Mad_Hatter's_Disease

Mad Hatter Disease The term “mad as a hatter” is most times, linked to the zany character of ‘Alice in Wonderland’, also known as the Mad Hatter. Although many could guess what the author meant by “mad as a hatter”, not very many readers know where the term derived from. The expression “mad as a hatter” is actually something in relevance to a disease (mostly attained in the hat making industry) in the 1800s. The name for this disease was, ironically enough, the ‘Mad Hatter Disease’. Now what the ‘Mad Hatter Disease’ is is a disease that was contracted by those (“hatters” as they were called), who were turning fur into felt. A mercury solution was used in the turning of fur into felt, and the hatters, due to poorly ventilated workshops, inhaled the toxic mercury fumes. After much time of breathing in the fumes, the mercury began to accumulate in the workers’ bodies thus resulting in symptoms such as “hatters’ shakes” (trembling), loss of coordination, slurred speech, loosening of teeth, memory loss, depression, irritability and anxiety. The main target of the ‘Mad Hatters Disease’ is the nervous system; it tweaks the persons’ personality; stability and thoughts. As time goes by, things are constantly being changed. The ‘Mad Hatters Disease’ is no longer known as the ‘Mad Hatters Disease’ but rather ‘Mercury Poisoning.’. The term ‘Mad Hatters Syndrome’ (another name for the disease) is now used as a reference for those who have Mercury poisoning, but in fact, the two illnesses are the same. Mercury poisoning is just the “newer version” of the Mad Hatters Disease. Everyone is a target to Mercury Poisoning. It is almost impossible to avoid contaminating your body with mercury or any other type of toxic metal/material. The most common exposure to mercury is actually by eating fish. Fish are by far “the most significant source of ingestion-related mercury exposure in humans”. However, plants and livestock contain mercury, which is obtained through the soil, water and/or atmosphere. Being exposed to the mercury is relatively easy; we can breathe contaminated air, eat foods with mercury residue from the processing or from improper use of mercury objects. Furthermore, being the easy targets we are, we are more than lucky to have come up with the “cure” for Mercury poisoning. It is called Chelation Therapy and what it does is it removes the heavy metals from your body. You may take the ‘Chelation agent’ intravenously, intramuscularly, or orally. How it enters, your body depends on the poison and medication they have. Going through Chelation Therapy seems to be the only method in treating yourself when you have massive amounts of metal in your body, and it seems it is neither good nor bad. There are incidents of those who had died from Chelation Therapy, but those who have survived, only to die from something, or unknown causes. However, there are no numbers to direct whether it is a good thing; it still has its side effects, though there is a low occurrence of them. A burning sensation where the agent was delivered is common. Other side effects include, fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, convulsions, bone marrow depression, low blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmias, respiratory arrest and hypocalcaemia. On a more serious note, kidney failure and death are also other side effects of Chelation Therapy.