APPENDIX A

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

A.1 Mercury cleanup questions

A. 1.1 How do I clean up mercury? (Normal cleanup instructions as for a lightbulb or thermometer)

•    First, make sure not to spread it all over by doing something before you think it all through! Leave the area, let it air out while you think and prepare.

•    Your primary goal is to not scatter mercury around, and to not break big droplets into a zillion tiny ones. Look carefully where you’re going to put your foot, hand or knee every time you move.

•    Do not use a vacuum cleaner under any circumstances.

•    Airflow is your friend. It carries away any vapor and protects you. Keep the windows open (or door to the outside) while you clean up.

•    If it was on a hard floor, scoop up the debris with a plastic dust pan or piece of hard plastic as well as you can before any sweeping. Scoop, wet down and clean up with paper towels. Put all the clean up debris and supplies in a plastic bag. When you are done put the plastic bag outside away from any building to await garbage pick-up. If possible, get a sweeping compound and gently sweep up the entire area where anything could have scattered.

A sweeping compound is a product, usually made from wood shavings, that is used to hold down dust to make sweeping easier.

Examine everyplace you can for mercury droplets. Pick up as much as possible. Examine the bottom of the baseboards carefully.

You can often pick up mercury droplets with tape. They will also adhere to clean copper wires or the copper scrubbies used to clean pots. Wear rubber gloves when you do this.

Wax the floor. Get wax under the baseboards. This passivates any mercury you missed.

If there is a carpet or floor covering, the first question is can you fold or roll it up, bag it and take it outside? If so, do that. Make sure it is well bagged before moving it so no mercury droplets get away.

If you have removed a carpet or floor covering (or clothing or bedding) and you want to keep it, get it away from any building and to a place you are willing to have contaminated (e. g. not next to your vegetable garden.)

Take the carpet out of the plastic bags and let it air out for an hour or two. Then carefully open it up and try to collect all the debris and mercury into a bag for disposal. Hang the carpet up and beat it while being careful to keep the wind at your back. Inspect it very carefully for any mercury. Leave it outside to air out for a few days before bringing it in. If it can be washed, do so.

Wall to wall carpeting is the most difficult situation. It is easiest to throw the carpet away, if you can afford it. If you need to clean the carpet, air the room out. Wear gloves. Be extremely careful, diligent and compulsive about picking up all the debris. Place everything in a garbage bag. Spread the carpet pile with your fingers and look for little mercury balls. Try to remove them with tape or a copper wire. If you are not sure you have cleaned up thoroughly have a professional carpet cleaner come in. They should have a hose that goes from your house to the truck. Don’t go on and on and on about mercury to them or you’ll end up talking to the hazardous waste people. This will cost you a lot of money for something that isn’t considered a hazardous waste spill. Just have them clean the carpet. If they are using a vacuum hose to the truck, this will not be hazardous for them.

•    When you are done with the cleanup, put your clothes in the wash, take a bath and wash your hair.

A. 1.2 I broke a neon tube/ CFL light bulb. Help! What do I do?

•    A lot depends on whether it was operating and hot when you broke it, or turned off and cold. If it was cold, follow the normal cleanup instructions.

•    If it was hot, open windows and leave the room immediately. Close the door. If you have ductwork, do not let the heater or air conditioner turn on. Leave it alone for at least an hour. Then follow normal cleanup instructions

A. 1.3 I broke a thermometer/barometer/tilt switch/toy with mercury in it.

•    Don’t worry.

•    Follow normal cleanup instruction.

A. 1.4 How does exposure to a broken light bulb or thermometer affect chelation?

•    The best way to not get exposed via light bulbs or thermometers is to get rid of the light bulbs and thermometers that have mercury in them before an accident happens. LED light bulbs are mercury free, and modern thermometers no longer use mercury.

   Most people’s exposure is not significant. For example, breaking the thermometer in your mouth and spitting out the mercury in the sink does not amount to a significant exposure because it is easy to spit metallic mercury out of your mouth.

•    It is rare to get a substantial exposure from breaking a light bulb or thermometer. But if this should occur, you will need to stop chelating and wait three months before starting ALA. Three days after the exposure you can chelate with DMPS or DMSA.

•    Examples of a substantial exposure are: you get some mercurochrome or merthiolate on you when you pick it up to throw it out. You break a spiral CFL tube while in operation and hot and you go over to look. You realize the prescription eye drops you used all last week have mercury in them. You vacuumed up some spilled mercury before reading not to do that in this book.

A.2 Protocol questions

A.2.1 Can I use time-release alpha lipoic acid so I don’t have to get up at night?

   No. Time release alpha lipoic acid will not keep the levels in your blood steady. ALA is absorbed in the top part of the digestive tract. A time-release product lets most of the ALA out lower down where it does no good.

A.2.2 How does the MTHFR gene affect my ability to chelate?

•    Ignore everything you have read about MTHFR as it is not relevant to chelation. You can chelate just fine with whichever MTHFR version you have. You can take whatever special form of folate and B-12 you want to.

A.2.3 How much iodine should I use?

•    Do not take more than 500 mcg of iodine per day as more will eventually become toxic.

A.2.4 Can I use zeolite, modified citrus pectin or bentonite clay?

•    You can take zeolite, MCP or bentonite if you wish but it is not going to chelate anything.

A.2.5 I have Lyme disease. What do I do?

•    If you just have Lyme disease, antibiotics cure it. If you took any reasonable course of antibiotics and are not cured, you need to chelate. If you want to continue taking antibiotics its fine, they don’t interfere with chelation and chelation doesn’t interfere with them. Just be sure no supplements you are using have ALA, R-ALA, cilantro or chlorella in them.

A.2.6 Shouldn’t I heal my gut, cure my Candida, clear out my detox pathways before I start chelating?

•    These problems will never clear up until you chelate. You can treat them at the same time as you are chelating. Chelating will allow your immune system to work properly and combat these problems. Do not put off chelating for more than two weeks.

A.2.7 My doctor says I should do a challenge test, do a DMPS IV, take chelators once a day and so forth.

•    Be very cautious about taking the advice of doctors, naturopaths, chiropractors and other providers. They do not have the proper background or technical education to guide you. Frequent low dose chelation is the only way to remove metals safely. Any other way carries serious risk. Don’t wind up bed ridden, in chronic pain, or in a mental institution. Chelate properly and get well!

  

A.2.8 My dentist says to take a chlorella rinse, EDTA tablets, a glutathione IV, a detox remedy, etc.

•    Let your dentist do what he is good at, which is fix your teeth. Your dentist is not qualified to give you advice about detoxification.

A.2.9 My doctor thinks it is all quackery and won’t help me.

•    Don’t upset yourself or him by arguing. Find another doctor who does want to help you.

A.2.10 Do I really have to wait 3 months to take ALA?

•    You have to wait 3 months from your last exposure to take ALA. For most people, this means three months from the time you got your last mercury filling removed.

A.2.11 Is it OK to take ALA once a day for my liver?

•    NO! The only safe way to take ALA is on the schedule outlined in this book.

A.2.12 Can I take a dose early/late to fit my schedule?

•    You have about 15 minutes of wiggle room. However, if you take miss your dose by an hour, the round must be stopped.

Try to keep your dosing as regular as possible. This is not the same as routinely changing your schedule. See section 7.2.3 for discussion of schedules.

A.2.13 I took a dose early/late what do I do?

•    If you took a dose early readjust your alarms from the time you took it and keep going. If you took a dose late, just keep going.

•    Try not to forget your doses. Try to keep them as regular as you can. Use checklists and alarm clocks. Don’t just try to remember.

   If you have messed up your dosing schedule, it is a good idea to take extra vitamin C and magnesium.

A.2.14 I missed a dose, what do I do?

•    If you missed a dose but took the next one anyway, just keep going. You will probably feel horrible for a few days. Take extra vitamin C and magnesium.

•    If you miss an ALA dose and are more than 4 1/2 hours after the last one,

•    a DMPS dose and are more than 10 hours after the last one, or

•    a DMSA dose and are more than 5 hours after the last one you must stop the round and start over the following week.

A.2.15 I accidentally took a double dose of chelators.

•    Keep going. Finish this round at the regular dose.

A.2.16 Can I use R-ALA?

•    No. Everybody who has used it has reported it made them worse.

A.2.17 Can I do a round longer than three days?

•    Yes. You can do rounds as long as you can tolerate but you should never do rounds shorter than 64 hours.

A.2.18 I have been taking ALA once a day and nothing bad has happened.

•    Stop right away! Give it enough time and it will do long-lasting damage that is very difficult to reverse. Taking ALA once a day will drive mercury in to your brain. Once you do this, it takes a long time to get it out.

A.2.19 Can I stop chelating whenever it isn’t convenient?

•    You should really chelate through the dump phase. (See section 7.5.) Once you’re over the dump phase, you can stop and start as often as you want. If you need to stop during the dump phase you can, but your symptoms will be worse than if you chelated during this time.

A.2.20 My flax oil says it has ALA - can I take it?

•    As with all acronyms, there are several ALA’s. The one you chelate with is alpha lipoic acid. The one in flax seed oil is alpha linolenic acid - that one doesn’t chelate anything. It will not cause any problems.

A.2.21 Can I use a Sauna for detox?

•    You can combine any kind of sauna with chelation (on or off round) as long as you sweat appropriately in response to heat and the sauna heats you up more or less evenly. Some infrared saunas do not heat evenly. You should feel good after saunas. If you feel bad, stop. The sauna will help some mercury come out but it will not detox you adequately—chelation is necessary to get better.

A.2.22 What supplement brand is best?

•    Use what you can get easily. Whether the supplements are from grocery stores, drugstores, supplement stores in your community or online vendors is up to you. For most people, brand doesn’t matter.

A.2.23 Is magnesium stearate dangerous?

•    Magnesium stearate is harmless. You consume stearic acid every time you eat meat or consume cocoa butter, coconut oil or palm oil.

A.2.24 Does chelation remove important minerals?

•    No. The chelators discussed in this book, alpha lipoic acid, DMSA and DMPS, are highly selective for heavy metals. They do not directly remove the lighter nutrient metals. People who have mercury often have low magnesium and zinc because mercury keeps your body from holding on to them. When chelating, this problem may be exacerbated for magnesium.

No other metal is affected.

A.2.25 Is the lower back-ache I have when chelating my kidneys being damaged?

•    No. Your kidneys don’t hurt if they get the kind of damage mercury causes. Kidney damage does not happen with chronic mercury poisoning anyway. The pain is probably due to back muscle spasms because you aren’t taking enough magnesium.

The muscles that are located over your kidneys are where you are feeling pain.

A.2.26 Why can’t I use EDTA?

•    Although EDTA chelates lead, you cannot use it unless you have chelated all the mercury out of your body with ALA first. EDTA makes mercury more toxic and moves it into your brain. EDTA is also difficult to use. It is usually injected, which is expensive, time consuming and unpleasant. It is very difficult to use by mouth because absorption is poor. It affects electrolyte balance and usually causes nausea. This means you have to work the dose up slowly and will have to chelate for a lot of days to get to a reasonable dose. If you stop for long you have to start all over again from zero.

A.2.27 Should I take my chelators and/or supplements, with or without food?

•    It makes sense to take your supplements with food. The body is used to getting vitamins and minerals this way.

•    You take the chelators when your alarm goes off, with or without food.

A.2.28 Can I skip my chelation round when I feel sick, or have a wedding or event?

Yes. This process does not work on a strict every week or every two-week schedule. It is done as often as tolerated. This may depend on your life events and situations as well as on your health. The mercury will wait patiently until you get around to chelating it.

A.2.29 I have heard that chelation is dangerous

•    It is very dangerous if it is done wrong. Be safe and do it right! 

A.2.30 What do I do if I can’t take vitamin E?

•    Try tocotrienols. If you are sensitive to soy, try a sunflower derived vitamin E.

A.2.31 What do I do if I can’t take vitamin C?

•    After trying 2 or 3 brands, try some vitamin C made from different precursors than from corn syrup, like sago palm or cassava/tapioca. Try liposomal vitamin C.

A.2.32 How can I get my family to understand they are toxic and need to chelate?

•    Get better. Until then there is nothing you can say that won’t make them think you’ve gone even further around the bend.

You need to tell them what you’re doing, then be patient for however long it takes to get better. This might be a year or two. When they notice you are improving they’ll listen to you. The more you talk about it now, the less likely they’ll be to ever listen to you.

A.2.33 Can I stop my psychiatric medications now that I am chelating?

•    No. You have to keep taking them until all the mercury is gone.

A.2.34 I can’t remember if I took my chelator dose ten minutes ago.

8

8

   Take another and start using a checklist and pill minder boxes!

  

A.2.35 My doctor gave me an SSRI

9 and it isn’t helping at all! What do I do now?

•    See the depression section (8.11) to determine which sort of depression you have and what will work best for you. SSRI’s only work in certain cases.

•    SSRI’s seldom work for anxiety. If you have anxiety and depression, see the adrenal section and try the suggestions there.

9 Paxil, Prozac, Celexa, Lexapro. Luvox, Zoloft etc.

A.2.36 I have surgical pins, replacement joints or other metal parts in my body. Can I still chelate?

•    Yes.

A.2.37 I just threw up. Do I need to end the round?

•    If it has been less than half an hour, or you can see the pill in the vomit, take another chelator pill. If you can’t see the pill and it has been more than half an hour, don’t take another. If in doubt, do take another pill.

Of course, if you are getting sick and are likely to vomit more, stop the round. Don’t choke down another pill to barf up! But if you think you’ll be OK and want to continue, then go ahead.

A.2.38 Do I really need to take my chelators at night?

•    Yes, in order to keep your blood levels of chelator steady you need to take your nightly dose. If you do not respect the schedule, you will redistribute mercury and make yourself worse, not better.

A.2.39 Which hair test should I use and where do I get it?

•    There are several hair test companies that are appropriate to use. The one recommended is Doctor’s Data Toxic and Essential Elements Hair Test. Be sure to order the one that has both toxic and essential elements.

A.3 Dentistry questions

A.3.1 What is that grey or black stain showing through my new composite fillings?

•    This is usually silver oxide stain and it isn’t a problem for chelating. If you are in any doubt, get a bite wing X-ray of the area.

If there is any mercury it will show up on the X-ray.

A.3.2 How do I determine that I have amalgam fillings?

•    The siver or black looking fillings in your teeth are amalgam fillings. In x-rays, amalgam shows up fluorescent white.

A.4 Vaccine questions

A.4.1 What if I am told that I absolutely need a vaccine?

•    Avoid them if at all possible. Most people roll over and play dead much too early. First, you need to appreciate that doctors and bureaucrats lie all the time and will tell you there are no exemptions when there is an exemption form already preprinted and waiting right under the counter if you know how to ask for it. The internet is wonderfully helpful in finding all the reasons you can use to avoid a vaccine.

•    If you can’t possibly get out of it, make sure there is no thimerosal. DO NOT take the doctor’s word. Make them show you the vial and watch them draw it up. If the vial has more than one dose in it, the vaccine has mercury (thimerosal) in it no matter what anybody says.

•    If the doctor says you MUST get it, he is usually wrong. For example, a tetanus shot when you have a cut is useless—it takes six weeks to make you immune. You are relying on the last tetanus shot you had for the cut you just got. This is not an emergency. Do not let your doctor bully you. You have plenty of time to think about whether you need another tetanus shot.

•    Never get flu shots or shingles/chicken pox vaccines. They don’t prevent the diseases and may make you sicker.

See for example <a href=“http://www.cochrane.org/CDOO1269/ARI_vaccines-to-prevent-influenza-in-healthy-adults” http:=“” data-www.cochrane.org=“” data-cdoo1269=“” data-ari_vaccines-to-prevent-influenza-in-healthy-adults<=“” span=““>“The preventive effect of parenteral inactivated influenza vaccine on healthy adults is small: at least 40 people would need vaccination to avoid one ILI case (95% confidence interval (Cl) 26 to 128) and 71 people would need vaccination to prevent one case of influenza (95% Cl 64 to 80). Vaccination shows no appreciable effect on working days lost or hospitalisation.”

•    If you are an adult you already had enough MMR shots. Don’t get another one. You do not need them to go to school. There is always an exemption or a past medical record you can show.

A.4.2 What should I do if I have been obliged to get a vaccine, anyway.

•    Take a gram of vitamin C every hour for a few days.

•    Take 2 or 3 tablets of aspirin 3 or 4 times per day.

•    Apply ice to the injection site.

•    Apply hydrocortisone cream to the injection site three or four times a day for several days.