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.

Hiya Linda. I don’t know diddly-squat about sleep problems, but I know how u feel about lacking in sunlight. I have worked in an office with no natural sunlight for 19 years now. Feb and march are my worst times too, at the end of a long dark winter I always feel my worst. I try real hard to have a holiday in feb somewhere with some sun. Couple of years ago I had a week in the Caribbean for some winter sun in feb. man o man I felt great great great after that. OD in Vitamin D ………ummmmm lovely <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Right now I’m stocked up on sunlight as I have just come back from a week’s holiday, so you can have some of my sunshine. I’m beaming it over right now....

Have u tried supplementing Vit D? Did it work?

ps. i still regular use that cookbook u recommnded by Sally Fallon <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/imnotworthy.gif" alt="" />

hi lindalou :I have not experienced that problem that bad I had it for a little while before amalgam removal ,but it seems to have corrected itself , but my wife had the same sleep problem that you are experiencing and what worked for her as is still helping her ,was one day I read in my nutritional healing guide and found that calcium deficency can cause sleep problems ,so we got her some calcium suppliments and tried it out ,and with in two days time she was sleeping like normal again ,she will have a insomnia now and then but is doing much better than before

Hi Lindalou

you could also try melatonin - the sleep hormone. It is non-addictive and works well. I think finding the right dose can be tricky. Most doses are 3mg - my endo says this is a horses' dose, and 1.5mg taken sublingually will be more effective. Maybe take it when you wake during the night rather than when you go to bed, if you don't have any problems falling asleep.

Worth a try? - I'm the one stuck on sleeping pills (for now).... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Nicola

Hi linda, I'm glad you brought this up as a new thread. I did respond about this, but would like to again.

Insomnia was a big part of mercury toxicity for me and looking back was most of my life. Perhaps I have the tendency anyway, I dont know. But most definitely it got much worse when the toxicity really got me in my mid teens and from there on. I did find some aid when I did the candida diet, but the insomnia came back with a vengence after I got the amalgams removed.

I assumed it's a case of "retox" when the root cause is removed, but there is the exposure from it, plus the exposure you get from mercury trying to come out of you and usually your old symptoms return and often worse than what they had been for many people (me included).

I had one bout during the time my body was trying to detox the mercury after having no more amalgams, with chronic insomnia that I think lasted about a year and a half or two years straight. Then it seemed to begin to improve. But came back of course when I got the virus.

Again the candida diet "can" sometimes help, because more nutrients are absorbed when you are eating healthy and avoiding the junk, but if it's full on mercury sometimes you're at its mercy.

I took selenium to aid with detox, but though it was good stuff it could also cause me to suffer insomnia too! So I took breaks from it. Perhaps I took too much sometimes and was over stimulated...? I dont know.

Definitely cut out caffeine if you are having any. Stick with herb tea (non caffeine) and keep the diet going without any sugar. I hope that for you, with enough time, these things will begin to subside with permanent results!

I wonder how much mercury intefers with the chemicals in the brain to such a degree to where a person becomes dependent on the seasons and time tables because of mercury.

Hi LL:

For what it is worth, and this is just me, but exercise absolutely helped. Just a couple times a week maybe slow jogging, or bike riding, and 2 or 3 moderate workouts, but some weeks a lot, some a little - whatever. And if i could only stand 15 minutes - better than not.

Of course, clear with a doctor. This is a great way to stay healthy, and help lift your mood. Walking works too.

Also, 3 mg melatonin and that worked great for a year or so.
And listen to or read inspirational things.

(Dear God - I just read what I wrote and I sound like an ad in "Prevention" Magazine!) I'm too tired to retype anything better now. Sorry....
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/zzz.gif" alt="" />
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/kneelsuckers.gif" alt="" />
TW

Hi Linda
I have suffered through insomnia also at different times in my life. It got really bad a year ago when I got so sick. Would only sleep a couple of hours at a time then I started taking melitonin and 5 htp and that started me sleeping. A couple of months later I was back up wondering around late at nite. I started taking calcium and magnesium and am still on the melitonin and 5htp and am sleeping again. Only problem is the time change has me a little screwed up at the moment. Waking too early so I am back to about 4 hours sleep at nite and dragging in the day. Also having a hard time getting to sleep. I am 7 months post removal so don't know. I also hate the winter months too...soooo depressing. I stay cold all the time so winter really makes it hard on me . I go to work and get the errands done and try not to get back out again if its cold. So i am in the house alot in the winter. On really dreary stormy days, well that is the worst for me. I work for myself just part time so I can plan most of my work and stuff on fairly good days. I live in west texas so our winters are not as bad as what you have there but still sucks with the cold and depression. Maybe the melitonin and calcium could help might give it a try.
Take Care and Hang In There!!!
Rachel <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/countingsheep.gif" alt="" />

hi linda, i have nights where i just lay there waiting to get up for work, and to be honest, its like i didnt need any sleep because i get through the day fine. the next night i sleep well.
I sometimes get high cortisol at night so im trying phosphatidil serine which is supposed to help.
anyway, your not alone with the insomnia.

I sleep like a rock... my head touches the pillow and in 5 minutes it's lights out. It's actually a bit of a problem, I've been doing it in the afternoon too which is not like me... the season i think, days getting short, I am half hibernating. Fresh air and exercise helps a lot, keep busy all day, no slouching.. nice idea I know.

However, when I was real sick I did have trouble getting to sleep. I cannot figure out though if it was from the mercury poisoning or was it because i was worried that if I fell asleep i wouldn't wake up because I was numb all over and it felt like my heart was barely beating. Probably that, I would lie awake writing my will in my head...

Stress can do that to you, sickness.... Lack of job, lack of concrete life plan, worries etc...

Hi Sunshine,

Yes a bit of time in the Caribbean would be lovely right now. I'm feeling pretty light-starved. I really wish you could share it LOL. You know, you could try putting a light box on your desk at work. People do that. It might help. Light therapy used to help me to a moderate degree.

I did supplement vitamin D for a while. I've cut back on it but it's still in some of my supplements. No help there unfortunately. There were a couple of summers when I spent hours on end sitting in the sun so I think any D deficiencies would probably have been sorted. Thanks for that though, it's a very good point, and I think most people in higher latitudes are indeed lacking in vitamin D.

Hi Mikey,

Brilliant detective work on your part, well done. Yes I've seen a few sites myself recently that said that lack of calcium can cause insomnia. I've been supplementing with calcium citrate for a year and a half though, so I don't think that's my problem. When I started all the supplements I hoped I'd be lucky enough to find that my problems were due to a simple deficiency in some nutrient, but I think in my case it's more complicated than that. Thanks though. BTW does your wife take magnesium as well? The body needs it for calcium absorption; otherwise the extra calcium just floats around and goes where it's not wanted, such as in plaques in the arteries.

Thanks Imgeha. That's a good back-up plan if I can't get this sorted in the short term. Upon waking at 3 am I think I'd be willing to try a small dose of melatonin. What I figure happens, is that the melatonin is released too early and it runs out in the middle of the night, leaving me wide awake.

I'm hoping that I can use the sleep problems as a natural radar to show how the chelation is going, and taking something right now might make that impossible. Then again if I am jetlagged all the time, it will be impossible to do much else in the day. I just wish there were more info and studies available on melatonin. It's another one of those not-so-well-understood things that our doctors know nothing about.

In response to your last point Bex, I think I'm there. It feels like I'm in a race right now to chelate enough mercury to mitigate the effects of the increasingly dark days. I've been slowly losing; and when I take more than a few days off the chelation regime, I seem to quickly lose ground. Crazy isn't it. I'm hoping that if I can get rid of enough mercury to be able to sleep OK in the darkest months of the year, it will be plain sailing into the spring and summer.

What worries me is how the insomnia grabs me so quickly if I haven't chelated for a week or so, and then it seems to get better with the DMSA. Why would that be? It's almost as if the DMSA is keeping it at bay. I would have thought that if I stopped chelating for a while, I would stay at that "level" and not deteriorate, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I don't have caffeine, and the sugar is out of my body now so hopefully that will help. Last night my sleep was fitful but I actually managed to get some good long periods of it, and didn't come wide awake at 3 am. I had been knock-out tired at 5pm, wide awake at 10pm, had some trouble getting to sleep. This roller-coaster seems to change every day, and even at different times in the day. I felt pretty good this morning but after breakfast I felt tired and fogged, and this has continued. I don't think there's any way to really figure it all out; I'm inclined just to shrug my shoulders and get on with it.

You dealt with insomnia for years at a time?? My respect for you just keeps increasing. That sounds horrendous.

Hi Linda, I can understand you being wary to take stuff to perhaps improve your insomnia when at the sametime you are hoping that it will improve naturally with chelation, which in a sense kind of confirms you in what you're doing. So it's hard to know what to do. I did "nothing" personally and just agonised through it sometimes, and other times I just shrugged and put up with it and stayed up and did other things.

I never slept well, even as a kid I was hyper and I was always the one to stay awake or the last to go to sleep at anybody sleep over. In fact, I would keep others awake (very annoying). it worsened in my teen years. I was 14 or 15 I think when it got so bad I would cry my eyes out. This coincided with braces being put on my teeth, which increases the uptake of mercury and also is toxic by itself (nickle etc).

But even with them off, I was still having issues. But like you, when I had all amalgams out, and started to 'detox", I was up all night many times, most nights.

I have heard this with people doing chelation and how when they go off it, they feel like they are relapsing further. Andy says this happens because mercury is still leaking out of storage naturally and going around your body. Chelation can start to grab onto this and can at some point, help a person to feel a little better, but only when it is starting to keep up with what is leaking out.

As soon as you stop chelating, the mercury that is still leaking out begins to make you feel repoisoned again because it's not being snatched up by the chelation and instead is kind of filling you back up.

I know of some people who were chelating and getting well and thought they were ready to stop chelation, felt almost completely well. Then a while later, were devastated when the symptoms returned. Basically, as Andy says, there comes a time when the chelation actually "Keeps you well", but you must chelate for enough time AFTER you feel well to make sure it gets enough of the mercury out to where you won't find yourself feeling ill again when you stop.

So in a sense, it seems to me you are on the right track. Chelation must be doing, at least with this anyway.

I wish I knew how/when this insomnia problem will improve, but I believe it will. I know that mercury blocks the chemicals that induce sleep as well as it blocks other things that we require for normal healthy function.

It will be interesting to hear what happens as time goes on and see if you notice little changes. Unfortunately they are often so subtle, that you can hardly detect them, so it's hard to keep going.

Hi TW,

Yep, exercise is important. There's such wonderful advice here on this thread, you guys really do know about health. Ironically, when the depression started I was fitter than I'd ever been in my life. I cycled out to the gym to do a heavy workout 3 times a week, with my baby on the bike. I do miss those days. Since I came off the antidepressant and got cortisol problems, I have been unable to do anything other than light exercise, but at least I can do that much now that I have the opportunity. (My daughter is at school, so I can walk locally at my own pace rather than hers.) I do feel better after a bit of exercise, just can't beat those endorphins.

Inspiration? Well before the insomnia got bad several days ago, I was sticking two fingers up at the church-of-science skeptical dogmatists I'd been talking with, and had discovered Rupert Sheldrake. He's got some interesting ideas. If I can snap out of the fog I'll continue to look into them <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Rachel, it sounds like we have some similar problems. I first came over here as an exchange student 21 years ago, and started sliding downhill at about this time of year. I started seeing the university counsellor but it didn't help much. I have a memory of standing in the dormitory kitchen, looking out the window in the middle of the day, seeing the steel grey mass of gloom that was the sky, and being amazed at how dreary it is here in the winter. I should have been warned then, LOL. But I was in love with the person who is now my husband, and that's why I came back here.

It wasn't always like that though. One year I worked in a windowless office and I remember near Christmas crying a couple of mornings before anyone else turned up, but that was it. I wasn't whacked like I have been these past several years, even though I've soaked up as much sun as I can. There's obviously a lot more to it than straightforward SAD.

I think chelation is helping me. Have you been chelating yourself? I'm sure I'd be very, very sick by now if I hadn't got on with it, I shudder to think.

Sounds like a good plan Dawn. Other things that can help lower cortisol are Bach Cherry Plum, ginkgo, ashwagandha, and relora. I find relora to be quite strong.

I have to say I'm surprised at the number of people here saying they or a family member have insomnia. It just isn't something you tend to talk about. But when mercury is an issue it looks like it's a very common symptom.

Thanks for this Bex. It helps a lot. I suspected that the DMSA must be grabbing onto some mercury that needed pulling out, that's the only explanation I could think of myself. I suppose it's a good sign that this is happening, because it means my body is eliminating mercury rather than holding on to it. But yes, I'm afraid that if I decide I'm well enough to stop one day, I'll get whacked again if there's more mercury to come out. I guess I'll know it if that happens and I'll know what I need to do to chelate it out.

I wouldn't mind so much if DMSA were cheaper. It's going to be costing me £40 a month at this dosage. I actually saw my GP and asked him if it was possible to get a prescription. He said he's open to the possibility that I have mercury poisoning from my amalgams, but the national body here that decides who gets which medications (they are called NICE) are strongly in favour of evidence-based medicine, and they would not allow my GP to prescribe DMSA. Would you believe that when someone from his office phoned the toxicology centre on my behalf, they said they didn't have any tests for mercury at all. I said, well what happens if someone has eaten a lot of fish with high mercury content and they go see him because they are ill? Still no tests. It's crazy isn't it. Anyway this conversation wasn't a total waste of time because at least I know my GP is taking me seriously. He also said that he has used traditional Chinese medicine to cure his asthma, and his wife is doing some form of crystal healing. LOL out of the mouths of doctors.

Maybe I should look into getting Andy Cutler's book. Do you know of any place that seels it cheaply? Maybe I can get it second-hand.

I'd better go get ready, I've got to cycle to a job interview of sorts in half an hour. I sent letters out to local schools asking for part-time work after Christmas and it sounds like this school would like me to do maternity leave cover. It's not the permanent position I've been dreaming of, but I'm sure it would be better than straightforward substitute teaching. It's hard to wrap my head around doing this job again after having been out of it for so long, but I've got to believe I can do it. Wish me luck <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Linda Lou,
Sleep is sacred &so precious.
Lacking sleep can do horrible things to you, <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/reallymad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dead.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/looney.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/homer.png" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/flu.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blah.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/coffee.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/skullbones.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nausea.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hangingonanlimb.gif" alt="" />I've been there.
Here are some suggestions that helped me;
(You have probably heard all this before but here goes)

Pumpkin seeds,
Camomile tea,
dim the lights coming up to bedtime,
hot bath,with a few drops lavender oil &maybe some camomile in the bath water.&drink the tea too.
No tv or computer for at least 2 hours before bed?
If you have caffeine/stimulants have them as early as possible in the day as they stay in your system for at least 6 hours.
I used to supplement magnesium before bedtime,this helped alot.
Any time I set out to meditate I nod off!
Reading a maths book or something you don't find personally interesting
These might help you sleep. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/zzz.gif" alt="" />

ps I had ahuge sleeping problem,I was breastfeeding for 10 months,my baby wanted to feed or comfort or something every 3 hours,even when he was weaned it took year or so for me to be able to unwind enough to sleep through a night,I was seriously sleep deprived
"Deep sleprivation" is what I call it,anyone been there will understand.
It can become a vicsious cycle where you wake up &become annoyed at waking up,saying to yourself things like"oh great ,now I'm never going to get back to sleep,I'm going to be tired tomorrow,etc etc.These thoughts(for me anyway)sent all kinds of responses through my body like wake up!emergency!the last thing I needed to get back asleep!
When I was aware of this thought process,I was more able to control it &get calm enough to go back to sleep.

Just in case this helps someone...

Since my teen years (when I had amalgams put in), I had much trouble sleeping. Throughout the 90's, the problem was so bad that it took me—on average—2 hours each night to get to sleep.

The only things that would help were:

(1) exercise, and
(2) sleeping pills containing (Diphenhydramine hydrochloride).

Of course, in the last half of the 90's, I could no longer exercise without getting sick so this was no longer an option. Even herbal sleeps aids (5-HTP, Valerian, Kava Kava, and others) did not work for me because the root of the issue was a racing mind (precursor to autism).

When my amalgams were removed in July of 2000, my average time to get to sleep immediately became about 10 minutes. The change was sudden and remarkable.

Lindalou - another thought. Have you actually had your cortisol levels tested? A saliva test, taken four times a day, to see what your cortisol levels are doing? It could be that they are very high at night, which would mean you sleep poorly. Or that they are too low, in which case ditto.

I think Dawn said IWDL (or something like that) for saliva testing. Might be worth a thought?

Nicola

My cortisol fluctuates. It wasn't a problem until withdrawal from an antidepressant a year and a half ago. I've been working with an ND since then and she says this is a common symptom of psychotropic drug withdrawal. Sometimes the cortisol dips too low but more often it goes too high, especialy if I've been at work or doing anything else that can be overstimulating.

I've got some herbs that help when this happens. I take ginkgo and ashwagandha before bed, and relora as needed. If I wake up in the middle of the night with my heart pounding then sometimes I will take relora, and it helps.

Unfortunately I think the mercury is doing something to dysregulate my body clock, and it's very noticeable at this time of year. It's been a struggle ever since the clocks went back. I seem to have settled into a pattern of getting very tired at 8pm and waking at 4 am. Can't really do anything in the evening because of the tiredness. My body is producing melatonin, making me want to sleep.

My sleep was massively disturbed when I started the last chelation round. So I suppose this is an improvement over that. I'm hoping that the next round might help normalise things even more. What I'm afraid of is all the SAD-related symptoms returning. I don't know if the disrupted circadian rhythms cause them, or are just a concurrent symptom. But typically by the end of January onwards, I'm in deep depression and fog. I'm trying to get my career back on track and it is definitely not needed. One day at a time I suppose . . .

Is it OK to go two days instead of three between chelation rounds?

I feel desperate tonight. As soon as the sun goes down, I "yuck out." Can't concentrate, don't want to be around anyone, feel tearful and anxious. And very tired. I remember my first winter of SAD, it started like this. Light therapy helped. I can't do light therapy now. I have been trying to keep a balanced perspective, but the fear in me is rising that if this is how I feel now, how will I feel in 5 months?

I'm going to order some melatonin, see if taking some helps when I wake in the night. But spending hours each evening in this state is awful. I can't believe the time change has affected me so profoundly. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

Linda

if you feel your symptoms are due to mercury, and are intolerable, go back on round. I can generally only last 3-4 days between rounds, but sometimes when the redistribution is so bad, and I feel so horrid, I just go straight back on. Just make sure you are taking your minerals (zinc is particularly important I think), as DMSA depletes these. Some people chelate continuously because the redistribution symptoms are so awful. But this depends on your personal make-up, mineral status, neutropenia risk, etc etc. I shouldn't think it would hurt to keep the off-round times shorter every now and then.

Nicola <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/byebye.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for that, Nicola. I've got Andy Cutler's book on its way so I'll see what he says. But yes, I need to get back on the DMSA. And I think I need to stay on, as much as possible. I think my mineral status is OK; I supplement magnesium, calcium, zinc, selenium, and I take a colloidal mineral supplement. What is neutropenia?

You seem to know a lot about this. Can I ask how long you've been chelating yourself, and how much you feel it has helped?

I just can't believe how fast I'm going downhill. I feel half dead today, lost in a fog, tired, wanting to cry all the time. Started another chelation round last night. Not having had 3 days' rest, it looks like it's going to be hard on my cortisol. I ordered some melatonin today, will take about a week to come. Ordered some vitamin D too, just in case. I've got a few D caps left in the cupboard, popped several of those this morning.

I wish I hadn't sold all my light therapy kit. I don't care if it gives me the cortisol rush from hell, it would be better than helplessly getting sick in the dark.

I don't know what I'm going to do. The darkest months are still ahead. Usually I hit rock bottom in March. Despite everything I've said and been through, I feel desperate enough at times to consider taking something like Prozac -- anything that will help me hold my life together. I don't want to do that, I know what the last AD did to me.

I have always hoped that when my daughter went back to school and I got a job, the depression would lift. It just isn't happening right now, probably because I'm only on my course 2 days a week, and at the moment that is rather stressful as I am planning to teach for the first time in 5 years.

I'm trying very hard to keep a lid on the panic but it's starting to bubble out.

Me too. I feel like a sack of $hit today. Another day off work. I don’t take days off work unless I’m really bad. Last night I think I re-enacted Star Wars in my sleep. I was thrashing about, sweating like a loon and freezing cold at the same time. My wife said I was moaning and groaning too. Not a happy moment in my life.

But some good news, I went to my muscle tester today and he tested all my lovely white, amalgam free teeth…………..and no reactions or trouble coming from my teeth….which is cool.

He re-tested all my supplements, to test if they ok, which they where. I get them tested to see if any point in taking them.

He also tested some new supplements that I have been planning on taking.
Molybdenum, CoQ10, Vit D, Boron and DMSA….which all tested fine and I should benefit from taking them.

Milk thistle, lithium, borage oil, calcium and zinc and came up negative and I do not need to supplement these ones.

Zinc was a bit of a shock…because I thought I was copper toxic and zinc is the destroyer of copper….so looks like I don’t have a copper problem, but that I do have deranged mineral transport instead…..ho hum

Oh yeah and my adrenals are funked. I guess I new that already, but its always depressing to get something else confirmed wrong with me.

All in all a day to forget.

Good luck in your new job. Teaching is just like riding a bike……..its just the build up and excitement that’s getting to you.

Hi ya'll
I feel crappy today too!!! Not sleeping good and heavy today. Had a couple of days with stomach problems. Stomach is better today but weak as hell.
Sunshine sounds like you will be chelating soon. Bet your excited to get the ball rolling so to speak. My body just won't except it yet. But I will just take it slow and we shall see. I still have some detox to do Liver flush etc you know the speil.
Linda I agree with Sunshine once you get going you will do great and things will get better for ya especially your depression. Just hang in there and take one day at a time. I know easier said than done!!!
I hope you 2 feel better soon my thoughts are with ya!
Rachel <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/stuckinabottle.gif" alt="" />

Well I hate to be the odd fish out of the tank but I feel dandy today.

personally, I'd quit the DMSA on a regular schedule and just use it once a week or so to clean your blood a little bit.

Have you tried that superb hulda clark liver cleanse routine?

The only supplements I take when i feel bad these days are a little bit of ascorbic acid vitamin C and cod liver oil or fish oil. I might add a tablespon of coconut oil now and then too. Fats are real important to protect your brain.

And I continue eating my cilantro pesto at least once a week, store bought cilantro not as good as homegrown but better than nothing. The last batch I got seemd ok, kind of hit and miss there. Lots of garlic also going down via my heavy duty garlic hommous. And feverfew, I have been eating 2-3 leaves per day. And drinking green tea and apple cider. Not muc else on the menu, eating pretty lightly here otherwise. Do you filter your water? That's real important.

Don't forget to pray! God's word is Life!

You guys really are nice. Thanks for the support, it helps a lot. I spent most of today sitting at the computer and planning lessons. I used to teach six of them a day. Well, they maybe weren't as well-planned as this LOL. I'm also discovering that it's going to be easy to let myself get sucked into image-Googling for hours because I can do funky stuff on interactive whiteboards now.

I'm sorry Sunshine and Rachel, that you are feeling lousy. At least you know that people here understand. The help I've had from here lately has been invaluable. Sunshine, why do you have to wait until Friday to start the DMSA? If I were you I probably would have lost my patience by now. Messed-up sleep is probably one of the symptoms I tolerate the least, there are just so many knock-on effects when I need to function the next day.

Prozac would definitely be a bad, bad thing. If you all have faith in me then I need to try to have faith too. I'm on this return-to-teaching course but I'm working on getting a maternity leave cover sorted out for after Christmas, and if I can make it there things will probably be looking up. The school is only a 10-minute bike ride away, which is helpful.

Thanks again, hope you're both feeling better soon. Sunshine, at least there's someone who can tell you about your mineral levels etc. Takes a bit of the guesswork away.

Yup, my muscle testing stuff is great. I have learned a lot from it, and it is a constant motivation for me. Seeing is believing kinda thing.

Chelation. I was gonna go to work this week. I wanted to do the first DMSA round at the weekend, from the comfort of my own home.
Why not start now? ….i gonna be doing this stuff for minimum 1 year…..so whats a couple of days between friends?

Last time I rushed into something I rushed out and got 1 amalgam removed with no protected and I really screwed myself up. This year has been ……………difficult…….all because I rushed. I guess that’s why I’m waiting and not rushing.

I guess that’s why I read so much too. and I guess that’s why I think everyone else should educate too. All this funking pain is avoidable…..if only we knew! If only someone told me! maybe they did & I just wasn’t listening….

This year has been more than difficult.

All the other times I have had amalgams removed has made me sick, so I’m not surprised I’m all funked up again. this is not as bad last 1 month ago. Then, I really thought that was it……

That salt bath I did was amazing and has certainly helped.

Anyway….it will pass, it has everytime before.

Wow…I’m in a deep dark mood this evening.

I’m sitiing here at my Pc surrounded by different supplement bottles….let me count how many….19.

Na-na-na-na 19

19 supplement bottles and I still feel like road kill

"This, too, will pass." Like you said. Good for us to remember.

I do remember how I felt when I had my amalgams out. I tried "natural" things like coriander and garlic at first, didn't help. When I started on 12.5mg DMSA, it lifted the worst of the symptoms quite quickly. I'm on 50 now. But I guess I'm fighting the increasing effects of the SAD-inducing darkness.

I know what you mean about supplements. And they're so expensive over here. I'm lucky in that my parents in Denver will ship things to me; I order them and reimburse for the shipping costs. They write on the customs slip that the package is worth $20 or something, the postmen don't know better, and it avoids customs charges. When I go to visit them this Christmas (they are flying us out there) I am going to bring back a huge haul -- hope customs don't want to go through all my suitcases LOL.

Do you take a good multivitamin? I take all kinds of things. Don't know how much some of them help but I'm sure they don't hurt. My ND gave me a good regime but it costs.

Dose up on the vitamin C . . . not sure what else to suggest . . . it sounds like you've got a good plan. Come here and talk if you're really feeling rough, we understand <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I agree, no tv or computer for at least 2 hours before bed. That is a biggie for me, the bright screens affect melatonin levels just like sunshine.

Hope you find a solution and get some good zzz's very soon. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/zzz.gif" alt="" />

Sandi
xoxo

i take so many i have to keep carefull notes on what when and how. my suppliment program currently looks like this:
(the top 5 are new and will be introduced slowly over the next few weeks. that bottom 5 have been dropped today because of the muscle testing results)

(example 1-2-1 = 1 at breakfast, 2 at lunch, 1 at dinner) - this is number of capsules i have to take and when.

All these supplements (except flax oil) have been re-muscle tested today 5th November 2007

1-0-0 Vit D3 – 1000 IU (Muscle testing confirmed ok)
1-1-1 COQ10 100-400 mg (general supplement from AI) (Muscle testing confirmed ok)
1-0-0 Boron - 3mg. (Muscle testing confirmed ok)
?-?-? Molybdenum – 1,000 mcg. (Muscle testing confirmed ok)
Kelp –start @ low dosage and work up slowly (Muscle testing confirmed ok)
1-0-1 Vit B12 – 1-12mg (not mcg)
1-1-1-1 Vit C – 4-12 grams per day. Buffered form is better.
1-0-1 Magnesium citrate 1000 mg
1-1-1 Betaine & pepsin 960mg + 20 mg
1-1-1 Vit E 600mg (1000iu)
1-0-1 GTF chromium 120 ug
1-0-0 Multi Vit B large Dosage
2-1-1 Taurin 2000mg
Omega 3 – flax oil – 10-50 grams per day. Or fish oil (few grams per day)

Muscle testing on 5th Nov 2007 revealed NO need to supplement the following:
1-0-0 Calcium – 500mg (take until constipated, then reduce to ok level)
Lithium Orotate – 5mg. (Muscle testing said no-need)
1-0-1 Milk thistle. 1-2 capsules per meal. (Equivalent 250-750mg silymarin)
(Muscle testing said no-need)
2-2-2 Zinc – 100mg per day
Borage oil 1-4 grams (general supplement from AI)

I have stopped taking the probiotic because nothing much was happening.
1-0-1-1 Probiotic (this replaces the grapefruit seed extract)

DMSA – muscle tested this for the first time today. It was fine and testing said I reacted well to it. My body needed it and would benefit from it….we will see.

today i cranked the Vit C up to 15 grams <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/gunshot.gif" alt="" />

I would be somewhat careful with DMSA.

http://onibasu.com/archives/am/44588.html
"DMSA is known to lower neutrophil numbers. Neutrophils are in charge of killing off extra yeast"

This comes from Andrew Cutler himself, but he doesn't say anything about the following, that I have been thinking about:

If you use DMSA+ALA, then DMSA will counter the effects of ALA that goes into the often more relevant work of killing the candida, as it also raises glutathione. Therefore, it is not a surprise that people find DMSA to relieve detox symptoms, because it shuts down the immune system that should work on killing the candida. I suspect that other drugs which inhibit neutrophil activity has the same effect as using DMSA.
This is often not what you want, however. You want your body to kill the yeast, no matter if it means suffering. Perhaps just lower ALA dose and not use DMSA at all, as it also chelates important minerals.

So many things to think about aren't there. Fortunately I don't have many of the symptoms of candida so I don't think it's a problem for me. The main reason why I'm thinking mercury is a problem is that my sleep was fine even in the darkest depths of last winter; but since amalgam removal last June it's been a problem. Something's obviously gone wrong there and I don't think it's too much of a stretch of the imagination to figure it's re-poisoning.

I did try ALA without the DMSA but couldn't manage it. Believe me, if I could do without the DMSA I would. It's costing. Every time I'm off it for more than a few days, though, the price to my health and well-being is that much higher.

BTW, it isn't the uneven sleep itself which worries me. It's what the effects of a dysfunctional body clock seem to be. The depression, foggy head, anxiety, leadenness, lack of concentration, lack of motivation, etc. The first winter the SAD started, the body clock shift coincided with these symptoms. So I came to fear those 3 am wakeups quite deeply, because I thought they were the actual cause of those symptoms. I suppose that's an assumption which is not necessarily true.

I had a bad bout of stomach flu, lost a lot of fluid and probably nutrients, couldn't eat much for a few days. I think that contributed to how bad I was feeling. It hasn't been as bad since this afternoon. The tearfulness, anxiety, and panic faded and I've felt fairly calm. I was still ready to zonk out at 8 pm, and no doubt I'll be awake at 3 or 4 am (probably 2, because that's when I take my DMSA). I can live with that, though, if the other symptoms aren't so bad.

Still wish I had my light therapy stuff. TV screen isn't the same LOL.

Sounds like an excellent supplement regime Sunshine. Linus Pauling would be proud of you <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Linda, I keep forgetting when you had your last amalgams removed? My memory is pretty shot.

The first few years after all amalgams are gone are the hardest. I think you are right with the thought of "repoisoning" and many get the same thing.

Also in order to heal itself, I guess the body has got to start to deal with the underlying problem and dump the stored mercury and in doing that the symptoms seem worse than the original poisoning sometimes (did for me anyway). I wish the DMSA was a lot cheaper, because I think that is probably the most needed for you right now. ALA is really good, but many cannot use this on its own, too many emotional symptoms and not enough control.

Andy's book suggests one week on and one week off with DMSA alone in the early stages, but some people prefer doing 3 days on and 4 days off or similar. What are you like with just DMSA alone and giving ALA a break?

I wonder if your body is dumping a lot of mercury already and may find ALA too much at this stage? just a thought.

About vit D, does anyone know if it contains mercury and what is the difference between VitD and D3, i was taking solgar vitD3 and read it contained mercury, so i stopped.
Thanks Dawn.
p.s, im feeling rough aswell, like im 90 yrs old, i ache all over, feel brain fogged, cant sleep, tinnitus, ear ache, headache, anxiety, depressed, oh well. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dead.gif" alt="" />

D3 is the natural form. I haven't heard anything about mercury being in it. Could you have been reading about a specific brand?

My insomnia has improved greatly since the last 2 chelation rounds. Unfortunately I don't feel any better for it. The panic and anxiety are gone now that I am over the stomach flu, at least. But I'm pretty sure now that SAD is sinking in. I'm going to keep chelating, stick to my diet and supplement regime, and hope that I can just weather this. I'm working on getting a job set up for after Christmas and maybe that will help combat the SAD.

BTW how do you put a picture into a post here? I can't seem to find any instructions.

Thanks for your message Bex. I had my amalgams out at the end of last June. There were 4 and they came out in 3 appointments, a week or two between each.

I had trouble starting the ALA, just like I did with the DMSA. Felt yucky and depressed at first. But in small doses I worked both up to 50mg. The ALA seemed to help clear the initial brain fog quite quickly. Unfortunately it's setting in again but for different reasons I think. I could take ALA til the cows come home LOL, it's cheap compared to everything else.

I'm on my second day between rounds and don't really feel any different. Maybe a little calmer, because chelation puts my cortisol up.

Last year at this time, I was working as a teaching assistant. I remember that the depression lifted, until I had to quit at Christmas. I was hoping the same thing would happen now that I'm on this course. I've also just had confirmation that I've got a maternity leave cover set up next year through July, so that's a big comfort, and it should keep me busy. I don't know what it takes to get the blasted depression to lift sometimes, you feel like you've done everything and the problem is still there. I guess all we can do is keep chipping away, and keep hope in our hearts.