http://www.thebody.com/content/art4768.html


This is from an HIV/PWA website. I thought it was interesting that in one of the trials they used 100mg selenium, not 100mcg.

http://www.livingnetwork.co.za/healingnetwork/oral_chelation1.html



ALA - ALPHA LIPOIC ACID (Also known as LIPOIC ACID or THIOCTIC ACID)
This is most the most important ingredient in oral chelation. ALA chelates both intracellular and extracellular mercury - in the brain and in the body. ALA crosses the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) and is thus able to clear mercury from the brain. Many people have successfully detoxed with ALA alone (mostly because they couldn't tolerate the other common chelating agent DMSA for some or other reason). ALA has a half-life of 3 hours.
The ALA is essential to detox, while DMSA is not. Pulling mercury out of the blood and soft tissues is relatively easy, but pulling it out of the inside of cells is much harder. ALA is a disulfide. It is water and fat soluble which makes it able to pass the BBB. ALA will also chelate arsenic.
Start ALA at low doses of 12.5mg to ensure few or no adverse effects, and add only after many rounds of DMSA. ALA can really increase side effects in a mercury toxic person and you may need to reduce the dose to 6.25mg. The maximum dose of ALA per day is about 1200mg (that is very high and can cause bad or intolerable side effects in some, so work up SLOWLY. It can take you years to get to this point). Starting low and working up is the safest way to proceed to avoid exacerbating symptoms. The higher dosage seems to make a more dramatic difference ultimately, but it takes a long time to get there safely. ALA is not usually as 'easy' as DMSA, as you are mobilizing mercury from the brain and inside the cells. So it is difficult to 'expect' a symptom-free round with it, and especially the day after the round has finished. Usually side-effects are worse when coming off of an ALA-round when the mercury is redistributing. If the side effects are too harsh lower the dosage before proceeding.

If you have removed your mercury Amalgams a long time ago, you should still use DMSA on its own for a few months before adding ALA. In this way you can know which supplement is causing a problem if it occurs. The brain will not detox mercury on its own and only over a lifetime would it be able to eliminate it to a small degree. Only ALA is able to allow mercury to be excreted from the brain. People with significant brain mercury will not be able to improve unless they use enough ALA for a long enough time. Those that improve greatly on DMSA alone, do not usually have as much brain toxicity. ALA is excreted mainly through the bilary system (bile ducts) from the liver and into the gastro-intestinal tract and also through the kidneys. This means these pathways of elimination should be flowing well to assist detoxification.
ALA should be avoided until the body burden is reduced, as it can move more mercury into the brain if the body burden is too high and redistribution is initiated.
ALA is available from most health shops in far too high a dosage without appropriate warnings or directions of usage.

ALA is essential, DMSA is optional. DMSA can be used in the early stages to reduce blood/tissue levels of mercury, which can be very helpful. I believe personally it is a good idea to use it becuase I think it does more than it's given credit for, but no it's not essential. Also some people may not tolerate DMSA itself as a chelator and instead opt to use ALA alone.

But it is not wise to use ALA when you have amalgams, or right after any exposure to mercury to where your blood and tissue levels will still be high. So you must wait about 3 months after an exposure to mercury (or after Amalgam removal) before you can start using ALA safely.

It is wiser to use ALA every 3 hours, rather than 4. Though you can get "away" with 4, ALA tends to be used up a little quicker than DMSA in the blood apparently. DMSA is fine with 4, ALA is better with 3. You can extend it to every 4 during the night if it helps you sleep more, but best to go back to every 3 during the day at least.

ALA will chelate both body and brain. It pretty much does it all, but again should only be used when the blood levels are first reduced.

DMSA can be used with ALA if you feel it helps with side effects. It will also increase the rate of chelation and may keep things more stable. But again it is not essential. You can cure yourself on ALA alone.

It can be used up to two weeks at a time if you really want to go that far, but it is best to take breaks because of lack of sleep from waking every 3-4 hours during the night. One needs the breaks inbetween to catch up on loss of sleep, plus a break from the stress of chelating metals and also sometimes minerals can get a bit messed up by this. ALA increases copper in the body too I hear, so you have to be careful. Permanent chelating is not a wise move when taking something so frequently. if it only had to be taken every 6-8 hours...that maybe a different story. So sometimes the best idea is to simply take it for 3 days at a time and break for another 3 days (or longer if you need to) and repeat this cycle until you get well. Or maybe up to a week if you can handle that and a week off and so forth.