Hi, welcome to the forum <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I had been mercury poisoned all my life, but did not notice symptoms as much until braces were placed on my teeth when I was 15. Then the sh*t hit the fan!

I developed OCD symptoms (constant checking of face obsessively for any marks real or imagined) fear of the light, photosensivitiy, blurred vision, withdrawn and strange behaviours, ritualistic behaviours, abnormal fears, fatigue, depression, anxiety, pallor in the face, skin blemishes unable to heal, insomnia, allergic reactions, sore eyes, skin because ultra sensitive, bowel upsets, etc.

This happened very quickly after braces went on, but nobody seemed to make the connection. It was put down to a difficult adolesence. They were removed and there was a vague improvement, but I never came right because it had obviously been the last straw to tip my body into a chronic mercury toxic condition.

From there it was one thing after another. And I suffered horribly looking back. I was put on antidepressants, which failed to work and instead gave me odd side effects. I was suicidal and bloated with toxins. Nothing helped and in the end I was close to ending it because I could not take anymore. I spent many days in bed, missing out on my young life.

Then a wonderful doctor put me on a diet for candida yeast. Candida is the typical results of underlying mercury toxicity and can cause so much misery. So my diet was radically changed and I went through a withdrawal and detox and improved greatly after a few weeks. This I think saved my life! It lifted the depression and anxiety and improved the OCD behaviours to a point, but not entirely. Skin and everything improved in quality and health.

However, something was NOT right still. THere was always a strange sense I was being poisoned by something....I could taste metal and had crying spells and salivation, though the diet helped this a lot.

later I had the amalgams out wthout any protection and didn't notice much happening. Over time however, less amalgams were obviously helping my health. My last amalgam removal I swallowed most of the amalgam and was severely sick. But my body seemed to respond to having no more amalgam by going into a withdrawal and I really did feel ill.

HOwever, I lost a lot of the toxic bloat I had and obviously my body was being propelled to go into healing mode, reather than storage mode (now that it did not need to store mercury). From there it was a difficult journey and finding myself trying so many things to excrete the metals inside of me. I went thrugh a few experienced doctors who dealt in this, but I was a very toxic and sensitive case senario, so I could not deal with their methods.

I found Andy Cutler's book in the end and applied his advice and it worked. From then on, I mainly followed his methods, but I didn't take absolutely everything supplement wise, it was too much for me. I stuck to basic antioxidant supplements like vitamin C, E and selenium (though had to start low as at first they were enough to encourage further metal elimination to a point). His protocol really got things going and kept my detox symptoms to a more sane level and sped up the chelation process much more.

I used DMSA every 4 hours (alternative weeks). Annoying to set the alarm, but I could not handle ti any other way. Taking just one DMSA in isolation could throw me into a fit of symptoms for days or longer (i mean almost insane). Taking it every 4 hours kept things stable, so I feel he was onto the right method (certainly for me).

This is what I did and his book was one of the most valuable purchases I ever made. I would definitely recommend the book and his protocol personally because it was the only one in the end I could tolerate. people on here also use his protocol and they may chip in and let you know how it's going for them.

Mercury testing is notoriously misleading. Hair tests can reveal very low levels in even some of the most toxic people for various reasons. E.g. the mercury is tightly bound up and being retained, rather than excreted outwards so that it will show up more in the hair. Or you have low levels, but your body reacts badly to even a very small amount of mercury.

low level does not equal no poisoning. If you have all the symptoms of mercury and you get worse symptoms from trying to detox it, it's a pretty good indicator in itself.

There is a way of testing Andy metnions this in his book but it should be done safely so you dont' get hurt after it long term. It is a safer challenge test.

You can apparently also have a hair test done and look at the minerals on it and see if they show a pattern of typical derangement seen in mercury poisoning.

I get my DMSA from a lab in my country (new zealand). It is excellent, works fine. www.clinicians.co.nz It may not show up on the website though, but you can phone in if you wish to order (depending where you live).

otherwise, you can join this forum here http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/frequent-dose-chelation/ They deal exclusively with Cutler's protocol and also have places listed on there to get DMSA without prescription. people there should be able to advise you where they get theirs and which ones maybe more reputable.

I hope this is helpful.

Your unprotected rash removal will have no doubt exposed you to a tremendous amount of mercury and many people have been through this. Don't give up hope! Chelation most definitley does remove mercury and in doing so allows for slow healing to take place. It is not a race and not a speedy process. It takes time.

Make sure you have no other metals in your mouth! It is wise to get solid porcelain without a metal base to it. Some porcelains have metal bases (old style ones usually do). So you can check that out too. I have cerec porcelain.

This link here should also be helpful to you:
http://home.earthlink.net/~moriam/ANDY_INDEX.html

Also consider the role candida maybe playing in your symptoms. Because the diet truly saved my life and helped me along the healing road greatly. It is typically part of the mercury toxic senario and ousting all sugar, gluten and yeast from your diet could make some dramatic or at least helpful improvements! A dentist here will actually not remove amalgams until the patient is in a healthier position and the diet is part of that. If they refuse to do it, he will not do the job.

That's how important it is to do these other things too.