Heavy Metal Detox

What is Chelation Therapy?

You’ve heard about “Chelation Therapy” but do you really know what it means? Many physicians have reported that it is one of the least known, relatively non-invasive treatments for hardening of the arteries. Traditionally, chelation therapy is an intravenous treatment which uses a chelating agent. Chelating agents are oftentimes negatively-charged particles (anions) which have strong electromagnetic attraction for positively-charged particles (cations) such as lead, cadmium, aluminum, mercury, calcium, etc. Chelation works primarily by removing heavy metal elements (e.g., lead, cadmium, aluminum, mercury, etc.) from the body. Generally speaking, you are at increased risk for heavy metal toxicity if you are or have been exposed to cigarette smoke, amalgamation fillings, automobile exhaust, and city pollution to name a few sources.

Chelation Defined

The term "chelate" is derived from a Greek word which means "the crab's claw". Natural chelates are found in nature such as hemoglobin in the blood which chelates iron; chlorophyll in plants which chelates magnesium; and almost all anticancer drugs and many antibiotics are chelating substances. The word "chelation" itself was first introduced in 1920 in an attempt to describe the action of Ethylene Diamine Tetraacetic Acid, or EDTA, and its ability to hold onto a metal ion. Theoretically, through a strong electromagnetic attraction, this synthetic amino acid encircles metal ions and allows them to be removed from the body through the urine in a harmless form.

Therapeutic Uses

Therapeutic implications for the use of EDTA were discovered in 1948 when a group of Detroit, Michigan physi­cians using EDTA to treat lead poisoning, observed a marked improvement in patients who also had hardening of the arteries. The scope of its use was eventually expanded to include the treatment of such circulatory conditions as coronary artery disease, intermittent claudication, and angina. Apparently, EDTA not only removes from the body heavy metals acquired through environmental and dietary exposure but it’s somehow able to increase blood flow to vital organs and tissues of the body as well.

Most likely, this is due to the removal of toxic free radicals which are believed to initiate the destructive process of arteriosclerosis. The elasticity of the blood vessels improves and, according to Poiseuille’s Law, in order for a blood vessel to double its blood flow its opening need only be increased by 10%. This enhanced flexibility would also explain why EDTA is approved for the treatment of Scleroderma, a condition in which the skin, and other body organs (like blood vessels), becomes hardened. In addition, the loss of calcium from the body stimulates the parathyroid gland to increase calcium production in the bones which, in turn, causes increased thickening of the bone. Hence, chelation therapy is also known to improve the condition of osteoporosis.

What Is Atherosclerosis?

Atherosclerosis is the degenerative process that occurs in arterial walls as our bodies age. Deposits of fat, cholesterol and free ionic calcium occur beneath the inner lining (epitheli­um) of the arterial wall. These deposits become hardened with a progressive protrusion into the lumen of the artery.

Just as rocks interfere with the smooth flow of water in a river, these plaques (hardened deposits in the arterial walls) create a disturbance of the vascular system that causes turbulent currents within the artery. As the openings of the arteries becomes smaller, the blood pressure rises due to back-flow pressure. This causes stress upon the heart which is a muscular pump which must work harder to force the blood past these obstructions in the arteries to supply such vital organs as the kidneys, liver, heart and brain. As the blood flows over these plaques, the formation of thrombi (blood clots) may occur. When a thrombus becomes dislodged in an artery, a heart attack or stroke is often the end result.

Unlike veins, whose walls are thin and contain no muscle fibers, arterial walls are composed of muscle fibers and elastic tissue and will stretch or contract to aid in the smooth flow of blood with each beat of the heart. As plaques are developed in the arterial walls, the efficiency of the vascular system is also decreased due to loss of elasticity.

For example, let us compare these plaques to concrete. A solution of water and lime dried in the sun produces a hard compound that will shatter under very little pressure or stress. Adding sand to the mixture will result in a harder substance that can be broken with the light blow of a hammer. If you add sand and gravel and allow the mixture to harden in the sun, the result will be concrete which can only be broken with a jack hammer and will sustain thousands of pounds of pressure.

The calcium formed in the arterial walls is similar to gravel in cement. It hardens the arterial walls, forms a matrix with cholesterol and fat that is hard and nonpliable and breaks up with great difficulty. This form of calcium can be safely remove by using EDTA.

Depending on a variety of factors such as nutrition, exercise, consumption of socially accepted poisons (e.g., coffee, tobacco, alcohol, and food additives), and exposure to environmental toxicities, atherosclerosis becomes progressively worse throughout the life span of the individual. Heart attacks, strokes, gangrene, kidney failure, ruptured aneurysms and thrombi are often the end result of atherosclerosis. Virtually every organ in the body can be affect­ed by this disease. Some of the lesser effects of atheroscle­rosis are loss of memory and reduced ability to think or concen­trate, lack of control of nervous responses, kidney function disorders, reduced intestinal function, lack of muscular coordina­tion and ability, impaired body organ functions, and generalized circula­tory insufficiency.

The Traditional Medical Alternative

The traditional medical approach to the treatment of circulatory disorders is often invasive, costly and risky. For example, bypass surgery costs between $35,000 and $100,000. Although bypass surgery has never been shown to increase life expectancy, over 250,000 coronary bypass operations were performed in 1992 alone. Once bypassed, the bypass graft itself is 10 times more likely to form plaque than an intact coronary artery--this virtually guarantees that the procedure will need to be repeated--usually within less than 7 years. Furthermore, within the first year after bypass, there is a mortality rate of up to 7% which translates to a death toll of over 17,000 patients annually.

Chelation Is More Cost-Effective

In contrast, IV EDTA Therapy has shown an 87% improvement in 19 studies involving over 27,000 patients. The cost for a basic course of this therapy is between $1,200 and $4,000. No reported deaths have occurred as a complication of IV EDTA Therapy in the last 20 years when the correct protocol has been followed. Considering the severity of illness in many patients who elect to receive IV EDTA Therapy, this is a remarkable achievement.

In 1991, regarding the lack of acceptance of EDTA by medical political organizations, such as the AMA, Dr. Kenneth Pelletier wrote:

"One of the great handicaps confronting the would-be health promotion program is that it is measured against a higher, more demanding standard than is conventional, treatment-oriented (and health insurance-covered) medical care. A medical care intervention simply has to represent accepted medical practice. By contrast, a health promotion intervention often has to prove its effectiveness and its cost savings, while these aren't required of standard medical techniques. For instance, insurance companies will pay for coronary-bypass surgeries more than once, even though studies fail to show any long-term benefit even for the first procedure, but refuse to pay for (IV EDTA) Therapy, which appears to increase the vascularization of arteries throughout the body, not just in the coronary area."

The “Chelation Challenge”

At the Royal Center for Advanced Medicine (“RCAM”), we first give the patient a “chelation challenge” after which they are asked to collect urine for a less than 24-hour time period. This not only helps us to make the diagnosis of “heavy metal toxicity” but it also gives us a baseline with which to monitor and follow the patient’s progress and response to chelation therapy. Nevertheless, while this test helps us to determine if there is an “excessive” body burden level of heavy metal(s) in the patient, it does not tell us exactly where these heavy metal elements are in the body of that patient. However, we do know that heavy metals are associated with numerous disease conditions (e.g., atherosclerosis, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, etc.) and that heavy metals can be deposited in the brain, lungs, kidney, liver, gut, and other body organs as well as in the blood vessels. 

Conclusion

Our world has never been more polluted than it is today. This is the primary reason we are now seeing an epidemic of chronic degenerative diseases (including heart disease and cancer--the number 1 and 2 leading cause of American deaths). For all of us living in this modern, fast-paced society, chelation therapy is a godsend. It not only helps to improve your health by lowering your threshold of heavy metals but it also reduces your risk of disease and increase your longevity. So why wait until you have a disease condition overtakes you before deciding to do something about your health? Make your appointment to have your heavy metal toxic load properly and safely assessed by trained medical professionals by calling RCAM at (702) 836-0961.