Hi all, I'm new to the world of chelation and I'd appreciate any advice you can give.

Ever since childhood I have had mercury-containing Amalgam fillings. Over the years I have developed chronic back, neck, elbow, wrist, leg, ankle, and scalp pains. The pains range from typical pinched nerve type pains, to burning, numbness, and icy sensations in my body.

I also was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome, and struggle with sleep disorders. I had a full day and night sleep study (expensive) done and was diagnosed with narcolepsy and DSPS (Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, basically my brain doesn't produce melatonin to tell me to sleep at night no matter how long I try to develop the habit).

I also have very high blood pressure and am tired all the time. My blood glucose levels are a little high but not enough to be considered pre-diabetes.

Especially bad are the 2 ulnar nerves in my elbows. My neurologist diagnosed me with moderate cubital tunnel syndrome and said that I will need surgery to decompress the nerve, otherwise I may lose my career due to not being able to type. I have bad numbness and burning pains in my arms and hands. The pain travels down the nerve from my shoulder, under my arm, through the elbow, and to the wrist, in a line where the nerve is. If surgery will help, that's fine, but I still think there is a GENERAL problem with my nervous system, not just specific in my elbows, because ALL my nerves are inflamed.

Isn't it possible that a whole-body nervous system problem or inflamation could actually CAUSE nerve damage in my elbows to happen by weakening the nerves, or making them inflamed so they are more compressed, or something? My neurologist doesn't seem to think this is even worth looking into, he just says get the surgery, the rest of your problems are a mystery.

Anyway, getting to the point: I wonder if mercury toxicity could be involved. About a year ago my symptoms started getting worse than ever. Around the same time, I noticed a very large Amalgam filling in my tooth had cracked in half, but was still securely lodged in the tooth. Being busy with school, and poor, I didn't have it fixed.

I recently went to the dentist, and he says I have 5 Amalgam fillings, and all of them are about 15 years old. I am going to have him remove all of them. The large filling will be replaced with a high-noble gold alloy onlay which contains only gold, silver, platinum, and zinc. I have been tested to see if I am sensitive to any of those metals and I'm not. You might ask, why aren't you just using ceramic? Well, the odd shape and size of the onlay would have made ceramic difficult to do, and I'm told for this case, gold will last longer and be stronger, and wear easier on my other teeth. The other 4 amalgam fillings I have are tiny and are not on biting surfaces so they will be replaced cheaply with white composite filling material. I made sure to find a "mercury-safe" holistic dentist who carefully uses a dental dam and a breathing mask when removing the fillings, so you don't have to swallow any mercury or breathe in the vapors. So far he has removed the large filling and replaced it with a temporary, while the lab makes the gold onlay. This was expensive but I felt I had to try it, if it might help my health. When removing it, he noticed that the filling was actually cracked into 4 separate pieces. Could this have caused it to release more mercury than usual, possibly making my symptoms worse? I also noticed that one biting edge of the filling was noticeably ground down over time. Apparently while chewing, I was wearing down the metal a little bit, so I guess that means I was eating tiny amounts of the metal over time.

To get to the point: Is there any chance that this mercury amalgam could have anything to do with my health problems? I have been to sleep specialists, neurologists, enterologists, and other specialists and nobody can seem to figure out why I am in so much pain. It's like a mystery they can't solve. We have tested for things like RA, lupus, MS, diabetes, thyroid problems, done MRI's, etc. It's like all the nerves in my body are inflamed and irritated and it's so easy to make them hurt with normal daily activity. Stretching and other exercises helps a little but not much.

I have to wait 3 weeks now for the new piece for my tooth, but once it comes in, the dentist will remove the remaining 3 amalgam fillings and I'll have no mercury left in my mouth. I have purchased cilantro, chlorella, ALA, and DMSA.

I started taking the chlorella and cilantro right away, even before having my teeth looked at. I feel like they are helping a little bit. Another thing that seemed to help is I stopped taking Ambien. I noticed Ambien made my pain go away at night when I take it, then during the day my pain would be worse than if I didn't take it the previous night. Does that make any sense?

Once the fillings are all out, I want to start on either ALA or DMSA, or both, and see if I can pull the mercury out of my nervous system (if it is even there). Should I get some kind of a test FIRST to see if there is any mercury there in the first place? Or just try it?

Should I take the DMSA and ALA together? Or separate? Which first?

If anyone could share a good protocol for DMSA and/or ALA chelation to remove mercury, I would appreciate that. The focus for me is my nervous system. That is where I am having TONS of problems.

Also, should I start chelating while 3 fillings are still in my mouth? I think the 3 left in there are very small and are not on biting surfaces, so they don't get any wear and tear at all. You can tell; the surfaces of them are always dull, whereas the filling he removed already, on a biting surface, was always shiny and burnished from all the chewing and grinding of teeth.

If nothing else, it will be a relief to know 3 weeks from now that there is NO mercury in my mouth, so I can try to chelate whatever is still in my body tissues and get rid of it, without consuming any NEW murcury from fillings.

Anyway, I hope someone has any suggestions for me! I am pretty desperate, that's why I was willing to pay for expensive dental work when I could have gone a cheaper route and just replaced the old amalgam with a new amalgam. I need to find out if this mercury business is baloney or real science!

I am willing to try anything that has a chance of working, because I'm kind of desperate. Some days it feels like my heart hurts and wants to stop beating, and every nerve in my body is on fire. Honestly it feels like I'm being poisoned or dying. Some days I think I am just going to die in my sleep and it will be a mystery what was wrong with me the whole time, because my doctors can't seem to figure it out!!!