Anyone do a mercury Challenge Test?

[cara615]

We are doing one on DS and challenging him with a chelating agent called DMSA. Has anyone done this and has it exacerbated your child?

[LNN]

We did a dmsa challenge and DS came back slightly high for mercury. We chelated for a few weekends but didn't see much change one way or the other. He was also dealing with some herxing issues from lyme and because the numbers were never very high, we moved on to other treatments. There are conflicting strategies out there. Andy Cutler is adamant that you chelate only on weekends and that you strictly adhere to a dosing schedule (every 6 hrs? every 4hrs? can't recall). He feels this limits the inflammation and does the best job of moving mercury out of the body. He argues that to mildly chelate every other day is far worse and only serves to move mercury around within the body. Personally, I'm not aware of any science to support any particular dosing strategy. Do your homework and decide what theory makes the most sense to you.

 

It's quite possible chelating can bring out the worst but it depends on your levels. If low, it may not be worth the benefit. If levels are high, then it's probably worth going thru the storm.

[cara615]

We are not chelating, just doing 100mgs of DMSA to test the urine. Hoping it doesn't cause a flare...

[sf_mom]

Pulling mercury or any other metal can cause an increase in symptoms.

 

When you chelate the response will depend on if there is an issue with metals, amount of metals and how well the body is detoxing. Metals bind to the bugs especially viruses.

 

100 mgs is very low dose and shouldn't have too much of an impact.

Edited June 25, 2014 by sf_mom