The word Chelation is derived from the Greek word chele, which means ‘to claw’. The concept of chelation is based on the binding of positively charged heavy metals by an amino acid complex, EDTA, in a manner similar to the clawing action of a scorpion or a crab. Most commonly used chelator at our center is EDTA. Chelation Therapy is a process of removal of toxic heavy metals from the body by the intravenous (IV) infusion of an organic compound with appropriate chelating properties.
The most widely accepted use of chelation therapy in medicine is for the removal of toxic metals, such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, iron, copper or aluminum from the body. Another useful indication for chelation therapy is the treatment of all forms of atherosclerotic diseases, including, coronary, cerebral, and peripheral arterial disease as well as other degenerative conditions.
Chelating Agents
chelating agents are Certain organic compounds capable of forming coordinate bonds (see chemical bond) with metals through two or more atoms of the organic compound; such organic compounds are called chelating agents.
The aim of chelation is to relieve the body of toxic metals. Chelated toxic metals need to be eliminated, usually via urine, occasionally also by the bile and stool. EDTA and other chelating drugs lower the blood levels of metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and zinc by attaching to the heavy metal molecules, which helps the body remove them through urination. Chelation therapy benefits the flow of blood through every vessel in the body, from the largest to the tiniest capillaries and arterioles, Chelation halts the progress of the free radical disease.
Free radicals underlie the development of atherosclerosis and many other degenerative diseases of aging. when the results were statistically analyzed. 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. chelation therapy will help reopen arteries blocked by mineral deposits, a condition called atherosclerosis(calcium being the binding material in plaque) or hardening of the arteries.
It has been proven to be very effective and a less expensive alternative to coronary bypass surgery, angioplasty, and other techniques designed to unclog blocked arteries. Due to the low risk and zero surgery, chelation treatments are now being considered as primary care.
What is Heavy Metal Toxicity?
The presence of excessive amounts of toxic metals in the body contributes to health problems, which can be directly linked to the metal itself as well as the toxic load stressing the immune system. We live in a world that can be described as a toxic soup.
Never before has a society been so constantly exposed to such a wide array of potentially hazardous substances permeating every aspect of the environment. This exposure begins in utero and continues throughout life. Many people who are seemingly healthy also have build-ups that can, with time, contribute to the development of health problems. Many children, including those diagnosed within the autistic spectrum disorder, also are affected by metals
Heavy metals disrupt the metabolic functions in 2 ways:
TOXIC METALS- EFFECTS ON HEALTH
Alluminum:-
Sources:- Antacids, Preservatives, Antiperspirants, Toothpaste
Affinity:- Brain, Bone
Diseases:- Alzheimer’s, Vitamin D Resistant Osteomalacia, ALS, Hypochromic anemia, Dialysis encephalopathy.
Antimony:-
Sources:– Paints, Ceramics, Enamel, Alloys, Electronics, Rubber.
Affinity:- Lymph nodes, Adrenals, Lungs, Skin.
Diseases:- Uremic patients, Injured Heart tissue, Bilharziasis, Schistosomiasis.
Arsenic:-
Sources:- Tobacco smoke, In earth crust
Affinity:– Liver, Lung, Bladder, Kidney, Skin
Diseases:- As a tumor promoter, Lung cancer, Skin cancer, Vitiligo, Alopecia totalis
Cadmium:-
Sources:- Paints, Battery, Car exhaust, Industrial fumes, Polluted water, Tobacco smoke.
Affinity:– Liver, Bones
Diseases:– Hyperactivity in children, Renal disease, Hypertension, Prostate cancer, Cancer of Lungs, kidney, pancreas, testes, uterus, breast, gallbladder
Lead:-
Sources:– Canned goods, Lead paint, Newsprint, Tobacco smoke, Air pollution, and Contaminated water.
Affinity:– Kidney, Brain, Lung, Stomach
Diseases:– Carcinomas, Encephalopathy, psychoneurosis, joint pains
Manganese:-
Sources:– In pharmaceutical products, In disinfectants, pesticides, In food additives, In fertilizers, In groundwater.
Affinity:– Liver, Kidney, Pineal/pituitary gland, pancreas
Diseases:– Parkinson’s disease, Bulbar paralysis, Multiple sclerosis, Wilsons disease, Acute/Chronic bronchitis, Pneumonia, Spontaneous miscarriages, iron deficiency anemia.
Mercury:-
Sources:- Dental amalgam is a major source, Many children vaccines, paints, Bleaches, Explosives, Batteries, Fungicides, Cosmetics, Dyes, Petroleum products, Contaminated see foods,
Affinity:- Brain
Chromium:-
Sources:– Dyes, Paints, In soil and groundwater at abandoned industrial sites, Aerospace, and automobile refinishing applications
Affinity:- RBC, Kidney, Liver, Spleen, Bone, Alters DNA
Diseases:- Housewife Eczema, Acute renal failure, Genotoxicity
Nickel:-
Sources:– Cigarette smoke, Coins, For plating iron, brass..etc
Affinity:– Lung Connective tissue
Diseases:– Strokes, Toxaemia, Lung Cancer, Nasal cavity cancer, Eczema, Vitiligo
Heavy metals disrupt the metabolic functions in 2 ways:
Toxic metals are taken very seriously in alternative medicine. Testing and treating for them is as important as optimum nutritional intake and a healthy lifestyle.
, when the results were statistically analyzed. 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. 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.
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. 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.
Patients who received EDTA chelation therapy had a 90% reduction of cancer deaths. 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.
Chelation therapy is now being trialed for alternative treatment for many wide-ranging conditions, such as gangrene, thyroid disorders, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, psoriasis, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, and the improvement of memory, sight, hearing, and smell. Each set of treatments is designed to target a focused set of toxins. In this way, the balance of the bodies necessary chemicals are preserved.
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 the blood which carries oxygen, is a chelate of iron.
Chelation is a treatment by which a small amino acid called ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (commonly abbreviated EDTA) is slowly administered to a patient intravenously over 2-3hours. 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
chelation therapy usually consists of anywhere from 15 to 50 separate infusions, depending on each patient’s individual health status. Thirty treatments are the average number required for optimum benefit in patients with symptoms of arterial blockage. some healthier patients receive only 10 infusions as part of a preventive program.which can be repeated every year. 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 variable intervals as the convenience and their schedule dictates.
No, chelation therapy is an out-patient treatment available in a physician’s office or clinic.
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 reclining chairs and can read, nap, watch TV, can chat with other patients while the fluid containing the EDTA flows into their veins. If necessary, patients can walk around. They can visit the restroom, eat and drink as they desire, or make telephone calls, being careful not to dislodge the needle attached to the intravenous infusion they carry with them. Some patients even run their businesses by telephone or computer while receiving chelation therapy.
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.
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. Some temporarily experience mild nausea, dizziness, or a headache as an immediate aftermath of treatment, but in the vast majority of cases, these minor symptoms are easily relieved. If EDTA chelation therapy is given too rapidly or in too large a dose it may cause harmful side effects, just as an overdose of any other medicine can be dangerous. 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. 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.
Prior to commencing a course of chelation therapy, a complete medical history is obtained. Diet is analyzed for nutritional adequacy and balance. 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. Blood and urine specimens will be obtained to ensure 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. Noninvasive tests will be performed, as medically indicated, to determine the status of arterial blood flow prior to therapy. Consultation with other medical specialists may be requested.
There is good 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 having undergone bypass surgery. All clinical trials of Chelation therapy have been positive. There are no negative data, although a few reports 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 ultrasound 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.
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. Chelation halts 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 is believed to allow diseased arteries to heal, restoring blood flow. The body’s regulation of calcium and cholesterol is restored by normalizing the internal chemistry of cells.
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 that 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.
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, 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.
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. 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. patients who received EDTA chelation therapy had a 90% reduction of cancer deaths. 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.
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 the 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).
Chelation is not in and of itself a “cure-all”—it reduces abnormal free radical activity and removes unwanted toxic metals, allowing normal healing and control mechanisms to come in to play. 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 recommended number of chelation treatments, 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. If cardiovascular drugs are needed, they can be taken with chelation with no conflict.
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.
