Lead Poisoning
A Cause of Constipation
Here's a report on how lead poisoning constipated a woman.
A married Australian couple acquired a ceramic vessel imported from Spain 25 years ago. Yeah, a vessel so old that the glaze has eroded from the internal and external surface. It was in this vessel the couple brewed Kombucha tea every morning, then they drank a tall glass each as a tonic.
Six months later, the 63-year old husband was fatigued whereas the 58-year old wife became constipated and more constipated over a period of six weeks. She ended up in the hospital's emergency ward due to colicky abdominal pain.
The hospital gave her laxatives and discharged her. The medical staff were also smart enough to check her blood sample from which they suspected lead as a culprit.
A test was conducted on many items in their house. Finally, they found out it was acids in the Kombucha tea washing out lead from the glaze pigment of their old ceramic vessel.
The couple underwent outpatient chelation therapy with five courses of intravenous calcium disodium edetate given at two days interval. Happily, they survived.
Children below 6 years of age would have absorbed 50 per cent more lead if you had fed them the Kombucha tea mentioned above. As lead accumulates subtly in their bodies, it is not easy to discern the poisoning effect.
You might notice the child is tired, anemic, or has non specific belly complaints i.e. abdominal pain and constipation. The little one may also has poor appetite and low energy level.
As lead invades the central nervous system, problematic behavioral symptoms such as hyperactive, aggressive, irritability, loss of developmental skills, inability to focus and headache would surface.
I am not saying children exhibiting the above traits are necessarily little tyrants. I just couldn't help thinking of ancient Roman emperors and part of their...eccentricity as a consequent of deliberately indulging in lead contaminated food and wine.
Even though totalitarian rulers who had the penchant of eliminating enemies with lead and sending slaves to languish in lead mines had phased out of the scene of this world, leaving behind myriads examples of lead poisoning in historical records as a somber lesson for mankind, yet at least 100 countries today still burn lead gas.
Do countries that regulate the use of lead fare better? Take United States as an example, 1 in 20 preschoolers has high levels of lead in his or her blood.
No wonder idiopathic constipation prevails, lead is lurking everywhere.
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