Yes, I agree with that. If you are missing some mineral your body may take up some other metal as a replacement.

But I think that it is good to get your deficiencies corrected before going through chelation therapy. Chelation therapy may make some deficiencies worse because you lose some of the needed minerals in the process of getting rid of the unwanted metals.

I am surprised that your doctor is doing the chelation with you at this stage. Do you understand his logic for doing chelation before getting your nutrtional status completely corrrected?

Thanks orthomolecular for your input. It appears that part of the problem may be the toxic minerals blocking absorption of the nutritional minerals. For example, I have been supplementing with zinc picolinate (supposedly one of the more absorbable zinc supplements) for quite some time now, but apparently, per the hair result, may still be deficient intracellularly. My doctor is in agreement with my current supplementation regimen, but has commented that I may not be absorbing all of the supplements due to the toxic minerals.

The oral chelator I am using (as I understand) is supposedly a more “gentle” type than some of the other chelator chemicals (e.g. DMPS, DMSA, etc.). I feel there is a lot that I still don’t know regarding toxic minerals and chelation, but I am continuing to read and trying to learn all I can.

If you are only taking 22 mg. of that zinc piconolate I think that dose is way too low. I have a dependency of zinc, so my dose will always be high (for the rest of my life). But when you are treating a deficiency you have to work with high doses. You don't start out really high but you increase the dose as your body gets used to the one you are taking.

How do you know when to stop increasing the dose? You should feel that the symptoms for that deficiency have gone away completely. My nails would usually break when my zinc level was low. If you listen to your body you can usually get some clues to when the dose is enough and when it is not enough.

I take more that 500 mg. of zinc each day. That is not the dose I recommend you even consider. But I think that 22 mg. of zinc is not enough to correct a deficiency.

You should be changing that dose, increasing it higher every few weeks.

The same with some other nutrients. You can't start out with that high a dose but you can work up to higher doses over time.

William Walsh of the Pfeiffer Institute talks about how promoting MT will help the body get rid of the heavy metals. And his method of promoting MT is to take at least 60 to 80 mg. of zinc. And I think that is the dose to take and not the amount you take each day. So you should be starting with that kind of dose with meals, all meals, and then try to increase that. Usually you should wait about two weeks to make sure your body has adjusted to that dose before you consider increasing it. And the increase should be less than 50% of the existing dose. Too much of an increase will cause problems, so try increasing the dose about 25% or 30% each time.

http://www.hputest.nl/lit109.doc

This link is some notes and may seem unorganized. But Walsh is a leading authority on MT which is a special group of proteins that gets heavy metals and other toxins out of the body via the urine mostly. There may be some other sites which mention his methods if you do a search.

Hi West,
What a VERY interesting thread!

I used to take Dalmane for years. In London in the 70s the doctor gave me these huge precriptions, the bottle I'd get from the chemist would be like the big bottles one sees of vitamin C. And they were 30mg.

When there was a lot of stress I'd take them during the day, every four hours, and they just barely kept me from bouncing off the walls.

But then recently, in 2001, I moved into my condo where there was hydrogen sulfide that I didn't know about. I began to fall a lot, so I felt as if I couldn't take the Dalmane any more, because it did knock me out for good, sound sleep, but it also made me less steady if I got up during the night... only see, I didn't know about the hydrogen sulfide. So I'm not really sure how much it was the Dalmane to blame, as opposed to the h.s.

Okay... what I want to be sure to say, is that now I am sleeping 8+ hours a night and LOVING it.

That's with no Dalmane, but a lot of B12 replacement, and magnesium every day with vitamin C to aid in absorption. Apparently magnesium is about as hard for some people to absorb as B12.

Then, I also have amino acids (whey amino acids) in my coffee a couple times a day... and I am pretty certain that has helped with the remarkable reduction I've had in back pain.

I also take serrapeptase because of some dental infection problems and the pain in my back... so it's most likely contributed as well.

What I sometimes wonder is whether the serrapeptase helps me sleep because I take it at night (you can't have anything to eat for hours before or after taking it) and the capsules rather remind me of the Dalmane... so I wonder if my body goes so deeply to sleep because it thinks the capsules are the Dalmane... (silly body) But, who knows.

I just know that I'm sleeping a LOT better.


Well, thank you again for a GREAT thread!

Magnesium deficiency is rampant. Probably mostly due to diet and the way food is produced now.

Mrsd's information on magnesium is excellent. Worth looking up here for any who have not already.

rose

I sure didn't know that we need a bit of acid in order to make use of the magnesium in food. But we do.

Here's my list of foods containing magnesium:
http://www.health-boundaries-bite.co...Magnesium.html

I always take my magnesium supplement with either vitamin C, or hydrochloric acid.

Not everyone can take hydrochloric acid... but I read this really interesting thing about how a little of it can keep people from getting h.pylori...

h.pylori in the stomach lining can be a cause of low B12, and presumably low magnesium, also.

Just taking my stab at this topic. I also was taking Toprol and a minimum dosage level to control my blood pressure. I was going from 169/100 to 140/85. Was going to have wisdom teeth removed and they said my blood pressure was too high and that he was scared my heart would stop. Being the good person that I am I started taking the pills. Toprol is just not for me however. It did help me a little with my over thinking. But at the same time it Robs you of the mental energy to get things done. It didn't take me long to figure out that I might need vitamins to counter act this drug effects. Started taking Centrum Silver and love it. I take this because it has no Iron and for my blood type I just can't process extra Iron, it makes me sick. That helped at first, but I felt there was more I could be doing. A few months later the Doctor told me that my Lipids are very high! It was fine before taking the beta blocker. It was at 1500. I started going on 30min ~ 1hr walks during my lunch, mostly after work 5 days a week. Sure enough I lost 10 pounds. Was at 225 pounds and down to 215. Tested my blood again and the score went down to 600's. Doc was still not happy with that and said he might need to put me on something. I started to change my diet this time. Stopped drinking that RockStar energy drinks. Stopped eating beef and replaced it with Ground Turkey, that IMHO tastes better! Ground Turkey makes a good Chili and Taco. A few months of that and my blood fat score was down to 330's range. It was better but still not perfect. Then they put my on a water pill. Talk about needing vitamins if ever. I ran out of vitamins and ran into many problems of feeling tired, muscles hurt, sneezing and coughing ect.. If that was not enough they took me of the Toprol finally. Was very noticeable the mental clarity was back. Then they started me on an ACE- Inhibitor. Stated coughing again and had allergy like symptoms about 2 months into it. I was ready to blame the drug for these problems. They put me on Allegra and I broke out in Hives and had numbness in my hands and feet, plus was having problems breathing. Called the Doctor and they said to take some Benadryl. I was feeling tired and loopy on that stuff! Dam Doctors just pushing pills on me!! So I took things into my own hands. Stopped taking the Allegra and the Hives, Breathing and Numbness went away after a few days. Started taking Centrum Silver and the Numbness and Lag feeling started going away 100%. Started sipping on water bottles more often and went on long walks 5-days a week again because I stopped and weight was up to 220. A few weeks later they had my blood tested and all of my high blood counts dropped within their normal levels. Just doing those last few things have helped me out more than any pill have. My last Lipids score for Triglycerides was around 215 and was 1500 when we started the blockers. I blame the Toprol for the crazy blood work, so please get off of that! It will only kill you faster. The water pills almost require vitamins or you will have side effects and risk more damage to your heart. The Ace Inhibitors are known for the coughing, so it's a side effect you will have once in a while. But it's more known for just making a cough last longer and the reason for that I suspect in the lack of Vitamins. For everyone else just keep in mind that you are getting older and will need to watch things with an eagle eye. Good Luck

I was excited and happy to read your post West. I will re-read it again when I have more time (and wish I wasn't rushing out the door!)

Very sorry to read of all the woes you had with Ambien. I am a migraine patient and I can't take that medication very well. What I mean by that is 9 times out 10, Ambien will cause me to have a migraine.

Finding something to help me with insomnia is not really easy. Usually I rely on 1-3 mgs. of melatonin and some warm milk. Some of my migraine preventatives seem to make me sleepy as well. After I started an exercise routine, I started sleeping a little better and I am grateful for that. (BTW...I believe some neuros think that the B vitamins help with migraines as well as calcium, magnesium, CoQ10 and even melatonin).

My doc is very/ultra open minded when it comes to exploring the benefits of vitamin supplementation and often tests patients. A good year ago, he tested all of us and found many to be in need of additional B12. Hence, I take a B12 supplement. Since taking this, I do have a little more energy.

His latest concern is vitamin D. He gave me additional D2 to take and mentioned taking additional D in my Cal/Mag supplement. It seems much has been written about D3 and now I'm wondering if that is what he was talking about, if that would be better for me to take, or if that in fact is what is in those supplements anyway. Bottom line: D supplementation is up for discussion.

It is interesting/amazing how our foods and supplements can influence our body chemistry.

BTW...do you have any strong feelings regarding chelation therapy? Does a person take their supplements while undergoing chelation therapy? Do you have a good chelation therapy link?

Thank you very much for the links you have posted.

Hello West
I have just been told that I have very high levels of murcury and lead and I need chelation ..I want to find out as much as I can before embarking on what might cause more damage to myself ..can you help with any knowledge on this..when I read through the posts it sounds as though you are quite knowledgable on the subject...Thankyou for any help you may be able to give me Thanks Heather

West has not logged on since 2008... unless this poster has email notification for new posts, I don't think there will be a response to you.