Minerals Part 4: Testing for Free Nickel At Home

What is Nickel?

Nickel is a mineral element with atomic number 28. Though essential to some plants, nickel seems to be toxic to people.

Sources of Toxic Nickel

Common sources of toxic nickel include dental braces, other metallic dental work, cigarette smoke, nickel-plated jewelry, metal-working fumes, rooibos tea, shellfish, hydrogenated oils, and processed foods. (Wilson 2017a and 2017b.) Some other sources identified in my experiment below include metal eyeglasses, guitar frets, keys, and coins.

Symptoms of Nickel Toxicity

Dr. Larry Wilson has interpreted thousands of hair mineral analyses, including many young people with dental braces who showed nickel toxicity. Dr. Wilson states that nickel "is associated with feelings of anger, rage, depression and even suicidal thoughts. It can also affect the kidneys, the lungs, digestion and other body functions." (Wilson 2017a.)

There are many other articles on the internet about nickel toxicity and additional long symptom lists. Basically, nickel isn't supposed to be involved with human enzymes much. Nickel causes a lot of problems all around the body when present in higher amounts, which seems to be quite common today.

Why I Became Interested in Nickel

By chance, my metal eyeglass frames, which I wore for over 10 years, snapped at the bridge. I switched to my spare frames, which were plastic. To my surprise, I noticed an improvement in positive outlook and a subtle general improvement in sense of well-being. Intuitively, once my metal frames were repaired, I didn't want to wear them again.

I started to think about which metal was in contact with my body for extended periods. Another idea was a safety pin used to fasten an eye mask for sleeping, to make the room darker. I replaced the safety pin with a piece of fabric in a knot. I seemed to start sleeping better.

Since nickel allergies are common and test kits for free nickel readily available, I decided to see if free nickel was causing subtle reactions for me by testing the eyeglass frames, safety pin, and other objects around the home.

What I Did to Test for Nickel

I ordered a nickel test kit over ebay called "NICKEL Spot Test Testing Solutions Kit + manual" for about $10. It arrived in about a week from Bulgaria.

The test uses a reagent called dimethylglyoxime which turns pink when in contact with free nickel. Free nickel means nickel which is available to be transferred to your skin when you touch it. The skin in turn will absorb some nickel.

The test procedure is simple. The kit includes 2 solutions. One places 2 drops of each solution on a cotton swab. Then rub the swab on a surface for around 30 seconds. Look for a pink color on the swab for a positive result.

It's possible to keep reusing the swab after negative tests, until it turns pink. It's possible to use both ends of the swab, and to use different sides of each swab end for multiple tests.

Following the above procedure, I looked for metal surfaces at home and tested many of them.

Results of Home Nickel Testing

Analysis: Lessons from Nickel Testing

How many metals there are in our modern lives! The search for metals to test made me more aware.

I also became more aware of which things remain in contact with me for extended periods — such as eyeglasses, dental fillings, clothing, bedding, and so on.

Based on the results of the nickel testing, I've made several specific changes:

• The metal eyeglass frames indeed contained nickel! And the replacement bridge is very high in nickel! I will continue wearing the plastic eyeglass frames for now. If I were to wear the metal frames again, I would coat the metal, perhaps with Nickel Guard.
• The safety pin from my sleep eye mask indeed contained nickel! I won't use a safety pin in contact with my skin again.
• It's a bummer to find nickel in the guitar frets! Perhaps, at least at some kind of intuitive level, the nickel is why I haven't stuck with guitar playing more. Nickel frets seem to be standard for guitars. Before getting into guitar playing again, I'd look into coating the frets if possible or otherwise switch to stainless steel guitar frets. Maybe nickel frets might be a reason why there is a lot of guitar music about feeling angry and depressed?!?
• I covered the screen door's inside handle with tape so as not to touch it directly.
• I try to keep my keys and coins in a small plastic bag now when in my pocket.
• Though I could not test my silver/mercury amalgam dental filling for nickel because the test kit is toxic for ingestion, still the nickel test made me more aware of the metal filling, which I plan to remove soon. Mercury is the primary toxic metal in amalgam feelings. Nickel may be significant too.
• I'll replace the rusty mop head and rusty dish drying rack.
• There are a lot of other metal things around the house that I don't have to worry too much about, at least with respect to free nickel.

Nickel may be a very important factor for those with metal in their mouths, next to their eyes, or even in their guitar frets. I can't say nickel was the most significant factor in improving my health, but I do feel better after switching my eyeglasses and making a few other changes.

Minerals play a huge role in regulating our bodies, often unknown. It's been fascinating to look around at some basic household things with an eye on one toxic mineral, nickel!

Photos of Nickel Testing

Nickel test kit

Mexican 10-peso coin, silver part: +++

Door latch: +++

Door latch: +++

Clothespin: -

Metal eyeglasses replacement bridge: ++

Friend's metal eyeglasses temple, where finish worn off: ++

Bicycle lock key: ++

Gutar case latch: +++

Guitar fret on travel guitar: ++

Guitar fret on big guitar: +++