THE CALCIUM SHELL PATTERN

by Lawrence Wilson, MD

One of the most important hair analysis patterns discovered by Dr. Paul Eck is a calcium shell. He defined it as a hair tissue calcium level above 200 mg%. I find that the pattern can be present even when the calcium level is slightly lower, around 165-170 mg%.

This pattern is defined by just one hair mineral level. The levels and ratios of all other minerals do not alter the presence of the pattern. However, a calcium shell may combine with other imbalances to form many other interesting hair mineral patterns.

A new understanding of the pattern as of 2010 is that it an be further classified by how extreme the calcium level is. The way I speak of this is roughly as follows:

Calcium of 165-210 is a single shell pattern.

Calcium of 210-285 is a double shell pattern.

Calcium of 285-350 is a triple shell pattern.

Calcium of 350-425 is a quadruple shell pattern.

Calcium of 425-550 is a quintuple shell pattern.

Calcium of 550-650 is a sextuple shell pattern.

(this is as high as I have tried to figure out, so far)

The higher calcium levels mainly indicate more pronounced versions of the same pattern, as far as I can tell. If the calcium level is above about 1000 mg%, it does have a somewhat different meaning, and this is discussed below.

CHEMICAL COMPONENTS OF A CALCIUM SHELL

An important concept in hair analysis interpretation is that when one reads a mineral level, one is reading a composite or sum of various types or compounds of the mineral. In the case of a calcium shell, the chemical components of the shell often include:

1. The normal hair metabolism. This would account for about 40mg% of calcium.

2. Oxide. Calcium can form an oxide, which is a biounavailable form of calcium.

3. Hard deposits of other composition. For example, many people with a calcium shell have hardened deposits in the joints, arteries, brain, kidneys and elsewhere. These may be oxides, or other calcium compounds, perhaps.

4. Calcium-magnesium compounds. These appear to be more important in very high calcium shells in which the main cause is psychological as a protective device. The person usually has no other signs of a calcium shell such as mineral deposits in the arteries or joints.

Let us discuss some the aspects of these components below.q

BIOUNAVAILABLE CALCIUM AND USUALLY MAGNESIUM AS WELL

In all cases of a calcium shell, some of the body’s calcium, and usually magnesium as well, is biounavailable. This means it is depositing pathologically in the soft tissues such as the hair, arteries, brain, kidneys and elsewhere. This is not a healthy situation.

The cause is usually that the levels of sodium and potassium are so low that the body cannot maintain enough calcium in an ionized or soluble form in the blood, so it begins to precipitate into the soft tissues.

This creates a calcium deficiency, even if one eats enough bioavailable calcium, which is rare today. Eventually, it can lead to osteoporosis in most older people as the body robs the bones of some calcium to replenish the blood or serum calcium.

Usually, a calcium shell is found with a very high hair magnesium level as well. Therefore the symptoms usually involve imbalances in both calcium and magnesium.

Amazingly, in most cases, the ratio between calcium and magnesium is maintained within the normal range of about 4.5 to 9.5. When the magnesium is much lower, the ratio of calcium to magnesium is usually over 13.5, a pattern called spiritual defensiveness.

When the ratio with magnesium is less than about four, the pattern is called extreme burnout or another type of extreme withdrawal that tends to be more serious than just a simple calcium shell. In these cases, more magnesium loss is occurring. Since magnesium is a vital element, this is not a healthy pattern at all, whereas a simple calcium shell is quite common and not quite as pathological.

SYMPTOMS OF A CALCIUM SHELL

Emotional and psychological symptoms. These may include defensiveness, rigidity, psychological withdrawal, emotional numbness, suppression or repression, loss of sexual desire, fatigue and exhaustion, apathy and usually some depression.

Another tendency is to be out of touch with reality to some degree. Like living behind a wall of calcium, the individual is so inhibited by the calcium that he or she often does not listen or perceive as accurately, and may also be in denial or out of touch to some degree as a result.

Since one is out of touch, one may become defensive over silly matters, or not listen carefully, or not to hear well when something is explained. I found it best to record my consultations with these individuals, as they would often call me later and would not recall what we had discussed. Some who are out of touch are also ‘happier’ and unaware of their problems and physical symptoms, in my experience. As the shell comes down, they become more aware and often feel superficially worse for a while as a result.

These are tendencies, not absolutes, and one should not "diagnose" emotional conditions based solely on a mineral analysis. However, they are useful observations that can help a person understand his condition by becoming aware of the biochemical factors that contribute to it.

Physical Symptoms. These usually fall into three groups:

1. Calcium excess symptoms. Among the important ones are bone spurs, arthritis, and aches and pains. These are more prevalent if the pattern has been in place for years, which is difficult or impossible to figure out from a single hair mineral analysis. Calcium excess symptoms are discussed in more depth in the article on this site entitled Calcium.

2. Biouanvailable calcium symptoms. These may be muscle tightness, perhaps some muscle cramps or tension, anxiety and irritability in some cases. Another is difficulty sleeping or resting. Later in life, one can develop osteoporosis and other problems as well. All these can be reversed when the calcium shell comes down using an individualized nutritional balancing program.

3. Copper excess symptoms. Other physical symptoms may be due to copper accumulation. These include many that are discussed in the article entitled Copper Toxicity Syndrome such as skin rashes, headaches, PMS, hot flashes, menstrual imbalances, mind racing, spaciness, panic attacks, other female organ problems, phobias, fears, and others.

4. Others. Other symptoms may be due to slow oxidation, low thyroid or adrenal glandular activity, or, at times, sympathetic dominance.

WHY DO EMOTIONAL SYMPTOMS OCCUR?

Calcium Imbalance. Symptoms are partially due to the depressing or inhibiting effect of calcium upon the central nervous system. Calcium raises the voltage at which nerve cells fire. This has a deadening, numbing or depressive effect on the central nervous system. Thus it is not surprising that lethargy, depression and psychological withdrawal would occur.

Copper Imbalance. Symptoms are also due, in part, to a copper imbalance. In our experience, a hair tissue calcium level greater than about 700 parts per million or 70 mg% is always accompanied by a copper imbalance. The elevated copper may or may not be revealed on early hair analyses. Eventually, however, Dr. Eck found that copper would start to be eliminated, often in large quantity, as the person’s health returns on a nutritional balancing program.

Hidden copper indicators. A calcium level greater than about 60 - 70 mg% is one of the hidden copper indicators. Often with a calcium shell, other hidden copper indicators are present such as a low potassium level, a low sodium/potassium ratio, a low or very high zinc, a low phosphorus, or perhaps an elevated mercury level. However, toxic metals may not be revealed on the first test or so, if the person’s energy level and oxidation rate are very sluggish.

Too much copper is present in the soft tissues and usually copper is not able to be transported and utilized correctly. This is called a biounavailable copper pattern. Oddly, although there is excess tissue copper, the amount of biologically available copper may be so low that a person may need to take some copper for a while. This is only the case if the sodium/potassium ratio is less than about 2.5:1. Copper should be given in this case, even though the patient may have signs or symptoms of copper excess. This is explained in more detail in the Copper Toxicity Syndrome article.

A compensation for high copper. A calcium shell may even exist to reduce some of the worst symptoms of copper toxicity. In these cases, the underlying problem is copper toxicity, which must be dealt with first in order for the shell to disappear.

In this case, copper imbalance causes moodiness, anxiety, fears, paranoia and more. The calcium shell reduces the intensity of some of these disturbing symptoms of copper imbalance. The high calcium numbs the entire nervous system, thus reducing the mood swings and feelings of anxiety. A problem occurs, at times, that as one’s calcium shell comes down as a result of a nutritional balancing program, some patients experience their emotions more forcefully.

Often, emotional maturing is necessary to enable a person to handle his or her emotions better. Only then can the calcium shell be lowered fully. Nutritional balancing programs can help break down the calcium shell, but will only be fully effective if one is willing to face the world without the shell as a protective mechanism.

A PROTECTIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL WALL

Another cause for the calcium shell in some individuals appears to be as a means of protection. The shell reduces stress by reducing the intensity of the impact of the environment upon a person’s nervous system. This is the numbing effect mentioned earlier.

Some individuals apparently need the shell to protect them from real or imagined stressors. The shell may be a remnant of a difficult childhood, for example, when one was not in control of the environment and had to use any defense possible to maintain one's integrity or even one’s sanity. In other words, the calcium shell can be seen as a kind of personality posturing that was adaptive at some stage of life and may still be adaptive, especially if the body is weak and not able to cope well with stress.

Usually, however, when a patient comes for help, the calcium shell causing other problems, both physical and emotional, so that the patient wants to change the pattern even if it is still adaptive to some degree.

UNABLE TO HANDLE STRESS

Some people are unable to handle stress very well. These individuals may develop a calcium shell to protect them from stressors. In these individuals, the calcium shell is a kind of support or crutch that is needed at this time.

A tired body. In some of these cases, the real problem is a tired body. These people often have very low levels of sodium and potassium on their hair tissue analyses. Once their body chemistry improves and their energy increases, the calcium shell usually disappears quickly.

Unable to respond to stress. In some cases of a calcium shell, a person does not know how or for some other reason is unable to respond to stress well. Nutritional balancing can strengthen these people’s bodies so they can handle stress better. Also, improved cognition, memory and other mental processing capabilities due to removing toxic metals and balancing the nervous system can also help them handle stress. In addition, some may need to learn other stress management skills such as assertiveness training, relaxation exercises, or others.

Overwhelming stress. Others with a calcium shell are dealing with so much stress that they are unable to function without a protective wall to lessen the impact of their stress. In addition to a program to strengthen their body chemistry, these individuals may also need changes their lifestyle, relationships, job, or something else to reduce their stress level.

Slowing one down. Another reason for a calcium shell is to slow a person down. The lethargy caused by the high calcium has a slowing effect on individuals who have a tendency to drive themselves too hard. These are usually people with high copper levels and/or a pattern called sympathetic dominance.

Copper can stimulate brain activity and lead to a frenzied lifestyle. Sympathetic dominance is a separate situation, though related, in which a person spends too much time in a fight-or-flight attitude or approach to life. Read about this by clicking on Sympathetic Dominance.

In this sense, a calcium shell may be an adaptive or protective device of the body to reduce one’s stress level and perhaps to induce fatigue and even depression in order to prevent overworking, or overstressing the body in some ways.

SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF A CALCIUM SHELL

Sensitive individuals. People who have a calcium shell are usually extremely sensitive individuals. This may be one of the reasons the person chooses, at some level, to develop this particular hair tissue mineral pattern, as opposed to the many other patterns the body uses to cope with reality. They adapt to the world by setting up their “wall of protection”, often early in life, before adulthood in many cases.

The shell stays with them usually for years, until the problems associated with the pattern become evident and they realize they need some kind of assistance but often do not know why or how to proceed. These people can be helped easily and quickly in many instances with a nutritional balancing program.

A very yin pattern. In Chinese medical terminology a calcium shell is an extremely yin pattern in which a person is withdrawing, running away or perhaps hiding from the world using the body chemistry. Also, the pattern almost always occurs in slow oxidizers, who are much more yin than fast oxidizers. Also, the symptoms of a calcium shell tend to be yin symptoms such as fatigue, exhaustion, cancer, depression and others.

Advancing very slowly with the brakes on. This is the ‘movement pattern’ that tends to go with a calcium shell. A movement pattern has to do with the way in which a person is handling life. When a calcium shell is present, a part of the person wants to move ahead, but another part does not want to move ahead. This is the meaning of moving ahead with the brakes on. This means that movement is very slow, often very measured, and conflicted or blocked to a great degree.

If the shell becomes too high, it means the brakes are on tightly and this is associated with the development of cancer and other serious diseases because a person will not move ahead at all. Normally, when movement stops, life also comes to an end soon after. This is one reason that helping a person move out of a calcium shell is very important.

Protection during a phase of mental or spiritual development. This is another understanding of a calcium shell in some people. It is seen in a few individuals, usually women, who are on a nutritional balancing program. However, their calcium shell persists for up to several years with very few adverse symptoms.

A CALCIUM LEVEL GREATER THAN ABOUT 1000 MG%

An extremely high hair calcium level is rare, fortunately. However, it does occur so it merits a separate discussion. In the few cases we have seen, it is a slightly different pattern, though all of the above applies.

Addison’s disease. In addition to the usual symptoms of a calcium shell, the person may have symptoms of Addison’s disease, a chronic shutdown of the adrenal glands. This may only occur when the sodium level is also very low. Symptoms might include a dark pigmentation of the skin, very low energy, severe depression and withdrawal. It can cause a short lifespan if the situation is not corrected through nutritional balancing or even via drug medical care if no other alternatives are available to the patient.

Petrified. This word may be helpful to describe the psychological state of a person with a calcium level greater than about 1000 mg%. Other related descriptions might be “turning to stone” or “buried in concrete”.

These phrases might also describe what may occur in the body if the situation is not corrected. Petrified is not the same as terrified. Terrified is momentary, whereas petrified refers to a more chronic situation. However, both indicate extreme fear, extreme withdrawal and often some type of trauma as a cause.

Extreme sensitivity for some reason. This is the other possibility with a very high calcium level. The person might not be petrified, but may simply need a lot more protection than others from the world. This is rare, apparently, but certainly possible.

Extreme yin, yin loss and yin deficiency. This is another feature of this pattern. It simply means the person is very out of balance in terms of yin and yang.

Combinations of patterns. Hair analysis patterns that would tend to make a calcium shell even more severe are the following:

· A very low sodium/potassium ratio of 1 or less.

· A very slow oxidation rate, meaning a low level of sodium and potassium in addition to the highly elevated calcium level.

· Possibly a high or low calcium/magnesium level.

CORRECTION

The calcium shell pattern is definitely correctable through a scientific nutritional balancing program. Often it begins to respond quickly, within a few months. Other nutrition and healing programs, in my experience, will not bring down the calcium level nearly as well.

The nutritional balancing program includes supplementing with calcium and magnesium in a bioavailable form to replace that which is being lost. In addition to tablets or capsules, eating sardines or other small fish with bones, drinking bone soup, eating raw dairy products and ingesting other sources of bioavailable calcium such as sesame tahini or sesame butter, greens and other foods may help.

Also important are B-complex vitamins, and often vitamin C and E, manganese, zinc, and adrenal and thyroid glandular substance.

A detoxification program using near infrared light saunas is also helpful. (Other types of saunas may work but are not as effective. The use of coffee enemas will usually speed up the healing process significantly, as well. Plenty of pure water, either spring water or carbon-filtered tap water is also helpful.

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