It happened again. After ten consecutive rounds with zero missed doses, I again missed a dose. It makes me wonder if I have an internal clock that likes to fail on every eleventh attempt. Or maybe it’s a counter issue and my brain requires a reboot while in the loop for the eleventh time. Whatever the reason, I am not happy about the outcome.

Here are the numbers for the last round:

Tonight’s numbers are:

Eight-minutes looks like a new standard, and one I am fine with. In three-rounds (including this one) I will up my ALA dose to 37.5 mg per dose, marking it one step away from my goal of 50 mg. I wish I had more to write, but I currently do not. I am seriously considering writing a post following my 26^th round to cap my progress, but I need to wait to see if my progress is worth reporting on then.

Here are the numbers for the previous week, round 20:

And tonight’s numbers:

For the next four-weeks — including this week — I won’t be packing any chelator capsules. Both ALA and DMSA are at 25 mg doses, which is the dose I purchase them at. I can rest easy knowing that for the next month I will only be loading my pill planner with supplements.

Here are the numbers for the previous week, round 19:

And tonight’s numbers:

This week threw me a curve ball, as I had to open four new bottles of supplements. I am starting to wonder if those seals that declare “sealed for your safety” are there to protect you from the bottle’s contents. All kidding aside, this should be the last time I have to pack chelator capsules, at least for four-weeks. Starting next week I up my ALA dose to 25mg, which as luck would have it, is the same strength my capsules come in today.

Here are the numbers for the previous week, round 18:

And tonight’s numbers:

Whatever time I saved while packing supplements was absorbed by ALA preparations. Too bad I had to open a (almost impossible to open) bottle of ALA half-way through the capsules packing process. I may have actually bested my overall time from last week.

With 37 million U.S. citizens — roughly 11.7% of the population — suffering from migraines, why is it that the diagnosis ends at the symptoms? I cannot imagine anyone would be fine with their doctor diagnosing them with “hand pain” if their hand hurt; they would want to know the underlying cause of the problem. But with migraines, it seems to be perfectly acceptable to diagnose at the symptom level and treat the symptom not the cause.

The truth is that the conventional medical practitioners most likely don’t know the cause. Unless your migraines were brought on by an event, such as physical trauma, expecting a doctor to diagnose the true cause of your debilitating condition is almost nil. They may ask about family history to help with the general diagnosis, but at the end of the day, you are still being diagnosed with a symptom.

Even worse is the standard protocol for treatment: symptom suppression. Since they don’t understand the problem, they’re solution is to try a myriad of different prescription medications in an attempt to suppress your agony. For some patients, calcium channel blockers will help, while others may benefit from beta blockers. Some may see positive results with antidepressants while others react favorably to anticonvulsants. And then there are those of us that responded negatively — or not at all — to all of the above.

If you’ve done your homework you may have heard about migraine triggers. The most common ones fall under the foods category. There are many people that have been able to better control their migraines by simply avoiding certain foods that are known to have caused migraine episodes in the past. It’s too bad that over half the doctors I visited told me that triggers were hog-wash. I actually had a neuro-otologist tell me I was wasting my time with an elimination diet, only to find that his technician had better luck suppressing her migraines by removing certain foods from her diet than with any medications. You would think he would have talked with her first.

My journey through conventional medicine practitioners can be summized as such:

1. If a doctor cannot tell you the underlying cause of migraines, it’s because they are not knowledgeable in that topic
2. If they tell you that migraine triggers are hog-wash, they are not knowledgeable in that topic
3. If their solution is to treat you as a lab rat, cycling through medications in hopes that one will work, they are not knowledgeable in that topic
4. If they tell you “it’s all in your head” because their inadequate treatment protocol fails, they are not knowledgeable in that topic

In every case, I (eventually) decided to leave that doctor and continue my search for the answer.

The fact that I was fine until my early thirties tells me that magic wasn’t the cause of my symptoms. Either an external element (virus, bacteria, etc…) infiltrated my body and wreaked havoc, or a slow breakdown of my internal systems over a prolonged period of time finally sent out the distress signal when it could no longer function properly. With either scenario, the migraine was merely a symptom and if I could address the underlying cause then the symptom should respond accordingly.

There are doctors that believe they understand the true cause of migraines. Dr Max Gerson was one such doctor. He was a migraine sufferer who aimed to find the cause of his condition. His research pointed to a toxic body unable to rid itself of harmful toxins. The solution he derived was simple: saturate the body with nutrients found in organic fruits and vegetables while assisting the body in the removal of toxins. He was known as the migraine doctor while practicing in Germany and found that his treatment was also effective with other ailments.

One common thread I have found with people who help others to overcome migraines via unconventional methods is that they focus on nutrition and detox. The amazing thing is how this approach has helped many who were not able to find relief following conventional medicine’s protocol. What I find sad is that this approach is shunned — sometimes ridiculed — by conventional medicine.

Since becoming sick I can say that I am happy that conventional medicine was able to rule out some serious conditions through testing. This has helped me understand what’s not wrong with me so that I can concentrate on what is. But there lies the problem: They cannot tell me what is wrong with me, they can only tell me that I suffer from symptoms, and that the origin of those symptoms is unknown. This is where modern medicine has failed me. It has forced me to look at unconventional — and often ridiculed — treatment options in hopes to find a cure. This has opened my eyes to something conventional medicine doesn’t want to admit: many of our ailments may be caused by increased toxin exposure and a body not equipped to handle it. It would be pretty hard to peddle prescription drugs that only help with symptoms when dietary changes and nutritional supplements could prevent the ailments from ever manifesting.

A few days back I wrote a post about how even the common cold appears to worsen some of my symptoms. Truth be told, I believe that I may have been wrong in one of my assessments. Sure, sinus issues — when linked with my ears — definitely exacerbate my symptoms, but I no longer believe they are solely responsible for my recent regression.

So what could it be?

I remember reading how recovery is not a linear experience but rather a series of peaks and valleys. Before you can see additional improvements (the next peak) you sometimes must first regress (valley) on your journey to recovery.

I am mere hours from wrapping up round 18 of chelation, so I guess now is as good a time as any to experience my first regression. If I have learned anything, it’s that I have already seen some symptom reductions since I have started and it took them coming back for me to notice. Now I forge on to the next peak with the hopes that the payoff will be grand and the next valley less treacherous.

There is nothing like a good ol’ fashioned sinus headache. The kind that, at best, steals hours away from your life. For much of my life, a sinus headache meant taking Sudafed® and ibuprofen and retreating to a quiet, dark room; waiting out the storm in hopes to see the sun again. They would usually present themselves with weather changes, and along with a pot of coffee and OTC drugs, fall silent after mere hours.

Since making many lifestyle changes, the frequency of sinus headaches has decreased, but today’s sinus headaches are a different breed. They still bring on the same symptoms as they always have, but they add something new to the mix: increased balance and vestibular issues. In addition to the physical pain, I now also need to be extra careful not to head into an unexpected tailspin and possibly hurt myself.

But these symptoms are not limited to just sinus headaches; I suffer daily from balance and vestibular issues. The issue is how they become much more pronounced with any sinus-related condition, like the common cold.

Yesterday, I suffered a rather rare sinus headache that forced me to miss life. I only took one ibuprofen to help lesson the suffering as I made my way to the bedroom to wait for it to be over. After many hours I started to see the clouds part and made my way out to the kitchen to get something in my stomach.

Bam! A short bout of vertigo overcame me. I quickly reached out to grab on to something, anything, to help brace for the fall. As luck would have it, I grabbed on to the kitchen counter and immediately began to look for a detailed item to focus my eyes on. As I have done in the past, it helps to focus on an object of detail with both eyes, staying still while your brain attempts to recalibrate your eyes. After a couple minutes I could see that my eyes were no longer on their own courses, but rather attempting to convene on the same trajectory. Success, I could stand again without physical support.

This exercise has reminded me that even the common cold can make my symptoms dramatically worse. It has also reminded me what I used to feel like just a few months ago. Since I started the Cutler protocol I have noticed subtle improvements with my vestibular and ocular faculties. While still suffering from the same symptoms, some are less pronounced, while others take longer to fully inflame.

This journey hasn’t been easy, but I am starting to see the benefits of my hard work. I know I have a long time left on this protocol, but I am in a better state of mind, which allows me to realize that it is working. I just need to stay the course. As Dr. Amy Yasko says “It is a marathon, it is not a sprint.”

I just finished my 18^th Sunday night ritual. As I always do, here are the numbers for the previous week, round 17:

And here are tonight’s delightful numbers:

I wasn’t expecting such an improvement in my ALA preparation time. Sure, I would’ve been happy with shaving off a minute or two, but a 33% reduction is amazing.

It’s round 17, so time to post another time-fest for preparations. Here were the numbers for round 16:

And here are tonight’s delightful numbers:

You’ll notice that improvements were found in both preparations. The minute saved while preparing the supplements (I could only guess) comes from the fact that I only needed to open one new bottle tonight. As for the 10-minute shaving from my ALA / DMSA preparations, I believe that has to do with two things:

• I titrated up to 18.75 mg, which in turn means that I take 1/4 from each of three full capsules and and drop it in a new capsule. I then close the three capsules with 3/4 of the content remaining. This means I only have to create six-new capsules, with the remaining 18 coming from the 3/4 full capsules I closed back up
• The capsules could barely hold 25 mg of DMSA plus 12.5 mg of ALA. With the increase of ALA I could no longer combine the chelators into a single capsule. This means I don’t have to also add the DMSA to each capsule. Big time saver.

I have four-weeks of this routine before I attempt to titrate my ALA up to 25 mg. Once I successfully move up my ALA strength I will no longer need to create my own capsules for at least four more weeks, when I again attempt to titrate up my ALA to 37.5 mg.