CIDP and Heavy Metals

That was one of the first test that I had to study for. I flunked. :rolleyes: About six months or so later I was finally diagnosed with CIDP.

At least in my case, there wasn’t a correlation between heavy metal exposure and CIDP.

Yes, heavy metals “should” be tested at the very beginning of any search for the cause(s) of neuropathy. But, then, a complete history “should” also be taken. This might point to when and where such an exposure occurred.

As for research, I like to use the medical websites and libraries associated with the National Institutes of Health. Here is one example:

“Toxins can also cause peripheral nerve damage. People who are exposed to heavy metals (arsenic, lead, mercury, thallium), industrial drugs, or environmental toxins frequently develop neuropathy. Certain anticancer drugs, anticonvulsants, antiviral agents, and antibiotics have side effects that can include peripheral nerve damage, thus limiting their long-term use.”

The entire article is here:

[url]http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/peripheralneuropathy/detail_peripheralneuropathy.htm?css=print[/url]

Peripheral nerve damage is not the same thing as demyelinating – CIDP with the D being the most important.

Yes, my daughter was thoroughly checked for heavy metals, one of the first things among many others, that was checked. There weren’t any signs of heavy metals. Arsenic would have lasted in her system a long time if it had been present, not sure about mercury and others but she was tested for all.
Nothing.

[QUOTE=nicsmom]Peripheral nerve damage is not the same thing as demyelinating – CIDP with the D being the most important…[/QUOTE]

Sorry, mom. I will take issue with your conclusion. So does the NIH in the Peripheral Neuropathy Fact Sheet.

Here- please read it all.

[url]http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/peripheralneuropathy/detail_peripheralneuropathy.htm[/url]

I too was tested early on for heavy metals as the cause for my neuropathy. Since I had no exposure, the test was negative and they tested further for other things. After a couple of years and several hundred tests and many countless pokes and prods with needles, I was finally diagnosed.

As far as heavy metals being a cause, gosh, I don’t know. CIDP is a failure of the immune system. It attacks self when it is not supposed to. would heavy metals cause t-cells to get signals messed up?

I am not sure what “triggers” our autoimmune failures, or why we get this autoimmune disease or that one. Personally I am happy that I do not have a potentially fatal condition, but I dislike the fact that it has disabled me.

My concern is no longer how I got it, but how I can live with it.

Take care
Dick S