Re: Having doubts about chelation

"...The problem with chelation is that whereas a certain protocol can work for some people, it can be very dangerous to others. I tried it, but it didn't seem to work for me."

== You are welcome to elaborate on why you think it works for some and is "dangerous to others."

== The following is from a survey of parents of autistic kids. The percentages are impressive both from a stand point of effectiveness and safety.
(Note: some scientists think heavy metals are involved to some extent in a majority of autism cases).

ARI treatment parent ratings 2009
"Detox. (chelation)" 74% report "got better", 3% report "got worse", 23% report "no effect"
The 74% rating is the best of all of the many dozens of listed interventions.
http://www.autism.com/pro_parentratings.asp


Dr. Amy Holmes. Early results with autistic children while using a variation of the Cutler Protocol.
Roughly 58% of children under 12 (75% < age 6) made "moderate" or greater improvement in less than a year.
http://www.healing-arts.org/children/holmes.htm#results



"DMSA is NOT safe."

== DMSA was US FDA approved for lead in kids many decades ago. While the FDA has earned criticism about its role in Amalgam use, their process for approving medicines is quite rigorous.

"...It can be quite dangerous, especially in larger dosages. Any harmful and detrimental effects will probably show in the long run. Again, it depends on the individual."

== I agree about the risk when using larger doses. We've heard quite a number of unpleasant stories from those who got a mega dose of DMSA prior to a urine test for toxic elements.

== People need water to survive yet drown on it. It is important that the things we take are used safely. This is part of the reason for the debates over which protocol is the safest effective way to chelate out heavy metals.

"I chose to use natural and safer products to chelate the huge amounts of lead in my body: water and dry fasts, Green Clay taken orally, clay baths, apple pectin, kefir and colonic irrigations, humifulvate, milk thistle, lecithin, omega-3, megadoses of Vitamin C and lots of chlorophyll rich greens."

== This is a rare area where I trust something made in a lab more than something from our polluted environment. Take cilantro for example (yes I know you did not list it). People have been consuming cilantro probably for millennia; however until recent decades people did not have a mouth full of silver-mercury Amalgam fillings off-gassing Hg. Also cilantro now is being grown in a polluted environment where it can more likely pick up mercury (Hg).

== Some of the saddest stories I've heard have been from those who had a serious mercury problem and who used cilantro. The stories from pregnant women who used it are the saddest since it likely made it easier for the mercury to cross the placenta into her child.

== The risk of natural things picking up heavy metals from the environment is probably not obvious to most. The thiol/SH groups that attract mercury and some other heavy metals are present as the plant is growing. In this image you can see the SH groups of Lipoic Acid with space in between for the heavy metal ion. (Note: it is dangerous to take LA if pregnant and if not taking it according to a safe protocol).
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/othernuts/la/lastructure.html


== This one reason I like Cutler's protocol. The primary chelator is lipoic acid (LA). LA is natural. The body naturally gets some from certain foods; however we take the synthetic form, ALA, that has not been grown in the environment where it could pick up Hg.

" It's hard work."

== So true, but it feels so good to have my health back in the normal range for my age after 15+ years of strange health problems. For two years I've been taking low, frequent doses of ALA + DMSA (Cutler protocol). I've gotten an 8% improvement in my bone density that previously was unresponsive to my doctor's medicine and supplements. My doctor was able to wean me off my ADD medicine. I've had less impressive gains in mood, memory, brain fog, tolerance for foods, etc.

== I wish I had started using DMSA + ALA decades ago. Tweet