People frequently ask me about the negative information being posted on the Internet regarding the DMPS Challenge Test, so let me respond. DMPS is a safe and effective chelator of heavy metals used as a provoking agent in testing for the presence of heavy metals and as a treating agent for heavy metal toxicity. Heavy metals are bound to heavy proteins inside the cells of the body and therefore measurement of the blood level of heavy metals is useful only in cases of acute metal poisoning. Only a few hours after acute exposure to toxic heavy metals the levels in the blood have dropped (and the cellular levels have sky-rocketed), thus a provoking agent must be used to demonstrate toxicity.
Over 99.9% of cases of metal toxicity seen in doctors' offices involve chronic rather than acute toxicity, the most common example being mercury poisoning from dental amalgam (mercury fillings, sometimes euphemistically called "silver" fillings). To call something a "provoking agent" in this sense implies that it is also a chelating agent. A chelator is an organic (carbon based) molecule which has an attraction to, and can bind, metals stronger than intracellular proteins. This, so to speak, opens the closet door and allows us to see what is inside the cell after a 24 hour urine collection is analyzed to reveal the metals which have been cleared out of the cells by DMPS. There is no more effective provoking chelator than DMPS. I have used it for many years with hundreds of patients and I have never seen any serious side-effects. Because it is so effective at what it does, it temporarily raises blood heavy metal levels and thus can produce a mild reaction for 20-30 minutes. It is always possible to be allergic to a medication, however I have never seen one case in all these years.
Some doctors use DMPS as a method to treat heavy metal toxicity. I prefer DMSA as it is an inexpensive and effective oral agent, also usually without side-effects if prescribed in the proper dose (which is derived from the results of a DMPS Challenge Test).
There seems to be a lot of negative misinformation on the Internet about DMPS. If one took this information to heart, it could be a frightening experience to take DMPS. This is unfortunate as DMPS is a unique challenging agent and very useful as a treating agent. In both instances DMPS is safe and effective. I have noticed that the misinformation about DMPS on the Internet is put there by pratictioners who are not licensed to prescribe it. I can come to no other conclusion than that these people, inexperienced as they are with DMPS, nevertheless can see that it threatens their incomes and thus it is in their own best interests to trash talk it. They also want to sell you these complicated less effective but very expensive protocols to reduce mercury. Draw your own conclusions.
