Trudy Triumph's Neurogenic Bladder Blog

Exposure of Heavy Metals and Neurogenic Bladder, Part II

This is the second post about heavy metal poisoning and neurogenic bladder and bowel. This is a post you might consider giving to a young person that thinks smoking cigarettes makes them look cool.  Cigarette smoke is an excellent source of heavy metals and one of the sure ways to bladder cancer.  Perhaps a young rebel might consider how cool it is to need to wear diaper or have bag strapped to a leg to catch the urine because there bladder is gone.

Heavy Metals Part 2

This is a continuation of my blog about heavy metals and how unknowingly we can be exposed and how that exposure can cause nerve damage that can lead to neurogenic bladder.

Here are some examples of common exposure. After dry cleaning clothes I try to air them out, but mostly I try to not wear clothes that need to be dry-cleaned. I always thought it was because I did not like the smell, now I understand that I am perhaps a bit more physically sensitive. I like to quilt and was given some old wool. I got sick before I discovered it had been dry-cleaned.

I did not realize that old tires could pollute the garden. It was tempting for me to use old car tires to warm up the soil for bigger plants. Now I know better to use them. Sure they can make your tomatoes grow like gangbusters, but the toxins will leach out and cause heavy metal exposure. Mascaras can have some heavy metals. There can be arsenic in mascara. To help me avoid this, I have permanent makeup on my eyebrows and eyeliner. Works for me!

A lot of health foods and supplements are really from China and packaged in the USA. Recently, I bought a veggie protein powder at a reputable health food store. Upon inspection I discovered it was manufactured in China. It is amazing to me that we need to pay attention to this. Packaged in the USA is not the same as made in. Watch out! It is common knowledge that the FDA does not have the same standards for supliments as it has for prescription drugs. So if we consider that other countries do not have the same growing standards that we have in the United States then buyer beware.

Some of the bad metals are lead, cadmium, arsenic, aluminum, and mercury. Heavy metals are heavier than water. They are found everywhere: in our water, cigarettes, air, and food. At times chemicals and fertilizers used to grow our food include some heavy metals, so our bodies are exposed to plenty of them. Since I grew up in an agricultural community, I was surrounded by fields and exposed to some of the spray from crop dusters flying overhead. It is unfortunately easy for our systems to be overcome by the presence of heavy metals. It is not a matter of if we have heavy metals in our bodies, but how much.

Toxins can have a drastic effect on the bladder. Exposure to heavy metals may cause a variety of central, peripheral, or autonomic nervous system injuries. Heavy metals such as arsenic can be found in drinking water and are known to cause many cancers, including bladder cancer10. Cigarette smoking is known to generate more than forty-five known or suspected chemical carcinogens that can lead to numerous health problems, including bladder cancer11.

What all of this boils down to is that heavy metals are everywhere and that some of us are a little more sensitive to heavy metals. I know for a fact that I fall into that catagory. And exposure to heavy metals can lead to nerve damage which can lead to neurogenic bladder and bowel.




Heavy Metals


  1. Carnahan, Jill M.D., “MTHFR gene mutations and glutathione production,”
  2. posted Oct 5, 2013, accessed April 9, 2015,
  3. Mink PJ, Alexander DD, Barraj LM, Kelsh MA, Tsuji JS., “Low-level arsenic exposure in drinking water and bladder cancer: A review and meta-analysis,” Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 52, no. 3 (2008 Dec): 299-310. Epub 2008 Aug 26. Review. PMID: 18783726. doi:10.1016/j.yrtph.2008.08.010. 
  4. 11. Fowles J, Dybing E., “Application of toxicological risk assessment principles to the chemical constituents of cigarette smoke,” Tob Control 12, no. 4 (2003 Dec): 424–30. PMID: 14660781 PMC: 1747794. doi:10.1136/tc.12.4.424.


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