Chelation update, added ALA!

Round 7 for me this weekend and today began with my first ALA + DMSA dose ever!  Since I had my fillings out in early March, I had to wait three months post-exposure to add the ALA.  I used only the DMSA for those three months to reduce the body burden first.  Now I am playing with the big guns!

ALA is the only chelator that crosses the blood brain barrier.  I don't know what I expected after taking the first dose, but considering how neurologically effected I can be by mercury and chelation, I expected something more.  So far, I feel nothing different.  I started with a very low dose (only 7.5mg) so I don't make this too hard on myself and considering how it effects our kids when we increase ALA (which we did last weekend), I was sure I would feel something, anything.  Maybe it will take time and tomorrow I will be either a basket-case or a space-cadet!  I like to keep my doses manageable, because I have to consider the fact that I am still a mom of two who need me to think clearly, plus life goes on, all around me.

Speaking of life going on around me....I have been very distracted lately, by this mold issue.  It's gotten uglier and more complicated.  We found more mold while going through our basement and cleaning everything out, so now we need more remediation.  The good news is that these two spots are superficial and very minor, but we plan to treat it like we did the leaks, with containment and safety measures all in place.  And the timing of everything is SO confusing, with a different contractor for just about every step.  Test (environmentalist), put up containment areas (mold contractor), remove building materials to reach mold (general contractor), controlled mold demolition (mold contractor), rebuild (general contractor), leave containments up, clean (us and mold contractor), test (environmentalist), take down containments (mold contractor).  Plus we need our HVAC duct work scoped and cleaned and the question of whether we clean before testing has yet to be answered.  I would think we would want to clean the duct work first though, so we can have the airflow tested again as part of our clearance sampling...which means we better figure out who is doing this part ASAP, because keeping the large HEPA filters in our home is costing $200 a WEEK!

Clearing out the basement is painful, but I am keeping our goal in mind the whole way.  It is driving me through tossing furniture, boxes for my collectibles, hair dressing chairs, jewelry I have made, shoes that were supposed to be Gavin's after Grayson grew out of them (I have a shoe thing), baby things like strollers, high chairs, bassinets, bouncy seats, cloth diapers, toys, memories, all of our Christmas ornaments, and basically anything porous or would cost less to replace than to pay a man $50 an hour to clean!  It makes sense and we don't want "stuff" to get in the way of our health, so we are just tearing through it, but MAN, what a HUGE job!!  We ordered a dumpster and have already FILLED it, but we aren't done (scratching head).....and it is hot out now so the suits, goggles, face masks and gloves are ridiculously hot!  We still have some huge furniture to lug out to the dumpster, should be interesting.

Life is never dull around here!  The boys are on Diflucan for two weeks to see, if their constant coughing is a fungal infection.  So far, all it has proven to do is bloat them enormously.  They are still coughing.  So perhaps it really is just a stubborn cold, who knows.  The saga continues...