Short or long rounds?

[W]hen I first started chelating, I would have more energy on the first day and then the sleep interruptions would pull me back down to about even on the second day. The third day I was dragging and really grateful the round was ending. Somewhere along the way, I started noticing that my third days were getting easier and better. So on this round, I decided to keep going and I ended up doing seven days.

Now I’ve been off round for seven days and it feels like too long.

I’ve asked around to find out what the old-timer’s preferences are and it seems to me there is a lot of variation. Here are the pros and cons as I see them (you may also want to read Cutler on long rounds):

Short rounds:

• If chelation is unpleasant, you’ll prefer short rounds (a good minimum number of hours is 66). As I did at first, you might find this is all you can manage.
• You’re going to have more redistribution events (the first day off-round when you are feeling fatigued and beat up) per month than someone who does longer rounds.
• You may find short rounds are easier to work into your schedule if you have responsibilities.
• You might feel like you’re making less progress towards eliminating your heavy metals than someone doing long rounds.

Long rounds:

• If you feel better while chelating, you’re not going to want to stop –  a long round might feel like a “deep clean”.
• To achieve long rounds, you’ll need to find the dose that will make it work – I’m very sensitive to dose increases and am certain I could not have done seven days in a row on an increase.
• You’re going to have fewer redistribution events/ recovery days in a month than someone doing three-day rounds.
• You’ll need fool-proof reminders and dosing system to avoid missing a dose and may not be able to maintain an active schedule without missing one and ending your round prematurely.
• You’ll feel like you are making good progress and may find the long off-round periods rewarding or useful. On the other hand, according to Andy the off-rounds can be as short as 48 hours.

Because I’m tolerating my current doses well, I think I have the choice between increasing my doses for a short round or going for a longer one. I’m going to try to go 10 days starting Monday in order to be off-round for my brother’s upcoming visit later this month. Keeping my doses low and steady for longer periods of time also allows me to add supporting supplements without getting too confused about potential reactions.

How long do you like your rounds?

My round notes:

Round 13 – 50 mg DMSA, 50 mg ALA every three hours – first long round, total chelation days to date: 37.5

• Monday, July 1:  starting off a little handicapped as I didn’t sleep well due to a vitamin D headache.  Three sprints at level 11  right after breakfast.  Received my hair test results,  ouch,  I’m sick.
•  Tuesday, July 2: headache from vitamin D still fading. Goes away after I eat. Traumatic day analyzing and understanding high copper and bad calcium magnesium ratio on hair test. Mixed 50 mg p5p with magnesium water and didn’t notice the usual grogginess from it. Felt pretty good after dinner. Took my last cortisol and B12 after dinner, unusually late. Slept well.
•  Wednesday, July 3: decided to try Andy’s recommendation for B6 – going to take 50 mg P5 P with each meal. Feeling a little slow after breakfast but not too bad. Lots of diarrhea after failed attempts to increase magnesium.
•  Thursday, July 4: slept deeply again last night in between alarms, but did not fall back to sleep after the second alarm. decided to extend this round. Got moody for a while after lunch. Mostly brain fog from B6 (p5p). Delighted to see my temperature rising again. Lots of diarrhea after failed attempts to increase magnesium.
•  Friday, July 5:  increased omega-3 from fish oil by 63 mg to try to counteract fogginess from the B6. Want to try to go seven days chelating. Started applying magnesium oil. Some extra fatigue today but certainly from not  sleeping well Thursday.
• Saturday, July 6: very active day, first day applying magnesium oil twice, switch from magnesium citrate to magnesium glycinate, very high-energy despite loss of sleep, feeling very warm, enjoyed horseback ride tremendously, good body temperatures.
• Sunday, July 7: tired from yesterday and little sleep, a little constipated – need more magnesium, drank a lot more water today.
• Monday, July 8: first day off-round, fatigued but better energy than expected (able to work productively) considering how long this round was, could not sleep because of work project and took Lunesta 2 mg.