== reply below

"From what I understand, the chelation game - even through the Cutler protocol - is long, arduous,...

== Cutler says he tries not to tell people predictions on how long it will take because there are so many factors--can you afford optimal set of supporting supplements and maybe medication? Do you have family or work obligations that force you to take lower doses and not chelate regularly, etc?

== He says most people get most of their gains in the first year or so. I got most of my gains in the first 1.5 yrs.

== So a person who is so sick they are struggling to work full time might get gains over a five year period, most of them will likely come in the first 1.5 yrs.

== All bets are off for people who are too sick to work because they have nasty chemical sensitivities. We hear from plenty of those folks in the Yahoo detox groups. I've heard from a few over the years who were still getting gains after 8 years. The good news of course is that they were getting gains. I personally know a guy who was nearly bed ridden but after 5 yrs was back at work in his white collar job.

== there are some great recovery stories out there--people who posted regularly so you could go back in the archives and follow their slow progress.

"...and can actually unveil other issues one does not know about when they start.

== peeling the onion is the description some use. After a year or two of detox you get a better feel for what is responding to treatment and what is not. Then you go back to your diagnostic flow chart to look for other factors.

== Unfortunately I think it just takes more time for some heavy metal related symptoms to improve. For me it took more than 3 years to get improvements in sensitivity to loud bright sounds and sensitivity to B12. I think all of my other symptoms at least improved somewhat during the first 2 yrs.

"I have been in the Cutler facebook group for about a month and the vast majority of people seem to be posting with complaints of symptoms.

== Cutler has warned about the dynamics in the support groups. Essentially the sickest members are going to post more often than those who are getting well rather quickly. The sick folks are going to have more questions.

==This is a post from Cutler on that subject as well as the issue of how long it takes to recover.
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/frequent-dose-chelation/conversations/topics/73447

== I followed the case of the woman he discusses. She stopped taking doses overnight. We really tried to help her in the group and in private communication. She just could not sleep. She had maybe the longest list of symptoms under her hair test that I've seen.
http://www.livingnetwork.co.za/files/hairtest_275.pdf

== I wonder if there is something genetic going on since she told me her sister was even sicker. It broke my heart because she had two pre-teen daughters. Her Ex seemed to really try to hang in there with her. They found mold in the house, had to move out, on an on. Dying of mercury poisoning is terrible. It is long and affects you mentally as well as in many areas of your body.


"There is also something called a "dump" phase, where the body notices the lowering of mercury and adjusts itself to get rid of more, exacerbating symptoms.

== You'll more likely see "stall phase" in Cutler's posts and interviews. "Dump" comes from a description in his book on organs dumping mercury after blood levels have come down sufficiently.

" Although the admins try to play this down, some people end up in this dump phase for up to two years! It's really nuts.

== In his AI book around p 50 and elsewhere he explains that there is a natural human variation in this area. Some get rid of mercury (Hg) more quickly than others. Somewhere in AI book he actually has a chart based on some studies done in various parts of the world, for example, after the accidental Hg poisoning in Iraq back in the 1970s or so.

== He also warns that people who don't chelate properly after Amalgam illness can be expected to have more problem than those who do. I did not have a long or difficult dump/stall period. I had only one Amalgam removed prior to starting detox. I have more of a lead problem than Hg.

"And there is a sort of gospel within the group that you can't get rid of parasites unless you get rid of mercury first. I just don't agree with that. I think it should depend on the level of infection someone is dealing with and the relative health of the person's elimination systems/organs.

== I can't say I'm familiar with that from my years in the Yahoo groups. I'm not in the FB group but know the mods from Yahoo.

== That view is more often seen when discussing candida. You do things to fight it but don't expect to fully win that war until you've removed enough Hg. Hg affects the immune system and also the balance of organisms in the gut. Chris Shade speaks about the latter as well although I don't have the link handy.

== I had no problem getting rid of my two parasites with medication in the years before starting detox.

"...Nobody warned me about the dangers of ALA until I came across Cutler protocol pages years ago, so I agree that he does understand the chemical properties of most of these supplements."

== Some of the reports about irresponsible use of ALA are really sad. I saw it happen in accidental intake in a close friend in a new formulation of her multivitamin. Thankfully she is much improved now but it took over a year just to recover what she lost.

== Just yesterday an old friend was telling me that her elderly sister takes ALA irresponsibly and is declining into dementia, etc.

== People could instead take it responsibly and actually move the Hg out of the brain instead of into the brain!

== For those not familiar with how Hg damages the brain this video provides visual evidence of just one type of damage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDnfeIwd0wI