Seeing Red

This October was the two-year anniversary of my last round of ALA. For those of you who haven’t read my book, quitting ALA chelation was a big moment for me. I had been at it consistently for over a year. Yes, it was making me better, but it was also making me kind of miserable because of the brain-frying side effects. So I stopped quite abruptly, and let the chips fall where they may. I could restart later on if I needed to.

Fast-forward two years, and I’m older, wiser (read: less crazy), and in the luxurious spot where I’m not up against the wall, fighting mercury symptoms. I’m not scrabbling to save my life like I was a few years ago.

Today, I’m thinking about smart ways to maintain the beautiful health that has been restored now that the mercury is gone.

Which was why I did a round of ALA chelation last month.

Two years ago, 100mg doses of ALA made me feel spaced-out and confused. But I took them anyway because I needed to get the mercury out of my brain.

Today, the pressure is off, maintenance is my goal, so I’ve taken it down a notch. I went with 25mg doses, just to see what would happen.

The results were very surprising.

Surprise No 1 was a complete absence of the spaced-out feeling I always got on ALA. In fact, being on round made me feel extra happy. Hmm, I guess this means that I have no excuse to avoid ALA anymore.

And Surprise No 2 was the color red.

Now you’ve seen comments from my buddy Sunshine on this blog, and you may have come across his posts on various mercury forums. I first encountered him on the Frequent Dose Chelation Group where he was describing how rounds of chelation were curing his lifelong case of color blindness–but one color at a time.

I found his story fascinating, but I knew that I would never experience what he was going through because I wasn’t color blind.

So imagine my surprise when I went out to catch the bus on the second day of my round (what is it with me and significant sensory moments on buses?) and couldn’t help noticing the color red all over.

It was like it was calling out to me everywhere I turned–and it was a luscious, deeply lustrous version of itself. Red cars, red shirts, red leaves waved and called out, “Look at me!” It was one of the most enjoyable bus rides of my life. I saw beautiful stop signs, gorgeous berries on trees, and then pulling up to a stop light, there was an incredible winking string of red tail lights stretching out in front. Magic.

The phenomenon didn’t last very long. Later that day, red had stopped calling my attention. I don’t know if my perception of it had dulled down again, or if my brain had just gotten used to the new level of red I was absorbing.

Either way, I’m glad I got to experience that magic hour. I’ll never forget how lovely it was to really get to know the color red.