Chelation/Heavy Metal Detox IV Therapy
What is Chelation Therapy?
Chelation therapy is a highly effective treatment for clearing heavy metals, excess calcium and artery clogging chemicals from the blood. Chelation therapy was first used to treat outright heavy metal poisoning. Over time chelation has proven to be effective for lower levels of chronic heavy metal poisoning that can lead to heart disease and other circulation and vascular disorders.
Chelation is a treatment by which a small amino acid called ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) is slowly administered to a patient intravenously over several hours. It is always prescribed by a licensed physician and can be done in an outpatient or clinic setting. The EDTA infusion bonds with unwanted metals in the body and quickly caries them away through the urine.
Benefits of IV Chelation Therapy at LotusRain Naturopathic Clinic in San Diego
Chelation therapy enables the chelating substances to “grab” onto toxic metals and chemicals allowing these substances to then be excreted from the body via the urine. The advantage of the intravenous route as administered at LotusRain Naturopathic Clinic in San Diego is that is bypasses the digestive system and goes directly to the blood, arteries and to the organs where the toxic chemicals reside.
IV chelation of heavy metals enables the flushing out of the metals from the organs where they are stored and binding to them, thus enabling them to safely be excreted. The accumulation of heavy metals in organs and tissues can lead to many deleterious long-term effects and impact health in many different ways
Chelation therapy also enhances blood flow by reducing atherosclerosis or the narrowing and stiffening of arteries due to the accumulation of plaque-forming chemicals in the arterial walls. Atherosclerosis is a primary cause of heart attacks and chelation therapy is a nonsurgical way we can stop the process of vessel narrowing to restore healthy circulation. Chelation therapy is giving heart disease patients an alternative to invasive heart surgeries and enabled patients with intermittent claudication to increase their walking distance. Chelation has been used to alleviate angina, reduce high blood pressure and prevent the need to amputation in diabetic patients.
Chelation therapy can greatly benefit those found to have a heavy metal toxic load or atherosclerosis but can also benefit just about anyone. There are more and more chemicals being produced every day that enter our environment, whether it be our food, water, air or soil and can affect health.
Conditions benefitting from Chelation Therapy
Cardiovascular disease
Hypertension
Cerebrovascular disease
Diabetic complications
Intermittent claudication
Peripheral vascular disorders
Peripheral neuropathy
Slow healing wounds
Memory disorders
Detoxification
Chronic fatigue
IV Chelation at LotusRain Naturopathic Clinic
EDTA is the primary chelation agent used at LotusRain Naturopathic Clinic. EDTA or is a powerful antioxidant that enters the bloodstream and attaches to heavy metals such as lead, iron, and cadmium that cause free radical damage to arteries. Like a magnet EDTA attracts and attaches to these heavy metals and caries them out of the body through the urine. EDTA reduces the body’s toxic metal burden helping to slow the process of atherosclerosis. EDTA also removes excess calcium from artery walls making them more responsive and accommodating to physiological changes in the body. Since calcification of arteries is a major factor in atherosclerosis this is another way in which chelation restores the integrity of the arteries and enhances blood flow. As an added benefit EDTA chelation has some blood-thinning effects and discourages the formation of potentially dangerous blood clots from forming and leading to stroke or pulmonary emobolism.
Chelation therapy benefits the flow of blood through every vessel in the body, from the largest to the tiniest capillaries and arterioles, the vast majority of which are too small for surgical treatment or 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 with surgical treatment.
Is Chelation Therapy Safe?
Chelation therapy is much, much safer than bypass surgery. IV chelation is relatively non-toxic and low-risk. Occasionally patients suffer some minor discomfortaat the site where the needle is inserted into the vein. Some patients experience temporary mild nausea, dizziness or headache during or just after treatment. We suggest having a high protein meal or snack within 20-30 minutes before your IV to prevent side effects. When properly administered by an expert physician chelation is safet than many other prescription medications. If chelating agents are given too rapidly or in too large a dose it has the potential to cause harmful side effects just as tan overdose of any other medication can be dangerous.
Before beginning treatment we will always get a baseline level of metals in your body and test your kidney function to ensure that chelation therapy is safe for you. Using the lab results the doctors at LotusRain will suggest a series of chelation IVs to reduce the metal burden in your body. Once the series of IV chelation is complete we typically wait one full month then test the levels of heavy metals again to ensure the toxic metal burden has been reduced.
For some patients with severe kidney disease chelation therapy is not indicated.
How was chelation therapy discovered?
EDTA chelation therapy was originally designed as treatment for heavy metal poisoning in the 1940s. As World War II veterans affected by lead poisoning from painting battle ships underwent chelation to reduce lead levels physicians started noticing that those with chest pain (angina) and leg pain due to atherosclerosis were experiencing remarkable improvement in these cardiovascular symptoms.
During the past 50 years over a million patients have undergone chelation therapy for a wide range of circulatory problems. Chelation provides heart disease patients an alternative to invasive heart surgery. Chelation therapies are not only safe. They are also effective. In a review of 40 published research studies 87 percent of patients undergoing chelation therapy experienced benefits and improvement in their symptoms.
