Chelating Mercury

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Hello friends!
I haven't posted in awhile because I'd been in a holding pattern. The plan last year was to have my amalgams removed safely by a biological dentist. That took some time as I had to find a biological  dentist, get quotes from 2 different dentists,  and decide who to go with. Because I had amalgams in all 4 quadrants in my mouth, it took 2 different appointments to remove them, with a couple of months in between to recover. (sensitivity)

Gorelik Dentistry

 The last of my amalgams (silver fillings which are 50% mercury) were removed safely at the end of September 2017.  I was feeling be better and was even thinking of planning a trip for this Spring. It was not to be. According to the Andy Cutler Safe Chelation group on Facebook, the "dump" phase started 5 days shy of two months post removal. 

For those that don't know, the "dump" phase starts 2 - 4 months post removal of all mercury. Even a speck left in your mouth is enough to keep this from occuring. If you're getting your amalgams removed, do so with a biological dentist who has a whole safe protocol and have the dentist take bitewing x rays after the fillings are removed,  and before your teeth are refilled. 

The last week in November ( 2 months post amalgam removal), all my muscles were cramped up. They cramp when I stand up and when I'm sleeping. My whole body. Going to the chiropractor doesn't help. The brain fog was coming back, as well. 

I had planned to start chelating via ACC (Andy Cutler Chelation) after the holidays, but I felt bad and didn't want to chance feeling worse. Sometimes, when people start chelating, they feel worse, but not always. Sometimes they feel worse "on round", when Alpha Lipoic Acid is carrying the mercury out of your body, or feel worse "off round" when there's no Alpha Lipoic Acid in your system and mercury is dropped, or redistributed in the body.

DO NOT EVER TAKE ALPHA LIPOIC ACID WHEN YOU HAVE "SILVER" FILLINGS IN YOUR MOUTH, AS IT CAN MOVE MERCURY TO THE BRAIN

Sorry for the all caps, but I can't stress this enough. I believe, this is what caused my problems after our big move. I had been taking ALA randomly in one of the Restore products (Mitochondrial Support)  for about a year and a half while I recovered from Lyme.

My thinking is that I've recovered from Lyme, but now have to chelate the mercury out. Mercury and lyme have some of the same neurological symptoms and mercury lowers immunity.

Getting on to Chelation:
I did an HTMA hair test, but it was inconclusive, as it didn't meet any of the ACC counting rules, but I was low in lithium, even though I take lithium orotate regularly. The ACC group suggested that I do a trial round to see if I reacted, so I ordered 12.5 mg capsules from Living Supplements.

January came and went. Then, in the 2nd week of February, I had really bad brain fog and dizziness for the whole week and I couldn't drive anywhere or do hardly anything. I figured chelation couldn't be any worse because I was already stuck in bed, as I couldn't get up and do anything, other than feed myself,  use the restroom and maybe do some laundry. I couldn't stand up without getting dizzy. I was also having periods of crying uncontrollably for no reason. 

So, I created a spreadsheet for taking ALA every 3 hours around the clock and started on a Thursday. The first day on round, I felt awful. My head felt like it was filled with cotton and was smoldering. I took some Alka Seltzer Gold for symptoms (suggested by the ACC group) and it helped. I didn't feel well, yet I wasn't depressed. I was actually in a good mood. I felt ok for the remainder of the round and didn't bad when I finished the 72 hour round.

Today, I'm on the last day of my 2nd round at 12.5 mg ALA. This round hasn't kept me in bed and I haven't had any additional symptoms other than a little more ringing in my ears and my head feeling a little like it's stuffed  with cotton. Dizziness is a little better, but I'm not about to try driving yet. I'll wait until I complete a few more rounds.

Dr. Cutler's Book Amalgam Illness explains a lot. Click on the photo to take you to the Amazon link where you can purchase it.

I am hopeful that I will get better and am hoping I will see significant progress by summer, but it takes a long time to chelate all the mercury out. It can take 18 months to 2+ years to finish. 

You can't chelate until 3 months after you remove your amalgams. The ACC group suggests you take the "core 4", which are zinc, Vitamin C, magnesium and Vitamin E (mixed tocopherals). Join the group on Facebook to see the recommended doses.

Some things you should not take or eat when you have amalgams are:

No Cilantro,

No Glutathione

No Chlorella

No Alpha Lipoic Acid

There's more, but those are the biggies. Cilantro is a single thiol, which can pick up mercury, but it can't hold on to it, so the mercury can get redistributed to the brain. I'm not going to go over the chemistry of glutathione, chlorella and ala here. Join the Andy Cutler Chelation:  Safe Mercury and Heavy Metal Detox group on Facebook for more. I can't stress this enough.

Well, that's all for now. I'm anticipating that I'll be bringing you good news in a couple of months. 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Pam


If you'd like to see which supplements, treatments and other things that have helped me along my journey, you can read about them HERE.

* an affiliate link means that if you purchase something from the affiliate link, I'll make a small commission.

May 17 Update

Hello Friends!

I hope you are doing well or are on your way to healing.
Just wanted to let you know how things are going with me.
Last time, I had been 4 weeks without brain fog. A few weeks after that, our daughter came for a visit (from SoCal), then I spent a week getting our taxes organized and ready for our accountant. I missed going to the chiropractor for those 2 weeks (chiro was sick, then didn't want to go during daughter's visit), then couldn't get in the following week because the chiropractor was booked. By the time I went back, the brain fog was back and my back and neck were worse off than ever.
I've gone back 3 weeks in a row for an adjustment and K-Laser treatment and the brain fog is better, but I still get bouts of it.

=
I went to see my integrative doc and had him run a bunch of labs. My liver enzymes have been high for at least a year, but seem to be getting higher. That may have something to do with the brain fog, so if you have brain fog, you might want to check your liver enzymes.

My chiropractor asked me how I was doing at an appointment and I said I was waking up at night every couple of hours and sometimes I couldn't get back to sleep for 2 hours. She said it that when you wake up at 2 or 3  to go to the bathroom, it's probably your liver. She confirmed what I had been reading. She asked if I was taking anything for that and I told her I just started  taking 1200 mg of milk thistle. She had me take home some Liverplex from Standard Process and gave me instructions on how to slowly build up to full dose. She said that Liverplex would bring down my liver enzymes and I'd sleep better. I started taking 1 a day and had no reaction. The 2nd day after I took one, I was able to sleep 6 hours straight! It's been a long time. The following night, however, I was back to getting up every 2 hours, but it still gave me hope!

I've been on the Livaplex for several weeks now, but I struggle to get that 3rd dose in . I have some good nights where I only wake up once, but the last 2 nights I was up 4 times. The good news is that I've been able to get back to sleep right away and haven't had any nights where I'm up for 2 or 3 hours. 

As for the dizziness and brain fog; they still plague me; the dizziness or off balance on many days. It's better on days when I sleep better, so I do everything I can to get better sleep on the nights before I have to drive to an appointment. I get brain fog when I do too much, which could be anything on days when I don't get enough sleep. On those days, I just try to relax, sit in the sun for 30 minutes, do something in the garden - but not overdo it or do something easy like laundry. 

I've met with a 2nd holistic dentist for amalgam removal and have scheduled an appointment for removing the fillings (and 1 crown) on the right side of my mouth. I'm so glad I went for a 2nd opinion even though the drive is 30 minutes instead of 15. I like this dentist better and the cost is lower. Even though she will do 2 additional crowns on 2 heavily filled lower teeth, the cost is about $1,300 lower than the first dentist, and that's with a $500 lab compatibility test. If I had gone to the new dentist and had to put a crown on those 2 lowers(not included in the estimate), the difference would have been $3,900.  That's a lot! The new dentist will also be doing ozone on the 4 teeth that have/will have crowns. Hopefully, all the mercury will be out of my mouth by the end of July. Then, I can start chelating in October. I plan to use the Andy Cutler Chelation method - but, more on that later. 

In the meantime, I'm continuing the K-Laser treatments at the chiropractor and look forward to them twice a month, still taking a maintenance dose of Advanced Biotic , Adaptogen Recovery, numerous other supplements and doing what I can to enjoy life. We spent a week at our Mountain Cottage working on our kitchen reno (my husband) and doing various maintenance projects. Here's a photo of the open shelving project that we just finished. You can read more HERE if you'd like to see more of the kitchen. 

That's all for now...

If you have any questions for me, feel free to leave a comment or contact me via email, listed on the sidebar.

Hope today is a good day for you.

Pam

Here is the status of my symptoms:

Numbness, tingling in feet - fluctuates

dizziness/off balance- seems to have been worse this month

brain fog- comes and goes in the afternoon

blurry eyes - a few days clear, then a few days blurry

urgency  (3) - still a problem

noise sensitivity (2)

startles easily- very little unless it's a really loud noise.

muscle pain -2 some days more, especially after working too hard.

muscle weakness (2)

high pitch ringing in the ears/low pitch ringing. High pitch comes and goes,

not being able to follow directions - hasn't been a problem - only a problem when I get brain fog.

97 - temp has been lower

Weight is stable at 130