I just had the last of my amalgams removed. should I take msm now?

Hi JK, congratulations! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I think it's a wise move to wait for a few days before taking anything that mobilises/chelates mercury. Apparently this is because sometimes you can inadvertently swallow a bit of amalgam during removal without realising it and it is better to wait for a few days just in case.

If you can handle MSM? that's great. It's good stuff. But it most definitely does mobilise mercury. Some people tolerate sulfur products really well with mercury, others do not. Of course, you'll be the best judge of that.

You said you do wish to do things the natural way, rather than take products like DMSA or DMPS etc? So therefore, your choices will be mainly sulfur products I guess. Another thing great for mercury is chlorophyll, but again some do not tolerate chlorella (you might). But there is one made from alfalfa that is apprently really good. I think it's from "Nature's Way". That is another choice for you if chlorella isn't tolerated.

Personally? I find these products like these seek to mobilise/stir up mercury rather than chelate it properly. I had far too many issues with stuff like this, garlic supplements included to be able to use them. Admittedly they certainly did have an affinity for metals, did stir it up and force me into a detox, but it was for me, a pretty traumatic way to go about it. SO I had to keep taking breaks from it to let things subside again. However, sometimes the backfire effects last months.

In the end I chose full on chelation Cutler style and as you know, that was pretty well tolerated and did the job too. You need to really use something that has 2 thiol groups, that grip onto the mercury strongly enough to really be called a chelating agent. Most of them have only 1 thiol group, so yes they do move mercury but don't hold onto it very tightly.

hi jk98 : how strong do you feel your system is? the reason I ask is if you do not feel stable ,then be very careful with msm ,I know for a fact that it does mobilize mercury ,I used it for about 3 weeks back in oct-nov and whent down hill very quickly and was only using half a capsule every other day , it is an organic sulfer compound , if you have a problem with sulfer foods then msm will give you the same problems

I can’t handle sulphur foods so I could not use MSM in any case. It would hurt me.

If I had no problem with sulphur foods…..i still would not use it.

Cutler has a perfectly good protocol, with a proven track record, that is as safe as you can get, IMHO, so why would i take a chance with something with a proven track record that has hurt plenty of people?

i don't take no chances no more, they hurt too much <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I am starting to feel worse again. I guess I should stop taking the MSM and selenium for a while? I am eating eggs and broccoli, so I should be getting enough sulphur from those.

Sunshine, any reason why you can't tolerate sulphur foods? I understand that sulphur is a mercury chelater. What I have found interesting is that eggs would give me pain until I had my fillings out. Have tried eggs a couple times since without an problems.

When I had a lot of body mercury, sulfur foods used to stir things up quite a bit. Especially in the early stages of detoxing mercury (post amalgam removal). I would get a strong exacerbation of symptoms when I ate anything like egg, cabbage, broccoli, garlic, onions etc. So I had to lessen it, because it would bring on too many healing type crisis symptoms and redistribution.

I had the same problem with chlorella. I never tried msm, but imagine at that time it may have done similar to me. Many people with high body mercury can have issues with sulfur foods, it apparently mobilises it, but the bond on the mercury isn't usually strong enough to call these things "chelators".

I think it's a strong indicator of high tissue/body mercury when someone has big problems with sulfur. Usually that starts to improve as the metals are cleared out, or at least that's how it worked with me. I can eat sulfur foods now just fine, but I suffer more with yeast and other infection/s, rather than high mercury levels.

Some people respond very well to high sulfur foods and seem to need it, as their body is low in sulfur and it doesn't seem to stir up the mercury, rather instead it seems to make them feel better. Others may find the extra sulfur causes too many symptoms, rather than does much to help. It's one of those things a person needs to try out for themselves to see. It's all a good indicator sometimes to see if it stirs up symptoms, or you're improving and are able to consume more sulfur foods as time goes on.

Hi James.

This takes some explaining, but pls read this post from Andy Cutler:

"Glutathione is your body's natural antioxidant and mercury is an
oxidation catalyst, so mercury uses up glutathione and leads to
reduced levels.

Glutathione has a thiol group on it which mobilizes mercury and
causes the mercury to be more toxic, so increasing glutathione
levels makes whatever amount of mercury is present be MORE harmful.

Thus there is a tradeoff, and you want the RIGHT AMOUNT of
glutathione for your body's needs. Not just more and more - you
don't want too much any more than you want too little.

Some people's bodies respond to mercury by making more thiol
containing things like glutathione and cysteine. For these people
they need to REDUCE their intake of everything sulfury to keep
levels down.

Other people's bodies respond to mercury by having low levels of
glutathione etc. and they need to INCREASE their intake of sulfury
stuff."

taken from here http://onibasu.com/archives/am/2470.html

The important bit of this post is the last two paragraphs. It helps to read it a few times, took me a while to get it!

My body reacts to mercury poisoning by making large quantities of glutathione and cysteine, so I need to reduce my intake as my body is already making enough. It does this because I am stuffed full of mercury.

These sulphur foods, or thiol’s, mobilise mercury but have trouble escorting it out of the body. So if I eat sulphur foods, this goes into my body, picks up some mercury and moves the mercury about….. without excreting it. Because most of the sulphur foods are single thiol’s (I think that’s the correct way to say it) it does not hold on to the mercury very well…end result is redistribution of mercury. The redistribution can go anywhere in my body and it hurts me.

I used to have serious trouble with sulphur foods, but 5 months since I have gone amalgam free and its not as bad anymore. I am reluctant to test sulphur food again, although avoiding eggs is a real pain in the bum and I need to pluck up the courage to test out eggs.

I hope that kinda makes sense….

Thanks Sunshine for that information. Kinda technical but it makes a lot of sense 'cause that is what I've been experiencing.

We always have been trained to make sure we get enough of certain vitamins and minerals but that article details how too much of something can be counterproductive.