"The one ALA study concluded it moves mercury into other areas of the body which did not have mercury to begin with."

That is why some say that ALA should never be used without DMSA. I think I made a mistake in initially using ALA without DMSA.

I have some theories about why oral chelation often doesn't work. One theory is that due to overgrowth of candida and bacteria, very little of the chelating agent is absorbed. Another theory is that if someone is sulphur deficient, the chelating agent will be torn apart to be a source of desperately needed sulphur, and won't be able to chelate. Another theory is that glutathione production, or perhaps some other substance the body needs to detoxify itself with is not produced in large enough quantities, preventing the chelators from working. Since so many who are mercury toxic have nutritional deficiencies, this sounds like it might be reasonable. Who knows though.

I hope you get well quickly using the oral DMPS, however I have a feeling that you probably won't see rapid progress.

Clearly DMSA is getting mercury out of the body as seen by the greatly increased mercury excretion in challenge tests. Perhaps the DMSA even in combination with ALA still isn't getting enough mercury out of the brain and nervous system of enough people. After reading about how important vitamin D is for brain detoxification, it wouldn't surprise me if those who don't get well when using ALA and DMSA don't respond due to a vitamin D deficiency.