I don't like DMSA

[J F]

My doc wanted me to do a urine test for heavy metal toxicity. He had me take two 500mg DMSA capsules. I waited to take the test until I felt healthy. Monday morning I felt the best I have in weeks, having cut out alpha-lipoic and reducing my coconut oil intake a couple weeks before. Those things were causing my lymphs/liver to clog from their detox effects. As it was this weekend and Monday, I still get some symptoms of clogging and what I assume is detox, but at much more manageable levels that come and go throughout the day and don't interfere with my general sense of health. I get uncomfortable, but not miserable when I keep it simple.

So, Monday I felt great, took the DMSA and for the first 3 hours had no troubles. Didn't feel a thing. Then, almost immediately after my first urination on the DMSA, I got that old familiar lymph pain in my neck and a swollen sticky gummy throat that sort of lingered at varying degrees of irritation and general misery for most of the evening except that I got what seemed like a blister/pimple/sore on my tongue and soreness in the lymphs under my jaw on the same side as my tongue sore. By the time I went to bed, the throat irritation had subsided, but the tongue sore remained. I never got the typical DMSA gas that people complain of. I'm hoping that is a result of 3 months of a good cleansing diet and acupuncture.

But then the next morning, yesterday morning, I woke up feeling like I had just gotten done having a massive argument with someone. I was emotionally exhausted, but for no reason I could come up with. Nothing in my life had changed in just 10 hours. LOL I also was chilled to the bone even after a hot shower. I assumed it was bad detox from the DMSA. I had an appointment at the doctor's office that same morning, and by the time I got there, I was crying and depressed and panicky. This really ticked me off, to put it mildly.

The doc noted all this and put me on a Vitamin C IV along with some microcurrent. By the time I left the office after the IV, my face felt numb and I was exhausted. I don't think the Vitamin C really helped save for taking away the crying fit, which is why he administered it. The face numbness and tingling subsided as well, but that fatigue was something awful. I also got a very sore throat and helped myself to some Throat Coat tea by Yogi Teas and the occaisional glass of warm water with lemon. I dragged around the rest of the day and felt a little more energy and stability in the evening after a nice meal of avocado with celtic sea salt, some steamed asparagus with butter and organic beef patty with salsa.

Went to bed and slept fine as always, but got up this morning feeling that dragging tiredness and this sensation like I was coming down with something. Have had hot eyes, sore or sticky throat on and off, sore lymphs, feverish feeling that comes and goes, but never develops into anything. Checked my temperature throughout the day and I hover right around 97.9-98.0 which is normal when I'm feeling well. I even got that little bit of burning itching in the anal area when I went to the bathroom, which has only shown up once or twice and usually when I was detoxing badly, so I assume it is merely some yuckies that the detox is purging.

I am hoping for a better day tomorrow. I told the doc I was not at all fond of DMSA and he said I am the first patient of his to have such a strong reaction to the test dosage, but I thought 1000mg was an awful lot and assumed I would react in some manner, just not for 3 days. LOL I am Vata/Pitta and have always reacted strongly to anything I'd put in my body. Back in the day when I would take OTC meds, I always took half dosages because full dosages would just knock me over with side effects.

Isn't there some gentler way to chelate through diet and sweating via sauna/steam/detox bath/exercise??? Assuming my heavy metals testing shows significant levels of baddies. I am now and have always been of a more delicate constitution, so I don't really so how I could possibly function on any major chelating agents like DMSA. The last few days have just been debilitating for the most part and very frustrating. I guess that's why I'm studying your site so closely since it offers gentler and more natural ways of helping the body heal itself.

[J F]

Oh, ya. And one more thing.....

Monday night, after I had taken DMSA that day, I had a couple of eggs lightly scrambled with salsa (natural salsa, if you wondered) at dinner and the mouth sore got really bad, and it felt like I had developed a couple more sores on my tongue way far back, and in my throat. It really freaked me out. I sipped cool water to try to take my mind off it. Within an hour, all but the original mouth sore eased back. I thought back on it and wondered if eating sulfurous eggs was not a good idea as the sulfur is a detox agent, and I was already purging enough. Would that be a safe assumption for me to have made? Such a shame as eggs with salsa is one of my favorite meals.

[chickpea]

Hi JF,

Sorry you had a bad reaction to the DMSA. I think you should check out the following group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/frequent-dose-chelation

Their approach is based on Andy Cutler's research (his book is mentioned on the site) and they chelate using DMSA, DMPS and ALA at frequent (every 3-4 hours, including during the night) but low doses, often as low as 10mg! People in the group are or have got better using this approach.
It's very important you take the right amount and at the right frequency. 1000mg sounds like far too much, no wonder you had a bad reaction though I assume this was a challenge test?

They also advise having a hair analysis to check whether you are a high or low sulphur. Some people have to stick to a low sulphur diet otherwise they get detox symptoms. That sounds like why you reacted to the eggs though they are also a common allergen.

I've only just joined the group but haven't started chelating yet as I'm waiting for Andy Cutler's book to arrive and read up properly about it first.

Yes saunas etc will help to get metals out so I would definitely do this on a regular basis.

All the best
Anne

[J F]

Thanks for the info, Anne!

Ya, it was a challenge test. It certainly is challenging. A "provocative" to be more specific.

Interesting what you say about a hair analysis to check for sulfur. I don't normally react to eggs that way otherwise I would not be eating them. But, when I do feel like a big detox is happening, I can tell a sensitivity to them.

Are you going to do your chelating protocol with a doctor or on your own, Anne?

Depending on the results, what my doc suggests, and what I decide after researching my options, I'm going to make the decision for myself. I was personally against doing the urine DMSA test from the start, preferring something less invasive like hair analysis. But the doc insisted the urine analysis was far more accurate. I have long hair and they'd have had a good 2+ years worth of analysis in a single strand of my hair. Plus, I didn't start feeling sick until mid 2004 when I was painting like a work horse every day. So, this whole week of detox reactions I'm getting now really sticks in my craw. LOL

[chickpea]

Hi JF,

It could just be that the DMSA stirred things up so maybe there was mercury floating around in the bloodstream which which made you overreact to the sulphur in the eggs as it continued the detoxification process, or restribution of the metals which can happen, and make things worse for some people. I think you should join that group as they are far more informed about things like sulphur, hair analysis etc than I am.

I'll be going it alone unfortunately ....just rely on the support of that group. I told my doctor about the mercury only recently but she's just a regular G.P. and just told me to carry on with my research and let her know! They won't be able to offer me any support as there's nothing available on the N.H.S. in the UK. I'll probably just start on a very low dose of ALA and hope that it works

I hope I don't have to give up eggs too as I love them too!
Let me know how you get on
Anne

[J F]

My homeopath just called and asked me to come in for a round of microcurrent on my liver this morning. He wants to keep my liver clean as possible through this.

Ya, I was trying to take alpha-lipoic along with a good diet with sulfrous things like eggs, fresh garlic, etc. It was too much for my system to handle all those things at once, and I'd constantly go around with a gummy miserable throat, excessively swollen glands, and if I went too long on the stuff, I'd end up overwhelmed and fatigued and showing signs of liver overload (allergies and such). So, I backed off the alpha, realizing how powerful it was, and also backed down off the coconut oil a bit. Then, I felt through just my diet some detox reactions but not as bad as before. It's amazing what simple diet can pull out of your body.

I'd done a couple months of acupuncture along with diet and saw major improvements save for this lymph hurdle I couldn't get over (likely metals). The acupuncture really spurns your body on to purge and clean itself, so I think I've been detoxing fairly heavily the past couple of months and that is why I can't add anything too excessive right now to help things along without feeling really lousy. My body is already purging at maximum capacity. When I ease up, I still get periods throughout each day where I feel something moving through my body and get a temporary headache at the base of my skull, or a period of swelling or excess phlegm in my throat, or a moment of fatigue. Then it passes and I'm able to do things like sauna, exercise, healthy appetite, my sex drive and body temperature are good, etc. When I overdo it, my sex drive and appetite diminish, I'm exhausted, sensitive to my foods, can't work out and just want to crawl under a rock and wait for it all to go away. LOL!

What you say about DMSA stirring up mercury is what my doc said, as well.

I'll let you know how I get on, and I hope you let me know your findings as well! You are welcome to email me if you like. jelaine71@cox.net or we can, if Shelley is okay with it, post our happenings somewhere here in the forums, wherever appropriate. Good luck to you!

Regards, Jelaine

[chickpea]

Sounds like you are doing lots of things and having some progress so that's good. Perhaps you could take milk thistle to give your liver extra support?
I suppose one thing with chelation is that you have to be so attuned with your body and really keep an eye on symptoms so as to not make yourself feel worse. It certainly is an art! The reason behind frequent, low-dose chelation is to keep the mercury moving and at the same level in the bloodstream to stop it being redistributed. You have about 3 days on then at least the same number of days off.

Alpha lipoic acid is very strong as it's one of the few substances that can pass the blood brain barrier and chelate mercury from the brain. There's a debate in that group as to whether DMSA can do the same. Some people say no, others disagree. Anyway, I took ALA without realising it did chelate mercury and had some weird symptoms so had to stop.

I think it would be a good idea to keep posting here as it might be helpful for others, if that's OK with Shelley. I will make a note of your e-mail though, so thanks for that.
Anne

[shelley]

For your doctor to put you on large amounts of DMSA without also recommending that you take Vit C, calcium and Milk Thistle at the same time, and even prior to the DMSA, is highly irresponsible. This doc does not know what he's doing, pure and simple.

Before you undertake metals chelation, you have to protect the body from the metal you'll be releasing and excreting. And ALA is a much better binder than DMSA. DMSA tends to release the metals without really binding them and exiting them, so of course your'e going to feel terrible for 36 hours until they find someplace to settle down again. Most people prefer to take ALA and not DMSA for just this reason.

I suggest you educate yourself via the Yahoo groups and reading Dr. Cutler's work (his book is very cheap) and discontinue what you're doing until you're properly prepared for metals chelation. It is not something to be done wrong. You pay too high a price when you do it wrong, as you're finding out!

You've already been doing SO much work, you may be better off taking a few weeks off and concentrating on tonifying your body so you go into the metals chelation feeling your very best.

[J F]

Felt better yesterday before heading to the doc's office. Felt really better after he did microcurrent on my liver. You could feel it working while just lying there. I actually got a little toxin release rash on my abdomen where the treatment pad was placed, right after I got up from the table. When a treatment is really hitting a spot it needs to work on, you'll feel it during the treatment and the rash was not a surprise. I put some calendula gel on it and it went right away. The rest of the day went a lot smoother as the microcurrent really helped my liver to flush all that stuff through.

Today, as the effects of the DMSA wear off and the effects of the microcurrent take hold, I feel much like my normal self, again. I'm gettin' that itchin' to go to the gym and really get a good workout in.

Funny thing happened the other night. I don't get much in the way of sinus congestion, especially since my only dairy is butter, ghee and kefir. But, out of nowhere I suddenly got congested, and it had this smell/taste in the back of my nose/throat of chlorinated water. It felt like I'd just stepped out of the pool and had some pool water in my sinuses. I was actually fascinated by the whole experience, noting that we have bad chlorine issues in our local water, and up through last summer, though I drink only purified water, I used to use regular ice cubes in my cold drinks. So, I wondered if the DMSA was purging some of the old chlorine buildup from that poor decision. LOL Regardless, the congestion subsided a few hours later all on it's own. I didn't even irrigate. It just came and went without warning as all my other little purges have. Geez, I'll be glad when all this is over.

My food sensitivities that came up after DMSA are dying down again, I think. I had salsa on avocado for a light breakfast yesterday morning, and got gummy throat and the slightest swelling on my tongue for about an hour afterward. Very annoying. But, last night I had a spicy hot chicken/chorizo/potato/pepper/tomato/onion dish (LOL Lots of spice and pungents, the kind that makes you wipe your forehead) and had very little reaction at all. So, I think it's all passing through now and I'm returning to health. But, definitely, if I end up doing DMSA in the future, I have to go really easy. Because, my body is already purging daily on it's own at maximum capacity.

[J F]

Shelley, it was a one shot deal of DMSA for a test that was administered by Doctor's Data out of Illinois. They expressly wanted no vitamins or minerals in the body for 48 hours prior to taking the test. After the test I supplemented with vitamins and minerals, then did a Vitamin IV the next morning.

I will take note of your perceptions. It's interesting what you say. I asked the doc if the stuff stirred up would come out or if it would resettle in my system. The doc felt the stuff would come out and not resettle. I take it you disagree with him?

I'm interested in getting the results of the test back, anyway. And, I want to take some time off to get my body tonified, as you say.

Would you have recommended the less invasive hair analysis over the urine collection testing?