chelation

From The Desk Of Coleen Maulfair

Dr Maulfair and I are very excited to be able to bring Mr. Hubbard's practical detoxification program to our friends and patients. You can read about it on the internet at purelyyoudetox.com. This is the program that has helped so many in this country and across the world including the victims of the Chernobyl disaster in Russia. If you check out your local bookstore you will find a book called "Clear Body Clear Mind" by Mr Hubbard. Dr Maulfair is acutely aware of the toxins harming most people's health and barring the full recovery of their vitality. Utilizing this detoxification program we can help people eliminate most toxins stored in body fat. You will hear a great deal about this in the months to come. Stay tuned.

CHELATION SUCCESS — from Dr Maulfair

I want to give you a history of one of our chelation patients and his studies as he progressed through a chelation program with us. Our patient had an emergency bypass surgery in 1986 following a failed angioplasty. In 1997 he developed symptoms and another angioplasty was done of the previously bypassed arteries that had blocked again and another bypass surgery. The patient was frustrated due to all the surgery as he did not drink or smoke, his cholesterol levels were good and he ate well and exercised. One of the functions routinely looked at is ejection fraction which is the measure of how effectively the heart is pumping blood, the ideal range is around 50-55% depending on the technology used to measure it. This patient had an ejection fraction of 60-70% the end of 1997 after the second bypass surgery. He was hospitalized twice in January of 1998 with chest pain and unstable angina, drug therapy was the only recommendation. He had a catheterization done in January of 1998 with an ejection fraction of 53% and evidence of damage to the heart and decreased circulation.

The patient started a chelation program with us February of 1998. He continued to see his cardiologist and a stress test in January of 1999 revealed his ejection fraction to be 60% with no longer any evidence of damage to the heart and there was less evidence of decreased circulation. Another stress test in January of 2000 revealed the ejection fraction to have increased to 66% and no evidence of heart damage and NO evidence of decreased circulation. A repeat stress test in January of 2001 showed the ejection fraction at 62% (in average range) and again no evidence of decreased circulation or heart damage. Another stress test in January of 2002 revealed his ejection fraction increased to 72%, the highest it has been in five years and again no evidence of decrease circulation or heart damage. He continues on his chelation program. How is that for evidence of effectiveness. His cardiologist is supportive of his chelation program.

© Maulfair Medical Center - All Rights Reserved

All Chelation Is Not The Same

If at some time during your life you have expressed some interest in health, nutrients, good eating or other natural pursuits, you are no doubt on at least one and probably multiple mailing lists from various "natural health-oriented" publications selling products. You may well also subscribe to at least one or more health newsletters. From some of these sources, you have most likely been exposed to various promotions touting oral chelation therapy. The typical promotion refers to improvements in various symptoms of chronic degenerative diseases. The promotion goes on to say something about the results of an intravenous chelation therapy program can be obtained by taking oral chelating agents. The promotion cleverly states that it will take longer with the oral chelating agent than with the real chelation therapy program.

Chelation as defined in the Dorland's Medical Dictionary is "combination with a metal in complexes in which the metal is part of a ring". The definition of chelate includes "chelates are used in chemotherapeutic treatments for metal poisoning". The medical profession, in general, and the area of toxicology more particularly, view and treat toxins and toxic reactions from the acute viewpoint. Chronic long-term toxic exposure is not popularly viewed, diagnosed or treated. 8 of 10 Americans die from cardiovascular disease (heart attacks or strokes) and/or cancer. These have been clearly associated with chronic toxic metal exposures. The good news is that this wonderful body we live in has the potential of chelating or ridding itself of toxic metals to some degree. Problems arise when the total load of the toxic metal exposure exceeds the body's ability to rid itself of them on an ongoing basis. Metals then become entrapped in various tissues in the body and their presence leads to chronic degenerative disease development, as well as speeding the aging process.

Chronic degenerative disease development and the aging process are also impacted upon by metastatic calcium. Metastatic calcium is calcium that is deposited in soft tissue where it is not supposed to be, such as in arteries, tendons and ligaments. Calcium's presence in soft tissues contributes to stiffening and hardening. Iron and copper, and calcium are essential for normal function in the human body but can also contribute to damage and contribute to chronic degenerative disease development, as well as the aging process. While natural oral chelating agents can have an impact to some degree on toxic metal excretion, they do not have an effect on calcium and iron and copper, and handling these minerals along with the toxic metals is essential for the restoration of the quality and quantity of life and the retardation of chronic degenerative disease development and the aging process.

Real chelation therapy (properly prescribed comprehensive chelation therapy program) has been helping hundreds of thousands of people in this country and around the world over 50 years. We know from observation what the intravenous chelation treatment plus the rest of the properly prescribed comprehensive program can do. When any single oral chelation product can duplicate this 50-year history with the thousands of references that have been developed over that 50-year period, then we will talk. In the meantime, I am going to continue my own chelation therapy program and continue to prescribe it to others. As an aside, I might mention that a recently developed carotid artery ultrasound protocol, which uses a patented computer program to evaluate the inner most lining of the artery, that I had done last spring showed that while my chronological age at the time was 68, my arterial age was 42. I have been on a preventive chelation therapy program for about 25 years.

Iodine, The Forgotten Element
Iodine is an essential element. Any element that the body cannot produce but has to be introduced into the body from the outside is essential. We are totally reliant on eating or drinking it. Iodine's main function is in the production of thyroid hormones, which are in turn essential for cellular energy production. Without iodine, the thyroid hormones will not function. Hypothyroid (below-average function of the thyroid) results in numerous symptoms and life quality issues, including virtually every cell and tissue and organ system.

Additionally, there has been evidence of insufficient levels of iodine and the presence of fibrocystic breast disease, as well as ovarian and uterine cancer.

A study published in Physiological Reviews in 1943 spoke about the use of iodine to inhibit the development of atherosclerosis in rabbits fed cholesterol. Another fascinating observation in the experiment was that the lipid (fat levels) in the blood were elevated, but in spite of that, the atherosclerotic process was impeded by the addition of iodine. A previous study published in 1935 demonstrated the same findings.

In the early 1960's potassium iodate was used as a dough conditioner in the making of bread and as a result, many people had improved or adequate iodine stores. Late in the 1970's into 1980's, bakers replaced the iodine with bromate as a dough condition. Both elements are halogens. Bromide unfortunately causes goiters and is carcinogenic. The Japanese consume at least 100 times the USA RDA for iodine. Inorganic iodine is safe and effective. The organic iodine that is used in drugs and X-ray dyes is not.

There is a simple way to determine whether you have an iodine insufficiency. It involves taking four specially prepared iodine tablets and then a laboratory specializes in the procedure measures the amount of iodine, and the iodine insufficiency that is identified can be easily remedied by taking a special iodine preparation orally.

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Dr. Maulfair has not retired. For several years pronouncements of my retirement have filtered to us. I can categorically state that not only have I not retired, but I am more active than ever and continue to expand and plan to do so well into the future. My father practiced to age 87. My goal is to surpass that, so you will be seeing me for a long time.

Hints on Choosing a Doctor
There is a wildly held believe in society primarily I guess based on observations of people within the society, that as you get older, life quality decreases, chronic degenerative diseases occur, arthritis, hardening of the arteries, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and that is natural. The notion that aging is synonymous with loss of life quality is specious. There are areas in the world where people live to well in their 80's, 90's and beyond with health. Health is a normal state, disease is the aberrated state.

Physicians are trained to diagnose and treat disease. As a consequence, we do not have a healthcare system in this country. We have a disease care system. If your ideal scene is to live a long, healthy life, then waiting until you have symptoms of chronic degenerative disease and advanced aging and then hoping standard medical philosophy with total reliance on drugs and surgery to correct the loss of health is going to be ineffective and will probably hasten the loss of health. If you have been told or know of others who have been told by a number of the medical profession that "after all you are getting older", some way explains the occurrence of the symptoms and the loss of health and it is to be expected. In other words, if the physicians that you consult have a basic disease-oriented approach and believe that it is normal to lose life quality as you age, then you should be prepared to accept loss of life quality as you age as a result of that medical viewpoint. You need to know, however, that you can change your mind at any time about anything. If you decide that getting older does not have to be consistent with illness and loss of life quality, then you need to seek a physician who shares that viewpoint with you. The bottom line is your life quality can be high right up until you die at an old age. If you do not see that as your future, you need to make some changes now.

Social Diseases
Years ago, the term "social disease" was used to refer to usually sexually transmitted venereal diseases. It was also used to refer to other diseases that are related to social or economic factors, such as tuberculosis. That definition does appear in Webster's Dictionary, but "social disease" does not appear in the Dorland's Medical Dictionary that I looked at. I suggest that the term "social disease" be reinstituted in medical dictionaries and that the term should include coronary artery disease, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, arthritis and peripheral vascular disease. These diseases have become so prevalent in our society that they are social diseases. I guess the standard medical profession's inept handling of these diseases, their prevalence, prevention and treatment would not allow them to admit that the frequency does indeed categorize them as social diseases. This is not a healthy country. We are not healthy people. All it requires is that you change your mind, become educated, ask questions, do not accept something just because it is popular, learn about what you can do to control your future health. Do not wait until your health is gone to try to reclaim it. You have got to maintain it. Disease does not start and as a result you lose your health. Health begins to disappear long before disease becomes evident. Treating disease does not restore health, it just treats disease. Restore and maintain health and there is no room for disease. The two cannot occupy the same space at the same time.

Chelation Therapy: Confused by claims of benefits? Oral chelation is not created equal!

Although oral chelation is promoted as “safe, fast and cost effective” by its manufacturers, it cannot produce the results of intravenous treatments given under the supervision of trained doctors who carefully monitor your progress with sophisticated diagnostics. And you may not want to guess when it comes to preventing or treating the main reason people have circulatory and heart disease, or other degenerative problems.

Conventional medicine has been using various intravenous chelation approaches since deployed troops were poisoned with the heavy metal arsenic during the First World War. Coined from the Greek chelè, meaning claw — to reflect their capacity to bind metals within a “claw-like” molecular structure, which is then excreted without further interaction with the body — the first medically-used chelating agent was developed at the start of WWII as an antidote to anticipated use of arsenic gas by the Germans. Today, chelation therapy is the recognized, U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved, medical treatment for heavy metal intoxication by lead, cadmium, aluminum, mercury, arsenic, and even iron.

Despite decades of medical use in response to large-scale heavy metal exposures along with overwhelming scientific rationale and evidence, chelation therapy is often overlooked as a solution to the adverse health effects caused by more gradual build-up of toxic metals. Why? you ask. There are a number of reasons:

1. The controversy between newer oral chelation supplements and the intravenous treatments used for decades is confusing. Because oral chelation is regulated as a supplement, it does not come under the same scrutiny as physicians offering intravenous chelation therapy in their clinics.

2. Well-done scientific research that supports use of intravenous chelation treatment is used to justify claims made by manufacturers of untested oral supplements.

3. Because most exposures are not large-scale, occuring gradually at low levels from living in industrialized nations, for most of us the exact cause of our symptoms is hard to pin-point, or our symptoms are subtle, or we may not have symptoms but are trying to prevent disease from occurring.

4. Subtle symptoms, or worse, diseases one is trying to prevent, are very, very difficult to study. This makes FDA approval for use with chronic degenerative diseases difficult (and very costly) as supporting research must show cause and effect. Keep in mind that chelation therapy is approved for use when someone has a known heavy metal exposure.

The fatigue, discomfort, and moodiness of low-level exposures
Ever-increasing use and accumulation of pollutants in general, and persistent organic pollutants in particular, have received recent attention for their long-lasting adverse health effects. Gradual exposure to hazardous toxins is becoming more prevalent especially in overpopulated and industrialized parts of the world. Such exposure contributes to increased health risks [1]. Unfortunately, there is no easy fix to protect or intervene against diseases associated with exposure to these insidious environmental pollutants.

Many pollutants, including heavy metals and persistent organics, bioaccumulate (pass up the food chain to humans) and build up in our bodies where they cause damage both locally to the tissues where they accumulate, including contributing to the formation of cancer, vascular disease, accelerated aging as well as altering the normal patterns of hormones — patterns that effect everything from energy level to fertility to mood.

Exposure to heavy metals can occur via many common sources: house paint (lead), dental fillings (mercury), vaccines (mercury), cigarettes (cadmium), food, drinking water and hazardous waste sites. Over 4000 articles in the medical literature connect small amounts of lead in the body and high blood pressure. Elevated mercury and antimony have been found in hearts of heart disease patients at autopsy [2].

Unlike many chemicals that can now be detected in the human body, the toxic effects of heavy metal exposures are well understood and many sources of exposure are regulated. Despite this, millions of Americans suffer from chronic, low-level, exposures to heavy metals, including lead, mercury, arsenic, antimony and cadmium.

A Center for Disease Control report states that 10% of American women of childbearing age (7 million women each year) have mercury in their blood at levels that are potentially unsafe for the developing fetus [3]. Clear evidence now links exposure to toxins such as mercury, lead, pesticides, and in utero smoking exposure to higher levels of autism and/or ADHD [4]. Despite the clear benefit to health of eating fish as a source fatty acids, many of us avoid fish because of its high mercury content — knowing that mercury is linked with cardiac disease [5;6].

Getting rid of unwanted contaminants
Many doctors argue — have argued for decades — that chelation therapy can address low level metal exposures and consequent degenerative diseases. Recent understanding of how pollution contributes to the formation of blocked heart arteries, by contributing contaminants — inflammation-causing molecules known as “free radicals” — many of which are heavy metals, has lead to investment in large-scale clinical trials to gather more data on the effectiveness of chelation therapy to treat our number one killer, heart disease.

The National Institutes of Health's alternative medicine center recently funded a large experiment — 2,372 heart-attack survivors. Led by Dr. Gervasio Lamas of the Mount Sinai Medical Center-Miami Heart Institute, the five-year study began enrolling participants at about 100 sites around the country in 2003.

Lamas said he decided to design the study when one of his own patients asked about chelation. "While my answer, as a very conventional cardiologist, was initially, 'No, that's silly,' as I looked into it I realized I didn't really have the evidence base to say that," Lamas said. With hundreds of thousands of people seeking chelation therapy annually, "now we'll see what the real truth is."

The efficacy of chelation therapy has been clinically demonstrated with positive results in hundreds of thousands of cases where this treatment was utilized [7]. In one smaller study, the results with intravenous chelation were so pronounced that the control group was taken off placebo and given chelation therapy so as to not withhold beneficial care [8].

The safety of this therapy, when properly administered, is also well known. It is estimated that over 500,000 patients nationally have been safely treated with this therapy by physicians utilizing the protocol developed by the American College for Advancement in Medicine without a single fatality attributed to I.V. EDTA. Surgical procedures or even taking aspirin have a much greater fatality rate.

Effective chelation therapy is administered in I.V. form over the course of several hours. Although thousands of websites promote oral chelation agents — it is important to understand why this approach does not work:

1. Effective chelation therapy depends on whether the chelating agents are able to remove heavy metals that are circulating in the blood or deposited in cells in the body — the chelator must get into the blood and cells.

2. Only about 5% of the oral chelation agent, EDTA, gets into the bloodstream.

3. Further, oral chelation may prevent absorption of certain nutrient metals that are required at low levels for proper nutritional health.

4. Oral chelation agents do not effect the build-up of calcium, iron, or copper within the cells – a build-up that can lead to stiffening and hardening of tissues and other degenerative diseases.

The ABC’s of Chelation Therapy
Maulfair Medical Center gets you started on your chelation program with a thorough medical examination and a series of key tests. The necessary laboratory tests vary from patient to patient, but there are a few tests everyone will need. These tests include: toxic metal and mineral status, comprehensive metabolic panel and a complete blood count.

Other tests may include a pre and post-provocative challenge for heavy metals. Some tests will be repeated periodically, to monitor your kidneys efficiency in removing metals.

Dr. Maulfair relies on thirty years experience utilizing chelation therapy to treat chronic, degenerative diseases including hardening of the arteries, coronary heart disease, carotid artery disease, peripheral artery disease, diabetes, arthritis. Clients of Maulfair Medical Center’s comprehensive chelation program have gained back their quality of life with improved circulation, restored energy, motivation and overall sense of well being.

Dr. Conrad Maulfair
Maulfair Medical Center, Topton PA

Reference List

1. Environmental Working Group. EWG || Human Toxome Project [Web Page]. Accessed 2008 Feb 12. Available at: http://www.bodyburden.org
2. Mottet NK, Body RL: Mercury burden of human autopsy organs and tissues. Arch Environ Health 1974; 29: 18-24.
3. Schober SE, Sinks TH, Jones RL, et al: Blood mercury levels in US children and women of childbearing age, 1999-2000. JAMA 2003; 289: 1667-74.
4. Curtis LT, Patel K: Nutritional and Environmental Approaches to Preventing and Treating Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A Review. J Altern Complement Med 2008; 
5. Bouzan C, Cohen JT, Connor WE, et al: A quantitative analysis of fish consumption and stroke risk. Am J Prev Med 2005; 29: 347-52.
6. Landmark K, Aursnes I: [Mercury, fish, fish oil and the risk of cardiovascular disease]. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 2004; 124: 198-200.
7. Olszewer E, Carter JP: EDTA chelation therapy in chronic degenerative disease. Med Hypotheses 1988; 27: 41-9.
8. Olszewer E, Sabbag FC, Carter JP: A pilot double-blind study of sodium-magnesium EDTA in peripheral vascular disease. J Natl Med Assoc 1990; 82: 173-7.

Reduce Stress

In these turbulent times we want to invite you to do all you can to improve a good night’s sleep, insure you have a strong immune system, are feeling well enough to exercise and know that the quality of the food you eat has everything to do with your health and happiness.

YOU NEED EVEN MORE… you need the knowledge that our medical center stands at the top of the heap with regards outcomes and results. We help the toughest cases and those who know how to avoid developing health problems in the first place. We are sending you this notice to summarize the benefits we offer. Our first recommendation to you is to avoid pharmaceutical drugs of all kinds. If you must use them use them the way we do: use the smallest amount for the shortest period of time.

Infusion therapy is offered in our center because most people have poor digestion and do not eat foods that are healthful. While we educate you on proper dietary choices we offer treatments that deliver nutrients needed to fight disease and prevent problems in the form of intravenous treatments. WHY? you ask. Results. Delivered directly into your blood stream a trouble free intravenous treatment (IV for short) is supervised by our talented nurses while you read or sleep or work on your computer or watch you personal DVDs. Nutrients and other infusions speed recovery to normal function and help prevent symptoms of all kinds from developing to begin with.

If you have cancer and are undergoing treatment we support you with nutrient IVs and also high dose vitamin C. Well tolerated, high dose vitamin C is given in amounts you could not take by mouth. No need to be digested it is immediately available to your body for nutrition but also to combat cancer directly. Cancer Centers of America are doing an IRB on high dose vitamin C in their Chicago facility. We have been offering this treatment to our patients for years. Although we do not treat cancer directly we support your immune system and help you fight that much harder. People report fewer side effects from chemotherapy combining the use of both fields of medicine.

Vitamin C intravenous treatments also fight viruses and used pre and post surgery enhance the healing process. St. Agnes Burn Center uses IV vitamin C for this very reason to help burn victims, it speeds healing and helps prevent infection. People with influenza, mononucleosis, upper respiratory infections, Lyme disease and liver disease all benefit under our care. You can also use these infusions to remain healthy during high flu outbreak months.

If you suffer from migraines, muscle spasms, asthma, heart rate irregularity, angina, menstrual cramping, constipation, Raynaud’s syndrome, esophageal spasm, back muscle spasm and intestinal spasm, you will benefit by infusions of magnesium. The health giving properties are abounding in the medical literature and you will find many reasons to use magnesium as you research its uses. Low energy, fatigue, weakness, inability to sleep, anxiousness, nervousness, irritability are also improved with mega doses of magnesium. You could not take the amount in an IV by mouth as you would get diarrhea due to the muscle relaxant properties of magnesium.

Glutathione is essential for normal liver function. It is minimally absorbed when taken orally but when you give infusions of glutathione it supports liver function. If you are a past drug abuser or medical drug over user this is a very important treatment to help your liver function better. People with cancer typically have stressed liver function and benefit from this treatment. A series of infusions of glutathione can be used in conjunction with vitamin C. There is evidence mounting that people with severe drug reactions to fluoroquinolone antibiotics benefit a great deal by the use of glutathione.

The king of the hill remains chelation therapy. It is under attack again by people who are trying to stop the NIH national study which will clearly show its benefits. The last gasp of criticism is printed by our biased media who do not understand the science of chelation therapy nor the ways it helps the body heal and prevents circulatory problems. Inflammation lies at the bottom of most symptoms of aging, inflammation caused by heavy metals picked up and stored in the body disrupting normal function. We have tons of clinical evidence of the benefits of chelation therapy. We have scientific studies, pre and post treatment, of our patients that clearly shows the benefits and healing properties of chelation. Without a doubt the benefits are known by medical scientists as a whole, but the business interests of big pharma and big medicine will not give way without calling every doctor using alternative complementary medical treatments a quack. So be it… if it gets the results, if it changes and reverses circulatory problems, as documented by diagnostics commonly used, then it must be EFFECTIVE AND HEALTHFUL!! We have reversed circulatory problems due to diabetes that could have resulted in amputations, we have successfully treated wounds that were slow to heal, heart problems and we have helped thousands of people slow the aging process and enjoy their active lives.

Billions of dollars spent on invasive procedures could be saved if the public was able to avail themselves of chelation therapy and other IV therapy for prevention and treatment of existing disease processes. You do not change or stop the process of heart disease when you have a bypass surgery, the disease process continues. Spend some time in our reception area and read the hundreds of benefits people have experienced in our center. Patients themselves are the best testimony to health restored.

Dr Conrad Maulfair, Osteopathic Physician