Metal

[Meredith]

My daughter was watching TV and the Houser program came on with someone with Wegner's. Houser asked if they can been exposed to large amounts of metal. Just wondered if anyone has heard that before. I had scolois and had back surgery when I was 17 and have a harrington rod in my back. Have had Wegner's for approx. 5 years now.

[Jack]

I have never heard that one before, but surely metal is so common that we are all exposed to it every day. The human body contains around 3lb of metal in the form of Calcium.

[drz]

I have never heard that one before, but surely metal is so common that we are all exposed to it every day. The human body contains around 3lb of metal in the form of Calcium.

My guess is they are talking about heavy metals that are dangerous to us like mercury and lead. I never saw the show though.

[Sangye]

Different types of metals used in surgeries can cause all sorts of problems, among them immune reactions. This is why some people's bodies actually push out metal parts like screws or staples. The body recognizes that it's foreign. From a holistic point of view, if the immune system is chronically exposed to an irritant it becomes deregulated. An autoimmune disease can easily develop from that.

Also, abnormal spinal curvatures mean that many spinal nerves exiting the spine are compromised. The compromised nerves will then transmit aberrant responses between the central nervous system and the body, which can easily deregulate the immune system.

So was it the scoliosis or the metal that led to your Wegs? Might be both!

[LilyPony]

House loves the word Wegener's and a few other odd sounding ones. He has connected it to a huge array of things. It's just a mysterious sounding disease that most haven't heard of. I'm a fan of the show and there's been at least 5 suspected cases with totally different symptoms.

[vdub]

Exposure to beryllium will cause granulomas -- most commonly in the lungs. It's called chronic berylliosis. Beryllium is mostly used in the military and in early florescent lights.