[back] Aluminium

Diseases Associated with Aluminium Intoxication
H. Tomlinson, M.B., Ch.B., MRCS., LRCP

A list of the more common symptoms associated with aluminium will be found in the Appendix. I shall explain later on how I do the work of detecting aluminium and other disease agents, but it should be realized that if a practitioner tests each patient be sees, for aluminium, over many years, he will learn for himself what sort of symptoms he most commonly meets, and which accompany an aluminium reaction. Certain of the symptoms described are met with frequently, and the practitioner sees a clear picture of the more common effects.

The system most often affected by aluminium is the abdominal organs from mouth to anus, and so I will discuss this part of the anatomy first.

 (1) Ulcers in the mouth

These are a pretty frequent symptom. The patient complains of recurring ulcers on the mucous membrane of the cheeks and lips, and unless the cause is rectified orthodox treatment rarely cures them.

(2) Spasms of the oesophagus

The oesophagus is the tube connecting throat and stomach proper—i.e. the tube down which passes all food and drink. This is a rare aluminium symptom. The patient complains of inability to swallow--liquids passing no more easily than solids. It is due to an uneven action of the muscles making up the tube. Orthodox treatment is the use of sedatives, and the passage down the oesophagus of instruments to dilate the oesophagus. Again, if the cause is not realized and remedied, the condition will become chronic, and not yield to treatment.

 (3) The Stomach

This can be the seat of gastric ulcers. Again this is not a common symptom, but it does occur. These ulcers heal with the application of aluminium-free dieting and suitable homoeopathic remedies.

4) The duodenum

Herein lies one of the most important and prevalent results of the use of aluminium—duodenal ulccrs. How very common they arc, with all their attendant misery, pain, and discomfort!

When I qualified in 1918 I had not been taught anything about them, and only heard of them soon after qualification. Since then they have steadily increased, and now cost the country millions of pounds in X-ray investigations alone. The costs of the Health Service are rocketing up, and money is spent in dealing with end results of disease which could and ought to be prevented by the dissemination of knowledge regarding aluminium. The rise in the incidence of duodenal ulcers runs pani passu with the rise in the use of aluminium utensils. Duodenal ulcers will heal with the adoption of anti-aluminium treatment, though the scarring and deformity of the duodenum produced by the healing of such ulcers will remain and cause symptoms necessitating operation in some cases. I am well aware that aluminium hydroxide in its ordinary chemical state is used in the orthodox treatment of such ulcers. Such use is due to its ability to combine with the acid of the stomach. But these salts of aluminium are not potencics, and in most cases they do not harm the body, and may in fact help the healing of an ulcer. It must be clearly recognized that, because they arc not potencics of aluminium, they do not act like potcncies and are not harmful. The same argument applies to many assertions made by aluminium defenders, that aluminium is present in some natural foods. Aluminium in such is not in potency form, but as an aluminium protein combination which is harmless. It is the energy potency of aluminium which harms the body, not its salts or protein complexes. I have yet to find a duodenal ulcer casc which does not give an aluminium reaction on test. Let everyone beware, who uses aluminium, that they may be heading for this complaint and its sequel of operation. The common idea that nervous strain is the cause of duodenal ulccrs will not bear investigation. On examination, all such cases prove to be aluminium sensitive.

5) The small bowel

This is not often affected by local change, but it is affected by an alteration in the germs which normally grow in the bowel

contents. For the sake of clarity, I will deal with this in relation to the large bowel.

(6) The appendix

I regard aluminium as a potent cause of appendicitis. It is extremely common for aluminium sensitives to get acute appendicitis, whereupon the appendix is removed and those patients cannot get appendicitis again. No one worries as to why those people got the appendicitis in the first place.

(7) The large bowel and kidneys

This is the organ commonly affected in all aluminium sensitives. It is generally the very first organ to suffer damage.

The changes due to aluminium poisoning are of two sorts. There is first of all an alteration in the function of the large bowel, which, if the poisoning goes on, may advance into changes in the bowel itself, shown on an X-ray examination. The functional changes are in three directions. There may be diarrhoea or looseness of the bowels—the motions are light coloured, not formed, but passed in little pieces. The patient may go to the lavatory three or four times daily, especially on rising and after meals. This diarrhoea is habitual, and goes on month after month, with remissions for a time, now and again. If there be not diarrhoea, the opposite may occur. The patient is constipated. There is inability to expel the motion even with hard straining.

Some of these patients actually pass one motion daily, but on examination, their rectal passages, which are the end of the bowel, are still filled out with motion. This means that food takes an inordinate length of time to be expelled from the body, leading to some putrefaction and poisoning of the system. This condition is called intestinal toxaemia, and it is a very potent cause of disease. Intestinal toxaemia is the cause of many forms of rheumatism, and muscular fibrositis, and gouty changes. It can also cause blood changes such as certain forms of anaemia, and even pernicious anaemia. The toxaemia usually causes a general feeling of lassitude and tiredness.

Other effects produced arc an alteration in the normal species of germs present in the bowel. Very often other races of germs can get a footing, and grow, and these germ growths are the hallmark of the poisoning. Such germs can get into the bloodstream and be excreted by the kidneys—and here you get a group of diseases in kidneys and bladder: kidney inflammations, stones in the kidney, inflammation of the bladder are all pretty common sequels.

The most advanced change in the large bowel is ulcerative colitis, in which ulcers develop in the bowel. The patient has chronic diarrhoea, and anaemia, and passes blood and mucus in the motions. Years ago, as a young man recently qualified, I experienced great difficulty in treating or even helping these patients in any way. I then did not know what caused their condition. I do now. There is nothing more gratifying than the healing of an ulcerative colitis case with anti-aluminium measures. Such cases are extremely sensitive to the use of aluminium and will soon break down if they get the wrong food. The large bowel or colon, then, is by far and away the most important organ to be affected, because it is always the organ to bear the brunt of the poisoning, and it is one of the most important organs in the body. Surgeons used in the old days to remove the whole or part of the colon. A very brutal procedure!

(8) The rectum

The lower end of the bowel, the rectum and anus, is also often affected by aluminium. The rectum often shows a muscular weakness whereby large faecal masses are retained inside the organ unknown to the patient. The constipation and the consequent straining at stool can cause piles, so piles are often present in aluminium cases, and in particular external piles around the anal opening. Itching in the anal region is a particularly prevalent symptom in aluminium poisoning, and is a special pointer indicating aluminium trouble.

It will be seen therefore how potent aluminium is for causing damage to the abdominal organs. It must be stressed that if the abdominal organs, or some of them, are so affected, generally other systems escape. The poisoning generally fixes on one system to wreak its worst effect.

(9) The skin, the ductless glands and cancer

The skin is often affected by aluminium in that rashes and itching arc present. These are really due to the intestinal intoxication produced by aluminium, and are not a primary effect of aluminium on the skin.

The same remark applics to glandular dysfunction. The so-called ductless glands, the pituitary, thyroid, suprarenal glands, and the sex glands, may get into a disturbed state, and then many and diverse symptoms can appear. The intestinal intoxication produced by aluminium is a potent factor in upsetting the gland balance, and it is the ability to produce this effect which gives aluminium its part in being one of the causes of cancer. Cancer is certainly more prevalent in aluminium sensitives than others, and cancer in the alimentary tract is the most frequently occurring cancer. Cancer has also been more prevalent during the aluminium era than before it.

Dr. Tchizevsky* showed by experiments on mice that those animals fed on aluminized food are forty times more likely to develop cancer than mice fed on non-aluminized food.

Dr. Betts of Ohio published a book, under the auspices of the Anti-Cancer Club of America, condemning the use of aluminium.

Dr. Olds of Philadelphia stated in a publication written by him that all foods cooked in aluminium caused increased cancer reactions, and even water boiled in an aluminium vessel had the same effect.

H. W. Keens, a biochemical research worker, has written two books published in 1934 and 1937. He concludes that excess of free aluminium in the soil, resulting from the use of artificial fertilizers is a primary cause of cancer. In other words, the soil is unbalanced in its chemical constituents, and foods, which derive from the soil, then become similarly unbalanced. This leads in turn to an imbalance of chemical elements in the human body, and tins causes disharmony, disease, and cancer, the latter by chemical imbalance in the ductless glands—which control the ability of tissues to grow. Mr. Keens states that aluminium is not a natural constituent of animal tissue, and that it is only in recent dines that increasing amounts of aluminium have been found in human tissues. I am quite certain that Mr. Keens is right in all his assertions, except that I am sure that it is aluminium in potentized form which is the evil factor in soil, and food, and finally in the human body. Many, if not all, chemical fertilizers coniain aluminium energy, and so react on tcst. Aluminium in potency definitely upsets the biochemic elements in the body. I find, from repeated tests, that sulphur is first of all affectcd and apparently driven out of the body. In association and close linkage with the sulphur is copper—which is its partner in nature. The next element to be driven out is magnesium, and then silica, and then calcium and potassium. Copper and magnesium are very important elements in hormone and ferment reactions in the human body, and so small changes in their encrgy value can cause great effects, and one of these effects can result in cancer. Let everyone beware, then, that if they persist in using aluminium utensils they can be cooking for themselves a dish of death. The next part of the body to be discussed in relation to aluminium is the vascular system—in particular the heart, veins and arteries.

(10) Thrombosis

A most important effect of aluminium poisoning is thrombosis—that cause of sudden death which has so greatly increased during the aluminium era. The thrombosis generally occurs in a vein, and it is peculiar that its first effect is often an attack of clotting in a leg vein. But whether or not this does occur, clotting may occur in vessels in the legs, or lungs, or heart, and if in the heart, sudden and dramatic death may follow. Does anyone think that God meant that man in his prime should suddenly be transported from this life without warning? Surely such catastrophes are due to man’s own errors, and not to God’s lack of care in the construction and functioning of the human being. I have repeatedly, by anti-aluminium measures, in patients who have already had heart thrombosis, prevented any subsequent attacks. Further, each and every case of cardiac or lung thrombosis I have seen and tested gave an aluminium reaction, and I rate thrombosis as being high up in the list of damage that aluminium can do.

Another organ which is sometimes affected is the eye. Aluminium causes a slowly progressive impairment of vision, partly due to changes in the muscles of the eyeball, and partly to changes in other eye tissues. Many of such cases drift to eye hospitals where vaiious treatments are given, generally with no effect. The dramatic improvement in such a case on the institution of anti-aluminium measures is gratifying and noteworthy. Such cases are extremely sensitive to aluminium, so that small slip-ups in food will bring on a prompt deterioration in the sight.

I well remember seeing a poor lady of between sixty and seventy, who was living by herself in one of London’s smaller hotels which cater especially for retired people, and which are almost 100 per cent aluminium users. This lady was slowly losing her sight, but could not afford to go elsewhere. It was impossible to treat her as her food was so hopeless, and I had to leave her to her approaching blindness. Such cases are tragic, and so unnecessary.

(32) The mind

In the part of this book dealing with the symptoms that aluminium can produce, mental symptoms are described. These are fairly frequently met with—the commonest one in my experience is an inability to make up one’s mind, but many other mental symptoms can appear.

(13) Migraine and rheumatism

Another group of diseases which aluminium causes are certain rheumatic conditions, and also migraine attacks. Migraine attacks are invariably, in my experience, due to aluminium poisoning, and are generally a sequel to the intestinal intoxication. Aluminium causes many forms of fibrositis, arthritis, gout and other varieties of so called rheumatism. Rheumatism is the cause of immense sickness and loss of work, and disability. The intestinal intoxication caused by aluminium can be a very potent cause of rheumatism, either directly, or by its effèct on the hormone producers, the ductless glands. If the framework of the skeletal and supporting structures of the body becomes diseased, it is extremely common to find intestinal intoxication as the prime cause, and such an effect of aluminium can be a very important matter.

(14) Colds and hay fever

Another important sequel of aluminium poisoning is ‘‘colds’’. The common cold is always with us, and the multiplicity of cures is also with us its well. My work teaches me that the majority of chills and colds are clue to the growth inside die bowel of streptococci and allied germs. The effect of this germ growth is a watery catarrh of the nose. The nose and adjacent parts can then in turn become secondarily inftetecl. The link between aluminium poisoning and the incidence of colds is that aluminium upsets the bowel and therefore leads to abnormal germ growth therein. Hence colds are more prevalent in aluminium sensitives than in aluminium non—sensitives.

Hay fever is caused by intestinal intoxication, and aluminium being the commonest cause of such, it will be evident that the use of aluminium ware is concerned in the causation of hay fever.

There is no doubt in my mind that the liability to be easily affected by aluminium is an inherited factor which follows the ordinary laws of inherited traits. What I think is inherited is a particular form of biochemic alteration from the usual normal, and that such biochemic alteration results in the biochemic balance being more easily disturbed by aluminium. In every aluminized person with symptoms, one can always get a history of similar troubles in one or both parents. A sensitiveness to aluminium can develop in a person who has never met with the metal before—as in the case of a savage on a desert island who, on contact with civilization, can develop aluminium symptoms. What is inherited is a certain biochemic background which makes the attack of aluminium possible. And, remember, we are all omnibuses in which our tainted ancestors ride.

THE SYMPTOMS OF ALUMINIUM INTOXICATION

FIRST of all, there is a group of symptoms affecting the mind.  There is a disturbance of the intellect, whereby the patient cannot make up his mind about problems facing him. He is unable to decide things. He may feel a sensation of unreality so that the exterior world will seem strange and different to him. This may involve him feeling that when he speaks someone else has spoken instead of himself. The same thing applies to his vision. This may cause confusion in writing and speaking. He may use words and sentences that, in fact, do not make sense, and he cannot help saying them even though he will realize later that they are wrong. There is marked inability to follow a consecutive thought train—to reason out problems.

Another effect of aluminium is a depression—the patient is full of sorrow. Nothing looks bright in his future, fears loom ahead and darken his horizon. He may feel that insanity is around the corner, and in some cases he may actually consider that he is insane. Often his moods may change, the fears disappearing for a time and he becomes placid and more normal, but this state will not last long and he will revert to his former state of apprehensiveness and fearfulness. He is generally worse in the morning than in the evening. He is forgetful about financial matters most of the time, but has periods of intense worry and investigation about them. In some cases there are suicidal thoughts, often activated by sight of knives. Such suicidal thoughts are yet accompanied with great dread of death. There is often boredom, sluggishness and apathy, and nothing matters.

Another mental symptom is an alteration of the sense of time. Either time drags and there is eternity in a minute, or he feels that the minute is too short, so he must do things in a hurry or it will be too late. Such are the mental symptoms of aluminium.

Next come the eye symptoms. The eyelids may stick together during sleep, but the eyes water in the daytime. The eyes look red and irritable. The skin of the lids may be coarsened and rough, and itching may be present. There may be a halo visible around lights, or the sight may go slowly dimmer as if there were a fog. There may be visible bright spots, sparks, or fields of colour. There may be weakness or paralysis of one or more of the eye muscles, and, in some cases, of the ciliary muscle, which controls the size of the pupil. There can be inco-ordination of the eye muscles, so that the sight varies and cannot be kept corrected by glasses.

Also, the ears and the auditory system can become deranged, so that there is giddiness and a sensation as if things are revolving around, but closing the eyes often makes the vertigo worse. The vertigo can cause a staggering gait. There may be changes in the hearing, and noises are common.

The nose and throat also show marked effects—even in the colour of the nose, which is often reddened. It may also be cracked at the end. The mucous membranes of the nose and throat are often dry and irritable, though the nose may also water extensively, with frequent attacks of sneezing. There may be crusting in the nose passages, more often the left side than the right. These crusts may have an offensive smell. Attacks of "colds" are frequent, and there may be a yellow copious discharge, with headache.

Headaches are indeed prevalent and can be of many sorts. They may be periodical and associated with abdominal symptoms. The throat is often rough, swollen, and velvety-looking, but it can feel dry and irritable. This results in attacks of hacking cough which can dramatically end up in the arrest of breathing and duskiness of the face, and which to an observer can be very alarming. The coughing is generally worse in the morning, but the choking attacks occur most often in the evening. The throat feels sore on swallowing and there is a sensation as if it were packed full of grit. Considerably thick mucus is often accumulated in the throat. Ulcers may appear on the tongue, gums, or in the throat. There may be a constant sensation of tickling in the throat, causing a hacking cough which may end in vomiting and also, in women, in the passage of some urine.

The larynx is the next organ which can give rise to symptoms. The larynx can feel sore, irritable, and the voice will be altered and husky. There can be considerable coughing, due to the laryngeal irritation.

The oesophagus—the swallowing tube running from the throat to the stomach—is often the seat of symptoms. There can be a peculiar difficulty in swallowing, which is worse with fluids than with solids. There is a pain felt in the middle of the chest, which becomes worse when swallowing is attempted.

These attacks of pain and difficulty in swallowing are periodical. The sensation when food is being swallowed is that of a painful effort—force has to be used to get the food through to the stomach. Swallowing is therefore incoordinated. Then we come to the abdomen, where there can be many symptoms.

There can be changes in the appetite. Often there is a craving for indigestible matter, Such as earth, dust, ink, tea leaves. Condiments generally disagree. Sometimes potatoes cause upsets, but other vegetables and fruits are longed for. There may be lack of appetite or even nausea at the sight of food, and all food lacks taste. There may be regurgitation of acid fluid from the stomach. Generally alcohol easily produces intoxication. Abnormal sensations may be felt localized in the stomach area as if something is crawling about inside the stomach. Further, many types of dyspepsia are complained of— pain after meals, pain between meals, sensations of heaviness, as if the stomach were loaded with a stone.

Then constipation—a frequent complaint. The stools are often very hard and slimy. Sometimes they are of large size, but in other cases they are hard and thin. It is characteristic that although the rectum is full of motion it cannot be expelled, even though there is great straining. The bowels may not be open for a week or more. Even when the stool is soft there may be just the same difficulty in expelling it, and when it is expelled there often remains a sensation as if the rectum is still not fully emptied. There is soreness or pain in the anus, often associated with fissures. The anus often itches, and the skin around becomes thickened and coarsened by rubbing. Bleeding is common, either during or after the bowel action.

On the other hand, diarrhoea may be present. There are three or four or more motions daily, passed with urgency. The motion is in little flakes or pieces. There may be great flatulence, mostly passing downwards.

Symptoms arising in the urinary system often occur. There may be involuntary passage of urine when coughing. On the other hand, straining may be necessary to pass any at all, and when this is attempted some soft faeces may also be expelled. Often there is frequent passing of urine during the night. Often the passage of the urine is painful and smarting and there may be discharge of pus from the urethral opening.

The skin of the face is often dry, hard and tense and it can itch very much. There are many kinds of skin eruptions, which generally itch, especially in bed at night. The skin may be thickened, cracked, roughened. There may be extensive ulcerations on the feet, but more especially near knees and elbows. The more the itching caused by these eruptions, the more the scratching, and hence a vicious circle is set up which leads to progressive worsening of the state of the skin.

Then the limbs, which often show symptoms. The legs may feel heavy and weak; there may be aching in the calves, which may cause staggering in the gait. The legs also feel weak even when sitting.

There may be pain in the soles of the feet as if there were a nail in the shoe, but on the other hand there may be numbness and a tendency for the limbs to go to sleep, especially when the limb is pressed against something hard. Often the limbs feel heavy. There may be pain radiating down the limb and, in some cases, paralysis may be present. The knees may tremble and the gait be unsteady and there may be a feeling of general weakness, with a sensation of lack of strength. There may be pains in the back, of a stabbing nature. A feeling that a cord or string is tied around the body can be present. In some cases paralysis of one side of the body or of a limb can occur. Twitching of the head muscles is sometimes seen.

Lastly, even the dreams can be abnormal—they are often of a frightening nature, causing wakening in terror, with severe palpitation.

Such then is a list of the more common aluminium symptoms which can be present.