Hi Cute Lion, and thanks a lot for your feedback. :)
I started chelating copper, because I had taken a urine provocation test (using d-penicillamine) and my results showed an overload of copper. Obviously, everyone will excrete toxic metals after doing a provocation test. However, according to the lab "non-copper toxic people" normally will excrete up to 5-10 times more copper in the post-provocation test (after having taken d-penicillamine) than in the pre-provocation test (before taking d-penicillamine). I excreted 65 times more in my post-provocation test.
My provocation test also showed excretion of several heavy metals, especially lead, tungsten and cadmium, and obviously a little bit of mercury as well (I guess we've all got it). However, my doctor didn't seem too concerned about these; mainly the very high copper level.
I was adviced to chelate my copper (and heavy metals) using either EDTA or d-penicillamine. However, due to the fact that my liver (high ALAT) and my adrenals (adrenal fatigue) was/were already overwhelmed at the time, I was worried that d-penicillamine would put too much pressure on my body, and I therefore started looking for an alternative and milder way of detoxing/chelating.
That's when I stumbled across
Ann Louise Gittleman s book "Why am I always so tired" about copper toxicity. Reading the book (and about copper toxicity on the Internet as well) was kind of a revelation to me, as I could relate to all the copper toxicity symptoms, and since then I have followed her "protocol". According to her, vitamin C and ALA are chelators, which is the reason why haven't been using synthetic chelators like DMPS and the like.
However, after having read your feedback, I'm concerned that my doctor (and I) haven't taken the load of heavy metals in my body seriously enough. Could it be, I'm suffering from hidden mercury poisoning? Might that be the reason why I have been suffering from
Chronic-Fatigue-Syndrome and adrenal problems for so many years? I have had about 6-8
Amalgam fillings in my mouth, since I was a child. It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago, the last two of them were finally removed.
For some reason my doctors in functional medicine don't use DMPS or DMSA. They, as mentioned, use penicillamine and EDTA. And the problem is that I live in such a small country that there aren't any other domestic doctors using synthetic chelation therapy.
Oh boy, do you or anyone else in this forum know, if penicillamine or some sort of natural chelator could help me get rid of these nasty metals? Preferably gently in order not to pressure my poor adrenals beyond capacity along the way…
Pheuw, hope floats…
Very best regards,
Susanne