Selenium Poisoning

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Chronic Diarrhea from Brazil Nuts (Selenium Poisoning)

Sandy (England) on 03/22/2022
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Brazil Nut / Selenium overdose - Cancer

Hi, I started eating Brazil nuts and now have chronic diarrhea.

Assuming the two are related, can I simply discontinue the nuts and wait out the diahrhhea or do I need other nutrition?

I also have breast cancer and read that NAC/Gluthione actually encourages metastasis so I am worried about this. I am aware that NAC is good for removing toxic substances and it is used in paracetemol overdose, but it also makes things 'more runny'... so is it really a great idea to use it in this case?

How are Brazil nuts best used as an antiproliferative substance? Should it be eaten along with specific other foods?

Thanks

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Brazil Nuts Caused Constipation, Burning in Stomach

Jan G (US) on 03/18/2021
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I read that Brazil Nuts are good for hypertension. For days so I ate more than a handful of it. I started to feel a burning in my tummy and I wanted to poop but I can’t. Then I read about this Selenium toxicity. I got relief after taking enzyme supplement alpha-galactosidase. In 30 minutes I got relieved TyL./
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Selenium: Dose Makes A Poison Or A Cure

Tim (Minnesota) on 02/12/2021

500 years ago German physician Paracelsus, the "Father of Toxicology, " identified these principles: dose, host, timing and combinations make a poison or a cure.

Recent research seems to confirm that mercury and selenium are antagonists on a roughly one to one by weight basis. People consuming fish high in mercury do not suffer mercury toxicity when the fish and/or other foods contain comparable selenium amounts.

In fact, the toxicity of mercury is the result of depleting the necessary essential selenium stores.

A new perspective on mercury toxicity:

(500 mcg Se is not a hazardous dose for moderately long term, 5 months in the case cited. Unless added to high dietary content.)

>In recent years, there has been an important shift in theunderstanding of the mechanisms of toxicity of mercury(Hg) both at the cellular and organism level. The shift in a large part has occurred from a long-held focus on the covalent binding of mercury to sulfur in the body’s ubiquitous sulfhydryl groups. There is convincing evidence that the pathophysiological target of mercury is not the in vivobinding of sulfur, but rather selenium (Se). Recent evidence suggests that the mechanism of toxicity of mercury is the selenium-based proteins thioredoxin reductase and glutathione peroxidase [1,2]. We report a case of severe mercury poisoning unchanged by chelation who later achieved significant improvement related to selenium and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) supplementation.

ABSTRACT

A healthy 15-year-old male spilled elemental mercury contaminating his garage and bedroom. The patient developed new onset hypertension, significant weight loss, pain (muscular, testicular, and abdominal), insomnia, delusions, hallucinations, tachycardia, palmar desquamation, diaphoresis, tremor, and ataxia leading to two consecutive hospitalizations. Blood and urine mercury were 23 and 330 mg/L, respectively. He received 21 days of chelation with 2,3-Dimercaptosuccinic acid during his second hospital stay. He continued to deteriorate. Three weeks post-chelation, he was transferred to our facility and his exam was unchanged. He could not stand or feed himself unassisted. He was started on selenium 500 mcg/day and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) 50 mg/kg/day. By day 3 of Se and NAC, he showed noticeable improvement, and by day 11, delusions, delirium, tachycardia, and abdominal pain resolved. Muscle strength, weight gain, speech, unassisted ambulation, and emotional liability improved. After five months with Se and NAC (1) he had regained 45 pounds, (2) restored to premorbid emotional, academic, and athletic performance, and (3) tachycardia, hypertension, rash, palmar skin changes, tremor, and insomnia had resolved. Features of this case include (1) improvement after selenium and NAC supplementation (2) contrasted with continued deterioration after DMSA chelation.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24734306.2017.1392076

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Selenium Toxicity From Tree Nuts

Gooseberry (Barnstead, Nh, Usa) on 01/18/2013

I was wonderging if you knew of an effective way to rid the body of selenium. I have read on your posts how selenium binds with mercury and other metals in the body. I have multiglandular problems, one of which causes intense water and salt wasting for which I have to consume a lot of water and celtic sea salt. I eat no grains or legumes. In an effort to find protein sources, I began eating a lot of tree nuts, many of which were brazil nuts, almonds, pecans, and walnuts. Not realizing it (they were really good), over the period of a couple of weeks became selenium toxic.

In the process of eating and increasing my consumption of the tree nuts, my water/salt problem had amazingly started going away, so I stayed with the tree nuts. After about 3 or 4 days of not having intense craving for salt and water, I began realizing that something was very wrong. I had been having what I call sparks in my brain, then my nerves had problems then my heart. When I fell into a door and almost past out I began researching and found my culprit, selenium. I obviously stopped anything that has selenium in it.

Now, my question, if selenium binds to metals, how do I get this out of my system?

Thanks from Renee

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