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    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

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  1. David Hammond

    What is going on? NAC causes burning brain and other symptoms, ALA does not.

    You don’t need to worry about chelating organic mercury from your brain. Methylmercury in the brain is demethylated to inorganic mercury with a half life of about 37 days. This can then be chelated with ALA. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0041008X85711933 I don’t know about...
  2. David Hammond

    What is going on? NAC causes burning brain and other symptoms, ALA does not.

    Burning brain is a symptom reported by a few people with mercury toxicity. My own experience was that I could feel something moving around in my brain when I ate foods containing high levels of thiols. A large proportion of people with mercury poisoning have high levels of plasma cysteine...
  3. David Hammond

    Alpha Lipoic Acid side effects

    @jason30 Actually it is DMSA that is not recommended for people with Candida as it can cause neutropenia. DMPS is also a more effective chelator of mercury. Mercury can cause deranged mineral transport in which case the levels of elements are not reliable.
  4. David Hammond

    Alpha Lipoic Acid side effects

    @jason30 I would suggest you try low dose DMPS initially. When you are comfortable with that you can add ALA in very small doses – maybe 3 mg. What dose did you take before? The minerals in the essential hair tests do not necessarily correlate with body burden. Magnesium and calcium levels are...
  5. David Hammond

    Alpha Lipoic Acid side effects

    ALA has a half life of about 3 hours. The reactions you had are similar to those experienced by mercury poisoned individuals who take ALA at irregular periods or at a period exceeding the half life. What happens is the concentration of ALA peaks rapidly at about 2 hours then drops rapidly. This...
  6. David Hammond

    New Lyme info from Stanford…possible treatment

    @GypsyA If your heart problems are due to streptococcus pyogenes you may want to take a probiotic containing lactobaccillus plantarum which has been shown in a number of studies to reduce the cytotoxicity, virulence and adhesion of s. pyogenes...
  7. David Hammond

    Cfs/me/pots from vaccine

    Mercury and aluminium are some of the ingredients in the DTaP vaccine that could cause your symptoms. There is a facebook page for vaccine damaged people here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/574584182685792/?ref=browser There are also a number of people in this chelation facebook group...
  8. David Hammond

    Potential risks of thiol supps: IV glutathione, alpha lipoic acid (ALA), N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) etc

    @whodathunkit DMPS increases excretion of mercury much more than DMSA and reduces the symptoms from chelation more effectively.
  9. David Hammond

    Potential risks of thiol supps: IV glutathione, alpha lipoic acid (ALA), N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) etc

    @LivingwithFibro The dose of ALA depends on your symptoms and body weight. With your body weight I would start at around 2 to 5 mg ALA every 3 hours for 3 days (including at night). You modify the dose according to your reaction to the dose. If you do 2-3 rounds and don't experience much in the...
  10. David Hammond

    R- Alpha Lipoic Acid and Alpha Lipoic Acid - Dangerous?

    A study by Gregus showed that alpha lipoic acid can increase mercury in the brain by a factor of 3. This is why lipoic acid should not be taken when one had dental amalgams or other current exposure to mercury. I took ALA for several months without noticing any side effects, then I started to...
  11. David Hammond

    What can cause mercury levels to rise?

    Many fish, especially tuna and larger fish contain significant amounts of methylmercury. HFCS may also be contaminated with mercury as it is made using caustic soda which is sometimes made via a process which uses mercury as a cathode. Newer plants use membrane technology which does not...
  12. David Hammond

    Beginner's Guide: A Roadmap for ME/CFS Testing and Treatment

    Hi @Hip I have compiled some information which may convince you to add mercury toxicity to your beginner’s ME/CFS roadmap for testing and treatment It is widely accepted that ME involves disruption of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA). Mercury affects all three organs. The...
  13. David Hammond

    My recovery story, in case anyone is interested

    Chlorella causes adverse effects in a significant number of people with mercury poisoning. I took alpha lipoic acid once a day for several months (instead of every 3 hours according to the half life) and eventually developed problems with balance - the effects of redistribution to the brain can...
  14. David Hammond

    My recovery story, in case anyone is interested

    You may be right that mercury is not an issue, however it is strange that you started to get sick after amalgam removal which would result in an increase in mercury levels. Alpha lipoic acid and cilantro ( I do not recommend cilantro) and the only chelators that I know of that can cross the...
  15. David Hammond

    My recovery story, in case anyone is interested

    How did you measure the mercury levels in your body? Blood, urine and hair tests may be misleading. Sometimes those poisoned by mercury have very low levels in the hair and urine as they are unable to excrete mercury. A study of 40 women with fibromyalgia found that while they had the same blood...
  16. David Hammond

    Mercury poisoning & enteroviruses

    The metal fillings in your mouth may contain nickel. Some people are allergic to nickel and will have a problem chelating it, most won't. You can test if you are allergic by taping a nickel coin to your skin for a couple of days and see if a rash forms. And yes, you could try frequent low dose...
  17. David Hammond

    SO Confused About My Health....

    When people talk about sulfur sensitivity in relation to mercury poisoning, what they really mean is thiol sensitivity. Thiols are sulfhydryl bonds (sulfur-hydrogen) which are found in proteins, enzymes and DNA. The sulfate in magnesium is not a thiol, so it wouldn't cause a problem if you are...
  18. David Hammond

    Mercury poisoning & enteroviruses

    The dose that you begin chelation on depends on the severity of your illness. 12.5 mg of any of the chelators is a reasonable dose to start with. Some start as low as 3 mg, or even 1 mg every 3 or 6 or 8 hours depending on the half life of the chelator. The reason for dosing continuously at a...
  19. David Hammond

    Mercury poisoning & enteroviruses

    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...
  20. David Hammond

    Bad Reaction to DHEA

  21. David Hammond

    Mercury poisoning & enteroviruses

    I am not a chemist, but I would guess that if there is more mercury available in an organ, then the chelator will be attracted to the area of highest concentration and the reaction would proceed more quickly in that region.
  22. David Hammond

    Nausea, tiredness, jitteryness out of nowhere?

    This used to happen to me frequently. I would suddenly get so tired I couldn't speak to anyone. I also sudden attacks of anxiety for no reason and severe exhaustion after moderate exercise. These symptoms gradually resolved with chelation. You might want to try a 24 hour saliva cortisol test to...
  23. David Hammond

    Mercury poisoning & enteroviruses

    @Hip There are a number of ways that mercury can disrupt the HPA axis. Rats were exposed to methylmercury for 6 weeks. At the end of this period, resting cortisol levels were the same as the controls. However, when they forced to swim they could only swim for 7 minutes compared to 180 minutes...
  24. David Hammond

    Mercury poisoning & enteroviruses

    Apart from its role in immunity and other functions, zinc is necessary for the synthesis of metallothioneins which are involved in the detoxification of heavy metals - so that could explain ahmo's experience. Some mercury poisoned people have high copper, but most don't. Most mercury toxic...
  25. David Hammond

    Mercury poisoning & enteroviruses

    @Sinclair You're right - you can't do a trial of chelation until you have had all amalgams removed. Sorry, I thought you had. It can take a long time for mercury poisoned people to attain normal zinc levels. I supplemented 100 mg a day for three and a half years before my zinc level was high...
  26. David Hammond

    Mercury poisoning & enteroviruses

    @Sinclair Mercury may be responsible for your inverted CD4/CD8 ratio. The following study was done on workers in a mercury producing plant. These are not the best subjects for these studies as they are probably good excretors - otherwise they would get sick shortly after starting their job (as I...
  27. David Hammond

    Mercury poisoning & enteroviruses

    @melamine If you aren't already taking them, zinc (100 mg/day) and selenium ( 200 to 400 mcg/day) may be helpful as mercury depletes both of these elements.
  28. David Hammond

    Mercury poisoning & enteroviruses

    @aquariusgirl Dr Shade's test could be useful as it may indicate whether organic or inorganic mercury is more of an issue for you. Alpha lipoic acid only chelates inorganic mercury, while DMPS and DMSA chelate both forms. The test is quite expensive and like other forms of testing does not...
  29. David Hammond

    Mercury poisoning & enteroviruses

    @melamine - Have you done any chelation for mercury since testing with DMPS?
  30. David Hammond

    Desperate for Help - Chelation therapy and Amalgam Removal for Dummies!

    This explains the basics of chelation using Cutler's protocol in a simple way. http://www.livingnetwork.co.za/chelationnetwork/chelation-the-andy-cutler-protocol/