I don't see or feel it come out of my body. For me, detoxing simply brings up all the usual suspects from having Lyme disease, which for me is fatigue, nausea, vertigo, and brain fog.

However, it also makes my body feel like a toxic waste dump. I get skin eruptions, excema, and well, the list is long and there are often individual symptoms that one person gets but another doesn't. New for me this year are a lot of emotional problems, Alzheimer-like symptoms, and depression.

Combine that with secondary conditions that can ocurr as a result of mercury or metals, such as systemic candida, leaky gut and others, and you can get a very confusing situation where it becomes unclear what the cause of any particular symptoms may be.

For example, the brain fog I am currently expeirencing could be from metals, candida, Lyme, or leaky gut, or something else. How do you tell when there are so many layers of issues occuring at the same time?

It has taken me a few years to determine that I can't deal with cxandida or leaky gut first and only, but that mercury seems to be the underlying issue holding most of the other issues in my body, which means mercury is now front and center on my radar.

Most MDs believe I have, as my neurologist put it, psycho-depressive issues, or in other words, its all in my head. Well, I know its not, and so do all others on this forum. Most know it from personal experience.

It's just that my MDs model of how the body works just isn't focused or sensitive enough to be aware of the many issues going on in my body. For whatever reason his tests can't measure what is happening to me or to my organs (liver, kidneys, thyroid, adrenals), brain or body, and his reasoning can't acknowledge that what is hurting me even exist. Pity.

It is my experience that most p rofessionals, especially alternative types, will often focus on their area of expertise, what they enjoy, have based their practice on, and what has worked for many of their patients. However, their speciality may not be what you need or will help you in your detox.

I have gone down many such dead ends. I now consider it my responsbility to determine in advance who I'm seeing, for what, and what benefits I expect. Now, I am prepared to fire such professionals sooner rather than later if they don't meet my needs or expectations.

I also have fellow patients and friends as mentors to help me make decisions and act as a reality check for my health decisions. This seems practical when one of the symptoms I experience is brain fog, inability to focus, and unclear thinking. I use groups like this in that manner as well. After all, there is no sense reinventing the wheel when you can simply learn from others who have gone through this before.

Concerning who to see....I have discovered that I need to educate myself FIRST before finding a professional to help me because there are MDs, naturopaths, and other health professionals who have hurt me after they put me on detox and other protocols that my body was either not ready for, or it was not appropriate for me to be on. Or, I wasted huge amounts of money trying things that either did nothing or made things worse.

You may pick one and luck out and everything works out fine. But if it doesn't, which is the case for many of us, you have to take full responsibility for your detox, and that means trying things to see how it is for you, going slow so you don't hurt yourself too much if you make mistakes, and continuing your own learning curve.

In my case, I have used many professionals and am currently in worse condition than when I got my amalgams out, at least in part because of the detox protocols I have tried at their suggestion.

Slow and steady. You are in charge. Continue on your learning curve. Be careful.

At least that is my two cents. Good luck.