Pgm, sorry if I misunderstood you, I see we're on a similar wave length as far as addressing the underlying problem, though treating candida is obviously essential for many people. Some it may not be all that effective...

For me, candida and the symptoms it produced were bad, but after amalgam removal, I do not believe my symptoms were related to pathogens. It was clearly metal related. I was salivating and shaking almost daily, tasting metal, crying uncontrollably and the only thing that aided and sped up this process was chelation rather than pathogen/candida treatment. Over time I excreted much more of the stored metals from various methods of chelation and sometimes the chelation served to control the symptoms also by grabbing hold of the mercury and allowing for some relief. Treating my candida during that time unfortunately did not help much, I was in full dumping mode and simply had to ride it out. The symptoms from metal toxicity can be blatantly obvious.

Can you explain what you mean by removing amalgams and the symptoms being from pathogens? What is the connection there? Do you feel that removing all amaglams somehow changes the body's reactions towards pathogens and this is die off process, rather than much else?

Removing amalgams often results in either remission of symptoms, or a worsening of symptoms often due to exposure during removal and/or the body begins to dump the mercury because it's no longer in "storage mode". I don't see the connection as such to pathogens, because only chelation was able to improve my obvious metal toxicity problems and enabled me to finally heal from this condition and this is usually the case with most metal toxic people. Andrew Cutler has studied this for years, was poisoned himself, is a biochemist, and is well aware of the "second phase of suffering" for mercury toxic people, once all amalgams are out. This is a very real phenomenon and occurs often. It can happen early on or much later. At some stage, when the body no longer has amalgams it attempts to dump the years of storage. This process is real, painful and chelation is the only way to speed up and aid this process for many people (me included). Unfortunately my attempts at treating candida at that time did little to help. Andrew does advise treating yeast, as it can sometimes help with symptoms, but admits that the only cure is chelation and that has proven true for many. Waiting it out is agonising slow and is not a sure thing. I had to chelate in order to get well, doing nothing was a never ending nightmare. In the end my main chelator was simply DMSA, which if anything flares up yeast, yet I still managed to reduce my mercury load and improve. I found that using vitamin E, selenium and vitamin C was helpful to increase glutathione, which encouraged some natural release of toxins including metals and sometimes helped me feel better too. But it was not the cure. I had to get into the tough chelators to get there. Not everybody needs to do that, some people do really well on natural products that simply aid their body to better do the job. Lucky them, that is what I would wish for anybody.

You say "once you remove your amalgams, mercury may no longer be the issue", yet removing amalgams is only the beginning....otherwise we'd not have been ill from having them. It's not about reaction just from just having them in the mouth, unless a person has an allergy to metal. The ADA take this stance as a way to have people believe that mercury from amalgam does not really escape enough to build up in tissues and organs. They try and tell people that any reaction from amalgam is a direct "allergy". But in actual fact, those that are chronically sick from them know better. it is all about the long term poisoning from the build up of mercury. The inability or lack of ability to excrete the mercury we're being subjected to daily. Those that finally get sick, seem to be the ones that retain the toxins, rather than eliminate. So removing amalgams is only the start, the rest can take a long time and for me it took years. Chelation definitely sped up this process and increased the symptoms from pushing more of the metals out of me. Pathogens are always involved, but metal detox is pretty clear cut when someone is undergoing it. Acute toxicity from a huge dose at onetime is much easier to diagnose, it is accepted and treated. But the chronic mercury poisoning is often denied.

Yes, everybody has mercury in them, but for some people they do not tolerate even small amounts of it and may also tend to retain it. This is evident in those that get ill simply from walking into a dental office (like me and for months afterwards). Yet some people can work around mercury and seem "ok". It's an individual thing, but mercury is a potent neurotoxin and should NEVER be used in a human body, no matter what the person's tolerance level is and we see the results on this forum and elsewhere. You only have to read the letters to the ADA from those who have suffered long and hard from this poison in their mouth and gone through hell. The hell of the poisoning at the time and the hell of the aftermarth and trying to eliminate it after amalgams are gone.

Sorry for the lengthy post.