Heavy Metals Panel (Blood or Urine)
What This Test Measures
Toxic metals: mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium, aluminum
Conventional vs. Functional Optimal Range
The gap between these ranges is why you feel terrible with "normal" labs. Conventional medicine waits for disease. Functional medicine optimizes for health.
Gabriel's Take
Heavy metals come from the environment: fish, water, old paint, air, work and some imported products. Lead harms even at low levels, and CDC says no safe blood lead level in children has been found. Mercury affects nerves and kidneys, arsenic raises cancer risk, and cadmium harms kidneys and bones. Use a validated test: blood lead for lead, blood mercury for mercury from fish, a 24-hour urine for other mercury. Provoked urine tests (collected after taking a chelating drug) are not validated and can look high without a real problem (American College of Medical Toxicology), and commercial hair tests gave conflicting results across labs (JAMA, 2001). The first step is always finding and removing the source. Chelation is a prescription treatment with serious risks, including dangerously low calcium, kidney damage and deaths, and happens only under a licensed clinician. Full guide: askgabriel.com/guides/lead-blood-test.
When This Test Is High
Heavy metal toxicity, environmental/occupational exposure
When This Test Is Low
Low body burden
Related Conditions
Mercury: neurological, kidney damage; Lead: cognitive, cardiovascular; Arsenic: cancer; Cadmium: kidney, bone; Aluminum: neurological
Recommended Follow-Up
If elevated on a validated blood or urine test, find and remove the source first; a licensed clinician (often a medical toxicologist) decides whether chelation is needed