I developed intense suicidal thoughts today and great pain and seizures went through my body. I haven't taken any chelating agents for three weeks thinking that would settle things down but it hasn't.

The funny thing is that I was doing moderately well for a couple of weeks and now I'm back in hell but I guess that's typical for mercury poisoning if that's what I have.

I just took 25 mg. DMSA hoping that it will do something good for me but it could make me worse or do nothing at all.

I really feel like I need to be locked up in the nuthouse.

HI Aaron, I know, this is happeing to more than you think. If you're going to take DMSA, don't just take one dose and then leave it. It will likely redistribute the mercury.

Not sure if you take it Andy cutlers way, but this is the safest I know of. Taking it every 4 hours around the clock, even at night for about 3 days on (or up to a week) and then taking the same amount of time for a break and repeating over and over for a few months so you bring down your blood levels/urine levels. Otherwise the mercury in you will continue to cause issues and be easily mobilised over and over. Using this method of DMSA "can" start to passify free floating mercury and get some out of you. It's not to say everybody does great on it, but it's the safest I know of. in fact, if you've had a bad reaction from mobilising mercury, sometimes you can cure that reaction with using his protocol.

I'm sure you've probably heard all that before, but in case, I thought I would let you know because it can be crucial. the difference between his method and other ones can be like night and day.

here is a link that you "may' find helpful http://curezone.com/faq/q.asp?a=3,76&q=102 and on this link is other links you can check out. I am convinced Andy is the mercury guru in this area and I too do not trust anything or anybody else, I have been severely injured by other methods and even natural ones. 25 mg is a very good dose by the way, I'd say it's the most stable dose, but it won't be stable if it's not used every 4 hours (that's my experience anyway) and many other people's.

For example, a lady took an isolated dose of DMSA (no four hourly regime) and she ended up in hospital. In fact his protocol is so crucial to get it right, then if you miss a dose on his protocol, or yu're late, it is STRONGLY advised to stop the round and wait for a few days before starting again, rather than risking a late dose. You can get away with it possibly by about half an hour, but no longer.

I took a recent dose of NDF and feel I'm close to being locked up myself. NEVER AGAIN. Even Andy's protocol can be difficult, and I cannot use much more than 25 mg on his. I'm too toxic and weak.

The things that mobilise mercury are over exercising, using high sulfur foods (garlic/onions/leek etc), using any products like cysteine, methionine, chlorella, cilantro, NAC etc. ALL of these things can be dangerous in their own way, as there is NO control over what will happen with the mercury AT ALL. Two people committed suicide from their STUPID doctor who gave them high doses of NAC for their mercury.

They ended their lives. some end up in mental hospitals from wild mobilisation of mercury. It is hard enough even on a safe protocol and some are far more sick and sensitive than others. Some seem to do ok on just about anythin gthey use and respond incredibly, even to amalgam removal alone given enough time.

I wish we were all like that, but we're not and Andy has had to deal with numerous cases of things going wrong from wrong chelation and sometimes he has a big struggle on his hands to try and help them or reverse what's been done.

one guy I know, he went to a doctor who put him on all sorts of things. ALA (randomly), cilantro, chlorella and this guy ended up getting treatment in a metnal hospital and was suicidal. in fact, I never heard from him again after he was at his worst. I don't know if he's dead or alive, but I didn't know him enough, only some email contact.

Thanks for your advice, Bex. I'm not sure whether to take Laura's advice or to resume the Cutler protocol. The thought came to my mind that I might have taken too much time off of chelation and the mercury is resettling.

I think that I'll try DMSA on the Cutler protocol for two or three days and see if that helps. If that makes me feel worse that's the wrong way to go.

I'm just about to blow apart because I'm very sick and I don't know what to do. I have a good professional team (conventional and alternative) to work with and they aren't certain what to do either.

Aaron, I am in a similar situation. Even Andy's protocol isn't doing much for me now and at one point, I was getting reactions even from that. But using anything else was even worse, so I really choice is limited.

I even tried NDF (chlorella/cilantro etc) and it just about drove me nuts.

Not sure how you felt during the chelation itself, but if you were "coping", then you may need to get back on and do regular chelation rounds and not break for too much. Sometimes the chelation itself can actually help control some of the symptoms of mercury (not always, it can worsen them too). The point is to passify the free floating mercury.

If in fact the side effects were too much during chelation, you may need to either reduce the dose and go to about 12.5 mg or 17 mg and/or take it every 3 hours instead of every 4, as this may reduce redistribution even further. Some do have to take it every 3 instead of every 4!


People with this issue, need to take DMSA even more frequently than every 4 hours in some cases. If they are finding too much redistribution effects with the every 4 hours. So every 3 can be an option (or again, doing that or reducing the dose or both).

But certainly, side effects either during the round or inbetween rounds are not usually avoidable. Some people find they feel better ON chelation and worse off, some feel worse on and better off and sometimes it alternates. You may feel horrific one time and better the next. I'm telling you, I've given up predicting what is going to happen, I don't understand any of it.

I do know this, I've tried other things and they are even worse (for me), so I personally don't have a lot of choice, either his protocol or nothing. If I do other stuff, it just frightens me more. I know candida is part f it with me and I cannot get that under control anymore, since my binge smoking which was my own stupid fault.

Laura's way may help you with what she's suggested. It's hard to know what to try when there are so many differing suggestions.

Aaron, i forgot to add this. You may be dumping mercury very slowly into your blood stream. The problem with this is, when you take DMSA and then stop for an extended period, the mercury that is still leaking out of you, builds back up again and you will possibly feel further poisoned. That is if this is happening.

Some people do much better on DMSA than off and want to stay on it all the time, but htis is not advised. It should only be taken for a week at the most and a week off for a break and so forth. The body needs the break to rest from chelation, even if you feel awful during the break.

Thanks for your advice, Bex. Laura's way may work but my feeling is that my toxicity problems are not the same that she and Russ faced. They rapidly recovered once the source of poisoning (amalgam fillings) was removed from their bodies. They may have the ability to excrete mercury better than I do so the most important thing for them to do was to remove the mercury source from their bodies and then their natural detoxification systems took over.

For me my guess is that I got most of my poisoning from thimerosal in allergy shots or some other source since I only had one amalgam filling that has been replaced. In that case Cutler's theory is that the mercury has been lodged deep in my brain for a long time and that it will take a fairly aggressive detoxification protocol to remove it.

I wonder if taking the DMSA more frequently than every three hours would help? I could try and if it makes me worse then I will know that isn't the way to go.

HI Aaron, I think you're right. I too wondered if some people were lucky enough that they just had to have their amalgams removed and the ongoing exposure not being there, their body pretty much took over, or could handle just about any chelation, so long as some mercury was mobilised so the body could do the rest.

For others, this is often not the case and they can be injured due to not handling the mobilised mercury and not being able to readily eliminate it, so then it can bounce around and go into worse areas, possibly causing some damage along the way.

This is why Andy warns people against this, though even he admits so get away with it it would seem.

If you're already doing the every 3 hours....it seems that every 2 "might" help, but it could come down to dose. You may need to drop the dose to a level that is a little more tolerable. But you can see how you go.

IT is very difficult to know what to do. I have been poisoned by cigarettes recently, well actually 5 weeks ago and I am not coming right, which shows how badly my elimination system is working (or not working). DMSA of course isn't helping this, as it's not designed obviously to detox the toxins in cigarettes. Mercury maybe one of them, but it is probably not why I'm this poisned, as DMSA usually helps with mercury or I get an increase in symptoms from using it.
and this time I'm getting no worsening or improving from it.

If you have mercury lodged in your brain, alpha lipoic acid is the one to use for that. But only at the appropriate time in the right way (as you know). but as DMSA is obviously causing enough symptoms on it's own....this would suggest you have enough mercury in areas that the DMSA is reaching and moving. Unless of course you're reacting badly to DMSA itself....it's rare, but it happens and some people have to stop using it and instead go on to oral DMPS (which needs a prescription), though it only needs to be used every 6 - 8 hours around the clock. Easier than every 3-4 hours!!

Some people do not use either of those chelating drugs and go straight for the alpha lipoic acid. You can do that, so long as you are 3 months post any mercury exposure. Though has to be used every 3 hours or more often around the clock, for about 3 days each week.

Thanks, Bex. I did DMSA for two days and I felt better for a little while but now the agony has returned. It feels like my brain and my body is on fire and I don't know what to do.

HI Aaron, I'm sorry to hear this. Do you think it might be dose related? Here is a website with people doing this protocol http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/adult-metal-chelation/

You could join and let people there know what's happening to you. Many of them are very very knowledgeable on this and sometimes Andy Cutler himself gets on the group. The moderator on the group has been through a lot also and he admitted he could not tolerate DMSA at all, no matter how much he took. He had to take oral DMPS (which is only available by prescription).

Again, he may tell you that you are on too much DMSA. Many on there are on as low as 6 mg. Because the toxicity is so great in them.

Try and imagine this senario. You are a glass of water. The water is the mercury, you are the glass. The "water" is almost up to the rim and you are walking around feeling toxic up to the eyeballs literally.

Anytime that mercury is even 'remotely" disturbed, (or the water is), it literally overflows. So you experience and overflow of symptoms by even very small movement, because you are obviously very poisoned.

Only over time, when the overall amount of mercury is reduced, that you will tolerate more chelation/movement. Like the water in the glass is lower, so the little movement you were doing before with chelation, the water no longer overflows. But then when you try for a bigger dose? You could get the overflow again for a time.

It is very hard, because even when you do nothing, you can still get it regardless. But certainly any movement of it causes this when you are poisoned enough and/OR your body is dealing with too many other things as well (e.g. some other toxicity is going on, infections, candida etc etc), they all serve to overload the liver and the gut, which causes problems when you are trying to get rid of mercury.

I'm digusted at the suffering people are putting up with. I'm getting it too, but it's not mercury right now with me right now, it's other issues that have taken over.

Are you only supplement support? like vitamin C, vitamin E, B complex, zinc, magnesium, milk thistle....? Anything that might help support you?

You may also need some kind of homeopathic support/drainage drops as well. Sometimes they can help when you are trying to chelate. Digestive enzymes can as well as this. Lithium is another one.

My dentist had me on digestive enzymes, selenium, lithium, vitamin C, and homeoapthic drainage/support drops. I think it did help a little actually at the time.

I am taking vitamin C, vitamin E with selenium, algin, and some other supplements.

I feel a bit better now but I'm still terribly ill. I thought about going to the hospital (psych ward) but I don't think that they could help me and according to Andy Cutler hospitalization could make me much worse if they give me drugs that I can't tolerate.

AT the moment I am on the edge and I'm right back to where I once was, in a very severe state with bad paranoias, fears, depression (from the cigarettes). I gather this has caused me worse candida, though it's obviously gotten stronger this time because the diet isn't helping.

So candida can be part of it believe me. Unfortuantely, to get it under control, it takes strict adherence to diet and if that's not enough, then antifungals as well. I know you've heard all this before, but be aware, mercury may not be doing all of this. NOt to say it's not, but very often it's because other things have been able to take over.

I wish I knew what else to suggest to you. Words don't mean much at all when you're in this state, you just suffer regardless of what people say.

I'm going on DMSA again for a day or two, maybe longer. My theory is that I'm taking breaks that are too long and the mercury is resettling in me.

I have found that if I restart chelation (25 mgs. of DMSA every 3 hours) that it temporarily reduces the pain. After awhile, however, I have to stop because the pain comes back. Then I have to start again because the pain comes back.

All that I can figure out is that I'm still highly toxic. If I stop chelation for too long the level of mercury in my blood gets very high and I feel very sick. However, if I chelate too long then it seems like I run into the same problem.

Right now it looks like I have to run a very tight chelation schedule like one day on and one day off or two days on and two days off.

You have to do what you have to do. If this somehow "works" to a point, then stick to it. It is annoying though because obviously it's exactly as you say, the longer you leave it between rounds, the worse it gets because mercury is still being dumped into your blood and it builds up, but if you chelate, it seems to grab some ofthat mercury that's built up, kind of improving you, and then past that point, it just increases the detox too much again.

Hopefully after time, this will start to abate. Again though, you may be on too high a dose, but if you find you want to stick to that dose, then go for it.

Not sure if you're taking any supplements,but they are supposed to be taken with this protocol. Andy mentions vitamin C, vitamin E, B complex, zinc, magnesium, milk thistle etc. The C, B, magnesium and milk thistle need to be taken 3-4 times daily in order to be effective.

Aaron,
Bex is right about the importance of taking magnesium and B complex. These too especially magnesium are VERY important for you mentally. I am psyco when I don't have enough mg. The difference in my thinking is just amazing, I am like too very different people. Sometimes I need extra for no know reason, but I have learned to just take more when I feel I need more.

It is also important to get a good form. Magnesium is bound to amino acids (usually). Stay away from mg oxide-its no good. Mg citrate is good if you need help with bowels, but many people can't use much of it without having loose stools. Mg glycinate, Mg taurate are good. I take at least 800 mg a day.

good luck

Missy: I agree. I don't know how I survived with magnesium citrate!
If I start to get anxious or panicky or depressed, I just take a 200mg tablet, and it only takes about 20 mintues, I am feeling better.

Woops! I meant to say I don't know how I survived without Magnesium Citrate! (Stupid mercury symptoms---I used to be so careful when typing. Now, I can read it several times, and still make mistakes!)