A friend shared with me the video below, where the creators test the mercury vapor levels of different fluorescent lightbulbs. They take multiple readings before and after the bulbs are broken to show you what you may expect if one of these lights are broken in your environment.

Last time we met, I was posting about the preparation time for round 15:

Without further ado, here are tonight’s numbers:

I find it quite interesting how the same amount of overall time was spent for both preparations, yet the individual times do no match up. I was fortunate this week to not have to open new supplements, but that gain was lost when I ventured downstairs to find a new bottle of DMSA. Once I found it, I was greeted by super-glue level adhesive blocking me from accessing the capsules.

Next week I titrate the ALA up to 18.75 mg per dose instead of 12.5 mg. While I am looking forward to the next increase, I am trying to determine how I can fit 25 mg of DMSA and 18.75 mg of ALA in the same capsule. I may need to just accept the fact that I will need to start taking two capsules every four-hours.

As I do (almost) every week, I’ll first start off with the times for the previous round preparation, round 14:

And here are tonight’s numbers:

The increase of three-minutes for the supplements preparation can be attributed to the fact that I exhausted six different supplements mid-fill and had to open new bottles. An average of 30-seconds per bottle isn’t bad, considering the manufacturer makes them more than merely tamper proof. I swear, they use super glue on these things.

I am happy to shave six-minutes (~21%) off of my ALA / DMSA preparation time. The quick reference matrix is really paying off. While I would like to relish this small victory, I have to be realistic and realize that any further improvements for this specific dosage won’t come anywhere close to this. I would not be surprised if I am now over the hump and fighting against the law of diminishing returns.

Par for the course, first off are the times for round 13:

And here are tonight’s numbers:

Looks like I made positive strides for both preparation regimens. The biggest surprise was the two-minute (or 18%) improvement in the supplements preparation time. I figured that would’ve stayed at ~10-minutes, so a reduction of two is a pleasant surprise. The ALA / DMSA preparation time was something I expected to improve this round, seeing as I created a matrix to help improve my efficiency from last week. What I didn’t take into account was the need to modify a tool I use, so I believe that next week’s results should show additional improvement.

Round 13 has brought another change to my regimen, the introduction of Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA). With this change comes the need to once again pack my own capsules, since I need to start with 12.5mg of ALA per dose, yet the capsules come in 25mg. It’s been a while since I recorded my preparation times, so here are the times for round 9:

Since I no longer needed to split DMSA capsules the time dropped from 11-minutes to one. This, of course changed when I started splitting ALA capsules. Here are tonight’s numbers:

Yes, you read that correctly, it took me 41-minutes to pack my ALA/DMSA capsules. This is in large part to having to do math for each capsule weight, leading to an insane amount of time in between each two capsules being filled. I plan on creating a matrix (much like I have done for DMSA) to alleviate this slowdown and get it back (hopefully) to where I once was.

I guess ten consecutive rounds without issue is my personal best. This morning at 3AM I missed a dose. I am not sure how or why, all I know is at 7AM I noticed that I still had two DMSA capsules resting on my nightstand.

To say that I am upset is an understatement. I was cruising along so well up until this morning. For someone who can sleep through a “dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant,” the fact that I hadn’t yet missed a dose in the middle of the night is pretty amazing.

What am I to do? It appears I will need to make the alarm unreachable from the comforts of my bed. Much like I did with my alarm clock years ago, I will be forced to remove myself from the warm comforts of slumber to silence the nagging annoyance.

You may be wondering where I have been recently. For the past few weeks I have only posted when I was timing my sunday night rituals, failing to also publish a post-round update. To be honest, there really is nothing to post, yet.

The first 12-rounds of DMSA are just a requirement after having my dental amalgam removed before I can truly start the protocol and introduce Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA). Tonight I started round 11, and am growing eager thinking that in only two-weeks I will be swallowing my first dose of ALA. So eager, in fact, that I just placed my first order for ALA tonight.

As for anything else new, I can’t really say there is. I continue to deal with my symptoms on a daily basis, doing my best to manage them while being a positive contributor to society. If there was anything of benefit to share, I would post it. But, truth be told, I have nothing.

Stay tuned; round 13 is when the ship departs the perceivably safe harbor and heads out on an unchartered mission—at least unchartered for me. The turbulent and unforgiving sea will be my nemesis and my pen (or keyboard) the outlet. Until then, enjoy the fish and chips, they’re caught fresh daily!

It’s time to prepare my supplements and DMSA for the week. Last week’s numbers:

With my titrating up to 25 mg per dose of DMSA, I no longer need to pack my own pills. Yay time savings for me! Tonight’s numbers:

Even with an increase of one-minute preparing supplements, I still come out nine-minutes ahead. That’s nine-minutes I can use typing up this post.

It’s Sunday night, so that can mean only one thing: time to prepare my supplements and DMSA for the week. Last week’s numbers:

Somehow I managed to knock another minute off of my supplements preparation time tonight:

If all goes well, week eight should be the last week where I take 18.75 mg of DMSA. Starting with week nine, I intend to titrate up to 25 mg. Not only is this the next increase in strength (nearly my half-way point for DMSA strengths), I also do not need to create my own DMSA capsules for the next few rounds.

Round 7 was very much uneventful. Here are the numbers:

The only thing I noticed during this round was that on Tuesday (day two) I was very sensitive to visual stimulants. As a result, I was very much spent by the end of the work day and had to retire after logging off to reset my optical and vestibular systems. It’s amazing what a 30- to 60-minute reset can do; it won’t reset my symptoms back to the AM timeframe, but it will get me back to functioning better.

The redistribution that followed the round was standard in strength and reactions. One more round at this strength before I can move on up to 25 mg.