Hi Smitho, I'd suggest you get hold of an invaluable book by the one of the top biochemists in this field of mercury toxicity "Andrew Hall Cutler". He treats both adults and chidlren alike, with many disorders caused from mercury poisoning.
His book is called "Amalgam Illness, Diagnosis and Treatment". You can check out this link and read about it and how to get hold of it -
http://www.noamalgam.com/And also it will give you a clear idea of his treatment protocol and why he uses the one he uses. His book has a vast array of information, including what vitamins/minerals to take etc.
Mercury is dangerous and to chelate (detox it), is also risky. Some people who are stronger, can withstand the side effects much more than others, and can get away with just about any kind of mercury detox, as their bodies respond favourably very easily to simply mobilising and ridding mercury.
others are highly sensitive and have big problems and find they need to REALLY cut down on mercury redistribution as much as possible. This requires the use of a proper chelating agent that is used in such a way as to lessen the wild movement of mercury, but can more safely escort mercury out, rather than move it everywhere.
andy requires a person to use (e.g. DMSA). This is available online, you don't need a prescription. DMSA (or oral DMPS is another option but needs prescription) is used at a very low dose (e.g. 25 mg to start, though Andy recommends 50 mg, which I feel is far too high to start off wth). But you take a capsule every 4 hours around the clock (yes even throughout the night). This is necessary, because it keeps the blood levels of the chelating agent more even and consistant. If the time inbetween is longer than 4 hours, then the blood levels of the chelating agent drop again and by the time you take the next pill, it goes right back up again, which increases the risk of erratic and random mercury movement. Hence the necessity of keeping an every 4 hour dosage going.
If you take a dose too late, you "might" get away with it, but it gets very risky once you are late by nearly an hour. So it's wise to completely stop the round if you've missed a dose and leave a few days before starting it again.
A round of DMSA is about 3 days or up to a week if you can handle it. You take a break after a round of the same amount of time you spent on the DMSA. So if you have 3 days on, you take 3 days off (or longer if you need to).
You continue this process for a few months. This reduces the blood/tissue levels of mercury, it speeds up the process far more than if you allowed the body to try and do it naturally. It can also help suppress symptoms sometimes too.
Later on, you start alpha lipoic acid. alpha lipoic acid is available at any healthfood shop or chemist. It's simply an over the counter antioxidant. It gets mercury out of the brain. DMSA does not. DMSA does not cross the blood brain barrier to any clinical degree. Alpha lipoic acid does.
So here is the problem. If you use alpha lipoic acid too early on without first reducing your blood levels of mercury, you risk further uptake into the brain. This is the reason to reduce the body levels first, so that when you use alpha lipoic acid, you are lowering the risk for it moving more mercury into the brain as it moves across the Blood brain barrier.
So you take the DMSA first for a few months (about 3 months or so). Then bring ALA onboard. Youcan take it with the DMSA, OR you can use it alone. It will work regardless.
You take it the same way that you take DMSA, but it is best to take it every 3 hours instead of every 4. So if you decide to use ALA with the DMSA, best to take both every 3 hours together (around the clock). If you take ALA alone, take it every 3 hours also.
You continue to do this until you are well. You may "feel" well much earlier on, but this does not mean you ARE well, there comes a time when it actually keeps you well, because it's preventing mercury building back up in your tissues again and it's pulling it out continually. If you stop too early on, and you haven't gotten rid of enough mercury, you can get ill again as it's still slowly building back up from leaking out of your organs.
Basically, DMSA chelates blood mercury. ALA chelates organ/brain mercury.
Alongside this, it is HIGHLY advisable to go on a very strict candida diet. Candida is unfortunately one of these things that go along with mercury toxicity. It is the yeast in the body and it gets out of control and can cause many of the same symptoms as mercury and make a person very ill. It gives off its own toxins, and overloads the gut and liver (which are required for mercury elimination), plus exhausts your glutathionie levels, which are needed for detox also.
So if you ahve candida, which you likely will with a lowered immunity, I woudl seriously advise you to get yourself on a NO sugar, no yeast, no gluten grain diet. Cut out fruit and milk also becuase of the natural sugars (unless you can handle limited amounts) and consume basically healthy foods like meats, eggs, vegetables (be careful of potatoes, they have natural sugar), raw nuts (brazil and almonds), and consuming healthy fats needed for tissue repair and can also aid in some mercury elimination believe it or not. They are butter, extra virgin olive oil, organic coconut oils (all can be used liberally in cooking and/or on food), even eating some fat on meat is fine. Acidophilus plain yoghurt is also good. This diet will actually starve the candida literally to a slow death. It survives on sugar, yeast and gluten grains and even natural sugars like honey, fruit, milk etc (potatoes too). Once you deny it of its food source, it will begin to starve to death. If you get the "die off" effect, you will know all about it. You can get headaches dizziness and a funny feeling of almost being fogged in the mind, almost drunk. This is a good confirmation that yeast is dying and if you cheat ont he diet, it will simply grow back and you'll have to start again. It can take a few days to a few weeks to feel better.
All these things are often crucial to do for a mercury toxic person. Some simply do this diet alone and are finding improvement from that in itself! As both illness can offset eachother and cause total havoc and misery alone and together.
Also supplements that are good are antioxidants (which are depserately depeleted in these conditions), vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin A, selenium, milk thistle, and B complex, zinc, magnesium etc. and a good pure fish oil (nordic naturals is a good one).
It sounds a lot and complicated, but it's actaully pretty basic and sound and can help with a lot of the symptoms. If you are very ill, this diet would be the first thing I woudl start with and go from there.
And yes, mercury and candida can both cause numbness, it's hard to know which of them is doing what, which is why it's good to address both of these issues.
Sorry for the very lengthy post, but hope some of what I've said might be of help if you decide to try any of it.
