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I can’t believe I’m going to be 50 this month!

And thanks to GAPS and feeling so much better, I am having a birthday party! I have always loved disco and so that is the theme I chose. I’m also serving mostly foods from the full GAPS list, except for one little exception… I’m going to include corn tortilla chips to go along with the guacamole and hot sauce that a friend is making for me and I won’t be eating the corn chips myself.

Here’s the menu:

• Meatballs with barbecue sauce
• Chicken wings with spicy sauce
• Guacamole
• Hot Sauce
• Corn Chips
• Vegetable Tray
• Fruit Tray
• Chocolate Coconut Flour Cake with Buttercream Frosting
• Chocolate Cookies
• Banana Walnut Muffins
• Black Olives
• Pickles

I think that will be good. People probably won’t even realize there is no bread, crackers or potato chips.

Matthew and I are dressing up like the characters from Saturday Night Fever. I bought Matthew a costume that is a white suit with a black undershirt. I’ve had to alter it quite a bit because the pants were too small but I’ve almost got the alterations done.

My cake is HUGE!! I almost bought a cake pan by Wilton from Joann’s and had it with me in line when I was checking out but it was $20 and I decided I could just use a cookie sheet since the layers were going to be thin anyway. I used an 11″ x 17″ cookie sheet and one cake recipe (of the one I linked above) makes one cookie sheet layer. I wanted three layers. There are 30 eggs [affiliate link] in the cake alone! So far I’ve made two batches of frosting and I’m going to need at least two more batches of frosting and maybe a third if I want to do any decorating!

Oh! And the cute pet rocks in the photo above are the ones I made to give out as party favors. 🙂

I’m also having a 50% off sale on all my e-books!

You could even buy all three of them – just place them in your cart and then use coupon code BIG5OH when you check out.

I’ll be sure to post some photos of the party and in the meantime I hope you have a wonderful week!

In my previous post I shared my experience with my first two rounds, in this post I’ll be sharing the third and fourth.

Round 3: May 3, 4, 5 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). 12.5mg DMSA every 4 hours around the clock

I began my chelation medication on Thursday 11pm. Friday I felt okay. I start to see a pattern. Saturday I turn into the Wicked Witch of the West. I feel like my husband is picking on me but in reality he’s being completely understanding and waiting on me hand and foot, cooking my meals and bringing them to me in bed. I have to stay off my computer because I find myself getting agitated  and wanting to blast people but recognizing perhaps I’m taking things the wrong way. Sunday I was less of a basket case but my energy was extremely low. I felt unsure as to whether I could withstand my upcoming birthday party. That made me cry because I don’t have anyone who can help me. I’m determined to have only GAPS foods at my party so that Matthew doesn’t feel deprived. By the way, this was my 50th birthday, the only birthday party I’ve ever had in my entire life, and I did not want to miss it.

The main problem is that I’m losing Saturday and most of Sunday. That would be fine if I didn’t have a blog, if I didn’t have to manage my husband’s accounting for his businesses, pay our personal bills, cook meals, clean house, have a party coming up, etc.

During the week I am looking on Amazon and find there are two books that people have written to share their experiences with mercury chelation. The Kindle book I bought – (*Amazon affiliate link) The Mercury Diaries says that the author finds his body metabolizes the medication more quickly so he is not keeping a constant amount going. He had terrible, terrible experiences with the mercury redistribution, much worse than I’ve experienced. It occurs to me that I may need to adjust my dosing.

Round 4: May 10, 11, 12 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). 12.5mg DMSA every 3 hours around the clock

I began my chelation medication on Thursday 11pm. I decided to change my schedule to every 3 hours, but since I don’t have my alarm clock set up I start out with every four hours. 11pm, 3am and 7am. I planned to start the 3 hour dosing at 10am Friday morning but got distracted and my husband reminded me at 10:20 about my dose. I decided to just continue taking my dose at 20 after the hour. My dosing schedule is:

• 7:20am
• 10:20am
• 1:20pm
• 4:20pm
• 7:20pm
• 10:20pm
• 1:20am
• 4:20am

Remember if I miss a dose, I have to stop the round.

I have a gut feeling that this protocol is going to be a big healing step for me, so I am trying very hard to stick with the schedule. It helps that I have my cell phone set up for all these alarms. There are actually more alarms going off all day long… this is what a typical Friday, Saturday and Sunday looks like:

• 7:00am Thyroid medication
• 7:20am  DMSA
• 8:00am Adrenal support
• 10:20am  DMSA
• Noon Thyroid medication, adrenal support, 1st temperature
• 1:20pm  DMSA
• 3pm 2nd temperature
• 4:00pm Adrenal support
• 4:20pm  DMSA
• 5pm Thyroid medication
• 6:00pm 3rd temperature
• 7:20pm  DMSA
• 10:20pm  DMSA
• 1:20am  DMSA
• 4:20am  DMSA

It’s close to 4pm on Saturday. I have not felt much effect of the medication today as I did on previous Saturdays. It seems that my body was metabolizing the medication more quickly and I must have been having mercury redistribution in between each dose.

Apparently rounds are usually ended in the evening so that the mercury redistribution that occurs will happen during the night and not while a person has to be up and awake. It seems like I am sleeping very well on the days I am chelating but not so good on the other nights. I am anxious to see how Sunday night for this round goes. Will the mercury redistribution be harder on me?

So far it seems that every three hours is better for my body. I won’t know the full extent of this round until I make it through my work week. Next weekend is my birthday. I still have a lot to do to prepare but I am optimistic that I am going to have a fun party and enjoy spending time with my family and friends.

UPDATE: Monday morning. I ended my round with the 10:20pm dose. I slept very restfully all night long and feel okay today. Whew. I will be skipping chelation next weekend.

If you are still with me, thanks for reading through to the end. I would sure love to hear from you in the comments if you have any questions or want to share your experience with chelating.

This link provides a quick overview of the protocol I’m following: Oral Mercury Chelation – General Guidelines.

The 1st post in this series is here: Andrew Cutler Chelation Protocol Part 1

The 2nd post in this series by clicking here: My Experience with the Cutler Chelation Protocol Part 2

In the last post, part one of this series, I shared my thoughts on the Cutler protocol and my experience with my amalgams removal. In this post I’ll be sharing my experience with my first and second round of chelation.

Now granted I have only been through four rounds, so I have not had all that much experience with this protocol but I’d like to share my experience so far.

Round 1: April 19, 20, 21  (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). 12.5mg DMSA every 4 hours around the clock

I begin chelation 11am on Friday morning (I had planned to begin at 7am but didn’t wake up in time and then totally forgot). My dosing schedule is:

• 11am
• 3pm
• 7pm
• 11pm
• 3am
• 7am

I did not feel any different than usual on Friday or Saturday. On Sunday I missed an afternoon dose by 1 hour and 20 minutes. I did not know that if you miss a dose by more than 30 minutes you should stop the round. I went ahead and took my dose.  Before too long I felt very fatigued and could not function. I had to go to bed for the rest of the day. I’d emailed two friends who are familiar with this protocol and they both told me I should have stopped the round and that I had caused mercury to re-distribute. Now basically my limited understanding of how this protocol works is you keep the chelator medication in your body on a regular schedule and you keep taking it every X number of hours to keep the same amount in your body. The chelating medication is picking up mercury and moving it and setting it down. Then it is picked up again and moved and picked up and moved. It’s a bit like musical chairs. But when you stop taking the medication or you miss a dose the mercury just sits there and your body has to deal with it in a different spot than it was before and this can cause you to feel miserable.

At work the next day I felt pretty good following this round.

Round 2: April 26, 27, 28 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). 12.5mg DMSA every 4 hours around the clock

I began chelation on Thursday night at 11pm. Friday I felt okay. I was extremely paranoid about missing a dose due to the re-distribution incident with the first round. Funny but when I told my mother-in-law about this protocol she told me not to be so hard on myself if I missed a night time dose, she was sure it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. She knows nothing about chelating and she didn’t want me to miss sleep by having to wake up every four hours. I know here intent was good but I am glad I didn’t take her advice to heart. I was constantly watching the clock to make sure I didn’t miss a dose. I created a spreadsheet with a chart to print out so I could mark down each time I took the doses. I’m also taking thyroid medication four times a day every five hours, adrenal support every four hours, and taking my temperature every three hours. My cell phone alarm is going off almost every single hour. (Did I tell you I kind of hate my phone now?)

I had trouble getting to sleep on Friday night and was still in bed around 10:30 on Saturday morning. I had spent many hours on Friday working on a project. On Saturday morning I got an email regarding said project which completely devastated me. I spent hours crying my eyes out. I knew this could be part of the chelating process (to kind of go bonkers) so I called my son and my sister to get their take on the situation. They both felt I was overreacting – I trust them both without question so I focused on the fact that maybe my life had not ended due to the situation. 😉  I spent most of the day in bed, miserable and very upset. My husband cooked breakfast and dinner for me.

Sunday was a little better but I still felt very non-functional.

I was still exhausted from the weekend for my entire work week. My husband started to read Amalgam Illness (Amazon affiliate link) by Andrew Cutler and mentioned to me that perhaps I should trial not eating sulphur foods as recommended in the book. Apparently these foods can move mercury around. Some people find they feel better when avoiding sulphur foods, while others find they feel better eating them. Some of the foods I need to avoid are vegetables that I eat every single day of my life: garlic, onions [affiliate link], cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and more. I decided to eliminate all sulphur foods. This includes eggs [affiliate link] and chocolate. This does not leave a huge amount of vegetables. I have been eating zucchini, lettuce and carrots.

I also wrote to a Yahoo group which I’d joined to ask if this is normal, to be expected and I asked if it would be okay to skip the weekend of my birthday party. I do not want to be sitting on the floor in the middle of the room sobbing like a five year old at my party. They tell me that some people chelate every other weekend so I am glad to have that information.

Follow me to the 3rd and final post in this series by clicking here: My Experience with the Cutler Chelation Protocol Part 3

The first post in this series is here: Andrew Cutler Chelation Protocol Part 1

I have to be honest and say that in the last few weeks I have seriously doubted my decision to have my amalgams removed. I latched onto the positive, and chose to ignore the possible negative side effects that I might experience once they were removed.

I do feel total confidence in the dentist I chose, that he was qualified to do the job correctly, and that he protected me to the full extent that is possible. I had the materials sensitivity testing done; my dentist used materials to which I was least reactive. I knew that even though I was protected and did everything the right way, my body might react to the removal.

Even though I knew my body might react negatively, I chose to focus on what I’d read in Dr. Hal Huggins’ book (*Amazon affiliate link) It’s All in Your Head: The Link Between Mercury Amalgams and Illness where he said that some people feel great after they have their amalgams removed. Some people’s thyroids start to work properly and their temperatures rise to normal 98.6°F. I chose to be optimistic. I chose to push away fears of the unknown as well as the possibility of what might happen get in my way. It was hard enough to make the appointments and keep the appointments!

It helped tremendously that I felt better after helped that I felt better after the first removal. Unfortunately, I began to feel worse after the second removal as I wrote in my last update post: My Latest Cherry on my GAPS Cake – Thyroid Support.

Things were going along just fine since starting on GAPS. Lots of little aches and pains subsided or went away entirely. My feet stopped hurting and I could wear pretty feminine shoes. My back stopped hurting… prior to GAPS when I was in bed too long (7 hours was the “limit”) my back would seize up, but now I can stay in bed for 10 hours or longer if I want. For someone who loves to read in bed at night before sleeping you don’t know how much I missed being able to do that. I was functioning well in my daily life.

Although I don’t know that I’ve ever had “normal” or shall I say “optimal” levels of energy, I was feeling much better after being on GAPS for a few months. Looking back on my life, I believe my energy levels were lower than normal. I remember when I was in grade school in the fourth grade hating to run and hating P.E. When we played softball I would volunteer to be the one that went way, way, way out in the field because no one ever hit balls that far and I could just sit down in the grass and look for four leafed clovers. I read many, many books in my childhood as that was my past time of choice – laying down and reading.

In the last three decades as an adult I experienced bouts of energy, and came to the realization they were hormonally connected. While tracking my fertility I discovered that these bursts of energy coincided with the few days prior to my cycle beginning. It’s hard to keep your house clean when you only have good energy two or three days a month. In my 40s those urges started to come less and less, maybe once every three or four months. That makes it even harder!! Now that I’ve entered menopause I rarely feel those bursts of energy…

My point in saying all that is to relate that I have never had much energy. Still – I felt TONS better while on the GAPS Diet.

Then I had amalgams removed, began this chelating protocol and my energy levels dropped to the point that I began to lose entire days. I managed to continue working at my regular job, but thankfully I work at a computer, so am seated most of the time. What alarmed me was my energy levels dropped to the point where I was having to spend one to two days each weekend in bed.

This caused me to question my decision.

Obviously there’s no going back!!

I must press onward and do the best that I can. Thankfully I think I am past the worst and have figured out how to tweak the protocol so that it is manageable for me.

The Andrew Cutler Chelation Protocol in a Mustard Seed

The days that one uses the chelation medication is referred to as a round. It is recommended to do 3 days on and then give your body a 4 day break to recuperate. Andrew Cutler’s book recommends beginning with a higher dose, but some people have found that most do best beginning at the lower dosage of 12.5mg. DMSA (Dimercaptosuccinic acid) chelates mercury from the body. There is another medication called ALA (alpha lipoic acid) which is not taken until three months after amalgam removal and this removes mercury from the brain as this medication is said to be able to cross the blood brain barrier. My understanding is that you should do DMSA first, then ALA. I have not yet studied up on the ALA part but I think these are taken together. It is recommended to chelate from at least six months to two years or longer, and one is supposed to continue chelating for some time after they feel well to be certain they have moved the mercury out.

Follow me to the 2nd post in this series by clicking here: My Experience with the Cutler Chelation Protocol Part 2. I’m going to share my experience on my first four rounds of the protocol. Eventually I learn what my body needs in order to raise my energy levels.