What Happens When You Get Mercury Poisoning?

Mercury is a toxic heavy metal that is widely dispersed in nature.

Exposure to high levels of mercury can harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, and immune system of people of all ages. Very young children and unborn are the most susceptible to the effects of mercury. Although mercury is known to cause tumors in rats in the laboratory, there is insufficient proof to link mercury with cancers in humans.

Mercury is a toxic heavy metal that is widely dispersed in nature. Most human exposure results from fish consumption or spillage.

Mercury poisoning occurs when a person has ingested, inhaled, or had skin or eye contact with the toxic (poisonous) heavy metal mercury and damages their nervous system and other systems of the body.

There are three different forms of mercury that cause health problems:

Elemental mercury: It is a shiny, silver-white liquid used in thermometers, dental fillings, light bulbs, and other products. Breathing in enough elemental mercury will cause symptoms right away. Symptoms include:

• Swollen or bleeding gum
• Vomiting
• Difficulty breathing
• Metallic taste in the mouth
• Bad cough
• Fever
• Rash
• Permanent lung damage (rare)
• Tremors
• Mood swings, irritability
• Insomnia
• Neuromuscular changes (such as weakness, muscle atrophy, and twitching)
• Headaches
• Abnormal sensations such as pins and needles
• Poor higher mental functions such as writing, speech, and interpretation
• Higher exposures may also cause kidney effects, respiratory failure, and death

Inorganic mercury: They are compounds or salts that result when mercury combines with other elements such as chlorine, sulfur, or oxygen. Inorganic mercury is usually poisonous. Symptoms include:

• Burning in the stomach and throat
• Bloody diarrhea and vomiting
• Kidney damage
• Blood or fluid loss leading to death (rare)

Organic mercury: These are compounds that result when mercury combines with carbon. The most common is methyl mercury, which is usually produced by microscopic organisms in the water and soil. Methyl mercury poisoning may also happen through fish intake, although in most people, fish consumption may not lead to very high mercury levels in the body. Organic mercury causes problems over years or decades, not right away. This means that being exposed to small amounts of organic mercury every day for years will likely cause symptoms to appear later. Methyl mercury is a neurotoxin, and it affects the brain and nerves. Symptoms include:

• Loss of peripheral vision
• "Pins and needles" feelings, usually in the hands, feet, and around the mouth
• Lack of coordination of movements
• Impairment of speech, hearing, walking
• Muscle weakness
• Numbness or pain in certain parts of your skin
• Uncontrollable shaking or tremor
• Inability to walk well
• Blindness and double vision
• Memory problems
• Seizures and death (with large exposures)

Unborn children who are exposed to methyl mercury in the womb may have problems with cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language, fine motor skills, and visions later in life.

Other common symptoms of mercury poisoning include:

• Depression, fatigue increased irritability, moodiness, and nervous excitability, especially when criticized
• Inability to concentrate and loss of memory
• Insomnia or drowsiness
• Loss of appetite
• Birth defects in offspring