Guest guest Posted October 7, 2008 Report Share Posted October 7, 2008 I have had rheumatoid arthritis for 12 years. About 8 years ago I had all of my amalgams out and did a couple of weeks of DMPS/DMSA chelation through a naturopath. He didn't use Andy's schedule. Mercury levels in urine were negligible at the end of the chelation series. I had no side effects and no improvement in my arthritis. However I have done a lot of other things, and my arthritis went to a dull simmer until a year or so ago. All of the alternative things that used to work, have not worked. Numerous different people asked if I had heavy metals checked. An MD suggested a Myers cocktail with EDTA challenge to test metals. I showed above normal lead and aluminum. I began a series of 5 EDTA IVs and began having symptoms of very low adrenals. My rheumatologist put me on 60mg hydrocortisone. Then I found this group. I have tried 2 sets of 3 days on/4 days off 100mg DMSA/100mg ALA. I seem to have no negative response. I have taken much higher doses of ALA in the past and noticed it has an anti-inflammatory affect on me. I am considering continuous ALA in between sets of DMSA (3 days on/4 days off). Given my short description, would this be recommended? Could I space the ALA farther apart? Thank you, Sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 7, 2008 Report Share Posted October 7, 2008 > > I have had rheumatoid arthritis for 12 years. About 8 years ago I had > all of my amalgams out and did a couple of weeks of DMPS/DMSA > chelation through a naturopath. He didn't use Andy's schedule. > Mercury levels in urine were negligible at the end of the chelation > series. Not detecting mercury in the urine doesn't give you any information that tells you anything much. I had no side effects and no improvement in my arthritis. > > However I have done a lot of other things, and my arthritis went to a > dull simmer until a year or so ago. All of the alternative things > that used to work, have not worked. Numerous different people asked > if I had heavy metals checked. > An MD suggested a Myers cocktail with > EDTA challenge to test metals. I showed above normal lead and > aluminum. Which is expected because EDTA removes lead, not mercury. I began a series of 5 EDTA IVs and began having symptoms of > very low adrenals. I hope that you won't be having any more EDTA IVs > My rheumatologist put me on 60mg hydrocortisone. > Are you still at this dose? For how long? > Then I found this group. I have tried 2 sets of 3 days on/4 days off > 100mg DMSA/100mg ALA. That is a very high dose to start with. Normally we recommend started at about 12.5 mg per dose. Are you taking the doses at 3 h intervals? Symptoms often creep up on a person. Doing 2 rounds gives no guarantee about the next round. I would lower the doses. > I seem to have no negative response. > The cortisol could be masking a response. > I have taken much higher doses of ALA in the past and noticed it has > an anti-inflammatory affect on me. I am considering continuous ALA > in between sets of DMSA (3 days on/4 days off). Given my short > description, would this be recommended? Normally we recommend taking ALA with DMSA at 3 h intervals, around the clock, for at least 3 days and 2 nights. If you want to do one week on and one week off, that's ok. Continuous chelation is only recommended under certain circumstances after a person has considerable chelation experience and much more is known about the case. I would not advise it as I would not want to take any chance that your arthritis worsens. The doses that you are using are too high. From your description we don't know if you are mercury poisoned or not. An essential elements hair test would give useful information, although the EDTA, ALA and use of DMSA and DMPS in the past may have driven mercury deep leading to a misleading picture on a hair test. > Could I space the ALA farther > apart? > No. ALA needs to be taken in 3 h intervals or less, never more (4 h only at night so as to get some more sleep, but some people must stick with 3 h at night as well). > Thank you, > > Sue > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 Thank you for taking the time to respond. No, no more EDTA IVs. I was dosing every 4 hrs, but will change to 3 hrs during the day as you suggested. I have been on this hydrocortisone dose for two weeks. Once I have figured out what the rheumatologist wants to do (ie pain relief, etc), I will begin to do the tapers. I think you are right about too high a dose. I am going to switch to 50mg DMSA, but keep to 100mg ALA since I see such a benefit from it. Before finding this group I took 450mg ALA once per day for months. I noticed the anti-inflammatory effect of ALA at that time too. > An essential elements hair test would give useful information, > although the EDTA, ALA and use of DMSA and DMPS in the past may have > driven mercury deep leading to a misleading picture on a hair test. When I had the hair test done 8 years ago it showed elevated mercury. Given the short time I was on DMSA/DMPS at that time, I'm sure you are right about mercury going deeper. I really appreciate the time you took to respond. It is very helpful to have a sounding board. Thanks, Sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 10, 2008 Report Share Posted October 10, 2008 Elevated mercury on a hair test is one thing that points to mercury toxicity. Be sure to take the ALA and DMSA at 3 h intervals (around the clock) in order to remove the mercury from your body. I still think that the dose of ALA is too high, but it is up to you of course. Reading Andy's books (links section) would be helpful, if you haven't already done so. J > > > Thank you for taking the time to respond. No, no more EDTA IVs. I was > dosing every 4 hrs, but will change to 3 hrs during the day as you > suggested. > > I have been on this hydrocortisone dose for two weeks. Once I have > figured out what the rheumatologist wants to do (ie pain relief, etc), > I will begin to do the tapers. > > I think you are right about too high a dose. I am going to switch to > 50mg DMSA, but keep to 100mg ALA since I see such a benefit from it. > Before finding this group I took 450mg ALA once per day for months. I > noticed the anti-inflammatory effect of ALA at that time too. > > > An essential elements hair test would give useful information, > > although the EDTA, ALA and use of DMSA and DMPS in the past may have > > driven mercury deep leading to a misleading picture on a hair test. > > When I had the hair test done 8 years ago it showed elevated mercury. > Given the short time I was on DMSA/DMPS at that time, I'm sure you > are right about mercury going deeper. > > I really appreciate the time you took to respond. It is very helpful > to have a sounding board. > > Thanks, > > Sue > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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