Just wondering if anyone experienced this as a result of amalgam removal, and how long it lasted?

I used to have insomnia as part of my depression; I have been getting SAD in the winters and it's worst then. Last winter, though, I kept to a good diet and supplement regime and didn't have any problems.

I got my 4 amalgams removed, a few at a time, over a period of 3 weeks last June, without any precautions. Straight away the sleep problems came back. Things like constant waking, and waking in the early hours but not being able to get back to sleep no matter how tired I was. When I started DMSA chelation rounds, just 12.5mg to start with, this began to improve.

My sleep wasn't great but it wasn't particularly bothersome until the clocks went back a few days ago. Then, BANG. Insomnia worse than it was even in my first year of SAD. The problem I had then was that I'd get tired early in the evening, and come wide awake at 3 am. If I tried going to bed when I got tired, then the next night I would get tired even earlier. It was some sort of ongoing dysfunction. I ended up forcing myself to stay awake and not being able to accomplish anything at all in the evenings; and lying in bed at 3 am tired but unable to sleep. When I started light therapy it helped with this; if I did it in the evening it seemes to shift things a bit more in the right direction. (I can't do light therapy now because it raises my cortisol too much; the cortisol issues stem from a previous antidepressant withdrawal.)

It's a long time since I've been in that situation, but that's where I am again now. I get tired very early. I wake up very early. All day I feel like I'm jetlagged, wandering in a fog. At first I couldn't even stay asleep at all; I'd wake up every few hours. I've now done 2 days of chelation at 50mg DMSA and ALA and I can get a few hours of sleep initially at least, though the early tiredness and waking are still bad. As soon as the light goes, I get tired it seems. It got dismally cloudy at 2:30 pm today and it felt like the vitality just drained out of me.

I am hoping that if I keep chelating, this might settle. I need to finish the course I'm on, and get a job for after Christmas. I can't let myself be brought to my knees yet again.

I've been chelating pretty steadily since amalgam removal, with a total of maybe six weeks where I "took a break." It's only recently that I've been on 50mg. I made pretty quick progress with my symptoms at first on just 12.5mg, but now that I'm taking so much more I would have hoped it would obviously be helping.

From the start I wasn't even sure that mercury was my problem. I had 4 amalgams put in after previously having none; two months later the depression started along with the insomnia. Amalgam removal was about 3 years later. It seemed to me that it was worth taking the risk of having them out without precautions as I didn't have the money for a holistic dentist, and I didn't see myself as being poisoned in any severe way.

Strangely, some other symptoms have actually got better. After amalgam removal I had brain fog, anxiety, stomach cramps, racing heart, headaches, and occasional tinnitus and a metallic taste. Most of these eased up quite quickly. The brain fog improved when I started ALA. The anxiety disappeared, though it is back now (the lack of sunlight seems to contribute). During my depression I had also had very heavy and troublesome periods, and that stopped right after amalgam removal. It hasn't been a problem since.

I'd been thinking I might be feeling better by Christmas. Not so sure now. It's hard to see the road ahead. DMSA is expensive when you use 900mg per round, and maybe I'll have to be doing this for months yet; if it helps, I'm sure it will be worth it.

More than anything, I just wish I could get some sun <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> It's so very dark here at this time of year. Normally I'd be panicking about feeling this bad now, because usually my worst months aren't until February and March. I'm hoping that if I keep chelating it will help and I won't have to worry so much about that.