I know Andy recommends 3 on 3 off - does everyone do that? Does anyone go longer? I think you can if you feel okay but not longer than 7 days I think.

since you have many questions, and seem to have plenty of time now, you can read posts by Andy Cutler.

http://home.earthlink.net/~moriam/ANDY_INDEX.html

Chelation can be done for up to a week at a time if you can tolerate it, however one should start with 3 days at a time, then 3 or 4 days off before starting again. If one goes several weeks with few symptoms, then they can add a day to the next round then perhaps several weeks later add another day. My advice is to start slow, and stay with 3 days on and 4 off for a while before adding days. The important thing with chelation is to take the dosage every 3 hours for ALA, or every 4 hours with DMSA. If one is taking DMSA plus ALA, they can take both of them every 4 hours to make the dosage schedule easier. It can be though getting up in the middle of sleep to take chelators. That is why some people chelate over the weekend, so at least most of the round they are not working. It also helps to not be working most of the round in case you have bad symptoms.

I have read Andy's book and am familar with the site but I was just posing a question to this forum. Yes, I am aware of Andy's recommendations, however, some people do things differently and I wanted to see what was working for others. For example, Andy recommends that you use DMSA with ALA and to wait 3 months post removal but I see that you used only ALA. This forum is to share ideas and experiences and information - that's what I was looking for by asking my questions.

Using a low dosage of just DMSA will let you start chelating sooner after amalgam removal. The issue is that your body is now toxic not just from the mercury, but also from candida and/or parasites being killed from the parasite cleanse. Imo you need to focus more on detoxification before starting the chelation. I suggest adding herbs like licorice root, dandelion,and alfalfa to your regimen. I also like msm for detoxification and to fight parasites, but some here will tell you not to take it since it may redistribute mercury. I like high sulphur foods like eggs and broccoli as I feel better when eating these. Some will tell you they feel worse after eating these. Of course I feel a need to mention raw garlic again, even though I read your concerns about smelling like garlic.

I die start chelating today - I know probably not a smart move with all that my body has been doing lately. I got a little inpatient and wanted to see how I would feel. I am taking 6.25 mg DMSA every 4 hours - I only plan on doing 3 days and see how I feel at the end of the round. I am drinking tons of water - purified - reverse osmosis water. I am not going to add to much more to my plate right now. That's my problem I do too many things and never know what is working or what is making me feel crappy - although feeling crappy may also mean that it is working. Honestly though I think it is not wise to fight 3 battles at once - meaning mercury, yeast, and parasite. That is essentially what I was doing. So I picked my battle - mercury. That is the bigger picture. Now I understand that by picking my battle I may not feel better initially. I can't say I have really felt bad - I am functional. I just have these horrible headaches that never go away - over my eyes, dizzy, high anxiety - racing heart, little nausea (today anyway), and boil like breakout on jaw line (not acne but more like boils) - not cleaning up. Today, I increased vitamin C and got B25 vitamins like you recommended. You mentioned peppermint tea in another thread - what was that for? Any teas help more the toxins out faster? Not ready for sulfur foods yet - I'll try that at another time. I want to see how the chelation goes and don't want to throw in too many other factors.

When I was chelating, I did what Andy first recommended in his book (he's now moderated those recommendations for those more poisoned/sensitive). However, at that time, he hadn't. So I did the 50 mg, every 4 hours around the clock for an entire week on and then had a break for a week.

I remember the symptoms wouldn't usually start immediately, but they would increase as the round wore on and usually by day 4 I was REALLY feeling it and feeling ill at that. Very toxic indeed. But not the kind that has you going almost insane with symptoms, just really sick/toxic and tired. I could barely make it to the end of the week and sometimes had to stop a bit earlier.

Though some feel better on the round than off, so it differs. Plus you can have rounds you feel better on and other rounds you may not, because that's the nature of mercury too and how you maybe at the time, where the mercury is etc. I was also slack on vitamins/minerals and didn't take as many as I could have, nor did I take the B or C vitamins 3-4 times a day as recommended. I was a bit lazy in that regard. I didn't take flaxseed oil either, which I probably should have. Given Andy recommended 1-2 tablespoons a day.

I would go as many days as you can handle (but not over a week). E.g. if you feel ok and can make it to a week, that's fine. If you start REALLY feeling revolting after 2 days and you're struggling to keep going, you can quit at 3 days or something like that. And then just have a break about the amount of time (or longer if needed) and try again. It's not a race, it's just about getting mercury out bit by bit without compromising you too much at the sametime, which isn't easy considering it's mercury.

I think antioxidants (C and E), essential fatty acids, B vitamins and milk thistle are probably very important and taken frequently is obvoiusly required as Andy points this out. I think selenium is a good one too, but some may react to that. However, mercury competes with it, displaces it and uses it up and sometimes taking selenium can actually stir up some mercury for some people.

There were some folks on Andy's lists before that simply used minerals - and one used Modifilan (a super seaweed). I forgot why you need selenium. Thanks Bex. I get tired of chucking all those pills to tell the truth...