I am begining ALA with DMSA on Monday and i realized that the ALA capsules are 100 mg each. The DMSA are 25 mg each and i have been taking 50 mg every 4 hrs. how shall i begin the ALA dosage and what is the highest i can go and be safe? i know to do it every 3 hrs. should i open up the capsule and divide it by 4? if so, than how do i take the powder? mix it with water?

Can't answer your question sorry, but be VERY careful with opening capsules as some powders are not designed to be swallowed with out the capsule to protect your throat etc.

I have trouble with this too. If ALA is water soluble you could very accurately measure it out with water.

If you dissolve 100 mg in 100 ml of water then you could use a water measuring devise. 1 ml = 1 mg.

I don't know what the solubitlity is. This would be helpfull with DMSA too since I only take 12.5 mg.

I would generally start with low doses of Alpha Lipoic Acid and work your way up. I believe it's a great supplement to mobilize mercury but too much can cause headaches.

If you want to divide it up, I would recommend getting empty capsules and subdividing the powder into them. This will make it easier and more convenient to take.

Hope this helps.

Yeah, you can take the ALA with water as a dose at the time you need it and keep the rest of the powder from the capsule in foil or something waiting for the next doses.

The only thing about taking ALA with water, is sometimes you can get some burning in your throat from the 'acid", so that can be annoying, but just make sure you wash it down good.

Apart from that, dividing 100 mg up for times seems fine, but note that some people have to start even lower that 25 mg of ALA. Some have to go down to 12.5 mg or even 6 mg in some cases. So definitely just monitor how you feel and reduce if necessary or later increase as you feel you can. But before you increase, make sure you are able to tolerate the dose on a few rounds (like 4 or 5 rounds) before you make the decision to up the dose. Many have thought they could handle it and increased too early on and been hit badly on another round. Symptoms do not always show up on the first few rounds.

thanx for all your input. i went out and bought empty capsules and divided the 100 mg ALA by 4. so, i wll be taking 25 mg for each dose. if i tolerate this dose, what is the recommended dose to take? do i just stick with the 25 mg every 3 hrs. for 3 days? thanx for all your replies. by the way, i'm lion of judah..

Hi there, sounds like a good plan with the empty capsules you got, you can also use the ones the ALA came out of by putting some back in them as well once you've divided the powder up.

25 mg every 3 hours for 3 days is a good general starting place to be and if you find you tolerate this after about 4 rounds, then you can increase the dose and continue with the 3 day regime. That way you'd be chelating 3 days every week.

It's up to you if you want to extend the time you're on it, up to a week, but 3 days seems enough for most, particularly if they are taking two chelators at once.

You can increase the dose eventually up to 200 mg of ALA if you want to go that high at some point. But I don't think it increases the excretion of mercury significantly enough to warrant putting up with too many side effects. If you find your limit is 50 mg, or 100 mg, then that is fine for you and you can continue the routine of 3 day chelation each week.

If you're taking ALA on its own, then I hear a person can chelate for two weeks non stop if they want and taking a break of the same amount of time and going on like that.

personally I'd prefer chelating with both DMSA and ALA, for a few days each week.

thank you , thank you, thank you... bless you all for your input. i will try to work my way up to 100 mg of ALA and stay at 50 mg DMSA after 4 rounds...
i'm grateful for your feedback...
Lion of Judah

Hi, you're very welcome. I hope it works out for you. i cannot chelate at all right now, since a bad flu virus and a round of antibiotics. I guess my body got over taken by yeast or something. I'm trying to help it, but chelation is just a bad move right now.

Hi Bex...
well i guess you have to deal with the issues at hand which sounds like the yeast concern. i am going to deal with the yeast issues as well after this chealation which will probably be in a year or so..

Where do you purchase small doses of ALA? The link above says 250 mg per capsule. I want to start real small. Thanks.

Here's a combination that contains 250mg of ALA:

Alpha Lipoic Acid

Hope this helps.

These are the ones I use, They are only 35 mg each.
http://www.iherb.com/store/ProductDetails.aspx?c=Herbs&pid=DRB-00155

Thanks Diana, I haven't found any that were 35 mg. I am now at 25mg every three hours with 3 days on and 4 days off. I'm pretty sure that I can go to 35 mg. without problems. This way I won't have to cut them in half.

I read that one should keep the ratio of ALA to DMSA between 1:1 and 1:2. So that would mean starting at 12.5mg ALA with 12.5 or 25mg DMSA to be on the safe side. I also make my last dose or two of each cycle DMSA alone to minimize redistribution back into the brain. I buy empty gel caps and divide the ALA and DMSA accordingly. Hope this is helpful!!!