Exposure to elements/Heavy Metals/Toxins?

[FallingApart]

Hello,

 

A strange thing happened today that led me to come across the term manganese poisoning. I came across the wikipedia entry for it and was shocked by what I found. I wanted to know if anyone else has familiarity with this or thinks I am nutty for looking into this.

 

I will try to keep this brief. We have lived in our current house for just over 5 years. Prior to this house, we had no real health problems. Right after we moved in, I got pregnant with our first child, our PANDAS child. At 6 mo of pregnancy I got my first migraine ever in life and have had them ever since. I have them pretty regularly since the day they started 4 years ago. Then, 4 days before I delivered DD, I got what the docs thought was Bells Palsy. But it never resolved, had additional non traditional symptoms associated with it and was close to 100% paralysis. They tested me for every autoimmune disease that there is a test for but I never tested positive for anything. Then, at 9 months, DD contracts PANDAS.

 

Fast forward to this round of PANDAS. DH is at his wits end and said about 2 months ago that he wondered if something was wrong with our house because no one else has such wierd health problems. We asked the neighbors about the people before us and that had been here for 7 years. They were all fine. Today, just randomly, the man who grew up in this house drove by to look at the house. We invited him in to look around. It turns out that the mom was a potter with a kiln in the basement and she lived here for 40 years! So, I looked up possible toxins from having a kiln in your basement and that is when I found this excerpt from the wiki article.

 

In initial stages of manganism, neurological symptoms consist of reduced response speed, irritability, mood changes, and compulsive behaviors.[2] Upon protracted exposure symptoms are more prominent and resemble those of idiopathic Parkinson's disease, which it is often misdiagnosed as, although there are particular differences in both the symptoms (nature of tremors, for example), response to drugs such as levodopa, and affected portion of the basal ganglia. Symptoms are also similar to Lou Gehrig's disease and multiple sclerosis.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manganism

 

Has anyone else ever come across anything like this? Have your children had their blood checked for lead or other metals or elements? Why would anyone check for that? I certainly wouldn't have thought of it before today, but we are having all of this run on Monday.

[thereishope]

Okay, you know it's too early in the morning when I read "potter" and I'm thinking...she smoked pot????? I need to wake up. I don't think you're being paranoid. I've already wondered whether I was maybe exposed to mold whether I was pregnant and my son was a baby. We lived somewhere else at the time. Your thoughts get the best of you and wondering whether you cold have avoided all of this. Have you googled in their are testing kits for measuring levels of metel for the house? They seem to sell tests for everything....

 

Otherwise, to make yourself feel a little more at ease in your home, maybe get your vents cleaned. I had that done a year ago and it's disgusting what they find in those things anyway. Maybe repaint with a sealing primer first. That will seal in all soot and everything else on the walls so you're not breathing anything in.