Rate of Hg removal

[Guest guest]

Sometimes I'll take out my copy of AI and just skim through it, and every

now and then I come across some interesting tidbit I'd either forgotten or

hadn't seen. Here's one - on page 90 Andy writes that taking 50-100 mg dmsa

+ 50-100 mg ala every 3-4 hours (I believe he since has come to insist on

every 3 hours for ala) will remove about 1/2 to 1% of the mercury in the

brain every day that you chelate. Thus in order to reduce brain mercury by

50%, you have to chelate for 70-140 days.

It's interesting and useful to see it quantified that way. At the lower

dosages most of us use here, it's probably at the 1/2% per day or even less

(I use 25 mg ala every 2.5-3 hours). So as a rough rule of thumb, since I'm

usually chelating about half the time (4 days on and 3 days off or vice

versa), I'm probably removing 50% of my mercury every year or so.

If I understand correctly, that means the first year I'll remove 50%. The

second year, 50% of what remains, so after two years, 25% of the original

amount will be left. After 3 years, about 12.5% of the original amount will

remain. After 4 years about 6% of the original amount will remain.

I find this very helpful in understanding why progress is sometimes so

maddeningly slow, why I should expect to heal slowly, and why I should be

patient and confident that good things are happening even if it seems I've

plateau'd.

Dean