus" for years, though it is undetermined if I truly have Lupus. I suffer thyroid issues, overall hormone imbalance,
fibromylgia type symptoms and chronic pain throughout my body, as well as having a rare breast tumor develop in my right breast, a cystosarcoma phyllodes tumor, non cancerous thankfully. Any info would be helpful. Ty!

Hello, and welcome to Mayo Connect. We are a community trying to live our best lives with a variety of conditions, and to help one another along the way. Your story sounds a bit like mine, except that I only had my implants for 4 years before problems began.

I lived for a few years with elevated chromium & cobalt levels - from the time of the initial test until the one just pre-revision surgery (5 months) the levels increased by 20%. Among others, one of the side effects was thyroid issues, another chronic persistent pain. Radiologically, my hip implants looked to be intact, so I did not want to believe I needed to undergo 2 major surgeries, and did endless research about how to manage without.

Here was my conclusion - there is no known chelation therapy, supplement or other technique for eliminating chromium & cobalt. It must be done through elimination via the kidneys & bloodstream. The metal-on-metal hips will continue to shed the ions into the body, causing the levels to remain or rise, depending on the amount of friction.

I had revision (turned out to be replacement) surgery on both hips. What the surgeons found was seriously deteriorated tissue - both fat & muscle - near the hips, degrading bone, inflamed tendons. Over a period of one year, my metal levels fell to normal. My thyroid issues resolved ( 30 days before doing an ablation & being on meds the rest of my life.)

However, as the result of the metal poisoning, I have an untreatable tremor which is getting worse, an unstable heart rate, chronic over-reaction to any inflammation, and I now hyper-react to every vaccine.

So, clinically my hips were intact, but they were poisoning my body. I am glad I had them replaced, and wish I would have done it 5 months earlier when I learned of the problem.

Has your metal level been monitored over time? What led to the initial testing?
Sue

Do you know the type of implants that were used? Thanks!

I had what are known as MOM - metal on metal. Specifically a metal femur head ball & a metal acetabular cup liner. The 2 metal surfaces, which were supposed to be "self lubricating" turned out not to work that way - the surface friction wore off bits of metal which deposited in the tissue & worked its way into the blood.

Traditional implants have a cross-linked polymer cup liner and either a ceramic or metal femur head ball.

Do you know which specific implants you have? These are all registered prosthetics, and the doctor and hospital will have a record of this. Once you know, you can look them up to see what metals are in them and what their history is.
Sue

Yes, I have wallet cards with all the information. I’ll look when I get home this afternoon and let you know. Have you seen the documentary called “The Bleeding Edge”? The first story is about a doctor who had this happen to him. Very eye opening documentary on medical implants and devices. I know mine are not metal on metal. My surgeon is also a researcher on hips and replacements at UTSW and we discussed the implant and why he uses the ones he does. So sorry this has happened to you!

Another source of information is: Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Metal-on-Metal Hip & Tribocorrosion Evaluation & Treatment. Yawkey Center For Outpatient Care. Suite 3B. 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114. 617-643-7436. http://www.massgeneral.org.

That's really helpful, thanks for posting. Dr Kwon was a consultant when I had to have my MoM implants redone.
Sue