Re: 12 POINTS on MERCURY TOXICITY

Ah damn, people are reading this thread. I'll have to clear that up with another response post when I have time.

There does appear to be a number of drugs that exacerbate porphyria. The following is from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyria

Attacks of the disease can be triggered by drugs (e.g., barbiturates, alcohol, sulfa drugs, oral contraceptives, sedatives, and certain Antibiotics ), other chemicals, certain foods, and exposure to the sun. Fasting can also trigger attacks.

The above cut and paste of mine was from http://www.metametrix.com/Publications/Toxic%20Metals/ which harleygirl used in the above post.

I'm not sure if I quite understand your post. Was your brother having seizures for something else while he was taking valproic acid? Here's some information on the drug from the manufacturer, which has a long list of side-effects. FWIW, although porphyria is mentioned down near the bottom, it is not one of the side effects that is listed on the box warning, so my possibly very incorrect interpretation is that it is not looked upon as one of the primary dangers of valproic acid.

http://www.drugs.com/pdr/VALPROIC_ACID.html

I want to clarify that I know next-to-nothing about porphyria. This was just some information that came up during a discussion of the value or lack thereof of urine and fecal porphyrin testing, which I don't think has much real-world value for individuals looking to ascertain whether their health issues are due to chronic mercury poisoning, although it can be a helpful diagnostic test for acute mercury poisoning.

I would suggest that your brother spend some time looking up valproic acid on the internet. From the warnings, it appears to have a broad spectrum of side-effects, although it is difficult to ascertain from the information just how common these side-effects are.

Good luck! :-)