safe to start DMSA chelation Thursday?

[Guest guest]

My husband and I are preparing to start chelating our son this weekend (Thursday

actually, after preschool lets out). I was thinking we'd try 1mg DMSA every two

hours during the day and every four hours at night, for three days, then take

four days off.

I apologize as this must be a FAQ. I've been reading this group, onibasu.com

archives, Dana's View, and Andy Cutler's two books for various conditions to

watch out for, but I fear I haven't found them all in the short time that I've

been looking and I don't want to miss a serious issue and regress my kid. At the

same time, we want to get him started chelating because we're fairly convinced

it's the only thing that will fundamentally help him while we're waiting for

behavioral therapies to get scheduled. In short, we don't want to waste his

still significantly plastic brain cells.

Here's what we know and don't know:

* Our son is almost four years old. An experienced psychologist thinks

preliminarily that his behavior seems like PDD-NOS or Asperger's. In addition to

behaving poorly, he has been sleeping poorly (waking 6 to 12 or more times

anxious at night, occasionally with sleep apnea, constantly has dark circles

under his eyes) and eating poorly (appetite waned and changed), all of which has

been worse in the past few months. He has had a non-itchy raised rash of rings

all over his torso, cracking and tearing fingernails, and slight proteinuria

that come and go. His behavior often changes noticeably after he eats and after

he poops.

* We are vegan. Since March 20, we have been eating gluten-free and dairy-free,

and his behavior has steadily improved (with supplements, listed below).

* We don't yet have his DDI hair elements profile.

* We don't know the source of whatever's making him sick. He has no fillings. We

are not vaccinating him, though he did get mercury (thimerosal) through me when

he was a 13-week-old fetus. I'm still breastfeeding him at night (mostly for

comfort, I suspect) and I've got half a dozen dental amalgams plus other metals

in my mouth, ate lots of restaurant sushi, grew up next to an oil refinery, etc.

He was exposed to black mold for six months (had chronic cough) last winter. We

moved but now live in a house that was tented for termites in July 2009.

* He had a significant bacterial overgrowth on April 20, when we did an organic

acids test (which also showed high oxidative stress). He probably still has it,

though today his appetite seemed better. For months, his poop has been

orange-ish and very soft, with undigested bits. We have taken a stool sample and

will send it tomorrow for detailed DNA analysis to test for 40+ parasites (his

generic ovum-and-parasite test came back clean, but we've since learned that it

looks only for three parasites). So we don't yet know what bug(s) are

overgrowing in his gut. Since the test we have been giving him this daily:

+ Digestive enzymes (Zand QuickDigest, 1 or more tablets before meals and on

demand)

+ Probiotics (Bio-K+ [50B organisms] and acidophilus tablets [1B organisms] on

demand)

+ More methylcobalamin B-12 (usually between 3 and 6 mg, recently started

spreading throughout day)

+ More omega-3s (V-Pure 350mg EPA/50mg DHA in smoothies, in addition to ground

flax seed and chia seed that he has always liked on cereal)

+ More vitamins A, C, and E (Juice Plus Chewables, 4 red and 4 green,

equivalent of 144%, 114% and 92% of the daily adult recommended amounts,

respectively)

On May 7, we added this:

+ Glycine (500mg or as much as he'll take, usually less, likes on his tongue)

+ Hepata-Chord (half dropper, twice daily)

+ Taurine in juice or chamomile tea (500mg or as much as he'll take, usually

less)

+ Milk thistle (quarter dropper, four times daily, but he doesn't like the

bitter taste so usually much less)

Today I tried to add 1/16 t. Epsom salts in half a cup water for magnesium. He

took two sips total.

From now on, we will introduce new supplements no more densely than one per

week. My shopping list tentatively includes zinc, inositol, molybdenum, chromium

picolinate, chewable B-complex, and caprylic acid.

Questions:

* Is it safe to proceed with very-low-dose very-frequent DMSA chelation given

the above-described situation?

* Should we wait for the hair test first?

* Should I wean him completely first?

* Should any other supplements be in place before we start chelating? If so, in

what order?

* Must we be diligent about getting the same amounts of supplements into him

daily, or is it reasonable to let his own intuition govern this? (We intend to

be more rigorous with ALA and DMSA amounts, and for the first weeks will use

only DMSA.)

* What supplements and foods should we AVOID before and during chelation to

avoid redistribution or regression? So far I've noted these (any errors?):

Can exacerbate mercury effects:

- Sulfur foods, especially garlic

- Turmeric (which contains curcumin)?

Can be dangerous:

- Cilantro (including the same plant's powdered seed, coriander?)

- Chlorella

Can be dangerous with DMSA in combination with ALA:

- High copper or zinc level in body

Can be dangerous with ALA:

- Cysteine

- Glutathione

- MSM

- NAC

- High copper level in body

- High plasma cysteine in body

Thank you!