Hair Testing Instructions
Testing for mercury and other toxic elements is fraught with difficulties. Mercury has a very short half-life in blood, so blood tests are only able to detect recent acute (high level) mercury exposures. Urine tests are the same. Mercury in long-term (chronic) exposure will not show up in most tests, and its often deeply nested into organ tissues like the liver, kidneys, and brain.
The key to interpreting hair tests is the ability to detect what Andy termed “mineral transport derangement,” (MTD) a primary symptom of mercury toxicity. Mercury profoundly affects the body’s ability to maintain a proper movement of minerals, which can detectably show up on hair tests if there is enough mercury outside of cells. Andy and some colleagues discovered this after comparing thousands of hair tests from both healthy and toxic people. And after treating the toxic people and seeing them recover, he was so convinced of his findings that he wrote a book* just on hair testing alone. Hair testing is a mainstay of Andy’s work, since it can help people better determine if mercury and heavy metals are a problem for them. Still, Andy thought that the Symptom Checklist on pages 54 to 64 of Amalgam Illness was more sensitive. Some are convinced just by reading page 25 to 27 of Amalgam Illness or pages 11-18 of The Mercury Detoxification Manual.
*see “Hair Test Interpretation: Finding Hidden Toxicities” by Andrew Hall Cutler (HTI). Portions of this book can be previewed on Google Books.
Why “Doctor’s Data” Hair Test?
The Doctor’s Data hair test is the one used by Dr. Cutler to develop his “counting rules” around (based on thousands of samples of both healthy and sick people), and therefore the one we also recommend, as it provides a controlled process for interpretation. Having a doctorate in chemistry, Dr. Cutler discovered common patterns that distinguish healthy people from mercury toxic people. His book includes some examples of the many thousands of samples he has seen over the years from this particular lab. Few other labs use age and sex appropriate reference levels, and therefore are useless for children. He did include how to use other tests in the Appendix of HTI. Online examples of many hair tests can be viewed at: https://www.livingnetwork.co.za/chelati … /hairtest/.
2. Order by Phone: Call 800-908-0000, give the code R-MIM to receive a discount, and specify the Essential and Toxic elements test Domestic if in the US, and International if not. They will do pubic hair.
Neither company will do tests from New York (at all) or Maryland (unless you get your doctor to order it). Some people use friends and family from other states to work around this.
OPTION 1: Go to our Discussion Forums and post your hair test in our “Hair Test Results” sub-forum. Other experienced members will be able to provide some feedback for you on what your results mean. Be sure to white-out your name before uploading. We recommend uploading as a JPG, otherwise you will need to zip the PDF file.
OPTION 2: Email Dean (former member of parent FDC Yahoo Group) to add yours to his archive where it will be readily available for reference at any point during your chelation program (Brian, one of our founding members, is #477. (You can test more than one time, but unless you are following copper or manganese toxicities, they rarely provide much additional information, and are useless to determine when chelation is complete). Once you receive the link, you may post the link to our Discussion Forums for feedback from a seasoned member.