alpha lipoic acid (ala) can cross the blood brain barrier, which is great when a person is ready to begin chelating brain mercury. Because this stuff is one of the few that can actually get mercury out of the brain.

However, my experience with this stuff is pretty traumatic. I have heard that it should never be used if someone has had a recent exposure to mercury (say within the last 3 months), becuase it can take that new mercury into the brain with it.

But nobody seems to mention how dangerous it is also if you use it after you've used something else that may have moved mercury all over the place and into worse areas (like a garlic supplement in my case). I didn't know, that the garlic supplement would be the worse thing I could do as it really brought on acute mercury symptoms which to my mind was like a case of being repoisoned (in a worse way). I also did not know that this in turn would make ALA highly risky to use, so I used it not realising what would happen.

Everything got much much worse and it felt like the ALA shoved it all deeper into my brain and nervous system. To my mind, never use ALA after recent mercury exposure, OR if you've brought on acute symptoms from something else, or you are still too toxic in the blood and tissues and need to reduce them with something else (safe) first. Or you may regret it badly as I did.

I have mentioned this in other posts I've replied to regarding other things, and on a forum I belong to elsewhere, but wanted to type it up as a new post so others could read it, as I feel it is a very real risk when it's used at the wrong time.

Hi Bex, i took 50gms ao ALA with amalgams still in. I didnt know of the dangers, it was an ingredient of a liver cleanse tablet. Also i took the NSP metal detox a couple of mths ago and become very unstuck.

Hi Dawn, yeah it's easy to do because so many products include alpha lipoic acid as an ingrediant. I've done it too, but it's good you didn't take too much of it.

And yeah the metal detox product, I think it contains cilantro and things. Which can help some, but really I just feel there is a lot of risk wtih stuff that can go into the brain. Great if it's pull mercury OUT, but what's the likelihood of more going up there if you have too high body burden? Hmmm, well I don't know, but I'm wary of almost anything now. Scared actually. But maybe my taking the garlic supplement has put me in a very bad condition to where anything can now cause bad symptoms. I don't know for sure, but I am unable to chelate now.

dawn, you said you took 50 gms of ALA? That seems like a lot to me! Most supplements are in the mgs. I have just started taking a multivitamin that has 100 mg ALA and seem to do alright. Maybe for chelation, there has to be a lot more than is in a multivitamin. Maybe I feel alright because the dosage is comparatively small and I have been chelating for 7 months already. Maybe, for me, and for others, this is the way to go - very slow . <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

sorry, I thought she meant 50 mg! I didn't notice the gms! In that case it's HUGE. I should imagine she meant mg, I hope so. But in any case, for me? ALA is risky.

And yeah, if you've been chelating for 7 months, maybe you can get away with more by that stage. Though I have no amalgams, I have been into a dental office in the last 4 months and was topped up with mercury vapor. So maybe that threw me, I just don't tend to eliminate mercury like other people and end up badly injured if I do anything wrong.

I'm 6 months after my removal. Since then I've been feeling alive again, not perfect, but a lot happier and healthier than before. I've been taking selenium, vitamin E and C supplements along with Algin. So I started taking ALA again.

I started with 30mg taking two algin tablets with each 30mg, but a lot of my symptomps reappeared, so went down to 15mg. But after a while my symptoms got so bad I had to stop: my constipation came back, my skin issues reappeared, my anxiety levels increased a lot, my lethagy returned.

At the moment I'm trying to get my mercury levels down by ceasing the ALA and returning to the Algin, and all the aforementioned symptoms have left me.

I was planning on starting with the ALA again, once my mercury levels have gone down again, with 7.5mg this time.

Anyone with any better ideas?

Sorry, i meant mg.

I think there is some in the NSP heavy metal detox aswell.

Hi dallas, what do you use for chelating?

Many people use ALA all by itself to cure themselves of mercury toxicity. It does it all, (chelates brain and organ/body mercury) but it's just that blood barrier issue that makes it that much more risky if you've had a recent exposure (which you haven't) and/or you've used something that has moved mercury all over the place and in effect respoisoned you. ALA then should really not be used until the symptoms are settled down and your safe to use it.

Sounds like you're ok to use it, but good idea to try the lower dose first. It is recommended that ALA be dosed every 3 hours around the clock, to avoid redistribution. If it's taken further apart, the person risks mercury going up and then dropping again too readily. If it's every 3 hours, the level of mercury remains more constant in it's movement and removal due to the levels of ALA remaining pretty consistant in the blood.

DSMA is better for people with copper poisoning and people who aren't producing enough bile. It mostly comes out in urine with DSMA and it doesn't effect copper excretion from bile.

With ALA I'm pretty sure more of the mercury will come out in bile and it greatly decreases copper excretion from bile.

Find what fits you best I guess.

hey people, just wanted to ask advice on a few symptoms I have still. I think that most symptoms i have at the moment are related to systemic candida, which I have started to treat with threelac and have noticed a real difference in only two days, but other symptoms i have include complexion changes, muscle twitching, shakieness and a permanent numbness on the outside of both of my big toes. I think this numbness could be heavy metal deposits in the nerves of the toes, its just funny that they are both in the same places on each toe. Do you think I need to try ALA? Maybe mercury in my brain is causing these symptoms, but most mental symptoms seem to be alot better and some non-existent...

that last post was joey joe joe jr, can't remember my password!

Hi, if you've done chelation with DMSA or DMPS and you're getting no further improvements anymore, then yeah I would say you'd be good to try ALA. Because sometimes you have last remaining symptos from mercury in the brain that will need chelating with ALA. But definitely do very low doses and use it preferably with DMSA, because I think it's safer that way. Use it every 3 hours around the clock to keep blood levels more even, for about 3 days and then break for 3 days or more and do the same pattern until you are pretty much cured.

Alot of people start at about 12.5 mg, but some have to end up going even lower to about 6 mg or so.

Thanks Bex for stating it's every 3 hours. I've been using it every 4. Maybe that's why it's been affecting me so much!

Since stopping the ALA, I have noticed an improvement. I still have ups and down, particularly related to my leg and arm muscles, but my complextion is a lot better. I see my complexion as being a good indicator, as when I first had my fillings removed my skin suddenly cleared up for a couple of days, and when I use ALA it suddenly deteriorates.

I also feel a lot happier and more at ease with myself.

Thank you everyone! I really feel I will feel myself, alive and happy, some day very soon.

Hi, I'm really glad to hear you're experiencing improvements on ALA. Every 4 hours might have been

Hi sorry i'm getting fed up with my posts being cut off. Everytime I type out a post, I have to then type out the letters indicated to me afterwards to make sure it's not "spam", yet for some bizzare reason, they seem to like making the letters unreadable much of the time, so that when you CONTINUE to have to retype them, finally you get it and your post is cut off.

at any rate, what I was saying what I have heard that every 3 hours is the way to go for ALA. But you are getting improvements with what you're donig already, so you're on the right track. Every 4 hours might be fine for you, but you "could" try every 3 and see what happens.

Yes, I'm seeing an improvement, but while I'm taking ALA all my symptoms reappear, and thus I feel awful. I'm trying to find a way of taking ALA for a prolonged (more than 3 or so days) period without feeling so awful I have to stop.

I'll see what every 3 hours (with algin as before) is like.

I believe that Alpha-Lipoic Acid is very useful for mercury detox, but because it crosses the blood-brain barrier, it would be best to be sure the lower organs are detoxed first.

For this reason, I usually recommend that people be sure to not use ALA immediately after amalgam removal and not use it as the very first detox supplement they take. I prefer using a protein supplement that contains cysteine and perhaps chlorella for a while first, then moving into ALA when they have progressed. Those who don't react well with chlorella could use cilantro instead.