Disorders Treated

We treat a significant amount of disorders (asthma, gastroenteritis, arthritis, tics, depression) where checking for allergies, especially food, may be an issue. We can do IgE (allergic immunoglobulin) blood testing but many of the patients that come to us have had that done and are not getting helped. We currently do an older test called the Cytotoxic Food Test (in the literature it is referred to as the Leukocytotoxic Test of Bryan & Bryan) and try eliminating and rotating the foods. We then selectively rotate the food based on the severity of the reaction. We also do traditional testing and make allergy vaccines as does any allergist. If a patient is so bad that even we cant help him/her, we refer him/her to a specialized hospital for treating highly allergic individuals called an Ecology Unit. In 30 years, we have sent only 4 or 5 people to such a facility.

Our approach to autism is supplementary to any procedure that the patient is currently pursuing and is not meant to be a substitute to the patients current treatment. We have physicians at the Clinic who have taken the DAN (Defeat Autism Now) training and are listed as a DAN physician. Our focus is on toxic and metabolic derangements in these children. We will evaluate Mercury and heavy metal toxicity as well as mineral deficiencies though Trace Mineral Analysis of hair or by a provocative chelation technique using a transdermal (on the skin in this case the forearm) applied chelator (Click Here to visit the practice features section on Trace Metal Analysis). We the look at Candida (Click Here for more information on Candida Testing) and metabolic dysfunction using a test called Organic Acid Testing (OAT Test). The organic acids excreted in the urine are a reflection of normal and abnormal metabolism in the body. If a vitamin or amino acid is deficient, then the metabolism will follow different pathways and different Organic Acids will accumulate. By evaluating that pattern, we can come up with a supplement program to correct deficiencies. We also check for the activity of a brain enzyme called ApoE, which helps remove heavy metals from the brain (Click Here for more information on ApoE and autism). In certain individuals, the body converts milk and wheat protein to narcotic-like byproducts. We check for levels of casomorphin (from milk) and gliadomorphin (from wheat) to see if they are numbing the brain and will eliminate the food if they are. Finally, there is some suggestion that Hyperbaric Oxygen may be beneficial in these patients. I dont think anyone has unlocked the mystery of Autism but our approach certainly helps mitigate the symptoms.

Before I get into this, let me take a few lines to work on nomenclature. There are three types of Estrogen in the body and there are shorthands for each. They are as follows:

Estrone——————- E1

Estradiol——————E2

Estriol———————E3

In general, Estriolis considered the Safe estrogen where the others are linked to the problems associated with too much estrogen such as blood clots, uterine cancer and possibly breast cancer.  Most women take hormones that contain Estradiol (E2) such as Premarin, Prepro (these are from Mares urine and the estrogen is not free but conjugated or combined with another substance). The pill and patch are the most common delivery systemss. When we use the Natural ratio estrogens we put them in the form of a troche a chicklet like lozenge that dissolves in the buccal mucosa (i.e. the inside of the cheek), where it gets directly absorbed into the blood. This allows us to bypass a medical condition known as First Pass Phenomenon which in medicine means that once any substance is eaten it leaves the intestines through the portal vein which only goes one place, the liver (i.e. The First Pass). The liver then essentially Checks all substancesand tries to detoxifyanything that passes though it (that is one of the main functions of the liver) and hormones are no exception. This reduces the effective amount of the Estrogen dose before it hits the rest of the body. Estrogen from troches, being at least partially directly absorbed, go directly into the bloodstream so the troches are one of the better delivery systems.

Now we need some more nomenclature. When prescribed, we use the names Triest and Biest which are what we write prescription for when we prescribe natural estrogens. We can also add 3 other hormones to the estrogen: Testosterone, DHEA and Pregnenolone so if you see one of the Doctors, mention that in your consultation. For men, this a convenient way of treating testosterone (male hormone) deficiency. There are two forms of Biest and one form of Triest that we prescribe:

Triest——————80% E3; 10% E2; 10% E1

Biest——————-80% E3; 20% E2

Biest——————-90% E3; 10% E2

Suzanne Summers has written an excellent book on this subject. Perhaps this brief introduction will not only help you understand her book but will make you an informed patient and know what questions to ask the Doctors.

One of the newer uses for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP). CP, as it is commonly know, is due to some sort of anoxia (oxygen deprivation) during the birthing process. Causes can include the cord getting twisted around the babys neck, the baby being born with a difficult breech delivery, the placenta detaches, the babys head is traumatized during delivery, and many other causes. Unfortunately the net effect is the same. The babys brain is deprived of oxygen and the results are similar to that of a stroke in an adult. The baby presents in a variety of ways including the inability to talk, difficulty walking, loss of function on one sided of the body, and other stroke like symptoms.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) appears to be beneficial in these children. Dr. Paul Harch, MD in New Orleans pioneered the use of HBOT in CP children and we follow his protocols.

There is an organization called MUMS, which stands for Mothers United for Moral Support, whos primary function is to disseminate information about children with CP and other genetic disorders. If you have a child with CP, you should join that organization which allows you to get in contact with other mothers with children that have similar problems. I must take this opportunity to salute the mothers of these children because while there are a lot of good mothers in this world, I have never seen the devotion to a child like the mothers of these CP kids have.

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is a condition where the process of arteriosclerosis (commonly known as hardening of the arteries) affects the 3 arteries (coronaries) that feed the heart muscle. This is one of the main reasons people seek our alternative approach to CAD. For detailed information on how it works, please visit the History and Theory section of the site. We have written several scientific papers showing how chelation therapy improves blood pressure (paper #17), Heart rate (paper #13), cholesterol (paper #1, #4), and HDL or Good Cholesterol (paper #3). In animals (rabbits) it has been shown to clean the arteries (paper # 24). Our Landmark paper (paper # 30) is on a single patient who had the primary coronary artery to the heart, the Left Anterior Descending (also known as the LAD or widowmaker), 100% blocked and his Right Coronary artery (RCA) was 30% blocked. After 70 treatments with EDTA Chelation therapy, the RCA was 100% Open (no blockage) and the LCA was open from 0% to 30%.

In these patients we try to give them the best of traditional and alternative medicine. We do not take them off there diabetes medication until we see improvement. We do Trace Mineral Analysis on these patients (and also monitor hemoglobin A1C levels) and look for deficiencies. Many Diabetics are low in chromium and certain other trace minerals, so we use supplements to correct underlying deficiencies. The problem with diabetics is that they develop small blood vessel disease in the lower extremities that can lead to gangrene, so the aggressiveness of our approach has to do with the state at which we get them. It might be as simple as a bottle of Chromium supplements or as complicated as a gangrene that requires not only EDTA chelation but also Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy to save the leg. A thorough evaluation by one of the Doctors will help let us know what stage the patient is at and will allow us to form a treatment plan.

Fibromyalgia (FM) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) may be the same thing. The diseases are characterized in medicine as Waste Basket Diagnoses which simply means a disease with symptoms that fit no other specific disease pattern. In FM/CFS the patient presents with severe fatigue and aching and after testing, the patient does not have any testable Arthritis, is not anemic, is not low on thyroid or potassium, does not have some sub acute viral infection like EBV (the mononucleosis virus), does not have Lymes disease and does not have an occult (hidden) malignancy (cancer). Our first goal is make 100% sure that the patient does not have any of the above. The most common thing physicians do is under-evaluating the thyroid (Click Here to go to article on thyroid) and not looking at Free T3 levels. Barring that being normal, we focus our attention on things Doctors dont look for, such as exposure to Heavy Metals (Click Here for information on Trace Mineral Analysis). If nothing stands out, we work on Ramping Up cellular metabolism and force the body to metabolize aerobically (using oxygen) and this approach appears beneficial. FM/CFS pain is similar to the pain unconditioned runners have when they overdo exercise which is due to lactic acid (the end product of anaerobic metabolism which means the patient is under utilizing oxygen) accumulating in the tissues.

In Hemochromatosis, there is a defect in iron metabolism which allows it to accumulate in the tissues. The tissues most affected are the liver and the pancreas and the skin which can cause liver failure, diabetes (due to pancreas being overloaded with iron) and a bronzing (like a good suntan) of the skin hence its other name Bronze Diabetes. Since we can not alter the genetics, we must deal with the supply and demand of iron. These patients should be off red meats and fowl dark meat. When diet is not enough we turn to Chelation therapy to remove the iron. EDTA Chelation is usually enough but when it doesnt appear to be doing the job, we use a second chelating agent, desferroxamine (Desferal) and the amount of people helped approaches 100%. Patients must realize that this is a life long problem and must be treated as such.

This is one of the main metabolic disorders we treat at the clinic. To understand the thyroid better, Click Here to be transferred to an article that explains all about thyroid metabolism. Our typical patient comes in and feels they are not taking enough levothyroxine (Synthroid). We first do a Thyroid Panel which rules out (or in) Hashimotos Disease or autoimmune Thyroiditis (a cousin of Rheumatoid Arthritis, only in this case the body is attacking the thyroid and not the joints). We then check T4 and T3 (the two thyroid hormones) to see what the levels are. The great mistake physicians make is prescribing T4 only (that is what levothyroxine is) because some people either have a low level or a decrease with aging of an important enzyme 5deiodinase which has one simple function in the body. It removes an Iodine from T4 (which has 4 iodine atoms hence the reason we call it T4) converting it to T3 (which has 3 iodine atoms). T3 is the more active hormone and these non-converters are fatigued but their TSH and Free T4 levels are normal. We thoroughly evaluate the thyroid and will switch to natural thyroid (which has a T4/T3 ratio of 4/1) or will simply add time release T3.

Intermittent Claudication is a condition where it is painful to walk due to blocked leg arteries. It is medically (and on TV) known as PAD or Peripheral Arterial Disease. It is different from the lower extremity diseases of the Diabetic (which affects small blood vessels). PAD affects the large trunk vessels in the lower extremity primarily where the aorta (the large blood vessel coming from the heart) bifurcates (splits) into the iliac arteries (the two main leg arteries) resulting in another name for this disease: Aortoiliac disease. It is the same disease process that occurs in the heart and neck. There is a strong correlation of this to smoking. In all my years of practice, I have never seen this in a person with less than 30 pack years of cigarette smoking. (Note: a pack year is defined as the number of years smoked times the amount of packs per day so 2 packs per day for 15 years would be 30 pack years).

This has been treated successfully at this Clinic. In a 109 patient study (Paper #14) we have shown that there has been significant improvement of the ABI (Ankle/Brachial Index) after a patient received 30 infusions of EDTA. The ABI is a very simple test where we start by measuring the systolic (the upper number) blood pressure at the ankle (hence the A) and the arm (Brachial artery hence the B) and by dividing A by B (i.e. A/B) we get a number (hence the I for index). If that number is 1.0 to 1.5 that is normal because the leg artery is larger and has a higher pressure. On the other hand, if the pressure is low in the leg due to blockage (the pressure can not get by the blockage and the pressure is lower) then the ABI might be lower. The lower the index, the greater the degree of blockage.

Joint instabilities or ligament laxity is the starting point for the degeneration of a joint. In essence, the ligaments get weak and they can not support the joint, so the joint starts moving around essentially erasing itself. The body feels it has to do something, so it tries to stabilize the joint by creating strong calcium deposits and bridges. This futile attempt, though, is the nail in the coffin for the joint. Prolotherapy, along with supplements such as Glucosamine, helps increase the stability of the joint allowing it time to heal itself with Glucosamine. EDTA chelation may be necessary, especially in the older patient, if there are a lot of calcium deposits involved. The Doctors authored a paper on MRI evidence of a 60% reduction in disc impingement after combined treatment with Prolotherapy, EDTA Chelation therapy and Glucosamine and other supplements (see paper # 29). Click here to go to the section dealing with Prolotherapy.

Macular Degeneration is a disease of the elderly that is extremely devastating to the patient. It involves loss of central vision. This is devastating to the patient because as we age, we are not able do as many physical things as we once did so we rely heavily on our eyes for reading, watching television, watching the grandkids in school events, etc. In Macular Degeneration (dry form) there is reduced circulation in those small areas that feed the macula (that part of the eye that is responsible for central vision). The anatomy of the eye is such that the 4 arteries in the eye have their terminal branches ending in the macula (such as the terminal area fed by the leg arteries are the toes). We know that when circulation affects an area, the arteries farther down stream are the first to be lost. In a toe we might get gangrene. In the eye we get macular degeneration. Just as EDTA chelation helps gangrene, it also helps macular degeneration (paper #31). I have seen outstanding results with this disease and chelation. In macular degeneration, the earlier we get a patient, the more likely we will be able to help their vision improve.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is disorder with many suspected causes. Some feel it is an autoimmune-like condition where the body attacks the nervous system, while others feel it might be related to something dietary (allergic or consuming foods like Tune which is high in Mercury) or toxic metal such as mercury from amalgam (silver) fillings (which are roughly one half silver and one halfmercury) losing mercury over the years.

We explore all of these possibilities and do Cytotoxic Food Testing, Provocative Chelation for Heavy Metals, Candida testing and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). Bugoslav Fischer, MD, in the mid 1980s published a double blind study in MS using HBOT and found that virtually all of the MS patients improved and there were essentially no improvement in the placebo group.

There are four types of Arthritis: 1) Gout, where crystals of Uric Acid (from too much red and organ meat) settle in the joint and cause intense inflammation; 2) Rheumatoid Arthritiswhere the body treats the joints like an invading protein and makes anti-bodies against the joint causing destruction; 3) autoimmune(aka. Lupus) arthritis is a condition in which the body attacks itself including the joints but also other organs; and 4) Osteoarthritisalso known as Lime Arthritis or Wear and Tear arthritis where calcium settles out in the joints. If you had to sum up in 1 sentence what happens as we age, that sentence would be the hard tissues get soft (osteoporosis)and the soft tissues get hard (arteries, joints).

Chelation with EDTA seems to help deal with these deposits because the patients osteoarthritic symptoms improve after therapy. When you combine the fact that the patient improves and that Osteoporosis is helped (paper # 21) and that serum calcium levels remain constant (paper # 19), it certainly appears that chelation with EDTA is reversing the aging process by making the hard tissues hard and the soft tissues soft again.

In the Osteoporitic patient we also focus on supplementation with specific trace minerals and not just Calcium. We also help change the ratio of dietary Calcium to Phosphorous with the first step being the elimination of the Phosphoric acid containing soft drinks (all dark pop other than root beer). We use Trace Mineral Analysis to guide our nutrient supplementation (Click Here for more information on Trace Mineral Analysis). As stated above chelation actually helps improve Osteoporosis (Paper #21). It is important for women to screen early (Click Here for more information on Bone Density Screening for Osteoporosis) and get on top of this early in life so we can help reverse it.

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD or Sudecks atrophy) is a strange malady, fortunately rare, that can occur following severe trauma. To understand this, a brief simple neurology lesson is needed. There are two nervous systems in the body: 1) Central Nervous System (CNS) which controls voluntary function and is under your control, and 2) the Autonomic Nervous System or involuntary nervous system which is not under your control and is constantly working to control blood pressure, colon motility, respiration, blood vessel tone and many other functions. RSD occurs when, in that rare instance after the surgeons cut a nerve during the procedure, the CNS nerves and the ANS nerves sort of cross heal and the always active CNS nerves heal with the sensory nerves resulting in severe chronic overstimulation and resultant pain.

There was an Italian study that showed Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy to be effective in this condition which is a Godsend, as nothing else seems to help it.

Cerebrovascular (cerebro means brain) insufficiency is a blockage in the carotid arteries in the neck and can lead to TIAs (Transient Ischemic Attacks also known as mini-strokes) or CVAs (Cerebrovascular Accidents also known as full blown strokes) which can result in numbness and loss of function in a limb or limbs, blindness, aphonia (inability to speak), coma and even death.

Our alternative approach uses two principal modalities namely EDTA Chelation and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). The pressure of HBOT forces oxygen into the liquid portion of the blood called the plasma and allows as much oxygen to be dissolved in the liquid portion of the blood as is carried by the red blood cell (normally only 2% of the oxygen is transported in the liquid portion and 98% on the red blood cell). Hence the plasma can get around the clot carrying oxygen to the oxygen starved brain cells saving it until the body and/or chelation helps improve the circulation. This is equivalent to a large person trying to get through a small entrance in a cave. He (like the red cell) may not make it but he can throw endless buckets of water (equivalent to the plasma) through the hole.

We have demonstrated that EDTA chelation therapy is beneficial for improving circulation. Our first paper dealt with an early technique, oculocerbrovasculometry (paper #5). Since then, we have used modern techniques such as Doppler to demonstrate improvement. Our first paper using Carotid Doppler was on a single patient that had a carotid artery that was approximately 98% blocked and after 30 treatments, the blockage was reduced to 35% (Paper #23). Those results were so dramatic that we did a study on a much larger group and found that after 30 Chelation Therapy Treatments, there was an average improvement (reduction in blockage) of 22% (Paper #27), This combined therapy certainly seems to offer some hope to an otherwise hopeless situation.