as I understand it some here are sticking to the 3 to 4 hour dosage schedule with ALA. however, others are not getting up in the middle of the night to take their ALA, and instead are relying on the doctrine which instructs the body not to reuptake chelated mercury.
Personally I am using a product called alamax, which has been laboratory tested to successfully slow release ALA. That way I don't have to get up in the middle of the night to take my dosage.
I do believe you need more water while chelating.
Also, I have personally discovered that mixing ALA with flaxseed oil (or any other oil for that matter) doubles or triples its effectiveness. I just take the ALA capsules in my mouth and allow the capsule to dissolve, once it begins dissolving I pour some flaxseed oil in their and chew up the capsules and make sure it mixes completely with the flaxseed oiland then swallow it. so far nobody has taken me up on this advice that I know of, but it really does work