I need some advice!

[Guest guest]

I am doing DMSA + ALA and since we added DMSA, has been

having symptoms of peripheral neuropathy, mainly pains in his legs,

knees and feet. I need to know what to do to help him, help this

pain to go away!

I realize the DMSA dose may have been too high because we were doing

an ALA schedule (every 2.5 hours) because that's how does

best with ALA. Andy said to lower the dose and give more Vit E and

Omega 3s. So I did all that and stopped in the middle of our 3rd

round because he was in pain and developed a yeast rash on his bottom

(on day 2).

I am wondering if the pain will go away on its own and then we can

start again or if we need to just do a lead protocol and just get the

metals out that are causing the pain. I do have reason to believe

there is lead. Please also see the hair test I posted yesterday,

doesn't meet the counting rules for mercury.

I found this study that seems applicable to what is going on (posted

below). I'm sure it may be a combination of mercury and lead, but

how do you know what protocol to use? I just need help getting

back on track toward more " comfortable " detox, he is in pain!

Titre du document / Document title

A comparison of different lead biomarkers in their associations with

lead-related symptoms

Auteur(s) / Author(s)

LEE B.-K. (1) ; AHN K.-D. (1) ; LEE S.-S. (1) ; LEE G.-S. (1) ; KIM

Y.-B. (1) ; SCHWARTZ B. S. (2) ;

Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)

(1) Institute of Industrial Medicine, Soonchunhyang University, 23-20

Bongmyung-Dong, Chonan, Choongnam 330-100, COREE, REPUBLIQUE DE

(2) Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Division of

Occupational and Environmental Health, s Hopkins University

School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, ETATS-UNIS

R¨¦sum¨¦ / Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate whether dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) -

chelatable lead, an estimate of current bioavailable lead stores, is

a better predictor of lead-related symptoms than are other commonly

used lead biomarkers. Methods: A total of 95 male lead workers from

three lead industries (one secondary lead smelting facility, one

polyvinyl chloride-stabilizer manufacturing plant, and one lead-acid

storage battery factory), and 13 workers without occupational lead

exposure recruited from an occupational health institute, were

studied. Blood lead, blood zinc protoporphyrin (ZPP), 4 h DMSA-

chelatable lead (after oral administration of 10 mg/kg DMSA), urine

lead, and urinary ¦Ä-aminolevulinic acid levels were evaluated as

predictors of 15 lead-related symptoms, assessed by self-administered

questionnaire, with linear and logistic regression controlling for

covariates. Total symptoms and symptoms in three categories

(gastrointestinal, neuromuscular, and general) were evaluated.

Results: The mean (SD) 4 h DMSA-chelatable lead level was 288.7

(167.7) ¦Ìg, with a range from 32.4 to 789 ¦Ìg in the 95 lead workers.

The mean (SD) in the non-exposed subjects was 23.7 (11.5) ¦Ìg with a

range from 10.5 to 43.5 ¦Ìg. Blood lead, blood ZPP, and spot urine

lead levels ranged from 21.4 to 78.4 ¦Ìg/dl. 40 to 331 ¦Ìg/l, and 7.5

to 153.0 ¦Ìg/l. respectively, in the lead workers, and from 4.0 to 7.2

¦Ìg/dl, 27 to 52 ¦Ìg/l, and 2.9 to 15.5 ¦Ìg/l in the non-exposed

controls, respectively. The overall mean symptom score (SD), derived

as the sum of 0 or l point for absence or presence of 15 symptoms, of

the lead workers was 3.7 (2.0), compared to 1.2 (1.5) for the non-

exposed workers. DMSA-chelatable lead was the best predictor of

symptom scores in both crude and adjusted analyses, compared with the

other biomarkers. Lead workers with DMSA-chelatable lead values

greater than the median (260.5 ¦Ìg) were 6.2 times more likely to have

frequent tingling or numbness of the arms or legs and 3.3 times more

likely to have muscle pain than subjects with lower chelatable lead

values. Three symptoms (tingling or numbness of arm or leg, muscle

pain, and feeling irritation at the slightest disturbance) evidenced

a dose-dependent relationship with DMSA-chelatable lead levels.

Conclusions: DMSA-chelatable lead was found to be the best predictor

of lead-related symptoms, particularly of both total symptom scores

and neuromuscular symptoms, than were the other other lead

biomarkers.

Revue / Journal Title

International archives of occupational and environmental health

ISSN 0340-0131 CODEN IAEHDW

Source / Source

2000, vol. 73, no5, pp. 298-304 (29 ref.)