Please Help--Our DAN doc scaring us about chelating sooner than later

November 5, 2006

Hi. My son is 2.10 yo, PDD-NOS, and we started seeing a DAN doc a

couple of months ago. Thanks to info I learned on this board and

GFCFKids, we were already up to speed on most supplements that the

DAN doc required (A HUGE THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO GRACIOUSLY GIVE

THEIR TIME TO THESE BOARDS!!). She did some labs and started us on

a few more things--selenium, Actos, MB-12 nasal spray (which has

been a big wow), and DMG.

I'm getting really anxious to begin chelation. I believe the sooner

the better, as is recommended with pretty much all autism

interventions. Having read this board quite a lot (though I've not

been able to read as much lately as I'd prefer), I like the idea of

not doing a challenge (DAN doc agrees with that) and using frequent

low-dose administration of chelating agents. Because my son's

stools are still fairly mushy (even after 8 months of GFCF diet),

our DAN doc is giving us some grief about chelating him just yet.

She very grudgingly went ahead and prescribed TD-DMSA with a

protocol of 5 mg/kg (max of 250 mg/dose) three days on and 11 days

off. We'll get the DSMA in the mail on Tuesday. The doc said she'd

prefer we start a month from now after using TD-glutathione, TD-

GABA/mag, and a different probiotic in the interim. She warned us

that she's seen significant regression occur when people start

chelating too soon (which, as expected, concerns us (read: freaks us

out) considerably).

I would really appreciate some words of wisdom and experience here.

Should we be very concerned about a regression with the protocol she

recommended? How long should we wait to see if her suggested

protocol is working for our son? I'm so afraid of wasting precious

healing time, yet also concerned about causing more harm than good

to our son. (The doc's argument is that if we give him the chelator

but he isn't able to excrete the metals, it could do more harm than

good.) If we find her protocol isn't working, is there a way to

change the dosing of the TD to approximate Andy's protocol? Has

anyone done that successfully? The tweaks and additions the doc has

recommended so far (especially the MB-12) have been really good, so

I'm a little torn about questioning her protocol before we've even

tried it; I'm just wanting to do what's best for my son (as are we

all for our children, I'm sure).

Thanks for any advice/info/etc. you can provide,

Kathy in Florida

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