>>Is there a more gentle form of Vitamin C that I could be taking?
AMLA, or Triphala if you can't immediately find AMLA.
It and Pharma Grade Ascorbic Acid will also chelate Lead, but you will need to get rid of all the Bioflavonoids from the Ester before anything works well at all, that may take a couple of days.
There are research articles on the buildup of the compounds used in Ester. If you are not chelating your body may depend on the PH alteration of Ester overnight. You can ween off that with a Coral Calc capsule at bed time or even better some SCD Yogurt with Honey.