Hi all, I have been chelating with DMSA for over 3 months now. I have added the ALA but what do I do on the other 3-4 days off when Im not taking DMSA? Should I still take it? Once a day? 2X , 3x, or every 3 hours? Thanks for your help! PS: Im taking 100 mg capsules. Take care, Diane

I was a bit confused from reading your post. I'm trying to figure out exactly how you are taking these chelators? You are meant to take the DMSA with the ALA every 3 hours around the clock for about 3 days (or up to a week if you want) and then take a complete break of the same amount of time that you spent on them and repeat this on and off cycle until you get better.

If you do not want to take DMSA anymore, you do not have to. It is not essential. ALA is essential and can be used alone. But taking DMSA with ALA apparently can help with side effects and speed up the chelation more. So that is optional.

So long as you are 3 months post last amalgam removal, ALA is safe to use; whether alone or with DMSA.

You can take ALA alone up to two weeks at a time if you want to do that, but think of the continual waking up at night and breaking of sleep? That is not such a good thing. DMSA should probably not be taken longer than a week at a time.

So long as you take these agents every 3-4 hours around the clock, this is the main thing and to make sure you have a complete break from them inbetween rounds. I do not know the effects of taking them both for a few days and then dropping one of them whilst continuing on with the other....That's up to you if you want to try that, but to me that gets somewhat confusing.

Again you do not have to take DMSA at all if you do not want to.

Thx Bex, Sorry I wasn't clear. I have been taking DMSA for 3 mo's. 3 1/2 days on , 3 1/2 days off. A week a go I added the ALA also and am taking it the same time I take my DMSA, every 3-4 hrs. My questions is when my 3 1/2 days of DMSA has ended and I take a 3 1/2 day break from DMSA do I still take the ALA? Or do I only take the ALA on my On DMSA days? Sorry I wasn't more clear. Thx for the help. Diane

Hi Dianne, no problem thanks for explaining further <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. I tend to have problems sometimes taking in information.

If you wish to keep using DMSA, then it should be used at the sametime as ALA (together). 3 days with both at the sametime, 3 days complete break with no chelators at all. 3 days on and 3 days off.

Some people choose to chelate with ALA alone and that is fine too.

You may find this link helpful
http://home.earthlink.net/~moriam/ANDY_INDEX.html