Actually chelators are less toxic in general than commonly used drugs. The LD50 for DMPS is 22 grams/kg in rats and 8 grams/kg in dogs. The LD50 for aspirin is 1.5 g/kg in rats and 700 mg in dogs.
The main reason mercury is so toxic to life is its affinity for sulfhydryl ligands which are found in DNA, enzymes, proteins and active sites of transporter proteins.The active site of cytochrome P450 contains a heme-iron center with the iron tethered to the protein via a cysteine thiol ligand. This would presumably make it susceptible to Hg poisoning.
The following article shows how mercury affects the expression of many cardiac cytochrome P450 genes. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24472606
Not all detoxification occurs in the liver - many other cells in the body can perform this function. The metabolism of lamivudine is not affected by hepatic impairment http://www.drugs.com/ppa/lamivudine-3tc.html So the fact that you have a problem with lamivudine does not mean you will necessarily have a problem with chelators. Lamivudine is metabolized by phosphorylation while DMPS is oxidized to the disulphide, and excreted by the kidneys.
My point is that chelation can improve liver function itself by removing mercury which causes liver dysfunction. Some people do have problems with chelation, but often I think it is due to not starting low enough and not perservering.
A member of the Yahoo FDC group recently posted his progress report after 6 years of chelation (much longer than the average person requires). Originally he had "tons of food sensitivities, extremely poor recovery from exercise, multiple chemical sensitivity, severe sun sensitivity (this symptom came after I started chelation), extremely low body temps, and a whole host of other symptoms that made it very hard to get through the day. Another point to make is that I’ve had serious symptoms even as a young child such as hot flashes, insomnia, anxiety, serious allergies, asthma, etc..."
His food allergies were so bad he lived on raw milk and kefir for 4 years, eating anything else would make his stomach knot up. "Most of my serious symptoms are GONE. Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, its gone (it was such a nightmare!!!), and I can finally exercise and feel like my body heals and recovers properly. Nearly all of my symptoms are gone. My digestion works good now, that was such an immense pain. Nearly all of my food intolerances are gone. There were years when I couldn’t be out in the sun without two long sleeve shirts and a wide brim hat, otherwise I would get terrible porphyria symptoms, and that is gone as well."
So I think it would be worthwhile for most people with ME to at least give chelation a trial (if they don't have amalgams). An exacerbation or improvement in symptoms is confirmation that mercury is a problem for you.
That said there are a couple of members on phoenix rising (Johnmac and stridor) who started off with chelation and then made further improvements when they added methylation.
@David Hammond,
Many thanks for such a complete reply. You are very kind for this indeed.
I visited a biological dentist this week. To my surprise, she said the silver colored things covering my teeth pieces number 19 and 30 are not ammalgams, but other metal-made devices. She was not able to discard whether I had ammalgams in the past, though. Besides, in the last days I was recalling that I maybe had an unsafe ammalgam removal 5-8 years ago. And I cannot discard other sources during life time of course (I recall playing with a broken thermometer at some point in my childhood, for instance!!!).
She said that due to my poor detox, I should try to remove these metals and put porcelain in substitution, anyway. And I'll cross-check, maybe with the dentist who likely practiced an unsafe removal in the past.
She hypothesized on chronic candidasis as well (indeed I was searching for candida when I discovered its link with inorganic mercury metabolism a couple of months ago). But so far my marker for candida is moderate only, so I am not clear I should give it a priority.
But if eventually I have no ammalgams but 'other metals' in my mouth and (if I am reading you correctly) a detox or metabolism imparement (liver or somewhere else) does not oppose to chelators intake (following FDC, low doses, of course),would it be correct to give it a try to chelators right away even before trying to optimize my detox or metabolism mechanisms by other means? From your previous reply I understand yes.
As I mentioned before, anti-enterovirus (immunomodulators) + B12 methylation support has been the basis of my treatment with noticeable improvements, but still crashing, 85% of food intolerances, impaired digestion, fatigue, and dependent on treatment of course. At this point I am trying to define which is my immediate next step. Mercury/chelation is my first candidate, but I want to be sure it is the momentum, that there is nothing else I can do before either to optimize chelation or improve my general health condition (detox, metabolism, digestion) and that I'll be minimizing the risk of worsening my condition.
Thank you very very much.
S.
PS. And phosphorylation...something new to explore...
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