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Gadolinium Retention in Healthy Male - No Kidney/Renal Problems

I had an MRI with contrast (20cc's of MultiHance) performed 3 weeks ago in NYC and have been feeling horrible since.....joint pain, muscle pain/weakness, skin pain/burning sensations, chest pain, throbbing veins, headaches, nausea, fatigue, back pain,  random bruising, ect.

I had a random urine test performed by the Mayo Clinic this week and my gadolinium levels were 12mcg, 300x the normal range of 0.0-0.4mcg.  My blood tests have come back normal twice in the past two weeks with respect to eGFR, BUN, Creatinine, BUN/Creatinine, ect..  The neurologists at Columbia University and my primary are baffled and unable to provide me guidance at this time.  I spoke to a Nephrologist and a Dermatologist who were also undable to provide me guidance.  They all quote the basic research that they have read that states this never happens in patients without kidney problems.  Clearly, they have been proven wrong.  

Any insight or guidance based on experience and industry knowledge would be very much appreciated.  Thank you.
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Avatar universal
If you are looking for more information about Gadolinium Toxicity and have not found the reference site, it is www.GadoliniumToxicity.com - lots of information and specific research.  Also a support group on Yahoo Groups at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MRI-Gadolinium-Toxicity/info
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Avatar universal
My gad level is over 50, as of Dec 28.  I had an MRI w/contrast Dec 4.  I started having foot pains about 5 yrs ago, and have had numerous tests/doctors look at me with little/no help/diagnoses.  I have had MRIs in the past (one I remember was 2001, but not sure if I had contrast during that one, probably).  My eGfr was 93 on Dec 4 before the contrast was given.  No kidney troubles!  Sure wondering what the road ahead is for me...
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1 Comments
Hello, Hope you're doing well. I had an MRI where the gadolinium was extravated into my tissue on 12-19-15. I'm still having burning pain at injection site. Also burning pain in all limbs, hard time walking or standing for very long. I get tired easily & just feel lethargic.  I just noticed a lump in the front of my throat, I had a UA on 1-28 sent to mayo clinic. Results are 26. I'm very scared of what will happen next. Have you experienced any new symptoms? Take care
Avatar universal
Hello all,

This is Gena Norris again,

I forgot my password and had to change my old email address due to a hacking, so I could not retrieve my
account information and had to form a new account. I've had a couple of you contact me at my old email address.

Please feel free to contact me again.

My prayers are with each of you for a full and complete recovery.

Sincerely,
Gena Norris
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3 Comments
Hi Gena,  I hope that you are well. Can you tell me how long the gadolinium was in you before you found out what it was that was causing your system? I won't be starting therapy for about 3 weeks. I just found a lump in the front of my throat and just have constant pain in my limbs. Thank-you for any info, Karol
How can we report what issues we are having after a MRI with contrast.  I had to have two MRI's within a 4 week period due to them finding a spot on my breast.  That was not cancer but I am on my second round of predisone to control the symptoms I am having after the MRI.  During second MRI they had to the stop the biopsy because within 10 minutes of receiving the injection I was showing an adverse reaction.  Now I have severe headaches, severe joint pain and burning.  Before the MRI I had no real health issues.  I don't know what to do about it.  I have no Kidney problems at all.   I would like to be able to report my issues because in the comments everyone else had the MRI for health issues I went in completely healthy and have come out with a major problem.  What doctors do you see to fix this?
Gena I wrote you a message on Facebook with the name of HARMON WHITNEY, please look at it. Please
Avatar universal
Hi Gena...glad to finally read of someone that has recovered from Gd poisoning!!!!  On 8/6/14 I had an MRA with Gd where the doctor directly injected the Gd into the hip vs IV, in doing this he pricked me with the needle and within 1 wk of the procedure my whole leg (hip to bottom of foot) had swollen and has remained swollen ever since.  I suffer from extreme fatigue, pain (bilateral shoulders and hands along with my right leg) and muscle weakness (first started with right leg, now it seems that all muscles in my body have become weak).  I have tried high dose vit c with msm, turpentine, sodium thiosulphate and oral edta, all with no change in my condition.  Only in the last week have I read an article by several doctors all of which I have started to implement:
1)  Dr. Joel Wallach ( believes that most disease can be cured with 90 essential nutrients)  he does sell his line of vitamins but was able to replicate it with liquid vitamin that I purchased via Amazon.com (Source of Life Gold multi vitamin)
2) Dr. Mark Sircus ( he believes in using baking soda, iodine and edta suppository with gultothione)  I have just made my first batch of edta/gluthothione suppositories (coco butter, and aforementioned powders) and I will be trying my first suppository tonight; i was excited to see that these were part of your regimen of healing.

3)  Dr John Bergman (believes that chiropractic adjustments help heal via the CNS (Central Nervous System)  I have had 13 adjustments as of this week and can't really say that they have helped, but i will continue for at least another 7 sessions to see if this along with the other 2 therapies will help cure me.

I live in Puerto Rico and unfortunately, doctors here are not willing to extend a helping hand as they do not want to contradict/conflict with their collegues, so I am screwed!!!  I have pretty much been on my own since this ordeal began and I am hoping that God will open a door for me, and show me what will work. As soon as we start giving our testimonties of healing then more of us will be helped.  I will try all 3 protocols together and try to give an update in the near future.  

Thanks for posting your testimony and we all need to keep the faith, because at the end of the day, none of this took God by surprise and if you believe in him and keep your faith strong, he will bring us all out in his timing, not ours.
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14276883 tn?1439870189
Gadolinium-based contrasting agents are nephrotoxic meaning they cause acute kidney injury.
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13535160 tn?1433343624
Hi all,
My name is Gena Norris and I am a survivor of Gadolinium poisoning. My very kind mother had posted on my behalf on this blog site. It has taken more than two years to recovery from this near death experience. Calling it a nightmare is an understatement and was as hard on my precious family as it was on me. I would like to share with each of you that there is hope after being poisoned by Gadolinium, but you will need to seek out help to rid your body of this toxic metal outside of mainstream/conventional medicine. I have literally been all over the world to get well. It is very important that you find a good Integrative or Naturopathic Doctor who understands and possesss the knowledge and experience to treat you with the proper chelation therapy. He or she will run all the appropriate tests to confirm Gadolinium heavy metal poisoning and the test will also show any other heavy metals that your body may be retaining. In my case the Gadolinium numbers were so high they were off the chart... I was almost dead by the time I got to the right doctor that they had to spend a couple of weeks just getting my body stable enough to start the chelation therapy. My doctors consulted many scientists around the country about what chelating agent might be used to chelate out Gadolinium as this heavy metal problem is relatively a new issue and is a metal not naturally found in the human body. Any problem or disease caused by Gadolinium being injected into the human body is completely man made. I have used many things to chelate the Gadolinium out of my body, including Desferal (which is an Iron chelator).... Gadolinium binds to Iron... You will  need Iron shots to replace the Iron lost. It is a hard treatment and I would personally not recommend using it... Calcium EDTA, Sodium EDTA  are good choices and all are done intravenously... After about 40 IV's mostly of Calcium EDTA, I continued with a least 40 Sodium EDTA suppositories... With my Gad numbers getting much lower I then continued the chelation process with Alpha Lipoic Acid, cilantro and carrots.... You'll need to take some type of pectin either apple or citrus while you chelate, so the metals can bind to something and be expelled from the body, otherwise your body will just reabsorb some of the metal. A knowledgeable doctor will be replacing all the good minerals that are being lost while going through the treatment. I won't lie.... It is pure hell, but you really have no choice. It is your best option. Gadolinium posioning is either life threatening at best and fatal at the worst. If you leave it in the body it will go everywhere and seeps deeper and deeper into your tissue, cells, organs (including your brain) and then into your bones. It has to come out. Conventional medicine (including the best hospitals) like the Mayo Clinic know of Gadolinium posioning, but don't treat it and most will say there is nothing that can be done...that is simply not true... I had a well known lab measure almost every chelation I did through a urine test, so I could keep track of the amount of Gadolinium my body was releasing until the number was 0. It was measured that I chelated out over 2mls of Gadolinium...It took almost 1 1/2 years to get it completely out of my body and my number is now 0.... None detected.
I have gone from being suspected of having ALS and on deaths door to almost fully recovered. It has only been by the power of prayer... a strong faith in God, the love of my family and friends and the great care of the right doctors at the right time to get me where I am today and the same can happen for you. If you would like to know more or have any questions, please let me know... There is so much more to my recovery, but this is the most important first step for you. I pray that this horrible practice will stop so no one else will be hurt and something new and safe will be found to help doctors find the information they need to help people. Stay strong, keep the faith and don't lose hope.  Sincerely, Gena
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4 Comments
Hi Gena,
May I ask what doctor/practitioner you saw? I have a very hard time finding anybody competent or interested enough to help me. I would go anywhere for treatment by now.
Thank you.
Regards, Inga
Hello, how can we contact  Gena, I  read here offered to write but where is the email address. I greatly appreciate help and advice and tips, Gena, if you read this yourself or anyone else who know contact details. Thank you
Iam severely affected by gadolinium poisoning and just want to get healed, can't do things  properly at the moment in any way, just hardly surviving
My email is ***@****
Irene
Hello Faen,
Have you gotten the help and treatment you need for this poisoning? Sincerely, Gena
Gena I wrote you a message on Facebook with the name of HARMON WHITNEY, please look at it. Please
Avatar universal
Hi all,

I had 2 different contrast scans in the last few months (latest in November) and have recently started developing symptoms of what may seem like gadolinium toxicity including chest pain, lung pain, weird rashes, shiny skin especially on my arms, joint pain especially my hands, and pain in the back of my neck/head and headaches. My kidney function has been monitored for a while and creatinine has been 1-1.08 over the course of the last few months, so not exactly kidney disease but maybe borderline. I'm wondering if it's possible if I'm experiencing gad toxicity and I'm quite worried.

Ben
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Avatar universal
I had MRI with Gad on 9th October 2014. Within an hour I began to notice symptoms of generalised muscle weakness & incoordination associated with increasing burning  type pain in my posterior fossa & radiating from my buttocks down the back of both legs to my heels. This continued to progress until approx a fortnight later I had the first of many spontaneous quadraparesis attacks with loss of all active movement in arms & legs & only weak trunk & head control. The longest of these lasted 12 hours but generally around 4-6 hours.
"Begrudgingly" the treating Neurologist finally ordered a blood test which two weeks later I was informed was irrelevant & so finally a hair test was requested by my GP. Today, the 11th. Dec I have received the results which indicate my a Gadolinium levels are markedly raised!!
I have just read your site & notice it was written in Feb 2013. I was sincerely wondering how you are now & what treatment if any you found to reverse these levels & these symptoms?
I await your response with great interest & hope
Could you please email me on ***@****
Regards
Robyn Jay
Physiotherapist
Adelaide
South Australia.
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Avatar universal
My father also had elevated gadolinium levels after an MRI with contrast (with normal kidney function, albeit bladder retention due to BPH). I spoke with a neuroradiologist who suggested for future (if absolutely needed) to use Gadfast for the contrast agent as it is less likely to dissociate and cause toxicity. We did EDTA suppository chelation over 20 weeks through his naturopathic physician and are currently waiting for the re-test to see how effective it was. He felt worse during the chelation process, but gradually improved following the conclusion. Best of luck to everyone in dealing with this! See an ND if you are in a state that licenses them.
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1 Comments
Gadovist, and the new agents are proving to be more dangerous than the older contrasts. If you ever have elevated levels, you should never have Gadolinium again.
Avatar universal
What kind of chelation did she do? My levels two months out are very high. I have had extremely serious health effects. The doctor at that time would not do a gadolinium test; maybe if the had done it then.....
Is it too late to chelate?  I am afraid I have nfs.
Thanks.
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Avatar universal
Hello,
I am so glad to hear from someone.
My daughter is doing better, but still has some problems.  It took months to get the gadolinium down to a low level with celations.  She is still having problems with her body functions.  I am going to send her the link to this site so that she may abe able to read these messages and know she's not alone.  Are you getting any better.  I sure hope so.
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Avatar universal
Update.  I have since been hospitalized twice for rhabdomylosis (rapid muscle breakdown) immediately following two light workouts.  Doctors do not know why this is occurring.  Renal function and the additional blood tests were both normal.  I had a blood test in July 2013 that was positive for gadolinium but on the low end of the range.  The urine test I noted above was also positive at 30x the high end of the range.  How's your daughter doing?
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Avatar universal
This happened to me too.  I am looking for specialists who will help me.  I had it on a hair test.  I have many symptoms of scleroderma and mastocytosis.  I really need help and I am treated like I'm crazy over this.  It is in my hair.  Urine test is pending.  I have been going to hot yoga.  I can't go to the gym anymore because of the increasing severity of what used to be a latex sensitivity but is now something that is turning into anaphylaxis.  Thank you magnevist
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Avatar universal
My daughter (49 years old) has been very ill since the end of January 2013.  She had 3 or more MRIs in 1 week and became more ill after that.   The hospitals could not find what was wrong with her and sent her home.  She finally found a toxologist and had a heavy metal test.  The gadolinium count was 47 and off the metal chart.  The gadolinium has stayed in her body.  She is now going through chelation and sometimes it is higher 59, but not below 36.  She has not had any renal disease to cause this problem.  She has asked me to search to see if there are other people like herself that are having similar problems.  We are in need of answers and ideas.  She would like to communicate if at all possible.
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1 Comments
Hi, yes there are thousands if not millions of people like her. Please go to facebook and look for Gadolinium toxicity illnesses group and ask to join. I am one of those poisoned people, as well as my 7 yr old son.  We all have normal kidney function.
Avatar universal
I guys,

I did two mri with gadolinium because I have some vision problems. After mri I recognize that my problems increased. Initially I did not associate that to mris. Afterwards I discovered that gadolinium can have neurotoxic effect. I did a chelation test using edta agent and, after one year from the last mri with contrast, I discovered that I still have gadolinium in my body.
Now I am following a chelation procedure with edta with ACAM protocol. Right now I did 6 infusion of edta (2 hours each). I am not experimenting improvements but doctor say that it can be a long process. I want to continue for a while, I will decide what to do in the future.

I am Italian, I do infusion in Milan. In the medical study where I go there are dozens of people that, for various reasons, they do edta infusions, typically for detoxify from heavy metals. The majority of them told me that they are improving and they feel better, many of them did 20 or 30 or 60 edta infusions.

For the moment it is for that, even if I am not feeling improvements, I want to going on.

Ciao a tutti
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1 Comments
Dalla dottoressa Ferrero ???
1188368 tn?1264502458
I too am having poisoned in singapore from MRI contrast. my thighs burn, my blood circulation is bad in legs and arms, chest pains that fatigues me, brain fog, confusion and blur vision.

i am not the same person before the MRI..... only option now is to try to detox it out of the system , but what methods to use?
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Avatar universal
My levels are still elevated from 7 months ago and I am very ill. For the the rashes have passed except for in my mouth.

Also, I am a scientist. I would like to get so,e cases published. This seems to be more common than everyone lets on. What is going on now? Where have your physicians lead you? I have been to every specialist. I have found a toxicologist who is interested. But cases need to get into actual medical literature to be taken seriously. Would any of your docs at Columbia be willing to publish it? Of course it is anonymous for the patient

Drop me a message so,e time and I can send you my email and phone number. We could probably both use a sounding board and a friend. There are some great people in this community....one of them may have contacted you. We need to band together to get better and raise awareness
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Avatar universal
Hi portadown,

I'm a 25 year old male in Virginia and also recently had an MRA with gadolinium. I'm afraid I'm experiencing the symptoms for toxicity as well and am considering osteopath chelation using EdtA. Please follow up with any info and you'll be in my prayers for a quick healing.  
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Avatar universal
Thank you for your response.  I've been drinking as much water as possible to do just that and also came across that article on transmetallation.  However, I'd like to figure out from an organic chemistry standpoint what would cause the gadolinium to break its bond with the chelating agent.  Also, if my renal/liver function is normal then why is the gadolinium still in my system 4 weeks post MRI?  To get to the root of the issue and alleviate the burning skin sensation and joint/bone pain, I've seen my primary, an osteopath, a neurologist, a dermatologist, and a nephrologist.  I'm also now in touch with the specialists at Yale to hopefully gain additional insight.  

**The main answer I am looking for is how do I safely remove the gadolinium from my system?  I'm afraid to use a chelating agent like EDTA via an osteopath out of fear of decreasing other key minerals/metals in my system and dialysis is not really an option at this point.  Rather than give up due to the lack of knowledge/interest/motivation of physicians and wait to develop further problems (more pain, autoimmune issues, ect) only to hear later on "I'm sorry, but this has never happened before", I want to find answers to some key questions and move forward with a logical course of action.


Questions:
What would Gd normally bind to? I assume that it would prefer to ionically bond with other atoms? Or does it prefer covalent bond?  I know that the atom in my body has a +3 charge and that it would probably need to have an ionic bond with multiple atoms in order to complete its f orbital which requires 14 electrons in total.

Is GdOH a very stable bond or are you aware of any other molecules or atoms within the body that would prefer to take the -OH (hydroxide) away from Gadolinium? What molecular properties does zinc exhibit that other minerals/metals in the body also exhibit that would allow for a similar bond.  

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3180881/

"Since Gd3+ ions have a similar ionic radius to Ca2+ (107.8 pm vs. 114 pm) and are known to form coordination complexes with ligands such as PO43−, which is abundant in the bone matrix material hydroxyapatite, the data suggest that the predominant Gd species is not protein bound but incorporated into the bone matrix. "

-Once in the bone matrix, how could I go about removing it?
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Avatar universal
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hello and hope you are doing well.

Understand your predicament. Gadolinium retention occurs if there is decreased renal function as stated by your treating doctors. In a study on a single patient with elevated levels, it was found that excessive Zinc in the body can cause gadolinium retention. This could be the case with other minerals also, just thinking aloud. What about trying to flush it out with increased fluid intake?

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.
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