The kidneys hurting which led to actual UTIs, etc. for me is why I had a hard time chelating.... You may want to do some detoxing first before chelating. And make sure you drink drink drink. Good for you, though, for trying! I found out my endo won't prescribe the DMSA. I think, when I'm not working, I might try ALA. (I'm not working today, but did the last couple of weeks full time).