Anonymous,

Classic symptoms of glutamate/aspartate intoxication for me are:

> immediate tired/woozy feeling including loss-of-balance
> unclear thinking and loss of concentration
> slurred speech
> very cold feet
> insomnia

My reactions have somewhat lessened since removing my amalgams, but I remain sensitive. My solution has been to alter my diet. I no longer consume any prepared/processed/purchased foods; the risk is too great. It is difficult to see how much free glutamate is in these kinds of foods. For example, while the food may technically be "MSG-free", flavorizers that are high in free glutamate (like yeast extract, hydrolyzed protein) will added and thus cause problems. Even at restaurants, if I request that a small piece of meat be prepared with only salt and pepper, the cook will almost always use some kind of flavorizer that is invariably high in free glutamate. I used to be able to detect this as a tingling on my tongue, but since my amalgams have come out I can't. Now, my stomach will hurt and I'll get indigestion.

So, basically I only eat food that I prepare, and I tend to prepare primarily vegan/raw dishes.

This may seem a bit radical, and I suppose that it is, but it's not as if I jumped to this diet all in one day. It has been a year-long process of gradually taking out bad foods and adding good or neutral foods. I slipped up frequently and often ate foods that caused complications. For example, all natural, MSG-free, chicken broth (even homemade) can be an issue, because the chicken cooks so long that the protein starts to break down freeing up the glutamate. This is why I'm tending now to eat vegan, as I can only handle so many days of being unproductive at work.

I'm happy to talk more about this issue.

Tito