I still remember the taste of my last glass of orange juice.
“Never again,” 8-year-old me promised. Orange juice represented too many hard memories—memories of health problems that could have been avoided.
The problems started around the time I turned one. My mom noticed something wasn’t quite right: I wasn’t eating like I used to and I was developing rashes. I’d become fussier and cried more. She took me to the doctor, where they pricked me for blood samples as I let out blood-curdling cries.
“They took so much blood, I thought you’d pass out,” my mother told me years later.
The test results showed elevated levels of lead in my blood. I had plumbism, or lead poisoning.
That moment shaped my entire life, even though I don’t remember it at all.
A Scary Diagnosis
Lead can get into the body through water from old lead pipes, contaminated soil, or lead paint, which was used often in older homes. Lead can make paint flakes taste sweet and crunchy. Children playing on the floor might get the chips on their hands, and then put them in their mouths. And when old windows are opened and shut, they can release lead dust, which children might inhale or ingest. Lead in dirt, which has been contaminated by old paint or other lead sources, can get in children’s systems the same way.
Lead is especially dangerous for young children whose bodies and brains are still developing and it can cause serious problems like learning difficulties, behavior issues, and organ damage.
One third of children worldwide have elevated lead levels, according to a report from UNICEF. In the United States, lead poisoning is more common in low-income areas where many buildings have old paint. Some cities, especially in poor areas, have failed to use treatments that prevent lead from getting into water, or have not replaced old pipes. The federal government banned the use of lead-based paint in homes in 1978—and in pipes in 1986—but many homes still have it, usually under layers of new paint. And many cities have lead in older water supply lines.
I don’t know the exact cause of my plumbism, but my family thinks there once must have been lead paint in the townhouse we moved into when I was 11 months old. I don’t remember much about it, just that it was inside a gated complex in California, where we lived alongside mostly retired neighbors.
Photos on my mom’s old flip phone fill in many details. One of them shows me smiling up at the camera, with pigtails and a glass of orange juice, just outside a row of houses. If you look closely at the background, you can see invasive plants in the courtyard and paint chipping off the walls.
What Treatment Means
Once a child has lead poisoning, the only treatment is chelation, an injected medication that binds to lead in the body and clears it out through feces or urine. Chelation doesn’t fix the damage lead has already caused, but it can prevent more harm from happening. It’s usually used only when lead levels are very high, since it can have side effects.
When I was first tested, my lead levels weren’t high enough for chelation. But the amount of lead in my blood continued to increase. I started treatment shortly before I turned 3.
Even though my memory has always been unreliable (thanks, plumbism), I vividly remember the gruesome chelation treatments: the blood draws and the monthly injections. I squealed, shrieked, hollered, stomped. I did anything I could to avoid getting chelation shots and blood tests.
My mom tried to distract me with stickers and lollipops so I wouldn’t notice the doctor prepping my shoulder until the shot hit. Then my whole world went black.
Lingering Effects
I still struggle with lingering health issues, even after completing chelation at age 6. Chelation brought my lead levels way down. But that didn’t mean all the lead was gone.
I’m in high school now, and I often feel nauseous, with my stomach churning nearly 24/7. I have a hard time concentrating and, sometimes, I get very sensitive to light. If I’m at school, I feel embarrassed as people around me watch me curl into a ball as my stomach rumbles and my vision floats around me.
I still remember the first time I fainted. I was in my 4th grade classroom and all of a sudden it felt like the world was trying to swallow me. I couldn’t feel my own hands and could barely open my eyes. I thought I had died.
I vividly remember the gruesome chelation treatments: the blood draws and the monthly injections. I squealed, shrieked, hollered, stomped.
This is all due to anemia, a condition where your body doesn’t have enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen through it. It causes fatigue, shortness of breath, and dizziness. The reason I have anemia? Chelation. Chelation can cause chronic iron-deficiency anemia.
Even though I don’t have high lead levels anymore, I struggle daily with the anemia. And last year, I found out that my anemia has led to tachycardia. This means my heartbeat is irregular and even when I’m at rest, my heart rate can go above 100 beats per minute. I have to take iron and vitamin C supplements and get occasional blood transfusions.
But in some ways I was fortunate. I had access to medical care and health insurance, so I was diagnosed early and my parents could afford my treatment. Roughly a third of children with plumbism in the U.S. may be going undiagnosed, according to a 2017 study. Without detection and treatment, they can be left with learning disabilities, growth stunts, chronic pain, seizures, and brain damage.
Globally, almost 1 million people die from plumbism every year, according to UNICEF. In developing countries, they are often poisoned by unscrupulous companies that provide food or toys that have high levels of lead, or that have unsafe lead mining or recycling facilities. Even in the U.S., Consumer Reports regularly finds unacceptable levels of lead in some baby formulas, protein powders, spices, and other products.
The only way to reduce lead poisoning is laws, regulations, testing, and enforcement in homes and other buildings. Advocates have demanded increased funding so health departments can monitor lead poisoning and teach workers how to safely remove lead paint. They’ve also called for stronger laws so landlords and people selling property can’t ignore it.
But even if buildings and water systems are safe, children can still get lead poisoning from everyday items like toys, cooking equipment and foods. Eradicating plumbism also requires strict regulation and monitoring of consumer goods and foods.
Orange Juice Therapy
When I was first diagnosed with plumbism, my mom had to rely on nutrition as a treatment. Having a lot of iron in the blood helps the body get rid of more lead and ingesting vitamin C can help with the absorption of iron. So the doctors suggested orange juice, and my mom took it seriously.
Over the years, I felt like I drank enough orange juice to fill an Olympic-sized pool. Even after chelation helped lower the levels of lead in my blood, I kept drinking orange juice to better absorb iron. At some point, I got sick of the taste.
So, when I was 8 years old and the doctor told my mom my lead levels were so low they shouldn’t be harmful anymore, I was ecstatic. It felt like a big weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I didn’t have to go through more painful blood tests and shots.
And I didn’t have to drink orange juice anymore. But I decided to have one last glass. Just to remember.
“Ma, did you leave the orange juice in the fridge?” I asked my mom as I washed a glass.
“Yes, but you don’t need to have any more orange juice for a while.”
“I know. This is gonna be the last glass I ever have. I’m tired of its orangey taste.”
I poured the glass to the top, and drank it.
After countless glasses of orange juice, four years of chelation and four more years of monitoring my lead levels, I was finally done with treatment. But I will continue to live with the damage that lead poisoning caused for the rest of my life. With proper laws, and enforcement, other children can be spared my fate.
- Health