CHELATON
SURVEY DIRECTIONS
copyright Moria Merriweather, July 2002.
Thanks to Dana, Lyn, Andy, and Holly for
your valuable feedback on the survey questions and format.
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This file consists of directions for how to
fill out and submit the chelation results survey. Please read through this
file prior to beginning.
PURPOSE
OF THE SURVEY
The primary purpose of this survey
is to provide acurate information about the results of chelation, from
people who are doing chelation. To be more specific:
1: to make useful "general" information
available to people evaluating chelation.
2: to make useful information available
for people evaluating specific chelation methods, agents, or products.
3: reading the survey results can be encouraging
or inspiring.
4: people may have other specific information
they are looking for (e.g. use of Rhogam) that can be researched by using
the survey answers.
5: since the survey answers will be posted
in the LOVE_LETTERS file, people who are reading posts in LOVE_LETTERS
and find they want to know more about the particular case (e.g. what protocol,
how long chelating, etc), will be able to refer to the survey form (if
one has been submitted) in order to find further information on that specific
person.
If you (or your child) are already listed
in LOVE_LETTERS, but you really do not have the time or interest to fill
in the whole survey, please submit at least some basic information such
as: age, diagnosis, length of time chelating, protocol and chelation
agents used.
The survey form is long, so you may want
to consider answering just some parts of the survey.
All participation is voluntary.
THANK YOU.
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QUALIFICATIONS
FOR FILLING IN THE SURVEY:
You need to have spent at least 1 month
chelating yourself or your child for heavy metals (any heavy metal).
You can be using ANY method, protocol, chelation agents, or detox
system. The exception to this is that ANYONE who has decided to
STOP chelating may post a survey response. The results of
people who have negative reactions are very much valued. Some people
may decide immediately to discontinue chelation, and I would very much
prefer to hear about this experience. So, in this case (someone who
has STOPPED chelation), there is no guideline to have chelated for a month.
This is an on-going survey, and you may
submit your response at any time.
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BASIC
PROCEDURE:
1. You must be a MEMBER of the Autism-Mercury
list in order to post your survey results to the list. You are welcome
to join, and post your survey resposes, and then leave immediately, but
you do have to be a member in order to post. The anonymous submission
method (below) does not require joining the list. This is another
option.
2. From a browser, go to this location:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Autism-Mercury/files/Survey_form
(You can either go to this location directly, or go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Autism-Mercury/files/
and select the file called "Survey_form".) You need to have the survey_form
file open, in a browser, so you can see the questions.
3. next, select the entire text
of the survey_form file, and copy the entire text. (You can probably
do this using the menu at the very very top of your browser window: do
"Edit" "Select All", and then do "Edit" "Copy".)
4. next paste the text into a post
to the autism-mercury list. (This can be in an email message or by
using the POST function on the website, which ever you prefer.) You can,
most likely, "paste" by holding down the CTRL key while pressing
the V key. (Then release both.) (If this is not familiar to you,
give it a try. You may need to ask someone for help, or consult a book
about "windows operating system", or whatever operating system you are
using.) If you are sending email, address it to autism-mercury@yahoogroups.com
5. the subject line for your post
should be:
Chelation Survey Response -- name
of person being reported on
For example:
Chelation Survey Response -- Mickey
Smith
If you wish to not state child's name (but
are willing to state your own name), write:
Chelation Survey Response -- child
of Jane Doe
(where Jane Doe is YOUR name)
(See also section on anonymous responses, below).
6. Leave ALL of the existing text in the
survey form, and ADD lines with your answers to the questions.
Leave all the little "dashes" that are included in the file-- these are
there to help differentiate the text YOU write from the form itself.
Answer each question on a blank line that you have added. Just add
as many lines as you need to answer each question.
7. You may answer as much or as few of
the questions as you wish, but do not change the order or delete things.
The survey form is long, so you may want to consider answering just some
parts of the survey. Answering all the questions if preferred, but it is
up to you. If there is a question you do not want to answer,
skip it. You can write "N/A" if something does not apply in your
case. Or "not known". If there are some questions you don't want
to answer, just skip them, leaving the question there.
8. You may write as much as you wish.
The only size limit is the limit on the size of a post -- which is 64K.
That is pretty big-- you are unlikely to exceed this size. Feel free
to be as thorough and as detailed as you can. The survey is NOT intended
to be "cold", it is simply "structured" by the use of questions.
Please DO let your experiences, feelings, and thoughts come through.
9. When you have answered as much as you
wish to, send your post to the list.
Your post will be read by many people when
it is sent to the list. In addition, a link to your post will be added
to the following file: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Autism-Mercury/files/LOVE_LETTERS
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ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION
A. If you wish to answer the survey and
wish
to remain anonymous, follow the same instructions as above, except
send your filled in survey to AndyCutler@aol.com In the subject line
write:
Chelation Survey Response -- ANONYMOUS
Also, when filling in the item asking for
the name of the person filling in the survey, write "anonymous". Andy has
agreed to receive these emails and to then copy the text and post it to
the list. The post will then appear on the list FROM ANDY, with no
indication of who sent it to Andy.
B. Please fill in a SEPARATE survey form
for EACH person who is being chelated. In other words, if a mom and
3 kids in the same family are all chelating, you would need to fill
in 4 forms and send each one in separately.
C. Please feel free to fill in the entire
survey over again from time to time as an "update". Please send a
survey response for any one person at the MOST once every 2 months.
That is, please do NOT send an update until 2 months have passed since
your last survey response (for that person). When sending in
an update, please still answer ALL questions that you are willing to answer,
repeating any information as needed. Each submission should be "complete"
and should not rely on prior information. You can copy your prior
survey responses if you want.
D. If you have questions about these instructions
or need further information, please write to moriam@earthlink.net
THANK
YOU VERY MUCH FOR SHARING YOUR CHELATION EXPERIENCES!