How To Detoxify Mercury -- DMPS & DMSA
See also: Urine Test For Mercury Removal
How To Detoxify Mercury
Below is a recommended approach in the even that you have evidence of a mercury problem:
1) Read More About Mercury
Please click here to see a list of mercury related references. For the best online reference on mercury detoxification, please click here.
2) Remove Dental Amalgams
Remove your dental amalgams, so that you can stop one of the sources of mercury. This can be done by a dentist trained in amalgam removal without the mercury going down your throat (e.g. through the use of something called a dental damn he/she can minimize this). For a referral to a dentist trained in this procedure, please call 800-331-2303 (this is the Clinic where Dr. Hal Huggins used to work) and ask for an amalgam removal dentist referral in your area. This may involve 1 to 3 visits to the dentist and cost you $500 to $1500. It doesn't hurt too bad, due to lots of novocaine. Two non-metal dental filling materials with reputations for being very hard are "Diamond" by Kemdent or Jelenko; and "Heliomolar" by Vivadent. For details on amalgam removal, click here.
3) Stop Eating Salt Water Based Food
Salt water fish absorb mercury from ocean water like a sponge. Therefore, if you have a mercury problem, you must stop consuming these foods completely. This includes shrimp, scallops, lobster, tuna, salmon and all things that live in the ocean. Fresh water fish is fine (e.g. fresh water trout). Farm raised salt water fish is no good since the farms are actually netted off areas of the ocean. For information on salt water fish, click here, and for fresh water fish, click here.
4) Pull Mercury Out of Your Soft Tissues with Powerful Rx Meds
As noted in the above literature, there are a number of ways to pull mercury out of the soft tissues. Several Rx methods are discussed below:
a) DMSA
This is an Rx drug chelator (binds to mercury and then pulls it out of the body). If you use DMSA, it is recommended that you work with a Doc that has used it with more than 20 patients in the past and it is recommended that you first take several small test doses to make sure you can tolerate it (e.g. 20mg 1st time, 100mg 2nd time, 500mg 3rd time; and wait 2wks between each test). An example LONG TERM treatment approach is to take 100mg a day for 3days and then wait 3weeks, and then repeat the cycle; and do this for a year or so. And while doing this, take a zinc/copper tablet each day (e.g. 25mg zinc, 2.5mg copper; the 10:1 ratio is important). DMSA is sometimes coupled with Lipoate (e.g. from Jomarlabs); however, if one has multiple sclerosis (MS), DMSA is to be used with caution since those with MS are at a greater risk of a bad reaction. Also, if one has high levels of methyl-mercury (inorganic mercury from fish), the Lipoate can hurt as well.
This web site does not recommend that you take medium or large amounts of DMSA, since this is a powerful drug with side effects (e.g. pain next to your belly button) and there are other items that you can take that will help you detoxify mercury with less side effects and invasion. However, small quantities of DMSA, over longer periods of time, have been useful in a number of cases.
This protocol, and the recommendation that you favor non-DMSA approaches, was developed by R.A. Saarela.
b) DMPS
This is a mercury chelator, like DMSA, yet is more dangerous since it can pull other useful metals out of the body (e.g. zinc and copper) and it can dump much mercury into the kidney and liver, and permanently damage them. If you use DMPS, it is recommended that you work with a Doc that has used it with more than 20 patients in the past and that you first take several small test doses to make sure you can tolerate it (e.g. 10mg 1st time, 50mg 2nd time, 250mg 3rd time; and wait 2wks between each test). This web site recommends that you NOT take DMPS unless you have a very compelling reason to do so, since it is very dangerous and has damaged many people. This safety protocol was developed by R.A. Saarela.
5) Pull Mercury Out of Your Soft Tissues with Supplements
Below is a list of supplements that pull mercury out of the soft tissues. These are available at your local health food store, and have minimal side effects.
a) NAC, Milk Thistle, Cilantro, C, E and B
NAC, Milk Thistle, Cilantro extract are natural chelators and the C, E and B vitamins as supporters of this chelating glutathione system. A typical vitamin C regime is to take 1000mg of the time release version (releases over 12hrs) twice a day.
CAUTION #1: NAC doses should be kept low if one wants to reduce the risk of side-effects. If one has Cystinyria or Cystinosis (a rare inherited disease) they should not take cystine. Also, one should not take NAC if one has high glutathione.
CAUTION #2: Lipoic acid is is only recommended for inorganic mercury (amalgams) and should not be taken if one has methyl-mercury (salt water fish) problems. Typical Lipoic acid doses are 25 mg per day at first and then, 50 mg per day if one tolerates it well.
b) Livaplex (available from Standard Process Inc, Palmyra, WI)
This helps the liver move mercury out of the body (especially inorganic mercury from fish). It is recommend that you take 1 to 2 capsules a day at meals for at least several months.
c) Antronex (available from Standard Process Inc, Palmyra, WI)
This helps the liver move mercury out of the body (especially inorganic mercury from fish). It is recommend that you take 1 tablet a day for at least several months.
d) Chlorella
This binds to mercury and helps remove it from the soft tissues, especially the colon. Some people take 3 tablets a day for several months; however, if one has high levels of cysteine, the Chlorella can hurt (due it's sulfites); therefore, one might consider favoring other approaches, unless they know the cysteine is ok.
e) Garlic
This binds to mercury and helps remove it from the soft tissues, especially the colon. Some people take 3 tablets a day at meals for several months; however, if one has high levels of cysteine, the Garlic can hurt (due it's sulfites); therefore, one might consider favoring other approaches, unless they know the cysteine is ok. The liquid form of Garlic has proven to be affective at removing methyl-mercury from the liver with normal cysteine, and it is safer due to containing less sulfites.
6) Pull Mercury Out of The Insides of Your Nerve Cells
This is where one can get stuck. Pulling mercury out of the blood and soft tissues is relatively easy. Pulling it out of the insides of your brain cells is not so easy. It is here than the mercury can effect the ability of the nerve cells to communicate, for example, by clogging the noradrenaline alpha-1 receptors. DMSA, yet not DMPS, can chelate neural mercury. And the half life (time to reduce level 50%) of mercury in nerves is 15 or so years. If you do the Long Term DMSA regime noted above (300mg every 3wks) continually, you might be able to reduce this half life to 3 to 5yrs. The world needs a chelator for neural mercury for two reasons:
i) Help measure the amount of neural mercury in one's body by using it in a challenge test. One could take the chelator challenge pill, collect urine and then measure level of excreted mercury + chelator to get a fix on how much is sitting in the cells).
ii) Treatment approach for neural mercury removal.
7) Consume Brain Chemistry Meds as Needed
The maintenance approach to neural mercury is to consume drugs like Wellbutrin SR and Provigil or other brain chemistry meds that counterbalance the effect of the mercury to bring the patient into the asymptomatic range. Maintenance on such meds may be required for the duration of one's lifetime. Also, they may be necessary if the mercury had inactivated several of the internal biochemical processes used to regulate one's brain chemistry.
8) Treat All Found Pathologies
If you find that mercury has inactivated a system within your body (e.g. liver, immunity system) and you can counteract it with supplements, then you must do so, and wait for the mercury to slowly exit the body. This can take months for some areas of the body, and many years for others. In some cases, mercury permanently damages some of the internal enzymes and there is no known way to bring them back, at this time.
In our example case, George is asymptomatic, yet takes supplements to counteract the affects of the mercury. These include items that help the liver filter the blood, help chelate mercury out of the body via supplements, help the immunity system, and help maintain a normal level of noradrenaline.
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