When to add ALA/ general concerns - ALA

[Guest guest]

We have just completed our third round of DMSA with our three year old

son. We started at 1/8 mg per lb, then increased to 1/4 mg per lb,

and then this time 1/2 mg per lb. Other than increased urination, our

son is one who does well on DMSA, on round, very affectionate, more

verbal, good eye contact, good appetite, almost euphoric on it. The

effects last about a week, and then his more " autistic " symptoms seem

to reappear.

We want to add ALA. We were thinking of doing one more round of DMSA

alone, to be sure the 1/2 mg per lb is ok for him, and then add a

small amount of ALA the next round. We have a couple of concerns.

We were reading in the onibasu archives today about ALA. In particular

we read a post #43456, where Andy talks about adding ALA with kids

under age 6, and he talks about a " reasonable compromise " being to do

DMSA alone until the child does not show any more improvements, and

this could be after 2 rounds or much more, depending on the child and

then adding ALA. We also read about how ALA works crossing the BBB,

and how mercury can reenter the brain when using it. It is scary

business to us. Should we keep doing DMSA alone since he appears to

do so well on it? Or is it more important to start chelating brain

mercury right away? We would do almost a 3:1 ration of DMSA to ALA to

start. Perhaps this would ameliorate any negative effects of ALA? We

are worried about ALA causing problems where there are none now.

Also, our son's hair test a few months ago, showed high copper and

high zinc. As to the copper, we were giving him a lot of nut products

at the time, especially almonds and almond milk, which we have since

discontinued. Also, we are giving him higher amounts of molybdenum.

So hopefully, the copper problem is down. We supplement with a fair

amount of zinc, but he does better when on higher zinc supplements,

which we understand from Andy's books is not uncommon in toxic people.

It is our understanding that DMSA causes the body to excrete a lot of

zinc and copper. And ALA appears to cause the body to retain it. So

what happens when you use both at once, especially much more DMSA than

ALA? Do they balance one another out?

We read in the archives that Andy says continuous DMSA usage is not

recommended, but that is not an issue with ALA. When will we know to

stop using DMSA? Our son's porphyrin test and blood test, showed

elevated lead levels, although lead was low in his hair test. It is

hard to know what to do. We were scared to use DMSA and so far so

good, perhaps we are worrying unnecessarily about adding ALA?

Thanks. Irene