Long story short a coworker of mine has mercury poisoning. He’s been out for months now and obviously we’re all pretty worried about him. Apparently he went on a nearly all tuna diet for a few months which was the impetus for all this. He’s not very communicative about it and I/we want to be sensitive to that but can anybody explain exactly what he’s facing?
In: Biology
Your blood is made from iron. Some metals will displace the metal in your blood cells. This is a problem because iron is super efficient at binding oxygen and carrying it through your body, while other metals are not. It can cause anemia at low doses, and death at high doses.
Some metals (like lead and mercury) take up position between nerve cells or neurons, blocking signal transmission. This can cause a whole host of issues, including seizures, loss of muscle function, problems thinking, and of course, death.
And like most things, there are many metals our bodies *need* to function (iron, zinc, calcium, etc) but too much can cause problems.
Mercury is especially bad because the body doesn’t have an efficient way to remove it, and it clogs up your nerve functions.
Mercury is a heavy metal. As such, when you eat too much of it, your body can’t get rid of it, and it builds up in your system causing issues. Eating tuna is fine in moderation, because your body can get rid of small amounts of mercury. But when you eat a ton of it, you start having issues.
Symptoms of mercury poisoning are:
nervousness or anxiety
irritability or mood changes
numbness
memory problems
depression
physical tremors
muscle weakness
metallic taste in the mouth
nausea and vomiting
lack of motor skills or feeling uncoordinated
inability to feel in the hands, face, or other areas
changes in vision, hearing, or speech
difficulty breathing
difficulty walking or standing straight
Mercury is a heavy metal and as such is difficult to remove from the body and is toxic to the normal operation of the human body. While tuna does contain mercury you would need to eat an awful lot of it to develop mercury poisoning and to eat it over a very extended period of time most people would get bored of tuna long before that happened. https://youtu.be/HC3ytz70haU
Fun Historical Fact Related to Question. 19th century and earlier hat makers used Mercury to felt hats. They came down with “St, Vitits disease” mercury poisoning. There was a ‘cure’ the St. Vitis Dance.! The Saint is from Roman Catholick Mythology. Now you know why the Hatter{ he who makes hats] is called the “Mad Hatter” in the “Alice in–” stories
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