If you asked my family to describe me in one word they would immediately respond by saying, “dramatic†or “odd.†I’ve been accused of this most of my life and I won’t say I necessarily disagree. You see, when I was growing up in a family of nine children, if you needed attention you had to be dramatic about it. There was too much noise to meekly say, “Hey, I need some help here.†The help would never come unless you got peoples’ attention. So, yes, I grew up in a dramatic family, however, being dramatic isn’t a good tool to resolve trauma, or as I refer to it as, “Trauma Drama.â€
I remembered this term last week when I was told by my client, Sue Gunderson, executive director of CLEARCorps (CCUSA), that there was a high probability that I was lead poisoned as a child.
“WHAT???????†my inner child screams. “I was lead poisoned!†Okay, before I get dramatic I must do diligent research and review the long-term effects of lead poisoning. And, I must face the facts:
| EFFECTS* | FACTS |
| · Delayed neurodevelopment [e.g. in sitting up, walking, talking] | · I didn’t start walking until I was 15 months old – my relatives thought this was odd |
| · Decreased reading, math, non-verbal reasoning ability & short term memory, (even at blood lead levels less than 10µg/dL) | · I suck at math and computer technology |
| · Impaired pituitary-thyroid endocrine system | · I was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid in my 30’s and had radiation to destroy my thyroid. I also have had two pituitary tumors |
| · Osteoporosis in later years | · I have osteoporosis and have had it for 20 years |
| · Attention problems; distractibility, restlessness | · I have difficulty concentrating — all of my life |
| · Irritability | · Me and all of my siblings are extremely irritable |
| · Lead-based paint was legally use until 1978 | · My childhood home was built in the 1940’s in a community with a large industrial factory |
| ·  Tremors | · My siblings and I all have tremors in our hands and extremities |
| · Learning difficulties | · In kindergarten I registered as retarded on the Iowa Basics test |
| · Chronic lead nephropathy [kidney disease] | · I was diagnosed with a severe kidney infection at the age of 5 |
| · Hypertension, elevated blood pressure | · Many of my siblings and I take high blood pressure medication |
| · Depression | · I’m on an anti-depression medication since I was 22 |
| · Anxiety | · I’m on a prescribed anti-anxiety medication and have been for 10 years |
| · Headaches | · I suffer from headaches / migraines — most of my life |
*Vance Vella et al., Health Impacts of Lead Poisoning. The Lead Education and Abatement Design Group. (Updated March 2011) For more information go to http://www.lead.org.au/.
I didn’t write this blog for sympathy – no way! In my search to understand my ill health I wanted to find out the possible sources for so much illness. I wasn’t born a sick child but at the age of five I started what would be a life-long quest for answers. And, thanks to Sue Gunderson’s comment to me, I found another piece to my health puzzle. Does this understanding make me angry? Sure, but I don’t want to spend my energy on something I can’t change, because I can’t go back and “fix†where I lived as a child. Literally, it’s lead under the bridge! (I’m sure a bad sense of humor is an additional effect.)
Rather than asking “Why me,†or “Why us,†I like to put myself back in the driver’s seat and ask instead, “Now that I have this information, what am I going to do about it?†My answer is simple: I’m going to educate my friends and family!
Lead poisoning makes you “dramatic and odd!â€
Do you have unexplained medical conditions? Do you currently live in a house built before 1978 or near industrial sites? Do you remember tasting paint chips from peeling windows as a child? (I do.) If so, I recommend that you look deeper into lead poisoning
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