I started the Cutler protocol in Janaury. I'm now at 20mg of ALA plus 1g of vitamin C every 2.5 hours (including making myself wake up at night by drinking lots of water so I can keep taking it - what fun) for 3 days in a row, with an "off" period of 4 days. This 3 on/4 off works best for me. In addition to ALA, I take Algin once a day, and milk thistle 3 times a day, along with zinc and selenium once a day. I do those on my "off" days as well as my "on" days. Despite taking so much vitamin C, I don't reach bowel tolerance with it, so that might say something right there.

So far, I've met with the following:

When I take the ALA, sometimes there are side effects right away and usually there are not. There have been some "brain fog" moments, but not that many really.

I have MORE energy than I've had for a long time. I'm actually going for TWO walks a DAY almost every day. I'm losing weight as well. I even have days where I binge on food (on average once a week) and yet I'm still losing weight, though that might be attributed to my walks more than anything else. This is a very good thing, though being less hungry (hunger a problem I want to get rid of, as I'll get into detail later) would be a better thing.

I occasionally have side effects that come and go such as back pain that lasts no more than 10 minutes, itchiness that comes and goes. However, on occasion (not even every week, but once in a while), I will suddenly drop energy and become rather hungry, and not have energy until I eat. Now, if I don't eat enough, I can debilitatingly find it difficult to concentrate, get a headache, etc. until I eat (and the more I eat, I less I have to worry about this later). Considering that on some days I don't have this problem at all, or I can afford to eat a lot less without getting hungry, I assume this is somehow mercury or candida related and is a problem that can go away over time once this is solved.

Anyway, my ultimate goals are the following:

- Clean up my liver (mercury has to go first) and lose weight and keep it off.
- Reduce hunger, or if nothing else, the debilitating symptoms that come if I don't eat "enough" ("enough" is different amounts of food apparently, but I'm very good at avoiding this problem these days).
- Have more energy - and I've made a LOT of progress there.

Anyway, progress overall is slow, but the one and only noticeable improvement is that I have a lot more energy, to the point where I've taken 80-minute walks late at night, and I'm losing weight (even if it's only because of my walking).

Anyone who's been through the Cutler protocol, or who's going through it now and done it longer than me, have anything they want to add? When can I expect major improvements?