Dr. McCandless/experience with ALA

[Guest guest]

Sharon: As I stated just today on the abmd list, there are no formulas as each

child is a universe unto her/himself as far as the extent of their injury and

their response to treatment. Also, when I do use ALA now I have found the

transdermal to be much better, though the Hg does go out in the stool and will

aggravate any inflammation that is already there. If you are having success, I

will never argue with that. I just think it is imperative to keep a close eye

on the gut pathogens, which I am sure you are doing. As I have said, I love

ALA, take 250mg a day myself, but have found that too many children's inflamed

guts cannot handle the impetus it gives to pathogen overgrowth, and fairly

quickly. Dr. Amy Holmes used to say, if you think DMSA stimulates yeast, ALA

will do it 50 times moreso. Hopefully your little guy has a better gut

integrity and is able to benefit from the good effects and not succumb to the

pathogen-stimulating effect. So I say, continue what works and keep a close eye

out for the yeastie-beasties! And I always think loving moms are the best

doctors of all! Best wishes, Jaquelyn

Dr. McCandless/experience with ALA

Dr. McCandless,

You wrote on another list that you really don't like to use ALA any

more at all because of the gut pathogen issues you've experienced.

Were the problems you've seen immediate, or did they creep up later?

The reason I'm asking is we're doing ALA only chelation every other

weekend now and are on round 6 with some nice results. We've been on

TTFD off and on this past year and consistently now for 4 months.

We've battled the gut bugs, but seem to have them reasonably under

control.

The reason we chose to do chelation in addition to the TTFD is

because although it was helping, we felt that Jack really needed some

more help detoxing. He's had a lot of signs of mitochondrial issues

(our genetic doc at Duke suggested doing a muscle biopsy, but we

already do most of the supps. recommended in the mito cocktail anyway

and didn't feel the need to put a 3 year old showing improvements

through that). Because ALA is recommended in some mito issues, and

because Jack has had a nice reponse to biotin and pantethine (this

was really great), we decided to try the other nutrient that shares

the same transporter - ALA. So really we're using it on a low dosage

chelation protocol, but for other reasons than removing metals. The

last round we switched to transdermal ALA and I really like it a

lot. We're using a small amount (.1cc which equals 10mg) every 3

hours. Previously we had used oral at 8 mg every 3 hours.

We've seen some really nice changes since adding the ALA, but also

some number obsession issues that seem to be under control now.

I get really nervous when someone who treats hundreds (if not

thousands) of kids and is as well regarded as you, doesn't like to

use something we're using. Jack is a gut kid (he was a gut kid as an

infant -- antral web gi obstruction) but has improved so much in this

area as well.

Sorry to run so long, I'm just now re-evaluating whether ALA is worth

the risks for us even though we've seen some nice progress. I know

the bottom line is to keep the gut healthy...

Sharon

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[Guest guest]

Dr. McCandless,

You wrote on another list that you really don't like to use ALA any

more at all because of the gut pathogen issues you've experienced.

Were the problems you've seen immediate, or did they creep up later?

The reason I'm asking is we're doing ALA only chelation every other

weekend now and are on round 6 with some nice results. We've been on

TTFD off and on this past year and consistently now for 4 months.

We've battled the gut bugs, but seem to have them reasonably under

control.

The reason we chose to do chelation in addition to the TTFD is

because although it was helping, we felt that Jack really needed some

more help detoxing. He's had a lot of signs of mitochondrial issues

(our genetic doc at Duke suggested doing a muscle biopsy, but we

already do most of the supps. recommended in the mito cocktail anyway

and didn't feel the need to put a 3 year old showing improvements

through that). Because ALA is recommended in some mito issues, and

because Jack has had a nice reponse to biotin and pantethine (this

was really great), we decided to try the other nutrient that shares

the same transporter - ALA. So really we're using it on a low dosage

chelation protocol, but for other reasons than removing metals. The

last round we switched to transdermal ALA and I really like it a

lot. We're using a small amount (.1cc which equals 10mg) every 3

hours. Previously we had used oral at 8 mg every 3 hours.

We've seen some really nice changes since adding the ALA, but also

some number obsession issues that seem to be under control now.

I get really nervous when someone who treats hundreds (if not

thousands) of kids and is as well regarded as you, doesn't like to

use something we're using. Jack is a gut kid (he was a gut kid as an

infant -- antral web gi obstruction) but has improved so much in this

area as well.

Sorry to run so long, I'm just now re-evaluating whether ALA is worth

the risks for us even though we've seen some nice progress. I know

the bottom line is to keep the gut healthy...

Sharon

[Guest guest]

Sharon: An additional note; the tiny amount of ALA you're using is quite safe

(a good diet will provide that much), and is probably providing its benefits as

the great antioxidant it is rather than actually chelating - have you tested

urine metals to see if you are getting excretion at this dosing? Dr. JM

Dr. McCandless/experience with ALA

Dr. McCandless,

You wrote on another list that you really don't like to use ALA any

more at all because of the gut pathogen issues you've experienced.

Were the problems you've seen immediate, or did they creep up later?

The reason I'm asking is we're doing ALA only chelation every other

weekend now and are on round 6 with some nice results. We've been on

TTFD off and on this past year and consistently now for 4 months.

We've battled the gut bugs, but seem to have them reasonably under

control.

The reason we chose to do chelation in addition to the TTFD is

because although it was helping, we felt that Jack really needed some

more help detoxing. He's had a lot of signs of mitochondrial issues

(our genetic doc at Duke suggested doing a muscle biopsy, but we

already do most of the supps. recommended in the mito cocktail anyway

and didn't feel the need to put a 3 year old showing improvements

through that). Because ALA is recommended in some mito issues, and

because Jack has had a nice reponse to biotin and pantethine (this

was really great), we decided to try the other nutrient that shares

the same transporter - ALA. So really we're using it on a low dosage

chelation protocol, but for other reasons than removing metals. The

last round we switched to transdermal ALA and I really like it a

lot. We're using a small amount (.1cc which equals 10mg) every 3

hours. Previously we had used oral at 8 mg every 3 hours.

We've seen some really nice changes since adding the ALA, but also

some number obsession issues that seem to be under control now.

I get really nervous when someone who treats hundreds (if not

thousands) of kids and is as well regarded as you, doesn't like to

use something we're using. Jack is a gut kid (he was a gut kid as an

infant -- antral web gi obstruction) but has improved so much in this

area as well.

Sorry to run so long, I'm just now re-evaluating whether ALA is worth

the risks for us even though we've seen some nice progress. I know

the bottom line is to keep the gut healthy...

Sharon

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

Even though it's a small dose, we can definitely tell a difference on

the 'on' days. He's very chatty (a little excessive) and hyper. He

probably does get a little yeasty too. But he always manages to do

something new that we consider positive, so that's why we've kept at

it and are on round 6. I'm also relying on teacher and therapists

reports too (I don't tell them what we're doing). I do agree with

you that he's probably getting more benefit from it from an

antioxidant standpoint than a chelation one.

I've done urine tests several times this year on the TTFD and then 2

times on the TTFD + ALA. In Nov. I did a urine while on TTFD+ALA and

we saw Thallium in the elevated range (almost to the very elevate/red

portion). We had never seen thallium pulled like that. He also had

arsenic, cadmium, and nickel (all around middle of green). In the

past he has had arsenic that is at the high end of the ref range

(within the green). He's also had cadmium that's at the high end of

the ref. range.

Last week, we just got our urine and stool tests (first stool test

done) back from a round of TTFD + ALA and this is what we saw:

Urine: tiny amount of antimony (first time we've seen it and he had

very high hair antimony), arsenic and cadmium 1/3 in the ref. range,

small amounts of lead and mercury for the first time lower 1/4 of

ref. range, high ref. range of nickel and thallium, low ref. range

tungsten.

Stool: uranium and arsenic elevated in the low end of yellow,

antimony in middle of green/ref. range,

bismuth/cadmium/copper/lead/nickel/thallium/tungsten all around 1/3

mark in green ref. range.

So even though we're not seeing a ton of metals coming out in high

amounts, I think the fact that we're seeing some coming out means his

body is starting to do what it's suppose to. I'm pretty convinced

he's toxic based on his hair tests in the past. Also the tests I've

done have been random, so it's a bit of a gamble. We've also been on

TTFD off and on this year (for 4 months straight now).

By the way the Dec. test is the first time we've seen mercury since

last Feb. We saw it in our pre-TTFD urine test (I had started oral

gsh to ramp up to the transdermal and I really think that helped him

detox some -- he could not tolerate the GSH orally by the way, but

does fine transdermally) and then in one test several weeks into the

TTFD.

Dr. McCandless, if you're interested in seeing his urine/stool tests,

I'm happy to scan them and email them to you.

Thank you for your reply and good info.

Sharon

>

> Sharon: An additional note; the tiny amount of ALA you're using is

quite safe (a good diet will provide that much), and is probably

providing its benefits as the great antioxidant it is rather than

actually chelating - have you tested urine metals to see if you are

getting excretion at this dosing? Dr. JM

>

>

> Dr. McCandless/experience with ALA

>

>

> Dr. McCandless,

> You wrote on another list that you really don't like to use ALA

any

> more at all because of the gut pathogen issues you've experienced.

> Were the problems you've seen immediate, or did they creep up

later?

>

> The reason I'm asking is we're doing ALA only chelation every

other

> weekend now and are on round 6 with some nice results. We've

been on

> TTFD off and on this past year and consistently now for 4

months.

> We've battled the gut bugs, but seem to have them reasonably

under

> control.

> The reason we chose to do chelation in addition to the TTFD is

> because although it was helping, we felt that Jack really needed

some

> more help detoxing. He's had a lot of signs of mitochondrial

issues

> (our genetic doc at Duke suggested doing a muscle biopsy, but we

> already do most of the supps. recommended in the mito cocktail

anyway

> and didn't feel the need to put a 3 year old showing improvements

> through that). Because ALA is recommended in some mito issues,

and

> because Jack has had a nice reponse to biotin and pantethine

(this

> was really great), we decided to try the other nutrient that

shares

> the same transporter - ALA. So really we're using it on a low

dosage

> chelation protocol, but for other reasons than removing metals.

The

> last round we switched to transdermal ALA and I really like it a

> lot. We're using a small amount (.1cc which equals 10mg) every 3

> hours. Previously we had used oral at 8 mg every 3 hours.

> We've seen some really nice changes since adding the ALA, but

also

> some number obsession issues that seem to be under control now.

>

> I get really nervous when someone who treats hundreds (if not

> thousands) of kids and is as well regarded as you, doesn't like

to

> use something we're using. Jack is a gut kid (he was a gut kid

as an

> infant -- antral web gi obstruction) but has improved so much in

this

> area as well.

>

> Sorry to run so long, I'm just now re-evaluating whether ALA is

worth

> the risks for us even though we've seen some nice progress. I

know

> the bottom line is to keep the gut healthy...

> Sharon

>

>

>

> --------------------------------------------------------------------

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>