[I] hit the “stop alarm” button on my tablet Friday night at 1:45 am and went back to sleep without taking my chelators. When I woke at 4:15 AM and realized the mistake I was mad as a hornet! This was my first round after taking a break for nine weeks and I was experimenting to try to find the perfect, magical dose schedule. Friday night was my fifth night and I had not yet found the magic so it was a great disappointment to end prematurely. Here’s what I learned:
- 2 hour intervals work well for me during the day, but not at night! During the day, my energy level is much smoother on 2 hour dosing.
- I can get through 2 hour night intervals and survive the next day but just barely.
- There is a great risk of screwing up at night with 2 hour dosing and ending the round prematurely and during the days there is a great risk of screwing up in any number of ways due to sleep deprivation.
- Low, safe dosing was uncomfortable and I think I prefer to be moderately challenged by my dosing. I don’t know to what degree this is because I was sleep deprived versus attributable to my response to low doses. This is not the first time I’ve experienced this low dose phenomenon. Low doses give me apathy and slow thinking without the energy surges and occasional euphoria that I get with larger doses.
- I should not be searching for the perfect magical dosing and instead search for something that works just well enough to tolerate. I believe there’s still room for me to address the rough spots with tweaks to my antioxidants and methylation supports. Specifically, increasing Lipo-C and SAM-e at the right times could smooth out my chelation experience a lot.
Next round, I’m going to increase the doses to 50mg ALA / 25mg DMSA every two hours during the day and three hours during the night. I expect it will be difficult because it was the last time I tried it.
These are my notes from the round:
Round 17 (4.5 days) – 25 mg DMSA, 25 mg ALA every 2 hours , total chelation days to date: 73
- Monday, November 4: started at 7 AM but haven’t slept well for two nights so my ability to sense impact of chelation very diminished… Got a good nap. Mild headache around dinner time, exhausted in evening. longer night doses: 2′ 45″, 2′ 45″, and 2’30”.
- Tuesday, November 5: Woke up feeling a little rough so I think I will try shorter night doses tonight. By 11am feeling rocked by poor sleep. First night on 2 hour intervals.
- Wednesday, November 6: Slept through my first alarm last night but fortunately woken by wife and daughter. Woke up feeling a little better in spite of two hour intervals. Still, same pattern repeated today, functional until around 11 AM. Lips are dry and cracking even with constant Chapstick application. Again, feeling much better after nap. Second night on 2 hour intervals.
- Thursday, November 7: woke up very early and attended an all morning business meeting – that wasn’t smart! but I survived it. Third night on 2 hour intervals.
- Friday, November 8: After three nights one two hour intervals I think I can say it’s not working well enough for me. Going to try 2’30” tonight using: 11:15 PM – 1:45 AM – 4:15 AM – 6:45 AM – 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
- Saturday, November 9: I missed my 1:45 AM dose and ended the round. I had almost no redistribution effects on Saturday, presumably because my doses were low in this round.
- Sunday, November 10: felt a little slower than usual on Sunday, possibly from adding 5htp and Gaba-R or sleep or maybe because my redistribution was delayed for the first time.