DMSA For Heavy Metal Detox – Part 1

Mrs. Generic: DMSA is not prescription. See Vitamin Research Products, http://www.vrpcentral.net phone 877-2447 or (775) 884-8210 Thorne Research makes it too. Their product is called Captomer, and is available through N.E.E.D.S. http://www.needs.com phone (800) 634-1380.

Kathleen: A hair analysis and a DMSA challenge both showed extremely high levels of mercury in me. I have done several rounds of DMSA now and I feel that my yeast problem gets less severe with every round of DMSA. My doctor has me going very slowly, taking 150 mg of DMSA, three times per day for 3 days then off for 11 days. I replenish with minerals on 10 of the 11 off-days. I am supposed to be taking a whey supplement (ImmuPlus) to help with removal, but I have been afraid to try it (because I have not had any dairy products since 1980!). I just read that whey might keep the mercury from settling in the brain, so with this next round, which starts tomorrow, I will try it.

Shelley: Hi Kathleen, my doc is now convinced that if I can’t even eat garlic and other sulfur foods that he doesn’ t want me on DMSA. Good for him! Just now still need to figure out how to get the mercury out. Go slow, my friend. And mostly to tell you that the whey (I have Immunocal) is fine for me — and dairy is definitely NOT. So it may be the same for you, I hope. PS: How do you feel when you are on the DMSA? And afterwards, for the 11 days?

Kathleen: Hi, Shelley. Thanks for the encouragement and letting me know that the Immunocal whey is OK for you. I just tried the whey, though, and it has given me an allergy-type headache. Perhaps I should try the Immunocal instead of the ImuPlus whey? Or do you think they are the same? On the DMSA, I seem to feel a bit scattered, as if I can’ t concentrate that well. But I feel good physically on it. Lots of energy. On the first day off, I feel fine and clear-headed too — “no hangover” effect. I wish you could tolerate it. It is helping me immensely. Really changing my life.

Mr. Generic: Jane, how did you know that you have mercury toxicity? Did you take a DMPS challenge? What have you done about it?

Jane: I had high levels of mercury showing up in my hair and blood. So a doctor said to remove my silver fillings. Then he gave me DMSA pills to chelate the mercury. I got extremely ill on the DMSA, with classic symptoms of mercury poisoning. I had taken DMSA, 500 mg per day, 3 days out of the week for 10 weeks. Then I learned through the Metals/Chronic-Fatigue- Syndrome discussion group that this doctor gave me WAY too much DMSA. My liver couldn’t handle it. Now I suffer a sulfur intolerance. I cannot take any selenium as well. (Selenium binds to mercury and may redistribute the mercury in the body.) Perfectly nontoxic things like milk thistle fry me. I have a lot of the same reactions to things as other mercury toxic people. I am not 100% sold on this idea, but nothing else adds up.

Denice: Mercury may be present even if it doesn’t show up on the initial challenge test. So don’t give up if it doesn’t show up immediately. My autistic son started chelating with DMSA in August of last year. At first he was excreting high levels of tin, along with nominal amounts of arsenic, lead, cadmium, and aluminum. Mercury was undetectable in the urine. (Note: the initial hair analysis didn’t show mercury either.) It wasn’t until January of this year that the aluminum levels dropped to undetectable, tin excretion shot through the roof, and the mercury finally showed up. I believe that most people should go through at least 2 to 3 trials of chelation to evaluate the situation before abandoning this approach.

Polly: Denice, you have been using chelation for 9 months now. Have you seen any improvement in you son’s autism symptoms?

Denice: YES! Dustin seems to focus better. He is more attentive when working on his ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) programs. He has more eye contact, can imitate sounds for the first time ever, can match pictures to words and objects (when taught them). His receptive and expressive language is still poor, but it is slowly improving. He is able to tolerate more situations, he will play on playground equipment for the first time ever, and he LOVES horseback riding! Besides chelation, we are also employing many other interventions— ABA, cod-liver-oil, treating yeast, gluten-free/casein-free (GFCF) diet, etc. If I had to pick out what’s helped the most I would have to admit overall it’s the one-on-one therapy. The more (motivating) one-on-one therapy our son gets, the more he improves! However, diet and chelation have made this easier to do.

I have two particular friends who have their children doing ABA, GFCF diet, and chelation and they have noticed remarkable improvements right away! I have another friend whose child was only doing chelation and just began ABA and did horrible the first month. They stopped. However, I believe you must first treat many of the other symptoms like the gut and yeast before chelation becomes effective! Remember, DMSA and N-Acetyl-Cysteine could aggravate yeast problems. Sometimes, especially during chelation, my son takes a step back (I think it makes him feel bad), but we usually seem to take 2 steps forward a day or two later. The changes are subtle. Yet, if I look back to what my son was doing 9 months ago vs today, the change may be considered EXTREMELY SIGNIFICANT!

Polly: I tried DMSA on myself. I took 100 mg every four hours for three days; then I took 50 mg every four hours for the following two days. (This is a relatively high dose. However, the yeast overgrowth is gone, I’m fairly healthy, and I have no reason to suspect a large amount of mercury in me.) After the first pill I could tell that I had more energy, although it was sort of a nervous energy. After the second pill, I noticed a very marked improvement in my ability to express myself verbally. This was followed shortly thereafter with a feeling of elation/pure happiness. After the three days at the high dose, I started to loose the extra energy, and I decided that I better wean myself off the DMSA. I changed the dose to 50 mg every 4 hours for the next two days. In hindsight, I just should have just stopped when I started to feel less energetic. During the last two days (day 4 and 5), I lost the energy and the feeling of ecstasy. However, I have retained the improved ability to express myself verbally. Nothing at all similar to this happened when I tried the alpha lipoic acid three months ago. There is a hypothesis that DMSA can remove noxious chemicals like the neurotoxins produced by yeast. I’m wondering if something like this may have happened to me.