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CHELATION THERAPY
NEW HOPE FOR VICTIMS OF CARDIOVASCULAR AND AGE-ASSOCIATED DISEASES
by Elmer M. Cranton, M.D. and edited by Eugene Pretorius, M.D.
INTRODUCTION TO CHELATION
Chelation Therapy means the removal of heavy metals and free
radicals. Non physiological free radicals are the molecules causing
destruction and damage to the body on the long run. Chelation
therapy removes these non-physiological free radicals. As a matter
of fact, intravenous chelation therapy is more than a 1,000,000 x
stronger than the strongest anti-oxidant you can take by mouth.
Chelation comes from the Greek word “chele” meaning claw. Chelation
therapy uses a substance known as EDTA to grab on to metals in the
body and carry them to the kidneys where they can be removed.
Chelation therapy began in the 1940s when the U.S. Navy used EDTA to
treat lead poisoning of sailors exposed to lead paint. In the early
1950s, Dr. Norman Clark found that patients treated with EDTA for
lead poisoning also had less heart pain. Patients also reported
improved memory, sight, hearing, and smell and many reported an
increase in energy.
In Preventive and anti-ageing Medicine, chelation is used to remove
access heavy metals and free radicals before any symptoms develop.
The free radical theory of disease (caused by oxygen free radicals)
provides one scientific explanation for the many observed benefits
following chelation therapy. Many scientific studies published in
peer reviewed medical journals provide solid clinical evidence for
benefit. This non-invasive therapy is very much safer and far less
expensive than surgery or angioplasty.
Chelation therapy is a safe and effective alternative to bypass
surgery, angioplasty and stents. Hardening of the arteries need not
lead to coronary bypass surgery, heart attack, amputation, stroke,
or senility. There is new hope for victims of these and other
related diseases. Despite what you may have heard from other
sources, EDTA chelation therapy, administered by a properly trained
practitioner, in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle, prudent diet,
and nutritional supplements, is an option to be seriously considered
by persons suffering from coronary artery disease, cerebral vascular
disease, brain disorders resulting from circulatory disturbances,
generalized hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis, also called
arteriosclerosis) and related ailments which can lead to stroke,
heart attack, senility, gangrene, and accelerated physical decline.
Clinical benefits from chelation therapy vary with the total number
of treatments received and with severity of the condition being
treated. On average, 85 percent of chelation patients have improved
very significantly. More than 90 percent of patients receiving 30 or
more chelation infusions have benefited enough to be grateful for
this therapy—even more so when they also followed a healthy
lifestyle, avoiding the use of tobacco. Symptoms improve, blood flow
to diseased organs increases, need for medication often decreases
and, most importantly, the quality of life becomes more productive
and enjoyable.
When patients first hear about or consider EDTA chelation therapy,
they normally have lots of questions. Undoubtedly you do, too. Here
are the answers to those most commonly asked questions, explained in
non-technical language.
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WHAT IS "CHELATION"?
Chelation (pronounced KEY-LAY-SHUN) is the process by which a metal
or mineral (such as calcium, lead, cadmium, iron, arsenic, aluminum,
etc.) is bonded to another substance―in this case EDTA, an amino
acid. It is a natural process, basic to life itself. Chelation is
one mechanism by which such common substances as aspirin,
antibiotics, vitamins, minerals and trace elements work in the body.
Hemoglobin, the red pigment in blood which carries oxygen, is a
chelate of iron.
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WHAT IS CHELATION AS A MEDICAL THERAPY?
Chelation is a treatment by which a small amino acid called ethylene
diamine tetraacetic acid (commonly abbreviated EDTA) is administered
to a patient intravenously, prescribed by and under the supervision
of a licensed health care practitioner. The IV fluid containing EDTA
is infused through a small needle placed in the vein of a patient’s
arm. The EDTA infusion bonds with unbalanced metals in the body and
quickly redistributes them in a healthy way, or carries them away in
the urine. Abnormally situated nutritional metals, such as iron,
along with toxic elements such as lead, mercury and aluminum are
easily removed by EDTA chelation therapy. Normally present minerals
and trace elements which are essential for health are more tightly
bound within the body and can be maintained with a properly balanced
nutritional supplement.
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IS IT DONE JUST ONCE?
On the contrary, chelation therapy usually consists of anywhere from
20 to 50 separate infusions, depending on each patient’s individual
health status. Thirty treatments is the average number required for
optimum benefit in patients with symptoms of arterial blockage. Some
patients eventually receive more than 100 chelation therapy
infusions over several years. Other healthier patients receive only
20 infusions as part of a preventive program. Each chelation
treatment takes 15 to 30 minutes and patients cannot receive more
than one treatment each day. It is the total number of treatments
that determine results, not the schedule or frequency. Some patients
receive treatments daily and others come weekly or at at variable
intervals as convenience and their schedule dictates. Over a period
of time, these injections halt the progress of the free radical
disease. Free radicals underlie the development of atherosclerosis
and many other degenerative diseases of aging. Reduction of damaging
free radicals it believed to allow diseased arteries to heal,
restoring blood flow. With time chelation therapy brings profound
improvement to many essential metabolic and physiologic functions in
the body. The body’s regulation of calcium and cholesterol is
restored by normalizing the internal chemistry of cells. Chelation
has many favourable actions on the body.
Chelation therapy benefits the flow of blood through every vessel in
the body, from the largest to the tiniest capillaries and
arterioles, most of which are far too small for surgical treatment
or are deep within the brain where they cannot be safely reached by
surgery. In many patients, the smaller blood vessels are the most
severely diseased, especially in the presence of diabetes. The
benefits of chelation occur simultaneously from the top of the head
to the bottom of the feet, not just in short segments of a few large
arteries which can be bypassed by surgical treatment.
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DO
I HAVE TO GO TO A HOSPITAL TO BE CHELATED?
No, chelation therapy is an out-patient treatment available in a
physician’s office or clinic.
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DOES IT HURT? WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO BE CHELATED?
Being "chelated" is quite a different experience from other medical
treatments. There is no pain, and in most cases, very little
discomfort. Patients are seated in chairs and a treatment takes
approximately 20 minutes with the new EDTA formulation that we use.
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ARE THERE RISKS OR UNPLEASANT SIDE EFFECTS?
EDTA chelation therapy is relatively non-toxic and risk-free,
especially when compared with other treatments. Patients routinely
drive themselves home after chelation treatment with no difficulty.
The risk of significant side effects, when properly administered, is
less than 1 in 10,000 patients treated. By comparison, the overall
death rate as a direct result of bypass surgery is approximately 3
out of every 100 patients, varying with the hospital and the
operating team. The incidence of other serious complications
following surgery is much higher, approaching 25%, including heart
attacks, strokes, blood clots, mental impairment, infection, and
prolonged pain. Chelation therapy is at least 300 times safer than
bypass surgery.
Occasionally, patients may suffer minor discomfort at the site where
the needle enters the vein. When properly administered by a trained
health care practitioner expert in this type of therapy, chelation
is safer than many other prescription medicines. Statistically
speaking, the treatment itself is safer than the drive in an
automobile to the doctor’s office.
While it has been stated by critics that EDTA chelation therapy is
damaging to the kidneys, the newest research (consisting of kidney
function tests done on hundreds of consecutive chelation patients,
before and after treatment with EDTA for chronic degenerative
diseases) indicates the reverse is true. There is, on the average,
significant improvement in kidney function following chelation
therapy. An occasional patient may be unduly sensitive, however, and
practitioners expert in chelation monitor kidney function with
laboratory testing to avoid overloading the kidneys. Chelation
treatments must be given more slowly and less frequently if kidney
function is not normal. Patients with some types of severe kidney
problems should not receive EDTA chelation therapy.
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WHAT TYPES OF EXAMINATIONS AND TESTING MUST BE DONE PRIOR TO BEGINNING
CHELATION THERAPY?
Prior to commencing a course of chelation therapy a complete medical
history is obtained. Diet is analyzed for nutritional adequacy and
balance. Copies of pertinent medical records and summaries of
hospital admissions may be sent for. A complete list of current
medications will be recorded, including the time and strength of
each dose. Special note will be made of any allergies.
An
EDTA urine challenge
test is always performed during the first office visit, so that the
levels of toxins being extracted with the EDTA can be assessed.
Blood and urine specimens will be obtained in a battery of tests to
insure that no conditions exist which should be treated differently
or might be worsened by chelation therapy. Kidney function will be
carefully assessed. An electrocardiogram is usually obtained.
Non-invasive tests will be performed, as medically indicated, to
determine the status of arterial blood flow prior to therapy. A
consultation with other medical specialists may be requested.
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IS CHELATION THERAPY NEW?
Not at all. Chelation's earliest application with humans was before
World War II when the British used another chelating agent, British
Anti-Lewesite (BAL), as a poison gas antidote. BAL is related to
chelators still used today in medicine.
EDTA was first introduced into medicine in the United States in 1948
as a treatment for industrial workers suffering from lead poisoning
in a battery factory. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Navy advocated
chelation therapy for sailors who had absorbed lead while painting
government ships and dock facilities. In the years since, chelation
therapy has remained the undisputed treatment-of-choice for lead
poisoning, even in children with toxic accumulations of lead in
their bodies as a result of eating leaded paint from toys, cribs or
walls.
In the early 1950’s it was speculated that EDTA chelation therapy
might help the accumulations of calcium associated with hardening of
the arteries. Experiments were performed and victims of
atherosclerosis experienced health improvements following chelation—diminished
angina, better memory, sight, hearing and increased vigor. A number
of practitioners then began to routinely treat individuals suffering
from occlusive vascular conditions with chelation therapy.
Consistent improvements were reported for most patients.
Published articles describing successful treatment of
atherosclerosis with EDTA chelation therapy first appeared in
medical journals in 1955. Dozens of favorable articles have been
published since then. No unsuccessful results have ever been
reported (with the exception of several recent studies with very
flawed data deceptively presented by bypass surgeons, in a seeming
attempt to discredit this competing therapy). There have also been a
number of editorial comments of a critical nature made by physicians
with vested interests in vascular surgery and related procedures.
From 1964 on, despite continued documentation of its benefits and
the development of safer treatment methods, the use of chelation for
the treatment of arterial disease has been the subject of
controversy.
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IS IT LEGAL?
Absolutely. There is no legal prohibition
against a licensed medical doctor using chelation therapy for
whatever conditions he or she deems it to be in the best interests
of their patients, even though the drug involved, EDTA, does not yet
have atherosclerosis listed as an indication on the FDA-approved
package insert. Contrary to popular belief, the FDA does not
regulate the practice of medicine, but merely approves marketing,
labelling and advertising claims for drugs and devices sold in
interstate commerce.
It costs many millions of dollars to perform the required research
and to provide the FDA with documentation for a new drug claim, or
even to add a new use to marketing brochures of a long established
medicine like EDTA. Physicians routinely prescribe medicines for
conditions not included on FDA approved advertising and marketing
literature.
On the question of legality,
courts have expressed the opinion that a practitioner who withholds
information about the availability of other treatment choices, such
as chelation therapy, prior to performing vascular surgery (along
with all other treatment modalities) is in violation of the doctrine
of informed consent. Withholding information about a form of
treatment may be tantamount to medical malpractice, if as a result,
a patient is deprived of possible benefit. Thus, it is the doctors
who refuse to recognize and inform their patients about chelation
who are risking legal liability—not those chelating practitioners
informed enough to resist peer pressure and provide an innovative
treatment which they feel to be the safest, the most effective and
the least expensive for many of their patients.
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WHAT PROOF DO YOU HAVE THAT IT WORKS?
Practitioners with extensive experience in the
use of chelation therapy observe dramatic improvement in the vast
majority of their patients. They see angina routinely relieved;
patients who suffered searing chest and leg pain when walking only a
short distance are frequently able to return to normal, productive
living after undergoing chelation therapy. Far more dramatic, but
equally common, is seeing diabetic ulcers and gangrenous feet clear
up in a matter of weeks. Individuals who have been told that their
limbs would need to be amputated because of gangrene are thrilled to
watch their feet heal with chelation therapy, although some areas of
dead tissue may still have to be trimmed away surgically.
The approximately 1,500 American practitioners practicing chelation
therapy, plus hundreds of others in foreign countries, have
countless case histories to prove they are able to reverse serious
cases of arterial disease. Men and women often arrive at doctors’
offices near death with diseases caused by blocked arteries. Weeks
or months later, they’re remarkably improved. There is a wealth of
evidence from clinical experience that symptoms of reduced blood
flow improve in up to 85 percent of patients treated. More than a
million patients have thus far received chelation therapy, almost as
many as have undergone bypass surgery.
All
clinical trials of chelation therapy
have been positive. There are no
negative data, although a few report had a deceptively negative spin
on positive data. In addition, several
research studies
have been published with results of before-and-after diagnostic
tests using radio-isotopes and ultra sound which prove statistically
that blood flow increases following chelation therapy. Even without
blood-flow studies, if leg pain on walking is relieved, if angina
becomes less bothersome, and if physical endurance and mental acuity
improve, such benefits would be quite enough to justify EDTA
chelation therapy. Improved quality of life and relief of symptoms
are the most important benefits of chelation therapy.
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WHAT ABOUT BYPASS SURGERY?
Coronary artery bypass surgery, the
popularly-prescribed procedure in which blocked portions of major
coronary arteries of the heart are bypassed with grafts from a
patient’s leg veins, has never been proven by properly controlled
studies to offer much or an advantage over non-surgical treatments,
other that relief of pain in a minority of patients who cannot be
controlled with medicine. It has even been suggested that the relief
of pain following surgery might result from the cutting of nerve
fibers which carry pain impulses from the heart and which also
stimulate spasm of coronary arteries. It is not possible to perform
bypass surgery without interrupting those nerves.
Arteriograms which are done to x-ray and visualize the arteries
prior to surgery utilize a chemical dye which can cause arterial
spasm. It is difficult to determine on the x-rays how much arterial
blockage is permanent and how much is reversible spasm. It is common
practice during angiograms to inject medication that amplifies the
effects of diseased coronary arteries.
Indeed, the most recent research suggests that many of the more than
200,000 bypasses performed each year for the relief of pain and
other symptoms brought on by clogged or blocked arteries are not
necessary. A good case against rushing into bypass surgery is made
by the findings of a ten-year, $24-million study conducted by the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) which compared post-operative
survival rates of "bypassed" patients with a matched group of
equally diseased patients treated non-surgically.
The
study uncovered no advantage for the
majority of patients who had been operated upon, compared with those
receiving non-surgical therapy.
It is important to note that the non-surgical therapy reported in
that study did not include either chelation therapy or the newer
calcium blocker drugs, and that only half of the patients received
beta blocker drugs. Although studies have been reported to show that
patients with left main coronary artery blockage live slightly
longer after surgery, the studies were done before calcium blockers
and newer beta blockers were available. Those medicines have been
scientifically proven to protect against heart attack. Surgery might
have come out a clear second best if all presently available
non-surgical treatments, including chelation, had been compared to
bypass.
Having surgery didn’t improve the chances for most patients to live
longer, live healthier, live better, or enjoy life more , when the
results were statistically analyzed. The incidence of heart attacks
(myocardial infarction) and both employment and recreational status
were the same when comparing a large group of patients treated
surgically with those treated non-surgically, even without using
chelation therapy for the non-surgical treatment group.
Most importantly, cardiovascular surgery does nothing to arrest or
reverse the underlying disease, which exists in varying degrees
throughout the body. It is at best a piecemeal "cure" for a
system-wide problem. Bypassing a tiny portion of the body’s blood
vessels can have little lasting benefit when the same degenerating
condition which caused the most extreme blockage at one or two sites
must of necessity be taking place everywhere, throughout the
circulatory network.
One thing the general public is not fully aware of is that many
people who have one bypass operation later need a second bypass.
Sometimes the blood vessels that weren’t bypassed become clogged and
also need bypassing; sometimes the transplanted vessels used in the
first graft become filled with new plaque; not uncommonly, the
transplants malfunction or turn out to be too small for the job. As
a matter of fact, studies have shown that by ten years after
surgery, grafted vessels had closed in 40 percent of patients, and
in the remaining 60 percent, half developed further coronary
narrowing. Once you’ve had a bypass, your chances of being referred
for another go up about five percent a year. After five years, some
surgical specialists estimate, your need for a second operation
could be as high as 30 to 40 percent. And some patients go on to
even a third operation or more. And approximately 2 to 3 out of
every 100 patients undergoing bypass surgery die as a result of the
procedure—even more if they are severely ill at the time of surgery.
A much larger percentage suffer serious complications, even after
they survive the surgery. Those percentages are similar for balloon
angioplasty—with or without stents.
Chelation patients are frequently able to return to work and to
resume their sports and other activities, without the need to
undergo surgery. If they stay on a proper diet, exercise within
limits of tolerance, continue to take the prescribed program of
nutritional supplements, and receive periodic maintenance chelation
treatments (every one to two months, depending on the severity of
the underlying medical diagnosis) they can usually go many years
without suffering further heart attacks, strokes, senility or
gangrenous extremities.
If you have been told, like most people eager for additional
information about chelation therapy, that you have advanced arterial
disease, you may have been advised to have vascular surgery or
balloon angioplasty. If so, it is essential for you to understand
the nature of your disease and all possible treatment choices,
before you can make an intelligent decision concerning the various
options. Even if chelation therapy and other non-surgical therapies
should fail, bypass still remains a choice. Although bypass can
relieve symptoms, as a last resort, surgery does not prevent heart
attacks or prolong live in the vast majority of patients operated.
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WHY CAN’T CHELATION BE TAKEN BY MOUTH IN PILL FORM INSTEAD OF BY
INTRAVENOUS INJECTION?
Chelation therapy is gaining recognition so
rapidly that there is growing interest in developing an oral
chelator that will produce benefits similar to intravenous EDTA
chelation therapy. Many nutritional substances administered by mouth
are known to have chelating properties but none have the spectrum of
activity of intravenous EDTA. Many nutrients such as vitamin C and
the amino acids cysteine and aspartic acid have the ability to
weakly chelate metals. They also protect against free radical damage
in other ways, as anti-oxidants.
Claims are being increasingly made for the use of nutritional
supplements containing weak chelators in patients with
atherosclerosis. There is nothing new about these products which are
mostly vitamins and minerals being aggressively marketed with
glowing testimonials and deceptive marketing techniques. Benefit
from products taken by mouth has never even come close to the much
more dramatic results seen with intravenous EDTA.
Recently some
nutritional supplements which contain
EDTA have been alleged to be
effective as oral chelation therapy. The problem is that only 5
percent or less of EDTA is absorbed by mouth. The same tiny
percentage applies to rectal suppositories. The remainder passes out
in the stool. And, it must be taken every day by mouth to absorb
even a small amount. When taken on a daily basis, oral EDTA binds
essential nutrients in the digestive tract and blocks their
absorption, causing deficiencies. When given intravenously, EDTA is
100 percent absorbed very rapidly and eliminated in the urine within
a few hours. Intravenous EDTA is given on only 20 to 30 days in any
one year and does not lead to deficiencies of nutritional minerals.
Nutritional supplementation on a daily basis more than compensates
for any loses caused by the intravenous EDTA chelation therapy.
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IS IT TRUE THAT CHELATION THERAPY COMBATS ATHEROSCLEROSIS BY ACTING LIKE
A LIQUID PLUMBER—BY LEACHING CALCIUM OUT OF ATHEROSCLEROTIC PLAQUE?
No! Before recent medical breakthroughs in the area of free radical
pathology, it was hypothesized that EDTA chelation therapy had its
major beneficial effect on calcium metabolism—that it stripped away
the excess calcium from the plaque, restoring arteries to their
pliable precalcified state. This frequently offered explanation—the
so-called "roto-rooter" concept—is not the real reason, as
previously postulated, that chelation therapy produces its major
health benefits. The fact that EDTA does reduce some calcium from
plaque is felt to be only one of its benefits, an probably not the
most important.
Most importantly, EDTA has an affinity for the
transition metal, iron, a free radical catalyst in excess, and for
the toxic metals, lead, mercury, cadmium, nickel, and aluminium. Free
radical pathology, it is now believed, is an important underlying
process triggering the development of many age-related ailments,
including cancer, senility and arthritis, as well as
atherosclerosis. Thus, EDTA’s most important benefit seems to be
that it
greatly reduces the ongoing production
of free radicals within the body by
removing accumulations of metallic catalysts and toxins which
accumulate at abnormal sites in the body as a person grows older and
which speed the aging process. There are
other theories
of mechanism of action and we still do not know which is most
important. Recent research even points to
rebalancing toxic accumulations of
essential elements such a zinc,
chromium and cobalt.
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WHAT OTHER DISEASES MIGHT BE BENEFITED BY CHELATION?
Because the very aging process itself
correlates with ongoing free radical damage, it is no surprise that
a large variety of symptoms have been reported to improve following
chelation therapy, even symptoms not directly caused by circulatory
disease. While there is no scientific evidence that chelation is a
cure for these diseases, symptoms of arthritis, Alzheimer’s,
Parkinson’s , psoriasis, high blood pressure, and scleroderma have
all been reported to improve with chelation therapy. In fact, there
is no better treatment for scleroderma. Vision has been improved in
macular degeneration. Patients generally feel younger and more
energetic following therapy, even when taken for purely preventive
reasons. In fact, chelation therapy is more desirable for prevention
that it is for established disease. Preventive medicine is always
preferable to late stage crisis intervention.
A recently published article from the University of Zurich in
Switzerland reported an 18-year follow-up of a group of 56 chelation
therapy patients. When comparing the death rate from cancer with
that of a control group of patients who did not receive chelation
therapy, the authors found that patients who received EDTA chelation
therapy had a
90% reduction of cancer deaths.
Epidemiologists from the University of Zurich reviewed the data and
found no fault with the reported facts or the conclusions.
There is no evidence that chelation therapy is of benefit in the
treatment of advanced cancer, once the diagnosis is made, but there
is a large body of scientific research indicating that free radical
damage to DNA is an important factor at the onset of most cancer.
Chelation therapy blocks damaging free radicals.
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Will chelation therapy help with heart valve problems such as aortic
stenosis or mitral regurgitation?
EDTA chelation will not have much effect on diseased heart valves as
such. However, chelation has been shown to improve the efficiency of
cardiac function and relieve symptoms and reduce probability of
heart attack and other complications. If surgical replacement of the
valve becomes necessary, prior chelation therapy should speed
recovery and reduce the probability of serious surgical
complications such as stroke or myocardial infarction ( heart
attack).
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WHY HAVEN’T I HEARD OF CHELATION BEFORE?
If EDTA chelation therapy is safe and
effective as indicated by many published studies, and by the
experience of hundreds of doctors, why haven’t you heard more about
it? That is a good question!
Until quite recently, relatively few patients have been informed
that this therapy is available. Many heart specialists may not have
even heard of the treatment and would be reluctant to prescribe it
if they had. The American Medical Association has not yet approved
chelation therapy for atherosclerosis, although it does endorse its
use in the treatment of lead poisoning. Many insurance companies
will not compensate policy holders for chelation therapy unless it
is given for proven lead poisoning of a serious degree. If chelation
therapy is given for atherosclerosis, it is often labelled
"experimental" or "not necessary " or "not customary" by medical
insurance companies and payment is denied. They deny payment to
patients for chelation therapy even though they do pay for bypass
surgery, and even though chelation might have saved them tens of
thousands of dollars. Like many other aspects of our lives, a
considerable amount of politics seems to be involved—in this case,
medical politics.
Politically powerful traditional medical groups and manufacturers of
cardiovascular drugs have consistently suppressed knowledge of
chelation therapy, perhaps because of a large vested interest in
competing coronary related health care. The cost of all medical care
for victims of heart disease in the United States, including
coronary bypass surgery and prescription drugs, exceeds $50 billion
per year. Obviously, many hospitals, physicians, and pharmaceutical
companies would experience a decline in need for their services if
chelation therapy were to become universally popular.
Physicians who remain sceptical about chelation therapy are those
who have never used it. They are either completely uninformed about
the research that has been done to document the safety and
effectiveness of chelation therapy, or they are committed by
training or source of income to other therapeutic procedures, such
as vascular surgery and related procedures. Many physicians have
merely accepted criticisms of an editorial nature stemming from such
sources, without digging into the true facts for themselves.
Recent reports of clinical trials
alleging to disprove chelation therapy are all so flawed in design
that they offer no evidence at all. Doctors, however, are usually
too busy to read every word, and often accept the misleading
summaries and abstracts, without analyzing the data for themselves.
The bypass and cardiovascular drug industries have been extremely
well marketed—to the medical profession as well as to the public.
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DOES EDTA EFFECT METAL IN STENTS AND JOINT REPLACEMENTS?
EDTA has no effect on intact metals used for implants in the body,
or anywhere else for that matter. EDTA binds only dissolved and
positively charged (oxidized) metal ions dissolved in solution.
Stents and joint replacement are made from alloys such as highly
refined stainless steel, vanadium alloys and titanium, that will not
dissolve in body fluids.
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WHAT ELSE IS INVOLVED IN A COMPLETE PROGRAM OF CHELATION?
Your lifestyle counts. Chelation therapy is only part of the
curative process. Improved nutrition and healthy lifestyle are
absolutely imperative for lasting benefit from chelation treatments.
Chelation is not in and of itself a "cure-all"—it reduces abnormal
free radical activity and removes unwanted and toxic metals,
allowing normal healing and control mechanisms to come in to play.
It has many actions in the body and we do not yet know what is the
most important. Healing is facilitated, allowing health to be
restored with the help of applied clinical nutrition, antioxidant
supplementation and improved lifestyle. A full program of chelation
therapy involves all of these factors. Chelation therapy is also
compatible with other forms of therapy, including bypass surgery if
all else fails. If cardiovascular drugs are needed, they can be
taken with chelation with no conflict.
In addition to receiving the recommended number of chelation
treatments, patients eager for long-term benefits should follow a
healthy lifestyle, take a spectrum of nutritional supplements, be
physically active and eliminate destructive lifestyle habits such as
tobacco and excessive alcohol.
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NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS
A scientifically balanced regimen of nutritional supplements
reinforces the body’s antioxidant defences and should include
vitamins E, C, B1, B2 B3, B6, B12 and coenzyme Q10, and others. A
balanced program of mineral and trace element supplementation should
also include calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, selenium, manganese,
vanadium, and chromium.
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DESTRUCTIVE HABITS
It is important to eliminate the use of tobacco. This applies to
cigarettes, pipe tobacco, cigars, snuff or chewing tobacco. It has
been a consistent observation that patients who continued to use
tobacco following chelation will experience comparatively less
improvement and for a shorter time.
Relatively healthy adults are often able to tolerate the moderate
use of alcoholic beverages without generating more free radicals
than they can detoxify. Anyone who drinks alcoholic beverages
excessively risks harmful free radical damage. Victims of chronic
degenerative diseases should minimize the consumption of alcohol.
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EXERCISE
Finally, physical exercise is very helpful. Even a brisk 30-minute
walk several times per week will help to maintain the health
benefits and improved circulation resulting from chelation therapy.
Lactate normally builds up in tissues during aerobic exercise, and
lactate is a natural chelator produced within the body. Which brings
us to the final question!
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IS CHELATION THERAPY FOR YOU?
Only you can make that decision!
Chances are, your doctor won’t help you decide. Patients who choose
chelation therapy often do so against the advice of their personal
physicians or cardiologists. Many have already been advised to
undergo vascular surgery. Occasionally, a patient never hears about
chelation therapy until he or she is hospitalized and a friend or
relative begs him or her to look into this non-invasive therapy
before proceeding to surgery. In an impressively large number of
instances, a new patient comes for chelation on the recommendation
of someone who has been successfully chelated. Many patients have
benefited even after one or more failed bypasses.
You are encouraged to communicate with someone who’s shared your
dilemma, someone who can tell you about his or her own experience
with chelation therapy. Feel free to contact others with problems
similar to yours who have chosen chelation therapy. Most patients
who have been helped will be happy to give you their side of the
story.
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