Alot of it you go by how you feel. I did 12.5 mg DMSA for 3 weeks and no ALA and felt okay, kinda lousy and good days. Then switched to 50 mg DMPS for two weeks no ALA and then added the ALA and was feeling so great I thought I would try longer than 3 days on and 4 days off and tried 5 days on. Found out that I should stick to 3 days on, 4 days off for now, but hallelujah, was able to add the ALA. It all depends on what your body tells you while you are chelating.