Everyone has a first time, halfwit. And there seems to be an
association between people being gobsmacked at your stupidity and first
posting.

Cathy

He has been reading for years and, in a moment of temporary insanity,
posted. You have now scared him off.

I post all the time in sci.life-extension.  The group has been a source
of life-saving information to me and many others.  If the dentistry
newsgroups weren't filled with ideologues and trolls the last time I
visited - some of them dentists - I might post there from time to time.  
I certainly have a few things to say about the usefulness of
neuroprotective ketogenic diets for TMJ which run counter to the belief
you should eat mushy high GI carbs.  I'm also pretty familiar with what
zinc, magnesium, arginine, lysine, glutamine and B12 deficiency can do
to TMJ cartilage (via breakdown of IGF-I/gh function) and excitotoxic
stress on the trigeminal nerve.  If there's a condition that requires
your doctors to talk to each other and practice integrative medicine,
it's TMJ.

How did I get mercury poisoning?

This appears to be the most likely path.

1)  Over exposure to antibiotics as a toddler for ear infections damages
friendly bacteria and disrupts the toll-like receptor (TLR) system in
the gut leading to allergies, tonsillitis and chronic, recurrent
rhinitis.  (This has been shown in mice.)

2)  Inflamed sinuses alter the growth of the jaw leading to TMJ,
bruxism, sleep deprivation and hyperactivity.

3)  Inflammation in the gut from allergies and intolerances adversely
affect the absorption of zinc, magnesium and various other minerals,
amino acids, vitamins and enzymes as I grow - although it's not clear
how much and how fast.

4)  Stress from the jaw on surrounding vertebrae causes abnormalities in
my neck and shoulders and overloads supporting muscles up and down my
body leading to knee pains which results in two unnecessary knee
surgeries.  In recovery, I'm placed on a lengthy course of feldene, an
NSAID eventually withdrawn for killing little old ladies.  By sheer luck
and determination, I take up a career in swimming for rehabilitation,
which is probably the best treatment for TMJ barring actual medical
care.  The Athletic Department prescribes more NSAIDs for joint pains
encountered in dryland training - which I now realize sensitized certain
nerves to pain and further damaged my gut.  COX-1 is necessary to repair
gut lining (PGE1) and COX-2 is important for anti-bacterial defense (via
PGE2).  So while blocking COX-2 blocks joint pain, it also reduces
immunity to the microorganisms causing trouble in the gut and sinuses in
the first place.  (No one bothered to scope out the intestines of people
on long term NSAIDs until recently and what they found wasn't pretty.  A
better antiinflammatory strategy would increase omega-3 fatty acids to
enhance series 3 prostaglandin production while decreasing consumption
of dietary omega-6 fatty acids like arachidonic acid - but if this were
widely advertised, olive oil would be basically the only cooking oil
people used and a lot of politically connected agribusiness would take
it on the chin.  That's fine with me.  I also won't be troubled if the
world stops growing sugar cane.)

5)  Despite all this, I was able to cope until those four fillings went
in after college and one of them cracked and exposed me to low level
poisoning for a decade.  How did the first neurologist I saw treat it?  
He denied the clicking in my jaw could have anything to do with the pain
in my neck or the carpal and cubital tunnel syndrome in each arm.  He
prescribed Vioxx, another NSAID which was withdrawn from the market for
killing little old ladies.  I could go into the other acts of medical
malpractice - that same neurologist didn't bother to actually compare
the notes of my neurological exam to the radiological films of my neck
and concluded the "abnormalities" - partially herniated disks - were
within the range of normal deviation and couldn't cause the symptoms -
even though all the pain was right where the disks were misaligned.  
Congress had to pass HIPAA before their office would actually let me
walk out with the MRI films - not that it stopped them from trying to
double bill me for them in the first place.  I suppose he was marginally
better than the first internist I saw who tried to blame the fact that I
had a hundred pounds of fluid inflammation and dizziness when I sat up
on some sort of mental illness (note to treating physicians: about half
of all mercury poisoning patients present with psychosomosis as a real,
physical symptom).  I actually felt better after the final visit with
that internist because I was able to finally realize I wasn't the one in
the room who was nuts and that taking my medical care into my own hands
couldn't possibly subject me to any greater incompetence.

I'll spare a further recital of malpractice.  I mean, I could tell you
about the doctor who told me to avoid food dyes and then prescribed a
pill with a food dye in it.  I've counted up the "mistakes" into half a
dozen broad categories with NSAIDs filling just one.  It doesn't really
matter in my state anyway.  Malpractice is defined as being below the
community standard of care.  Apparently the community standard is to
kill people in my condition and since I didn't die, I received above
standard care so I have no reason for complaint.  I would say that's a
flip answer if I hadn't consulted a lawyer who specialize in
malpractice, hadn't seen how few cases make it to trail and hadn't
watched several people I know get victimized the same way.  If there's
one thing that keeps me going, it's the thought that all of those who
have done me harm may someday themselves get sick and come to see the
light.

Well, at least lack of accountability didn't flood me out of my home
last month.  Then again if it had, at least I know how to swim.