Hi guys, thanks for your replies.

Bex, How can you tell if you have high blood levels of metals? Through a lab? I seem to be able to taste it through the saliva. Every once in a while I'll even wake up in the morning with a strong metallic taste in my mouth and rinse it out and see brown colored metal particles coming out when I spit. I don't believe this to be mercury but some other metal like cadmium that has accumulated due to mercury. The mercury has a different taste and I notice this when I take chlorella but especially cilantro.

I'll probably take your advice and hold off on any cilantro in the early stages. It's something I might try at a later stage of detox, plus it was expensive. I'll look at trying to get some DMSA and try the frequent low dose to be safe. As I understand it, this Cutler method all goes through the kidney so it might not be as crucial to have frequent bowel movements? The waking up in the middle of the night for three nights in a row sounds rough because I feel pretty crappy if I don't sleep well but I guess that's a necessary evil.

Do you have any thoughts on zeolites or the Algin reaction I had?

JK98 and Bex, I probably should have listed the supplements I have been taking for the last month or more and what my diet is like.

-multi-vitamin
--pro-vitamin A 5000 IU
--vitamin D3 2000 IU (I also take an extra 2000 IU separately in the winter)
--vitamin E 30 IU
--vitamin B1 10 mg
--vitamin B2 10 mg
--vitamin B3 20 mg
--vitamin B5 10 mg
--vitamin B6 10 mg
--folic acid 800 mcg
--vitamin B12 100 mcg
--zinc 15 mg
--selenium 200 mcg
--copper 500 mcg
--chromium 200 mcg
--coenzyme Q10 100 mg

-magnesium 325 mg
-Carlson's cod liver oil 920 mg of omega 3's
-milk thistle 300-600 mg
-Quantum kidney complex
-iodine (iodoral) 12.5 mg
-Garden of Life probiotic
-1-2 Emergen-C packets a day so 1000-2000 mg of vit C

I've cleaned up my diet pretty well over the last 14 months and it has changed a bit in the last few. The first half of last year, I was eating closer to a vegetarian diet with limited amounts of meat and no dairy. However, when you can't eat any goitrogenic foods it cuts down on variety and I was losing too much weight. So this year I started researching some more about diet and came across the Weston Price research. The last couple months I've started incorporating more locally raised animal foods and healthy fats they recommend. By nature, I believe I'm a fast oxidizer when my metabolism is functioning normally so I believe now that a higher fat/lower carb diet is what suits me better. Plus, I crave fats and protein and I think they help with the mercury issue like Bex mentioned. I think it's starting to help me gain a little weight but not much. I still eat a good amounts of vegetables but now sometimes I'll steam them and put some grass-fed butter on them. I try and eat as lightly cooked food as possible and stay away from processed foods as much as possible. I've slowly started cutting down on wheat and bread and currently looking for a gluten free flour to make bread with. I'm not sure whether I should add dairy or not but I do eat some raw cheese. I've never seemed to have any issues with dairy. I'm planning on completely eliminating wheat and gluten by next month so I'll see if I notice any improvement on gluten free. I've been adding a few cashews and sunflower seeds for snacks. I don't drink coffee or any caffeine, only water based drinks including water, Emergen-C, tea and almond milks. I don't seem to tolerate caffeinated or alchoholic beverages very well anymore anyway.

I think I get enough sulpher and cysteine eating eggs, raw cheese, meats, avocados, green beans and asparagus. The meats should have plenty of zinc and iron. I'll keep in mind carnitine, creatine, selenium and olive leaf extract as possible supplements to add but I'd like to keep supplements to a minimum and whole foods as the primary sources.

I don't feel good eating too much sugar or white breads and pastas but I do eat a couple pieces of fruit a day. When you guys say sugar should be avoided does that include fruit?

I have no idea if I have candida or parasites. Is there a way to tell? I think I will plan on doing a bowel and parasite cleanse over the next month before starting the DMSA. Do you recommend any particular products for this?

JK98, I'm taking the maintenance dose of iodine which is 12.5 mg. I'm thinking about trying to go on the higher doses again because I had improvement and was able to tolerate more exercise which means I can sweat better and that helps clear my head and raise energy levels. I was taking 37.5 mg over the summer of '07. Do you know if it is OK to take this much while doing any sort of chelation like DMSA?

All in all, my diet is a work in progress but getting a lot better and I'm getting most of the important supportive nutrients. I just don't think my energy levels are going to come up much more until I start some sort of chelation. My energy seems to go as good as my adrenals get stimulated and that appears to involve my central nervous system and brain.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm sure I'll have more questions at some point.