Quick PSA on one aspect of chelation

[The0Self]

Far more important than keeping the dose steady, is making damn sure you never go more than the maximum recommended time between doses. Not to say that keeping the dose (and blood concentration) rock-steady isn’t ideal (it very much is ideal to keep it as steady as possible), but the most important thing is that you never allow more than 3 hours to pass after each ALA dose before the next one is taken (or 4h for DMSA or 8h for DMPS). And if using ALA with another chelator, you need to take them both every 3h (or more often).

And always stop the ALA before any of the other chelators. When ALA levels are changing (being introduced to, or leaving the body), you want the other chelator steady (and elevated)… this is because mercury will travel with the free mercury equilibrium across the blood brain barrier (BBB), and the other chelators (DMSA; DMPS) bind free mercury (rendering some of it “not free”) on the outside of the BBB, meaning there will be less free mercury on the outside of the BBB when the non-ALA chelator is elevated, so that helps ALA move mercury out of the brain… and the opposite is true when the non-ALA chelator is falling to very low levels.

*** Do not go more than 3h since any ALA dose before taking the next one, while in a round. One way you can ensure this never happens, is to keep a capsule with you at all times (of each type of chelator you’re taking currently, not just one), and any time throughout the day when you suspect it may possibly be more than 3h before the next dose, take a tiny portion of that powder from the capsule — pour a tiny bit in your mouth and swallow it with water.

This is to avoid blood levels of the chelator ever hitting rock bottom levels, which is when redistribution occurs.

But why should you be concerned about this ever happening by just being a little late to a dose? 

Here’s why:

You may be under the false impression that the half life of ALA is 3h (since, to keep blood levels steady, Cutler tells you to take it every 3h or more frequently)... This is NOT the case. ALA’s half life is far shorter than that — as little as 30 minutes… Systemic ALA concentration is literally undetectable before just 5 hours post-dose… not “super low,” but undetectable.

Frequency of every 3 hours is prescribed simply to avoid rock-bottom levels, not merely to keep blood levels steady, as this frequency wouldn’t even be sufficient for that — luckily, it doesn’t have to be perfectly steady (though it optimally should be), but it does have to be kept far from zero, and you can ensure that by taking a very small amount of powder throughout the day in-between scheduled doses, just in case you were early to a scheduled dose.

Round duration must be 72 hours at the absolute minimum, though longer is encouraged — but beyond 2 weeks has not been done by enough people for me to recommend that.

Edited October 19, 2022 by The0Self

[Aubs]

Are you recommending people take a small dose of ALA between doses? Why not just take another dose then or just increase frequency?

Also just to note, lots of people have had success dosing every 3 hours. Optimizing ALA sounds really finicky unless redistribution symptoms are really clear between doses. But at that point why not just reduce your dose?

 

 

[The0Self]

6 hours ago, Aubs said:

Are you recommending people take a small dose of ALA between doses? Why not just take another dose then or just increase frequency?

Also just to note, lots of people have had success dosing every 3 hours. Optimizing ALA sounds really finicky unless redistribution symptoms are really clear between doses. But at that point why not just reduce your dose?

Only would I suggest that if they’re insisting on maintaining a schedule even if they take a dose early. But it’s probably best to keep a small amount with you just in case. Much better would be to simply take all their doses exactly on-time, down to the minute — and that can be every 3 hours, but certainly no less frequently. Preferably every hour, but that’s rather inconvenient — though at least during the waking day, if you can swing it, it’s beneficial.

I was mainly correcting the false assumption that if one is, say, 30 minutes early to a dose, then they can take their next dose on-time with no harm done (just to be very clear, that is indeed false). If a dose is taken early, the next one must be taken 3 hours (or less) after that one, not 3.5h after. Dosing roughly every 2-4hr (being late or early to e3h doses by as much as 30min) would work just fine if ALA had a half life of 3h, but it does not — its half life is closer to 30 minutes. Shortly after 3h is already when redistribution occurs, so another dose needs to be taken right then or earlier. ALA literally clears the system completely in less than 5 hours. If its half life were 3 hours then it would take almost a full day to clear the system, but again, that is not the case at all.

 

tl/dr: ALA has a half-life not of 3h, but of as little as 30min. So the e3h rule truly is a maximum, not a general optimal frequency.

But who is really going to take ALA that often? Every 30-60min would be required for optimal, rock-steady blood levels, but that’s not necessary. Constantly elevated blood levels is necessary though, and e3h fits the bill… barely.

DMSA half-life is 3.2hr, DMPS half-life is 6-9hr.

Edited October 20, 2022 by The0Self

[Aubs]

Ok this is interesting, would this mean I could hypothetically take another dose of ALA every 30 minutes? Not that I would, but I wonder if that would help excretion.

Also with a half life of 30 minutes, ALA basically halves 6 times by the 3 hour mark. Leaving barely any ALA holding onto those heavy metals.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Aubs

[The0Self]

2 hours ago, Aubs said:

Ok this is interesting, would this mean I could hypothetically take another dose of ALA every 30 minutes? Not that I would, but I wonder if that would help excretion.

Also with a half life of 30 minutes, ALA basically halves 6 times by the 3 hour mark. Leaving barely any ALA holding onto those heavy metals.

Yes, more frequent is better, but you can't do every 30 minute dosing in your sleep, and blood levels need to be elevated for at least 72 hours straight (2 weeks is better) for better-than-break-even healing/damage ratio. 3h ends up being fine -- absorption isn't instant. Not 3.5 hours though, 3 or less. And luckily, chelation load isn't anywhere near linear with dose -- "barely any" ALA holding on to those heavy metals is infinitely better than "none." But if you're willing to set your alarm every 2 hours in your sleep, that is highly encouraged -- it's just even better to do the round as long as possible, and if taking it that frequently discourages that, just take it every 2.5-3 hrs during sleep hours. During the day though, yeah might as well take 1/3 of the e3h dose every hour -- highly encouraged.

1 hour ago, nuwu said:

is it possible R- and S- ALA enantiomers have different half-lives?

They do. R is about 30 minutes. S is a little longer but not more than like 60 minutes -- I do remember that; just tried to find the exact number and couldn't find it with 2 minutes of research so it seems it's not super widely available... you could probably find it in like 10 minutes or so.

Edited October 20, 2022 by The0Self

[The0Self]

@nuwu that’s probably for intravenous use, but yeah it’s definitely quite short — but there is more to it than half life; can’t remember what it is but it might have to do with the ALA doing something intracellularly, iirc.

You read my last comments right? Yes. And basically just use common sense — If you’re taking it 3x less frequently, take 3x the dose, to keep the blood concentration as steady as possible.