Chelation Therapy

IMPORTANT:  A chelation program should never be attempted without the guidance of a physician experienced in chelation therapy.  Chelation therapy can cause, and will likely cause, more harm than good when done improperly, in a patient for which chelation therapy is contraindicated, and without diligent monitoring and provision with supportive interventions.

Chelation therapy uses medicines that remove both toxic and non-toxic metals from the body.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency, there is no known safe level of toxic metal.  Toxic metals –such as mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium and others– are known to interfere with many biological functions within the body, including initiating oxidative stress, cancer cell activation, hormone synthesis and the activity of several hormones, immune system activity, and energy metabolism interference in cells and tissues throughout the body.  Non-toxic nutritional minerals can also accumulate to unhealthy levels within heart muscle and blood vessel tissues, and this is believed by some researches to contribute to hypertension, vessel disease and certain heart conditions.

The chelation drugs, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), effectively remove unhealthy toxic metal and nutritional mineral accumulations in the body, reducing their harmful effects on inflammation, hormone regulation, immune system function, cell replication (e.g. cancer) and cardiovascular function.  EDTA chelation therapy has been used for decades to improve many cardiovascular disease symptoms, such as angina, other problems associated with atherosclerosis and conditions affecting the heart itself.  For many years, it was believed that chelation therapy worked by reducing plaque and mineral deposits in the arteries.  This now has been shown to be partly false thanks to a recent large-scale study on the effect of IV EDTA on vessels.  While some individuals show a plaque reduction, the majority didn’t.  Despite this, the vast majority of patients experienced excellent improvements in energy level, improved circulation, reduced blood pressure and imporoved cardiovascular tone and  function.

Some evidence suggests that removing unhealthy metals, including both toxic heavy metals and unhealthy accumulations of nutritional minerals, improves health on many levels.  The toxic metals –the most prevalent being arsenic, mercury, lead and cadmium– create ‘reactive oxygen species’ within cells, which depletes glutathione, disabling its ability to prevent DNA oxidation.  Glutathione is an essential intracellular antioxidant, and it also serves to conjugate (bind) with toxic metals so that they can be transported out of the body.  Glutathione is also essential for immune system activation.  Depletion of glutathione is associated with many epidemic diseases, including: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurlogical diseases, cancer, chronic fatigue and autism.  Glutathione is also depleted with aging, extreme exercise, chemical toxicity, metal toxicity, radiation exposure, chronic stress, anxiety and many drugs.

Eliminating toxic metals from the body allows the cells in the body to function optimally.  It’s like hitting the ‘re-set button’ in the cells throughout the body.  Chealtion therapy might allow you to do the things you enjoy in life, longer and with energy and vitality, while side-stepping low energy, cardiovascular disease, cancer and other diseases. 

More on Oxidation and How Chelation Helps

Oxidation causes tissue damage and degeneration, aging and disease; this occurs in vessels as well as all tissues in the body.  Cellular metabolism interference in the vascular epithelial cells results in decreased production of nitrous oxide, which disables vessel relaxation and causes high blood pressure.  In other cells, it might interfere with hormone production and many other vital energy and antioxidant functions.  We don’t yet know all the potential benefits of chelation therapy.  We do know that it has been used all over the world safely and effecively for many decades.  Some clinicians report drastic reductions in cardiovascular disease and cancer risk following EDTA chelation therapy.  These finding coincide an animal study suggesting chealtion drastically lengthens lifespan.  Rats administered EDTA had a lifespan increase of 50%! (No, these rats were not tested for atherosclerosis or heavy metal burden).

It’s an exciting, new anti-aging approach!

Chelation and Optimal Immune System Function

Toxic metals interfere with the body’s innate immunity.  Arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, tin and nickel have all been linked to reduced numbers and activities of macrophages and natural killer cells.  These cells are absolutely essential for both day-to-day immunity against bacteria, fungi and viruses as well as eradication of cancer cells.  This evidence builds the case the benefits of chelation therapy seen by doctors who have claimed lower cancer incedence in patients who have received chelation therapy.  Researches have also seen this phenomenon in animal studies.  When clinical symptoms and laboratory tests suggest high oxidative stress, heavy metal toxicity should be assessed.  In this situation, testing is recommended, even among individuals with a low exposure history (Environ Hlth Prosp. 2006;114:350?54).

Determining the Need for Chelation Therapy

The need for chelation therapy is determined using laboratory tests.  On occasion, EDTA may be used on a therapeutic trial basis to see if it improved cardiovascular symptoms.  Blood tests are used to monitor changes in kidney function.  The tests used to diagnose toxic metal exposure, such as urine, blood and hair, may vary from patient to patient, depending on the client’s presenting symptoms and history of exposures.

Chelation Therapy Safety

EDTA chelation therapy has an extremely high safety profile.  Tens-of-thousands of patients over the past several decades have benefitted from this treatment, with very few reported adverse effects.  This does not mean that administering the medication improperly or giving the treatment with certain medical conditions, such as kidney failure, can’t cause harm.  It can.  Blood and urine tests are used periodically over the course of chelation therapy treatment to monitor vital functions and ensure the treatment is being handled safely by the patient.  These tests may include a comprehensive metabolic panel, complete blood count, red blood cell glutathione and urine oxidized DNA.

IMPORTANT:  A chelation program should never be attempted without the guidance of a physician experienced in chelation therapy.  Chelation therapy can cause, and will likely cause, more harm than good when done improperly, in a patient for which chelation therapy is contraindicated, and without diligent monitoring and provision with supportive interventions.

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