Hi shawn, I relate to so much of this and I'm sure many others on here do as well. It's kind of like reading about myself in so many ways.. these toxic metals have such an impact on a person's brain and body that it's like being handicapped on the inside with nothing to show for it.

I remember how I was before I got this poisoned and I had motivation and dreams and wanted to be a teacher and suddenly after getting this? I had no idea what I wanted, all my senses were blunted, motivation gone and I just became depressed, anxious, weird, pale, withdrawn and like a puppet on a string going through the motions of life, but being manipulated into strange thoughts, behaviours by something I didn't understand.

Relationships or friendships became strained or non existant. Unable to make new friends as I once was able to do. Self sabbotage tendencies. Unable to hold down any jobs and was always the quiet shy one that never really got involved with others. I was unable to follow instructions properly, would blush so easily I was scared to talk or have anybody speak to me. I felt the most incredible sense of total stupidity too. Even simple tasks would not be comprehended by me.

The list is vast. And suicidal urges were part of my life, so often I've been that close that it's a marvel I'm still here. I guess the idea was frightening, yet the idea of living was also frightening, so I would be caught inbetween.

Sounds like with you, it's been a case of metal poisoning passed from your Mother to you in the womb (I've had the same). From there, vaccinations, and amalgams (though you don't have any which is great), and plenty of other things to add as you're growing up. I had braces in my teens which was the clincher, the final straw and tipped me into chronic illness, but I would have been toxic before that without realising it. I had obviously been battling "ok" before and it took one more knock and I was out.

So it is usually a case of multiple metal toxicities, all increasing the toxicity of eachother and blocking proper excretion. Then to add to that, are the opportunistic organisms, yeast/parasites. So a strict diet is usually an essential part of treatment, no matter what toxicity you're suffering from. Just to get some toxic load reduced at the very least.

I have gotten some more information here on copper and hope this might help you. Though your copper levels might be normal, as you said your metabolism isn't. But perhaps reducing obvious copper in your life might at least help a little.

Make sure you don't use copper or aluminium cooking implements/pans/cookware. Always use stainless steel!

Eliminate or reduce copper foods and supplements. Foods that contain high copper are - legumes (navy beans, black eyed peas, peanuts, tree nuts, and seeds) Oysters, liver, kidney, chocolate etc.

Reduce aluminium products like cheese, baking powder etc.

Take appropriate supplements to help your body handle the copper -
Vitamin C, iron, manganese, molybednum, sulfur, zinc, selenium, calcium, phosphorous, etc.

But again, it maybe a case of reducing yeast l and using chelation that maybe the way for your system to function properly and increase metabolism. So often people are multiple metal toxic, rather than just "mercury". But mercury has a way apparently of causing other metals to be able to take over and not be excreted properly...so it really is a case of so many things at once and having to find ways of reducing your overall toxic load bit by bit.

Diet is a good place to start. From there? You could actually use alpha lipoic acid. Unless you have had some recent exposure to mercury? ALA can be used. If you have been eating fish? I would then advise you stop and use DMSA to start. As you may have high blood levels of mercury which would need to be reduced first before bringing ALA onboard.

DMSA is available online! You could give that a trial run to see if you get reactions. If you try it and find you are getting detox symptoms? That is a pretty good bet you may still have high tissue/blood levels of mercury and would need to keep using this for a few months to reduce those.

You can start by trying 12.5 mg of DMSA (or 25 mg if you feel you can handle it) and taking a capsule every 4 hours around the clock. This is the safest and most effective way of taking it for many people. andrew Cutler is the guy who created this protocol and it is succeeding very well with many people around the world.

You have to wake up at night to take the doses too which can be annoying. So you need to set an alarm clock day and night. This method is to keep blood levels of the chelating agent even, so that the movement of mercury is kept even as well. If you take sporadic doses, you risk moving the mercury all over the place and causing redistribution which can make matters worse. You need to take the every 4 hour doses for about 3 days (or longer if you wish). Then you stop and take a break for about the same amount of time or longer if you need to. E.g. 3 days on, 3 days off. Or 3 days on, 7 days off.... or one week on, one week off. There is no hard fast rule, so long as you are doing it for more than 2 days and the break is the same or longer.

alpha lipoic acid removes copper and mercury and can be used immediately with or without DMSA IF you have had no recent exposure to mercury. But normally it is used about 2-3 months after using DMSA when blood levels are reduced.

ALA is taken much the same as DMSA, but a little more often. Every 3 hours. It is the main chelator and the one that reduces brain/organ mercury (and copper). And can may need to be used for a long time to completely clear the body of these toxic metals.

I hope this helps.