4 hr vs. 8 hr

[Guest guest]

Dear john.gilfillan@...,

I love your very articulate experession of your questions.

It makes it easy to answer the right points.

1. the issue is NOT about the total dose (e.g. amount over

24 hours)

2. the issue is NOT about trying to speed up chelation by

going 24 hours a day. The issue is NOT limited to people

who " have a lot of mercury " or want to get rid of it

" fast " .

The issue is about having a fairly EVEN amount of the chelator

IN THE BLOOD during the chelation cycle (for the " on " period).

(The times are based on how long each chlation agent stays

in the bloodstream: ALA 3 hrs; DMSA 4 hrs; DMPS 8 hrs.)

The risk is that taking the chelator say, every 8 hours, or

only while awake, or every other day, there is a " stop / start/

stop / start " quality to the chelation. For some people

(or many people) this can result in more redistribution

(from all the " stops " ) than you'd have if you did it

" evenly " . Also less effectiveness: the chelation

period is " short " because it STOPS all the time.

The idea is a slow steady dose.

As you have been reading some kids (and adults too no doubt)

do okay on every 8 hours, while others do not.

As you have also been reading, which is best is the subject

of much disagreement.

As for restful sleep, yes, there are most definatly

negatives involved in waking in the wee hours of the night.

I personally thought it was an outlandish protocol when I first

read about it. I also try to minimize the impact of those

nights when I awaken by alarm. Occassionally I wonder how

I would do on 8 hours (I'm doing chelation on myself,

not a child). But, so far I'm sticking with 3 hours,

sometimes 4 at night, but not 8. (taking ALA)

You may want to note that sleep may be disrupted by BOTH

waking up (during " on " cycle) and by mercury toxicity

(as the mercury is cleared, it is also present in the

bloodstream). I've had significant sleep disruption from

the latter as well as the former. (Insomnia is a pretty

common effect of mercury poisoning). I'm plotting for

another 3/11 cycle soon so I can have an *entire week*

of sleep!!

I hope that helps, at least a bit.

Moria

RESPONDING TO:

Message: 12

Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2001 00:38:42 -0000

From: john.gilfillan@...

Subject: (unknown)

Can someone explain to me the issue about 4 hrs versus 8 hours dosing.

Is the problem with 8 hour dosing that a single dose CAN be too high

and too much DMSA and/or ALA is given for the body to excrete and the

mercury is redistributed? However, would a small dose of chelator

given every 8 hours not pose this problem. The only problem would be

that the number of chelation cycles would need to be more because an

8 hour dosing schedule would involve less chelator per 24 hours than

a 4 hour schedule using the same amount of chelator.

The idea of waking my child to give a chelator during the night seems

excessive and possibly counter-productive. The restorative benefit

of sleep would be undone, albeit only on nights when chelation is

done. I take it that around the clock chelation is to be preferred

where there is a lot of mercury to get rid of and one wants to reduce

the number of cycles. I can see that trying to give the same amount

of DMSA as a 4 hour dosing schedule in half the number of doses (ie

over 8 hours) would involve giving too strong a hit of DMSA and

overloading the body.

I would prefer not to have to wake my child to give a chelator and

disrupt the restorative benefit of uninterrupted sleep. If the cost

is some more cycles to do then I would prefer this. Could one give

the 4 hour dosages while the child is awake (say 4 times over a 24

hour period - 8am, 12 noon, 4 pm, 8 pm) and simply forego the

midnight and 4 am doses? Given that less chelator is given over a 24

hour period, could the rest break between cycles be reduced - instead

of 11 days, maybe 4 or 5?

Any comments on this would be appreciated.