Help needed -- any DMSA experts? (long)

[Guest guest]

Hi, I haven't posted here in several months, so briefly here's my

story. I fell ill for no apparent reason in the autumn of 2004 with

SAD-like symptoms, though they never cleared up completely in the

summers. I'd had 4 amalgam fillings put in 2 months before the

illness began, after having had none in my adult teeth. In June 2007

I had these amalgams removed without protection and proceeded to

chelate with DMSA and ALA for a total of about 7 months. I'd say that

I was chelating pretty hard the last 5 months.

By last February, I felt I was getting nowhere -- no noticeable

improvements, and the SAD was getting at me again. I had a hair test

done and it showed zero mercury and very low levels of any heavy

metals. Then I had a saliva cortisol test which showed that I have

adrenal exhaustion, and another test which showed low T3 (thyroid).

My guess at the time was that the DMSA was doing nothing but forcing

my weak adrenals to perform. My best evidence of this seemed to be

the fact that I was coming wide awake in the middle of every night

and couldn't get to sleep without a dose of DMSA. What's more, if I

missed even a single dose, I felt bad. I don't think chelation works

that way -- responses should be more gradual, yes?

So I stopped the DMSA and ALA and was feeling very bad while I was

sorting out adrenal and thyroid meds. I have now optimised my adrenal

med and am ramping up doses of Armour for thyroid; I'm almost at 2

grains.

My worry is that I still am no better. In fact, I'm worse than I was

before I stopped chelation. The depression which has been ever-

present is worse, and there's this awful emotional numbness. I

started a job in January and was excited and enthusiastic. The past

several months I was just scraping through; each day was such a

chore. I am a teacher and it's the summer holidays now, but this job

I was so keen to do (it's the first one I've had after 5 years of

being at home raising my child) has just become another of those

chores that I have to force myself to do.

I know I felt better than this when I was chelating, but I don't know

why. I'm afraid of damaging my adrenals further by experimenting with

DMSA again, when mercury might not be my problem at all. I just don't

know. I do know that nothing I've tried in 4 years has worked, my

life is going downhill, and I'm despairing.

So in a nutshell, here is what I'm wondering. Should I risk trying

DMSA again anyway? Was it actually helping me? Should I try ALA on

its own maybe? Or are there other avenues I should investigate? If

the adrenal and thyroid support don't help then I'm stuck for what to

do.

Thanks very much for reading and any advice is welcome,

.