My General Suggestions for starting oral chelation using Andy's
Protocol
Start ROUND 1 of DMSA 12.5mg. Take 12.5mg or less every 4 hours [or
more often, 3hr] on the hour, including waking up at night!!!! If you
miss a dose by an hour stop the round and wait at least as many days
as you chelated before you start again.
If there are any side effects monitor these and if too intolerable,
Stopand do the next round at a lower
dose. Some people find that they need to start
chelation at 5 or 6 mg, or even as low as 1 mg. The
amount of chelator tolerated initially is very
individual.
A round is 3 days ON and 3 days OFF initially (later you can
increase the number of ON days and OFF). You need to take at least as many days OFF as ON. Acommon chelating schedule for DMSA is 7am - 11am - 3pm - 7pm -11pm -
3am. You can also take longer breaks between rounds if necessary to
recuperate.
If no side effects or mild manageable side effects occur then wait
three days or more before you start ROUND 2 DMSA at 12.5mg.
If no side effects or mild manageable side effects occur then do
another ROUND [3 days and 2 nights] of DMSA at 12.5mg. You can
increase your round by a day or two if you are doing well. So on this
round you could chelate for 4-5 days ON.
At this point, you can continue for many more rounds of DMSA alone
before adding ALA. This will reduce your body burden before you start
taking mercury out the brain with ALA. This is often the best path to
follow.
As long as it has been at least 3 months since amalgam
removal or Hg exposure you may choose to add ALA at this point. Then,
Start ROUND 4
with 12.5mg DMSA and start ALA 12.5mg or less with each dose. Take
both dosesevery 3 hours on the hour or more frequently, including waking up at
night. You can stretch it to every 4 hours ONLY at night if it helps
you get a little more sleep, but go back to every 3 hours during the
day. Many people cannot do this as it redistributes too much Hg with
the fluctuation in chelator blood concentration.
If you miss a dose by an hour stop the round and wait at least as
many days that you chelated to start again. Your blood levels of the
chelator will have dropped too much with the late dose. Monitor side
effects especially after adding ALA, if un-manageable or intolerable
stop the round and reduce dose of the next 3-4 rounds.Or, stop the ALA and continue with the DMSA for a day or two depending
on side effects and how DMSA makes you feel on it's own.
(A second option at this point is to raise only the DMSA to 25mg for
ROUND 4,5,6 or more and see how you do on the higher dose before
adding the ALA. Sometimes the jump from 12.5mg to 25mg is too high
and you may need to stick at about 17mg.
Andy suggests you should never increase the dose by more than half of
the current dose. Then add ALA in a later round [7-8 possibly] after you
know how you are doing with the increased DMSA. When using ALA and DMSA together youcan continue DMSA alone for an extra day or more to remove the
intracellular mercury that the ALA pulls to the extracellular spaces.)
If no side effects or few, do another round same dosage, ROUND 5 DMSA
12.5 and ALA at 12.5mg.
If no side effects or few, do another round same dosage, ROUND 6 DMSA
12.5 and ALA at 12.5mg.
If no problems start next round, ROUND 7, and increase ONLY DMSA from
12.5 to [18.5 - 25mg] and ALA 12.5mg. You must only increase one
chelator at a time, so you know what causes what side effects if you
have them.
If no problems do a few more rounds at this dosage, start next round,
ROUND 10-11, DMSA 25mg and increase ALA also to 25mg. Also only
increase the dose of one chelator at a time.
Do NOT increase both together or you won't know which is causing a
problem. If no problems arise, increase dosage gradually using the same
process above until you find a dosage that is manageable and stick
there for a long time. If problems occur then go back to the previous
manageable dose and stick there for at least few more rounds.
You can also increase the number of days ON if side effects are
stable, especially if you do well or better while chelating. It is ok
to chelate for longer periods if your body can keep up with the side
effects, then have the same time for rest periods.
Most can't go for too long because of lack of sleep due to the
interruption of it, but some can chelate continuously for longer periods.
If you feel a lot better during the rounds you can extend it for a few more
days and see how you do.
I recommend, except for experienced persons that really know what they
are doing and have done a lot of oral chelation following the
protocol, not to chelate continuously or for really long periods.
DMSA and ALA usually no more than 2 weeks max.
Longer rounds excrete more mercury and cause less redistribution.
Longer rounds are advised only for those that actually do better
while chelating - those that have significant side effects while
on round will need to take as much time off as on. Those who
have significant side effects while on round should also consider
decreasing the doses of chelators. If you do
better while chelating with the DMSA during those longer rounds and
stop to take a break because of lack of sleep etc, then you should
take some time off before starting again, I would suggest at least 4-
5 days.
Most can't chelate for extra long periods. This is especially true when
you add ALA and are dosing every 3hrs or more often. But with DMPS,
which is taken every 8 hours (due to its longer half-life), people
can chelate longer or even continuously with low dosages, as you
don't have to wake up to take doses in the middle of the night.
ALA causes less copper to be released during rounds possibly causing
problems in the long-term (especially for copper toxic people) so the
off-days are very important to allow the balance to return to your system if you
have problems with copper.
DMPS - Round one 5-10mg every 6-8hr around the clock for 3 days and
nights, the other rules [missing dose etc] are the same as with DMSA
and still apply.
Round 2 & 3 DMPS the same thing.
Round 4 DMPS if everything is going well and no intolerable or bad
side effects increase dosage to 10-15mg.
Round 5,6,7 DMPS same as above.
Round 8 - DMPS & ALA - If it has been at least 3 months since amalgam
removal or Hg exposure, and if, at this point, you are still doing well or
better add 12.5mg ALA and do another 3-4 rounds.
Round 11,12,13 - DMPS & ALA - Increase DMPS if still doing well to
20mg.
Round 14,15,16 - DMPS & ALA - IncreaseALA to 18-25mg and see how you
do.
After this point increase dosages of chelators by weight [the usual range
is 1/8 mg per pound to 1/2 mg per pound] and symptoms remembering not to
increase by more than 50% of the dose you are taking.
If you cannot tolerate the ALA when you try to add it just continue
with the DMPS alone, gradually increasing dosage over time and
numbers of rounds to tolerance. If you happen to do better on round
than off an option is to extend the round a few days (4-6) and see how
you do.
If you still do better on round at this point try a week or
two, some people can chelate continuously with low doses of DMPS
until they feel they are ready to add some ALA.
ALA Alone - use the same dosage as with DMSA, above, every 3hr or more
often. Use the same technique and percentages for increasing dosage etc,
as described.
I generally recommend that everyone get all basic labs done
(metabolic,chemistry,urinealysis,lipid,thyroid,adrenal,hormonal (VAP)
etc.) Many of us have thyroid and adrenal issues and they require supplementation. With
proper testing and supplementation many people feel tremendously
better.
Please !! make sure you read through Moria's site,
and the rest of the links section for information.
There is also a collection of posts from Andy at the Cutler protocol – OnibasuWiki site:
Andy’s two books are essential to have to refer to during chelation:
The answers to most questions that come up during chelation can be found either in Andy’s two books or by searching for Andy’s posts using the search enging at:
Please remember everyone is different and not everything works the
same for everyone. Also these are suggestions/recommendations for
the protocol and not medical advice.
TK and Linda J