Just wanted to share what's been happening with me. I now have a copy of Andy Cutler's book and it's given me some useful ideas. It sounds to me like he sees ALA as the most crucial chelation agent, and the dosages he recommends are higher than the dosages for DMSA at the top end.
I know I need DMSA to help pull the mercury out, and I was going to keep it and the ALA at 50mg. Since reading Cutler's book I thought I may as well have a go at starting to up the ALA dosage; it's a lot cheaper than DMSA and it's well within my capability to do so.
I just finished a round at 50mg DMSA and 75mg ALA. Very quickly I realised I had to go from 4-hourly to 3-hourly doses because I was starting to feel crappy in the 4th hour. Means I have to wake up twice at night now LOL, not too conducive to a good night's sleep.
ALA is weird stuff. I mix these drinks -- water, with powdered DMSA and ALA, because I have to open the capsules to get the correct dosages. I don't like drinking the powdery ALA, it doesn't dissolve well. It also is making me gassy and my wee smells of sulphur LOL. Have to see how I go there. I don't want to actually start smelling like a walking, talking rotten egg.
On the plus side, I think this was still a good idea. I have been feeling a bit better. My mood has been lighter. The SAD symptoms have not been as troublesome. I've been starting to get tantalising little glimpses, over the past few weeks, of what it used to feel like to really be well. It reminds me briefly of what a zombie I've become; you forget what it's like to really be alive. I hope that as I continue to chelate, these glimpses will become more frequent, and they will cease to be glimpses and become noticeable spells of feeling good. It's a gradual process for me, nothing dramatic, but I think the evidence is certainly that I'm climbing my way back up.
Yesterday and today I've been feeling slightly drunk, which is rather inconvenient. Sometimes this happens; symptoms come and go. It means I have to make an effort to be sensible so that I don't spend too much money on something; yesterday I should have been stricter with the classes I was teaching but I was in this "whatever the hell, doesn't bother me" kind of fog, which really is just not helpful. Having said that, it's better than feeling depressed and hopeless.
I'm going to keep it at 75mg ALA for the next round, then try increasing to 100mg. Wish me luck <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
