I will cut and paste these questions so as not to miss anything. OK?
>>When did you first start chelating your son (what month last year?<<
We are right even with you I believe. We will begin round 5 on Wednesday. We had a delay due to illness. He had the flu and couldn't keep fluids down so we postponed round 4 for a bit.
>>Is Dr Amy following the DAN chelation protocol? If not, what chages does she make? In particular how often does she dose the DMSA? Does she give lipoic acid right up front with the first cycle of chelation? Does she also give NAC?<<
I don't have a copy of the DAN protocol and I am not sure if Dr. Amy uses the exact same type of treatment as recommended in the DAN protocol. I know her recommendations vary from patient to patient according to the needs of each individual. She recommended for us to use the 3 on/11 off schedule. And we give the DMSA every 8 hours. She does not give the ALA up front. She does recommend the Chelation Aid Pro Support from Kirkman's which contains NAC but it is my understanding that if a child has not gone through some sort of detox the NAC is not well tolerated. Kirkman's did recently come out with a Chelation Aid Pro Support Product without NAC. My son has no problems with NAC but he did go through some sort of detoxification process last April. That was scary and another long story. She does recommend the GFCF diet, bethanechol, CLO and secretin. I don't know if they are mentioned specifically in the DAN protocol.
>>When did you first start chelating your son (what month last year?<<
We first saw Dr. Amy in October. Had another visit in November for test results and began to supplement shortly thereafter. We are just about ready for round 5. We also did a 10 day treatment with Vancomycin. We give Bethanechol to compliment the CLO. We have also been using Nystatin for about a year now. We do a GFCF diet without any preservatives, artificial colors or flavors and 48 hour rotation diet. Speech, OT and lots of love and fun at home. And have been doing allergy shots for almost a year too. I think that is all. But it seems that each and every single thing played an important role in his progress so far. Oh I almost forgot...lots of supplements.
>>What tests did you do to see if you were metal toxic? Did you do the hair test? How were the results?<<
I haven't done any testing at this point. I can't find anyone in my area willing to order testing and to be quite honest haven't felt the need to spend the money on testing at this point. Too broke from paying for my son's testing. I do have an appointment with Dr. Cave in May and will depend on her to order all the necessary tests as she sees fit. After what I have witnessed in my son I have every confidence in the Holmes/Cave team. I have mainly concentrated on getting well enough to "survive" until May and also getting my amalgams removed. My symptoms began within weeks of having the amalgams placed and I had never associated the two until about 8 months ago when I first started to research all of the info on autism/chelation/mercury toxicity. I was completely blown away to say the least. I have personally experienced about 75% of the Sallie Bernard comparison chart. Especially the GI issues. My son has also had severe GI problems. If I didn't know better I would have guessed him to be one of the kids in Wakefield's study. He certainly fits the mold.
>>Are you thinking about having another child?<<
No, I had my tubes tied after my son. I have a girl that is 4yo and my son will be 3yo in a few weeks. When I had my tubes tied I was convinced that I would never want for any more children. Things seemed so perfect then...but I am very happy and have no regrets. Or at least no regrets that linger longer than 5 minutes. Besides, I am 36 and hate to think of what it would be like to go through another pregnancy at this point. Oooooo, morning sickness...just the thought makes me shudder.
For more info on Dr. Amy's protocol specifically you might request to join the egroup Dramyskids. There is some really good information on the archives there and the people are most helpful. You don't necessarily have to be using Dr. Amy to join either. I think you would benefit greatly from what you would learn there. There are many in that egroup that are using physicians other than Dr. Amy. Here's the address
She does recommend the GFCF diet, bethanechol, CLO and secretin. I don't know if they are mentioned specifically in the DAN protocol.