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.
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