Page 47 - Spring2018

doctor. Methylmercury can also accumulate in toms, children also experienced psychiatric Psychiatric
an unborn baby’s blood at concentrations higher symptoms such as depression and melancholy.
than the concentration in the mother. 42 Physicians in 1946 described a depressive symptoms
A 2002 study showed that levels of mercury syndrome among children in a nursery (five to of mercury
and lead (Pb) in breast milk concentrations are eleven months of age). Several of the children poisoning
low. The authors concluded that “even theoreti- died and arrested development was noted in
cal risks from current mercury or lead levels for others. The doctors considered the illness com- included
the breastfed infant of a healthy mother [could] parable to melancholia in the adult and caused anxious
be ruled out.” 43 by “withdrawal of the love object.” The psychic seclusion,
diagnosis was outwardly rejected by physicians
MERCURY IN MEDICINE who attributed the depression to acrodynia. shyness,
46
AND DENTISTRY Dr. Ernst Baader reported many psychi- labile moods,
In a 1961 medical text, Dr. Ernst Baader atric symptoms of mercury poisoning, such as forgetfulness,
reported that the term “quack,” used to de- anxious seclusion, shyness, labile moods, for-
scribe a person who pretends to have medical getfulness, memory loss, feelings of intellectual memory loss,
knowledge, originated from the German word inadequacy, fatigue, sleep disturbance, tremor, feelings of
Quecksalver―an individual who uses mercury jerks, shaky handwriting, difficulty speaking, intellectual
ointments to treat disease. headaches, pressure over the head and sensory
Medicine is no stranger to the use of mer- skin disturbances likened to crawling insects. inadequacy,
cury, and children’s and women’s complaints These were often misdiagnosed as hysteria, fatigue, sleep
were often the target. Calomel (mercury chlo- schizophrenia or general emotional disturbance. disturbance,
ride) was once universally given to teething These symptoms are similar to today’s common
infants. Mercury was used in medications for psychiatric conditions. 46 tremor,
women for “hysteria.” Decades and generations In acrodynia, demyelination and degenera- jerks, shaky
of patients were subjected to constant exposure tion of the insulative lipid sheath surrounding handwriting,
to mercury from medicines, a practice that has the nerve, also observed in multiple sclerosis
continued unabated to the present in one form (MS), was noted in biopsies of the time. Also difficulty
or another. noted were disturbances of blood circulation speaking,
Josef Wakany, MD, a teratogen expert, la- and temperature regulation; in severe cases fin- headaches,
mented the issue of mercury poisoning in his pa- gers and toes could be lost by gangrene. Blood
per on acrodynia, or “pink disease,” which was pressure and levels of the “stress hormone” pressure over
rampant between 1920 and 1950, but appeared adrenaline were often high. The victims ex- the head and
earlier in Australia, the U.K. and worldwide. It hibited extreme muscle weakness; they usually sensory skin
killed, maimed and deformed many children. couldn’t stand or walk. Loss of weight, tremor
The disease was created by administering mer- and shaking, cramps and uncontrolled move- disturbances
cury to infants and children in teething powders, ments, abdominal tenderness and gastrointes- likened to
de-wormers and laxatives used for constipation, tinal troubles belonged to the clinical picture. crawling
diarrhea and other conditions. Dr. Wakany said Conjunctivitis and fever were also reported in
that physicians of the nineteenth century were earlier descriptions. Fever was apparently very insects.
familiar with symptoms of mercury poisoning common in Germany and Switzerland, where
and would have diagnosed mercury poison- the most common misdiagnosis was scarlet
ing “at a glance.” However, physicians of the fever. In a considerable number of cases, there
twentieth century were slow to recognize that was excessive salivation, swollen gingiva, loss
the symptoms of acrodynia were caused by of teeth and necrosis of the jaws. All these signs
mercury, and many children were harmed un- and symptoms can be attributed to mercury
necessarily. Products containing mercury were poisoning. 46
not removed from shops and pharmacies until Concurrently with doctors prescribing calo-
the 1950s. Even then, physicians debated the mel in medicines and salves, dentists were put-
premise that mercury was to blame. 45 ting another source of mercury into the mouths
In addition to numerous physical symp- of children in the form of mercury amalgams,

SPRING 2018 Wise Traditions 45