i will present only one method here – andrew cutler’s approach – which many proponents claim is the safest and most effective one.
andrew cutler’s program is different from others in a number of aspects:
1) it stresses the importance of half lives of chelators. every drug or supplement has its own half life (the amount of time after which only half of the original dosage of the drug/supplement is still present in the blood), which is often important for the drug to be effective – a basic knowledge that apparently every medical student is taught in medical school, yet very few doctors apply in practice.
cutler says that unless mercury chelators are taken in a way which guarantees a steady level of the chelator in the blood over a period of ideally 72 hours, the procedure will only result in a redistribution of mercury inside the body and not or minimal chelation will take place. future worsening of symptoms or the creation of new pathologies often takes place later in life. the 72 hours chelation period should be followed by at least another 72 hours break period.
the half lives of the only 3 true chelators are:
- ALA: 3 hours
- DMSA: 2.5 to 3.5 hours
- DMPS: 8 hours
that means that in order for the chelators to be effective they need to be taken in those time intervals – day and night for 72 hours. (given that a shorter time interval is not problematic when chelating, only a longer one is, it is ok to take ALA and DMSA every 3 hours to make the protocol less complicated)
2) according to cutler there are only 3 true chelators: ALA, DMSA and DMPS. out of those ALA is the only one which can chelate mercury out of the brain. DMSA and DMPS can only pull mercury out of the blood and organs but they will not chelate mercury trapped in the brain. the only absolutely necessary chelator is therefor ALA. DMSA and DMPS can speed chelation up and make it more manageable.
for a chelator to be a true chelator, a compound has to have a di-thiol (double sulfur) bond since only then does the Hg (mercury) bond strongly enough to the compound and minimizes the risk of redistribution. all other single thiol compounds like glutathione, chlorella, cilantro extracts, DMSO, etc. are dangerous since they will only contribute to moving the mercury around without excreting it safely (or only minimally).
3) respecting the half life of chelators is so important that if one accidentally misses a dosage, the round has to be aborted and only resumed after several days of taking a break.
4) chelation can only take place orally and with very low starting dosages. for ALA recommended are 20mg, although some people have to go as low as 2mg. if symptoms during the round are too pronounced, it’s a sign of a too high dosage.
5) supplementation is very important during the chelation, since it makes sure that the chelated tissue can recover quicker and be protected from some mobilized mercury during the chelation. for that i suggest andrew cutler’s books or this website:
http://www.livingnetwork.co.za/chelationnetwork/chelation-the-andy-cutler-protocol/
6) another great way to remove mercury from the body are saunas. mercury will leave the body through sweat. cutler says steam saunas are preferable to infrared saunas. a 1 hour sauna session is comparable to around 1 round of DMPS. apparently, saunas can only remove mercury from the extracellular space, not what is bound in organs or brain.
depending on the severity of the mercury toxicity and the genetic predisposition of a person to either secrete Hg easily or less easily it can take several years and a couple of hundreds of rounds to fully recover.
i’m currently on round #30 and 8 months into chelation. during that time my fatigue, the ability to concentrate and absorb new and more complicated information has improved dramatically; my speech has become more fluid and i seem to be able to think quicker and be able to access words faster.