My First 30 Rounds

First off, I want to say that what I'm about to write is not so you'll feel sorry for me. I'm writing this to help other people who may be going through chelation, and need some hope.

I also want to say....

No, I am not going crazy. 
Logically, since I'm removing mercury, 
I'm becoming uncrazy. 

Some things I describe here are symptoms of  mercury toxicity. You've heard the term "Mad as a Hatter", haven't you? Look that up sometime. (I'm not referring to the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland)  Then, think about everyone who has amalgam fillings or who received a large amount of thimerosal filled vaccines up until 2004 and some of the craziness going on in the world and the tremendous amount of people on antidepressants today for anxiety or depression.
Ok, rant (and rabbit hole) over....

My last post was 7 months ago in March. I find it very depressing to write how about how I'm feeling when I'm miserable...

I mean, who wants to read that?

Plus, people read it and comment so nicely and I don't want people feeling sorry for me - or thinking that I'm some crazy person, who's a hypochondriac who always has some new, unexplained symptom. If you are mercury toxic, you know what I'm talking about. 

Here's where I am now...

I've completed 31 rounds of ACC. (Andy Cutler Chelation Protocol). More on how I'm doing later...let's talk about the last 12 months. 

Here's some history...

I had amalgams for nearly 5 decades. Nearly 50 years. That's a long time for fillings that are 50% mercury to do a lot of damage.  I also just found out I have the MTHFR (yep, that's how it's spelled) genetic mutation where your body detoxes 50% less than others. I also used a chelator (alpha lipoic acid) in a lyme protocol with amalgam fillings still in my mouth. Ala used improperly can move mercury to your brain, which is what I believe happened to me.
I knew from the Andy Cutler support group on Facebook that my journey wasn't going to be a short one.

I knew at the end of September 2017, that I would go thru a period called the "dump" where you have INCREASED symptoms. 

It was expected to start 2 to 4 months post amalgam removal.

It was expected to last a year or more.

I had a "hoping to goal" of making a little progress by September 2018.

I had a "hoping to goal" of the dump ending at the end of November 2018.

Decisions, then the dreaded dump...

Because we had an important wedding to go to in October(last year),  I  set my final amalgam removal to be at the end of September, so that I wouldn't enter the dump until after the wedding. I'm glad I waited an additional month to do my final amalgam removal. It was perfect timing because I continually felt better after removal.

My brother passed away the end of October and we flew out to California for his funeral the first week of November. I was still feeling pretty good (all  things considered) post amalgam removal. 

flowers from the bridal shower

At the end of November the dump hit.

Muscle tightness and dizziness became more pronounced over the next month, but I was still able to have some "better" days where I could get things done.

ACC says to wait 3 months to start chelating with  Alpha Lipoic Acid, but I was afraid to start in December. I had my supply of ALA, but wasn't until the third week of January, when I basically stuck in bed and wasn't having any good days, that I did my first round.

My hair test back in the Fall of 2017 didn't show any mercury and didn't meet any of the ACC counting rules. Mercury toxicity causes mineral derangement that shows up on hair tests. Mine showed nothing. The only way for me to know if I had mercury toxicity was to do a trial round of ALA and to see if I had any reaction on round or the 3 days off round. 

I started at 12.5 mg ALA and took it every 3 hours for 63 hours. I reacted. My ear ringing was louder and I didn't feel well on round. The symptoms weren't that much worse than before the trial round, so I continued at the same dose.

I made some gains the first 8 rounds or so.


You can find the link to the Andy Cutler Chelation group on Facebook HERE.

Lessons learned:

On one round I forgot a dose and had to abort the round. Off round, I had increased symptoms. On another round, I didn't realize I had forgotten a dose until I took the next dose. Instead of aborting the round, I continued to finish the round and I will never do that again. The redistribution symptoms were awful.

The biggest mistake I made was doing a round while up at our mountain house for a week. I extended my round so I wouldn't have the redistribution symptoms on the drive home. I also didn't have access to a sauna during the round. (big mistake). The whole next week was miserable. I will never do a round when I don't have access to a sauna. I also tried raising my dose once I felt good on and off round , but I felt pretty awful when I did, so I went back down to 12.5 mg

In March, I had a 2nd muscle spasm episode. This time I was ready. My neighbor had let me borrow a wheeled walker and I had a prescription for 800 mg of Ibuprofen. I only take painkillers when I ABSOLUTELY have to. My doctor also signed for a temporary handicap placard. Our daughter was graduating in May and we borrowed a wheelchair, but we ended up not needing the placard that day because we found a parking spot right in front of the building.

I was glad I had the handicap placard over the coming months because my muscle tightness and dizziness got worse.

Those in ACC say that the peak of the dump many times is between 6 and 9 months. June went by, then July, then August; still increasing symptoms and no progress at all.. It seemed like it was going to go on forever. Oh, and I had another muscle spasm episode in July.

During that time(but not all of it- can't remember how long), I was crying all the time; for NO reason. My serious, logical self could not control it.  Those of you who have never been poisoned by mercury won't understand that. It's pretty common in the ACC group to have adrenal problems...and crying, for absolutely no reason. I am not normally a cryer. Yes, in the past, I've cried, but not all the time and only for a good reason.

This crying was without a sad or happy thought; just all of a sudden.

Still at 12.5 mg, I reached out to the ACC group and listed where I was at and what supplements I had tried to alleviate my symptoms. Here's my post:

Can anyone help me or give me some insight? I had 5 amalgams removed last year safely (XXX the dentist in the group, just rechecked my x-rays), and had amalgams, probably for 48- 50 years. I'm in month 9 of my dump(12 months post amalgam removal) and finished round 23 at 12.5 mg ALA onlly on Aug 8th (took last week off) and am feeling pretty bad.(brain fog, tight muscles , numbness poor sleep, balance issues and fatigue) . My muscles are super tight all the time and seem to be getting worse. Most of my tight muscles start at the hip and as they have been tightening, the numbness has been moving up from my toes, to my calves, to my hips and now the middle torso progressively. I had a muscle spasm a month ago that required drugs to take the edge off pain. I'm still partially using a walker. It's difficult to walk with my leg muscles being so tight and feeling stiff. Yesterday, out of the blue, I developed a lot of black floaters in my left eye that are very noticeable . I've had a lot of white floaters for many years, but never black ones. Of course, I take the core 4, with extra mag,  8 -10 adrenal cortex a day, hc cream, adaptogens and a bunch of other supplements.  I don't eat many thiols, but don't go out of my way to make sure my food aren't high thiol, and I haven't done a thiol exclusion test. I start round 24 tomorrow, but I'm at a loss for what else to do to feel better, other than chelate and wait for my dump to be over. Thanks in advance.

Now, the group can't give medical advice, but it was suggested that I lower my dose. 24 rounds in and I have to LOWER my dose for a few rounds to see if that would help. That was depressing because in ACC, the goal is to get your dose to 3 mg per kilogram of body weight. Everything I had read in the group was true for me, 

so, I lowered my dose to 5 mg. of ALA. 

In September, I had a few days where my muscles didn't seem to be so tight. My chiropractor agreed. I had/have only been getting a K-laser treatment on my hip and neck twice a month, since my muscles have been too tight to adjust me.

Right around the time Hurricane Florence came through, I had 2 weeks of feeling really bad. At least with the lower dose I wasn't crying all the time for no reason, but what was the point of getting out of bed? Unless you've experienced this, ya'll don't realize how much energy it takes to keep yourself upright when you're dizzy and off balance all the time. 

I started feeling better the first week of October. When I say better, I don't mean I feel well- I just felt a little better than bad. I went to the grocery store the other day because felt pretty good that morning. I felt pretty good in my head; sitting down. Unfortunately, my body didn't get the message. Fortunately, I parked in a close parking spot and brought my cane.  By the time I had walked the whole store getting my groceries, I was feeling ill and had to sit on a bench near the pharmacy. It was all I could do to pay for my groceries and get to my car. Sitting down in my car and driving is usually no problem because I'm only dizzy standing up, but I rested before I left just to make sure. My (large) neighborhood is right next to the store and my house is about a mile away. I think I'll continue to have my husband do the grocery shopping for awhile.  

I am still having what I call "meltdowns", after riding in a car, going to a noisy restaurant and eating dinner or going to an appointment or doing any number of things that my body perceives as stress. I try to warn my husband that I'm about to cry beforehand, so he doesn't think he did something wrong. 

I will be glad when that symptom is gone for good. 

Where I am now...

I am finishing round 32 today. I usually start a round on Monday and finish on Wednesday, then take 4 days off, but I want to get one more round in before going to our daughter's baby shower in SoCal in November. I want as much mercury out of my head by then, so I'm only doing the minimum 72 hours between rounds.

Well, that's where I am. I can feed myself, do a couple of loads of laundry a day, vacuum one room at a time before needing a rest or walk out to get the mail and  pull a couple of weeds. I can drive myself to the chiropractor 20 minutes away twice a month. I take a cane when I go out to help stabilize me and to help others to see me. I still use my walker at home to help give me some support when I'm tired. That's pretty much it.

For now.

Looking forward to digging in the dirt again and going to dinner and enjoying it, instead of wondering if I'm going to survive getting through it without a meltdown.

Thanks for listening

Pam

UPDATE:My head suddenly cleared the Tuesday night (Oct 30th) after I finished my 33rd round. Traveling was difficult, but I was able to enjoy our daughter's baby shower on November 4th. 

Current Symptoms:

dizziness when standing/walking

muscle tightness/spasticity

super hot or freezing feet

numb feet and ankles

spider-like sensations in legs

brain fog (when I do too much or after a round)

waking up at night several times

urgency

ringing in the ears

meltdowns
gait problems
blurry eyes at times
eyes not processing what I'm seeing (when in public)
nail problems
random fibro pain
stabbing pains that last for hours or a day
legs so tight, it hurts to straighten them