Re: Hair test results changed to normal without chelation?!! Lyme, ocular migr

[Guest guest]

The most important facts are: he has a hair test that says he needs

chelation and you have done very little chelation. You need to chelate

him to get rid of the mercury.

You must use ALA on a proper schedule, every 3 hours or more often,

including at night.

Hair tests can change over time. It doesn't mean he has stopped

being toxic.

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[Guest guest]

>

> Hi ,

>

> Thanks for responding! I absolutely agree with you in principle.

>

> However, if the tests can change that radically, it certainly makes

> the problem of diagnosis problematic.

Supplementation and other interventions can improve the look of the

hair test. These don't get rid of the mercury, but they help his

body work better and the hair test reflects this.

> If this had been my first test, I would have dismissed pursuing this

> avenue as a pressing problem.

If it had been his first test, I would not have dismissed it.

You need to consider both the clinical picture and the hair test

result. The hair test is " close " and he has symptoms (eg, vision

problems) that can be caused by mercury. A trial of chelation

makes sense in this case. Response to chelation would confirm the

diagnosis.

What happened on the three rounds you did previously? Did you see

any response, positive or negative? Any problems on the day after

the round? What chelator(s), dose, and timing did you use? The fact

that he developed gut problems at that time suggests you did move

some mercury.

> ==============================

>

> Given all of the careful statistical analysis done by Andy, on how

> you would obtain abnormal bands to support the counting rules, I

> still think there is something else at play here that needs to be

> better understood.

There is really nothing surprising here. You are noticing the

improvement in hair test results that can occur with helpful

interventions.

Andy has said that repeating the hair test tends to cause confusion

rather than providing any useful information. He recommends doing

the hair test only once in most cases.

> My son is really struggling with a lot of different symptoms and

> there are so many variables at play here.

I understand you are dealing with a lot, and I think a lot of these

problems would likely be improved by getting the mercury out. Mercury

can certainly cause vision problems and it can certainly compromise

immune function, liver detox, endocrine function, and other body

systems that are needed to fight and recover from infections.

If you are going to try some more chelation you will need to be sure

he is on the basic supplement program (see the supplement file in the

autism-mercury group). He will need lots of probiotics and an

appropriate diet (see the diet file) to prevent the problems that

happened before. Some other supplements like biotin, sacch b., and

antifungals are usually needed as well.

You will want some type of treatment for his headaches. Andy has

suggested that behavioral optometrists are good at diagnosing and

treating vision problems (look for his comments in A-M archives).

This might prove helpful for the headaches.

With lyme disease and the other pathogens that go with it, getting

rid of the mercury that is impairing his immune system, liver detox,

and other body systems will give him the best chance of fighting the

infections, ridding his body of the toxins they produce, and getting

well. In the meantime, you will need to include appropriate

supplements to manage the problem.

I know that , ARNP, is familiar with both Andy's

protocol and lyme disease. If you want a practitioner who can help

you work on both problems, you may want to contact her:

http://www.npjulie.com

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> Any other comments?

>

> Deb

>

[Guest guest]

>

> I had significant problems on the first three rounds which is why I

> stopped the chelation. He developed nausea and cramping on the first

This is a response to chelation and confirms that mercury is a problem.

> round, and I decreased the amounts. The next two rounds the nausea

> and cramping started even earlier so I terminated the rounds early.

What were the initial and reduced amounts of chelators?

It sounds like the nausea and cramping went away between rounds and

then cropped up again while you were chelating - is that right?

I

> was quite disappointed since he had been on an abx break, and I was

> trying to take advantage of this.

I wonder if the previous course of antibiotics left his gut flora

in an imbalanced state and more susceptible to further imbalance

when you started chelating.

> Subsequent to that he developed a non-stop round of intermittent

> abdominal cramping, new food sensitivies, reflux, etc ... which

Sounds like his gut became leaky. Did you treat the leaky gut?

> lasted for about 6 months - had all sorts of GI testing, etc ...

> stomach medication. I tried to treat for yeast but nothing was

> seriously addressing the problems until he got back on a a new

> protocol of septra + zithromax this April and his stomach symptoms

> mysteriously went away. Go figure. I certainly could not see any

> improvements because of the rounds when there is a first-order effect

> of this magnitude going on.

Either positive or negative symptoms indicate a response to

chelation. People without mercury problems don't have any

effects from taking chelators.

The symptoms should improve with a low enough dose. Sensitive

adults need to start with 6 mg or less. You may need to start

with 1-2 mg.

Here are a few suggestions that could help improve how he

does on chelation:

1) Try some adrenal cortex extract. Both the infection problems

and the headaches suggest he needs adrenal support. You can find

more discussion about using adrenal cortex extract with kids on

the autism-mercury group.

2) Take a look at the neutrophil file and see if you can find a

few of the suggested supplements that he can take to help support

his immune function. Some of us develop pathogen problems while

chelating and doing all you can to limit this will help.

3) Make sure you are giving enough probiotics. I'm not sure what

the appropriate dosage is for kids. Check the archives of the a-m

group and/or post a question there.

4) Take a look at the diet file for some ideas on how to modify

his diet that could help him feel better.

4) And of course make sure you are giving the recommended

supplements for chelation (see the supplement file on autism-mercury

group). This basic supplement program helps support immune function

among other things.

> I have the same problem now with the abx - he is much improved

> cognitively, overall, but the headaches are so debilitating it is

> hard to track the abx response.

>

> Unfortunately, around the time of the GI testing, and AFTER he had

> been removed from the moldy room, he developed these new vision

> symptoms and headaches which we are trying to sort out.

>

> He is a veteran of vision therapy for 2 years when he was younger

> which was helpful. In fact, it was the vision therapist who first

> detected a slight strabismus which had been missed by the

> opthalmologists (or perhaps, it is an acquired thing). His vision

> therapist did not think his current bouts of double vision were

> something that could be addressed by therapy and thought that

> something else was going on. I have numerous other opinions from

> other opths - but most latch onto the strabismus diagnosis and

> suggest surgery. Hard to know if this problem is decoupled from all

> others and/or the new " ocular migraine " symptoms are related or not.

> No one is sure at this point.

The strabismus and other issues are very likely caused by mercury.

You cannot solve these problems without chelating him.

> I suspect that he has so many things going on - e.g., the mold

> exposure, tick-born infections, abx, that has been affecting the

> treatments I have been attempting.

Yes, I understand. However if you let these distract you too much

you will never get around to chelating the mercury, which is the root

cause of all his problems.

> I do give him lots of probiotics, saccromyces b. (haven't given

> biotin yet), to try to support him throughout all this, but it is

> certainly like playing " whack-a-mole. "

>

> Unfortunately, all the data I have suggests that he has food

> allergies, IgG an IgE (although these aren't reliable) to a lot of

> natural antifungals (coconut/caprylic acid GSE/citrus). I feel like

> I'm striking out on all fronts lately.

Oil of oregano and berberine herbs are some other good antifungals.

If you haven't tried treating parasites, this may be worth a try.

Make sure you treat his leaky gut to prevent further allergies

from developing. Over time he may desensitize to some of the

existing allergens, or you could try NAET treatment to help with

this. If he is prone to developing a leaky gut, you may need to

give ongoing treatment for this.

It is

> Liver support is a must - that is why I was interested in adding ALA

> to the mix, but wanted to do so safely. He is currently taking milk

> thistle for this as well.

Other liver supportive supplements are phosphatidylcholine, folic

acid, B12, TMG.

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