Re: Very curious about ALA usage in the general public

Onhil, Congratulations on making it to high dose ALA! I'm one of those who has struggled to increase my dose very much, although I still have gotten very nice gains from low, frequent dose DMSA + ALA.

While your excellent post provides a good reason to think copper is involved, are you sure it is the only factor? 200mg ALA is a very generous dose. I've heard so many reports from members of detox groups who tried a higher dose a little too soon and got unacceptable symptoms. It seems that everyone does this at some point.

Did you get a followup test of some type--hair, RBC Cu--that also suggests the involvement of copper?

Were you doing long rounds? I recall a post from a very long time member of the Yahoo FDC group who reported possible copper symptoms after doing a very, very long round. He used to feel somewhat better while on round but seemingly stretched the round too much.

In the Yahoo groups Cutler has posted that a buildup of copper has not been a significant problem for people on his protocol. This is of course in contrast to his very early theoretical concerns about the possible buildup of copper while taking ALA.

I'm not trying to suggest that copper is not involved, just that you reported other changes around the same time that can increase sfx:
Increased dose of ALA
Dropped the use of DMSA which reduces ALA sfx for some people.

Remember some of us become thiol sensitive as we increase our ALA dose.

Thanks again for your posts in the group.

Wishing you ATB in your recovery!

Joe Tweet