Sunshine, Bex.
Heh, I have not been hijacked.. There is no solid evidence for that detox reactions are caused by mercury. You might think that using DMSA and because it helps that it proves that you're chelating away mercury. This is not necessarily so. DMSA, like any other chelator has also lots of other properties, like being anti-pathogenic (has anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties) and chelating also acetaldehyde.

Some proof that you can get well in various ways, is that some have gotten well on protocols including anti-biotics as the major component (those that pass blood-brain barrier). I do not recommend these, as the detox reactions can be very severe, and you also risk killing beneficial bacterias.

And yes, not everyone here has Lyme, that is certain, and I didn't claim that either. But everyone has Lyme-like detox reactions, and this points out to some OTHER bacterias, most likely at least mycoplasma. Anti-fungals alone are not the way to treat amalgam-illness, if bacterias are the main concern, so I'm not surprised that everyone doesn't get cured on anti-fungals alone.

Those who can't stand cysteine (which is dense in sulfur), or sulfur rich foods, investigate rather the possibility that your bacterias in bowels are NOT ok, and that this needs to be addressed.

Ray Saarela on the amalgam research list
http://dfn-listserv.fzk.de/archives/amalgam.html
(see especially the messages from 1998-2001),
thinks that this is because of the bacterias that also feed on chelators such as ALA and DMPS, and produce toxic H2S, that makes you feel sick as a dog.

What does mercury then cause? Well the only thing that appears sure knowledge is that it causes pathological changes in immune system, letting the pathogens accumulate over the years in our bodies, with emphasis on intracellular invaders. You may or may not have accumulated more mercury in body, but everyone is still sick even if body mercury levels are low.

Hope this helped someone.