I think nobody should be afraid of using alpha lipoic acid (ALA); it's an anti-oxidant like C and E, and occurs naturally in foods such as meat, but not in amounts that is sufficient for chelation.

DMSA is another matter, however, since it is a synthetic compound that doesn't belong in our bodies. So if you want to stay natural, don't use DMSA. It isn't essential either, ALA is more important.

Personally, I don't believe that mercury is the real issue you need to concentrate on. It has been shown that ALA chelates mercury, and its good to get rid of it, but the primary concern is to kill off the parasites in your body, as it is they who cause most of your problems. With candida alone, and no mercury involved, you can still get a suicide depression, i.e. it is not the mercury that causes it directly, it merely lowers your immune system, that allows parasites to thrive & multiply in your body. Even if you get all mercury out, the parasites will still be there and cause you trouble.

In this sense ALA is doubly good because it chelates both mercury and kills parasites by increasing glutathione in your body. I'm sure that ALA would be good against candida alone too. The reason why I say this is because I can't be very mercury toxic, because I had only one filling, but I still got rather sick, and I find everything that is targeted for mercury toxic people works for me too.

Furthermore, one must remember that there are a lot of people who have mercury fillings but are not sick. They too have mercury spread around in their bodies, but it doesn't apparently cause them much trouble. I wouldn't say they are immune to mercury, but their immune system is better than ours, and so their bodies still work well enough to not let parasites invade them.