Mercury Detoxification Procedures:

Mercury Detoxification Procedures:

Amalgam Fillings

By Dr. William G. Drew

Mercury is linked to the most degenerative diseases known to man. In many cases these diseases are iatrogenic - i.e. diseases caused by inappropriate medical / dental treatment.

Mercury is the second most toxic metal known to man; second only to plutonium. But regardless of ranking, mercury has proven to be the most devastating to the health of mankind through its ability to induce diverse, degenerative diseases. In terms of its toll on human suffering, no other metal comes close. Many common medical and mental problems are known to be linked to, if not caused by mercury toxicity.

The majority of mercury that accumulates in our bodies comes from the "silver" amalgam fillings in our teeth. But mercury can be picked up from numerous other sources including artificial flowers, ammunition cartridges, various chemicals including aldehydes, acetic acid, acetone (as in finger nail polish removers), alcohols (as in spirits and rubbing alcohols), chlorine (as in drinking water and chlorine bleaches), disinfectants, cosmetics, Q-tips, dental appliances, dary cell batteries, dyes, electroplated products, felt hats, gold, inks, vapor lamps, mirrors, pharmaceutical products (drugs), pottery, prints, radio tubes, storage batteries, thermometers, wood preservatives, and others.

But the majority of the mercury in your body comes from so-called silver amalgams. The term "silver amalgams" is misleading. Amalgam fillings contain no silver but a whole host of toxic metals including mercury from which its silver appearance derives. In fact, these fillings contain 53 percent or more mercury along with other dangerous and toxic metals including copper, nickel, zinc and tin.

Dozens of research studies from around the world indicate that mercury poisons the central nervous system leading to serious dementia, depression and short-term memory loss. Among the many signs and symptoms of mercury toxicity are depression, paranoia, sudden outbursts of anger, hallucinations, inability to accept criticism, inability to concentrate, inability to make decisions, extreme irritability, memory loss, persecution complexes, tremors of hands, head, lips, tongue, jaw and eyelids, weight loss, anemia, anorexia, perpetually low body temperature, drowsiness, excitability, headaches, hypersensitive reflexes, insomnia and fatigue.

You could also show the following signs and symptoms: anxiety, a sensitive tongue, bad breath, bleeding gums, bronchitis, chills, colitis, coughing and nausea, depression, erratic behavior, fever, flu-like symptoms, gingivitis, high blood pressure, irregular gait, joint pains, muscle pains, low blood sugar, mouth sores, nervousness, numbness, paralysis, sore throat, stomach pains, vomiting. Many mercury toxicity patients become Alzheimer's patients.

It is clear that mercury is accumulated in nervous tissues all through the body. But that is not the only place that mercury accumulates.

Mercury poisons many other systems in the body leading to dozens of symptoms and an equal number of disease states originating in all parts of the body (see Diseases Caused by Mercury Amalgam Fillings). Hundreds of research studies have been carried out examining the role of mercury in the etiology of chronic degenerative diseases. The findings are unequivocal -- mercury is the causative agent and is indiscriminately accumulated in connective tissues all through the body.

This paper is concerned with providing you information on how to protect yourself from the cytotoxic and sometimes lethal effects of mercury contained in your body. It is also focused on how to chelate ["key-late"] this deadly metal and remove it more safely from you body.

Mercury Detoxification

The methods and procedures discussed below have been used successfully in detoxifying many hundreds of patients suffering from mercury toxicity and mercury-based diseases. Successful mercury removal from the body depends on following these recommendations very carefully. When dealing with an element as dangerous as mercury there is little room for error.

The methods and procedures presented here are based on certain assumptions. It is assumed for example that you are suffering from mercury toxicity or have been diagnosed as such. Secondly, it is assumed that you have dental amalgam fillings in your teeth and that most of the mercury in your body came from these fillings. Thirdly, it is assumed that you are sane and wish to remove the body's accumulated burden of mercury as safely as possible and with as little bodily injury as possible.

Safety is our primary concern and it must be yours as well. Make no mistake about it, mercury is deadly. Many published research studies report mercury-related changes in blood chemistry, mineral analysis and grave disturbances in diverse body functions. And contrary to what you may like to believe, you are not immune to its toxic effects. Accordingly, if you have or have had amalgam fillings, you, too, are very likely to exhibit such physiological changes. No one is immune.

Volumes have been written on the cytotoxic effects of mercury. Mercury is toxic to your cells because of its ability to paralyze the respiratory enzymes in your cells -- enzymes which enable your cells to use oxygen. Cyanide is a deadly poison in the same class as mercury because it is selectively cytotoxic to respiratory enzymes and produces relatively instant death from internal suffocation. When your respiratory enzymes are poisoned with cyanide you can no longer use the oxygen you breath in. Death comes quick, usually within minutes. Mercury is different from cyanide in that mercury has a phenomenal affinity for sulfhydryl [sulf HI drill] groups, usually designated by the symbol "-SH." This means that mercury will bind rather tightly with the -SH groups in your body.

This binding between mercury and -SH groups is strong and stable enough to last a lifetime. In other words, it is very likely that mercury you accumulated in your boby at age 12 with your first amalgam filling will still be in your body, tightly bound to some -SH group when you are 65 years of age. The important distinctions between mercury and cyanide are: (1) cyanide binds selectively to -SH groups on respiratory enzymes in an irreversible fashion; mercury binds to all -SH groups in a non-specific way and forms a tight, but reversible bond. (2) cyanide can cause instant death from respiratory paralysis; mercury causes a slow death from respiratory paralysis, and (3) cyanide seems to be selective in that it binds to respiratory enzymes in the cell's mitrochondria whereas mercury binds to any and all -SH groups inside or outside of the cells.

In addition to thousands of research articles on the toxicity of mercury, literally thousands of anecdotal reports have been written on the horrible consequences of mercury toxicity in people. It is incomprehensible that organized medicine and dentisry still refuse to acknowledge the voluminous research findings that clearly implicate this toxic heavy metal in the etiology of most of our diseases.

The questionnaire you recently completed reveals the true extent of mercury's potential for destruction. Mercury may have caused diverse heart problems -- problems that usually appear in the form of heart attacks, chest pain, tachycardia, murmurs, heart blockages, or others. Mercury could very well be the reason you suffer from high or low blood pressure. It is very likely that mercury is the cause of unexplained skin rashes, excessive itching, red flushes, rough skin and acne.

Mercury is responsible for the horrible functional degeneration seen in multiple sclerosis, and its spinal form -- amyotropic lateral sclerosis or ALS). It is also involved in shingles, numbness in any body part, epilepsy or convulsions, twitching, and knee or leg jerks especially at night. But mercury also attacks the digestive system causing diverticulitis, ulcers, Crohn's disease, inflammatory bowel disorder, indigestion from most all causes, bloating, poor appetite, diarrhea and constipation. It is involved in Graves disease, and other endocrine diseases including hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, and pancreatic dysfunction including diabetes. Mercury is involved in problems of the ovaries, testes, painful menstruation, irregular menstruation, premature menopause, and tipped uterus. It is a likely culprit in cervical erosion and PMS. Mercury is also involved in almost all problems pertaining to the prostate gland in men. It's involvement in grey penis and lack of sensitivity in that organ is legendary. In fact, mercury may be the leading cause of impotence in men along with nickel which seems to selectively accumulate there in nerves and artery walls. Thus, impotence is caused by metals which impair sensation in the nerves and by interfering with arterial receptors which enable the amino acid L-arginine to produce sustainable erections.

Mercury toxicity may also underlie the phenomenal weight problems Americans have. It may be responsible for your being underweight and/or being overweight. It is invariably found in cases of chronically low or subnormal temperature, usually a characteristic of hypothyroidism.

Mercury also causes emotional problems often leading to the loss of friends and relatives (i.e. divorces). It can bring about sudden bursts of anger, massive depression, death wish mentation, suicide, extreme irritability, and divorces. It and aluminum are invariably involved in premature senility diseases like Alzheimers disease. It is invariably involved in rheumatoid and osteoid arthritis, bursitis, tennis elbow, painful joints, Friedreich's ataxia, asthma, osteomyelitis, psoriasis, sickle cell anemia, chronic anemia, kidney stones, and virtually all allergies.

Mercury can also create metallic tastes in your mouth, headaches, noises in your ears, ringing in your ears, chronic eye inflammations, chronic fatigue and other symptoms. It makes you quick to tire, gives you swollen lymph nodes, hearing loss, excessive sweating, cold hands and feet, motion sickness, slow healing, skin fungus infections, Candida infections, leg cramps, and dizziness. It can also make you get up at night to urinate, or experience frequent urinations during the day. Mercury can also lead to insomnia and can cause trouble for you when it comes to making decisions (i.e. indecision constipation). In fact, mercury may be the primary reason you suffer from perpetual procrastination -- you just don't have the ability to decide what to do and you are too tired to do anything anyway.

Do you seem to have more than your fair share of sore throats? Have you had mono? Mercury probably is responsible for mononucleosis and for false positives in venereal disease tests. It is always involved in leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, and many other grave disorders. Now are you ready to believe that mercury may have affected your life? Hopefully, the information above will awaken you as to the danger you face and the danger that everyone in your family faces.

The removal of mercury is not something you simply take a pill for and forget about. Mercury detox procedures are complex and must be followed carefully in order to prevent any unnecessary movement of metal in your body which can cause even more damage. Said differently, anytime mercury in storage begins to shift and move around, it is dangerous. You must be protected from the cytotoxic effects of mercury and you want to minimize all unnecessary metal movement except that which is necessary to get the chelated mercury into the bowel (and out) or through the kidneys (and out).

It is important to remember that mercury has the ability to kill neurons. Klinghardt states that:

"...Through its affinity for sulfhydryl-groups mercury bonds very firmly to structures in the nervous system. Other studies showed that mercury is taken up in the periphery by all nerve endings (i.e. the hypoglossal nerve of the tongue, the autonomic nerves of the lungs or intestinal wall and connective tissue) and rapidly transported inside the axon of the nerves (axonal transport) to the spinal cord and brainstem. On its way from the periphery to the brain, mercury immobilizes the enzyme that is essential for "making" tubulin. Tubulin forms tubular structures within each nerve, along which the nerve cell transports metabolic waste from the nerve cell into the periphery and along which the nutrients required by the nerve cell are transported from the periphery to the cell. Once mercury has traveled up the axon, the nerve cell is impaired in its ability to detoxify itself and in its ability to nurture itself. The cell becomes toxic and dies -- or lives in a state of chronic malnutrition. The mercury that has entered the nerve cell can no longer be excreted in the normal axonal transport routes (some can exit the Ca++ and Na+ channels) and begins to exert its more well-known ill-effects on the mitochondria, nucleus and other organelles of the cell. A multitude of illnesses, usually associated with neurological symptoms, result." (Dietrich Klinghardt, Amalgam/Mercury Detox as a Treatment for Chronic Viral, Bacterial, and Fungal Illnesses, Paper presented at the Sept. 1996 Annual Meeting of the International and American Academy of Clinical Nutrition, San Diego, CA).

Mercury and Nervous System Poisoning

Very quickly after entering the body or shifting compartments in the body, mercury becomes tightly bound in the nervous system. Mercury can be found in the brain, spinal cord, ganglia, autonomic ganglia, and peripheral motor neurons (running to muscles). Because it is so quickly absorbed by the nervous system very little is left to be absorbed by other tissues including the connective tissues. Thus, mercury appears to have a high affinity for nervous tissue and as a result it usually does not appear in the blood, hair, urine, feces or waste waters (e.g. sweat). For this reason trace mineral analysis of hair or blood may not show any mercury levels and an erroneous conclusion that "the patient does not appear to have mercury toxicity" results. Simply stated: Mercury does not appear to enter certain "compartments" and hair is certainly one of them. Therefore hair analyses for mercury are notoriously inaccurate and totally misleading.

Mercury in the nervous system results in diverse phychological and neurological problems. All of these symptoms are discussed in a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services publication entitled: The Toxicological Profile of Mercury.

Mercury and Immune System Repression

It has been known for many years that mercury impairs the immune system. White cells can lose their motility and can die if exposure to mercury is sustained. With impairment comes a chronically susceptible to infections, if not chronic sickness.

Mercury is absorbed preferentially by yeast cells, bacterial cells, and molds. In fact, these types of pathogens are present in our body "by invitation" of our immune system. These organisms absorb phenomenal quantities of mercury and serve the supreme purpose of keeping us alive -- keeping the mercury from killing us. Thus, to kill off Candida indiscriminantly in adults with significant body burdens of toxic metals including mercury is not only foolish but potentially very dangerous.

Mercury and other toxic metal detoxification programs are the preferred way to rid the body of Candida, pathogenic bacteria and molds. And, when carried out with this understanding, mercury detoxification programs almost invariably lead to immune system enhancement.

Amalgam fillings typically convey immunity to antibiotics. This means that antibiotics may no longer be able to kill or control certain bacteria when mercury is present. This is your body's way of keeping you alive and illustrates the supreme wisdom of your immune system. Your immune system refuses to destroy certain pathogenic organisms especially if they are heavy laden with toxic metals. If they are destroyed they release large quantities of mercury which can then do tremendous damage to your body.

If your body is "saturated" with mercury at the time you become infected with a pathogenic bacteria there may be grave consequences. Mercury-induced immune system impairment must not be allowed to exist.

It is possible that mercury is the only known substance with the ability to induce resistance to antibiotics. In the regard it is well known that gum diseases which are resistant to antibiotics quickly reverse once the amalgams are removed.

Fungal infections are also promoted by mercury poisoning and chronic mercury toxicity. Thus, it appears that susceptibility to bacterial and fungal diseases are directly related to the degree of mercury toxicity. Thus raises an interesting hypothesis regarding just exactly why these diseases appear to be chronically tolerated.

Klinghardt's Axiom

Dr. Klinghardt's axiom says:

"Most -- if not all -- chronic infectious diseases are not caused by a failure of the immune system, but are a conscious adaptation of the immune system to an otherwise lethal heavy metal environment."

That does this mean? It means essentially that because mercury

"suffocates the the intracellular respiratory mechanism and can cause cell death [that] the immune system makes a deal; it cultivates fungi and bacteria that can bind large amounts of toxic metals. The gain: the cells can breath. The cost: the system has to provide nutrition for the microorganisms and has to deal with their metabolic products ("toxins"). That does not imply that the tolerated guest cannot grow out of control, as it sometimes clearly does. Therefore, there is still a limited place for antifungal / antibacterial treatment -- but only for the acute phase of the disease. A so-called "die-off effect" (the sometimes severe crisis or even lethal reaction a patient can have in the initial stages of aggressive pharmaceutical antifungal or antibacterial treatment) is often nothing else but acute heavy metal toxicity -- metals released from the cell walls of dying microorganisms as suggested by my own correlation of clinical syndromes and urinalysis for metals." (Dietrich Klinghardt, Amalgam/Mercury Detox as a Treatment for Chronic Viral, Bacterial, and Fungal Illnesses, Paper presented at the Sept. 1996 Annual Meeting of the International and American Academy of Clinical Nutrition, San Diego, CA).

Is this axiom correct?

Dr. Klinghardt's results as well as those obtained from research by Health Restoration Consultants suggest that this axiom is correct because when patients are put through a thorough mercury detox program, there is always a dramatic improvement in the clinical picture for chronic Candida infections.

Health Restoration Consultants recommends a mercury detox program described below. One of the primary ingredients in this detox program is chlorella. Chlorella has powerful mercury chelating actions which are thought to be due to its cell wall. Something in the protein coat of the cracked cell wall binds the mercury. Pretreatment with chlorella before challenge with DMSA or DMPS (specific mercury chelators) will increase the urinary excretion of mercury anywhere from 300 to 1800 percent.

Many mercury detox patients report improvements in chronic viral illnesses such as Epstein-Barr, and herpes. Japanese researchers have found that Minamata disease (a mercury disease caused by eating mercury contaminated fish) was far more severe when the patient also had a chronic viral disease. In fact, the prognosis for patients suffering simultaneous Minamata disease and chronic viral disease is poor.

Mercury Detoxification Program

All of the physiological and neurological disorders associated with mercury toxicity should be treated as if mercury poisoning and long-term mercury toxicity had been confirmed. To remove mercury not related to dental amalgams, the program below can be started at any time.

In the case of dental amalgam removal, detoxification should begin at least two weeks before dental amalgam removal and continue for at least 3 months after the last amalgam is removed. Usual length of time to eliminate mercury is 3 to 6 months.

The following treatment regimen is an excellent method of reducing mercury toxicity by eliminating mercury from the body. The predominant process is that of chelation -- the process whereby chelating substances (i.e. those that can form "claw-like" bonding with heavy metals) are taken orally and the chelated metals are then eliminated through the kidneys.

In this oral chelation program it is important to understand that 3 to 6 months will be required to remove the mercury. During this period of time it is imperative that the organs of elimination be fully functional. This means that you must be experiencing a minimum of 3 bowel movements per day, preferrably 5. If this number of bowel movements is not experienced the mercury that is deposited into your bowels by your liver will be reabsorbed by your body. This is not good.

Though not as quick in onset as i.v. chelation therapy, oral chelation therapy does offer many advantages including cost. The cost of an entire oral chelation program is considerably less than going through a standard i.v. chelation therapy program.

Oral Chelation Therapy

Chelation is a natural chemical process that goes on in your body all the time. Virtually all key metabolic functions are dependent on chelation. For example, iron in our diet is chelated to form hemoglobin, the oxygen carrying molecules. Cobalt is chelated to form cyanocobalamin or vitamin B-12. Chelation is a process that goes on in plants also. Magnesium is chelated to form chlorophyll in plants. In fact, without chelation there would be no life.

Chelation is a chemical reaction usually involving the bonding of an organic, ring compound with dissolved metals in your body. Organic ring compounds include many organic acids like citric acid (from citrus fruits), lactic acid (the sore muscle culprit), acetic acid (plentiful in vinegar), and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) among others. All of these natural acids (classified as weak acids) have the ability to seize and/or "sequester" metal atoms such as calcium, lead, iron and zinc. Seizing or sequestering is easy to visualize once you understand that "chelation" is derived from the Greek root word "chele" [Key lee] which means "claw." Chelation is a "claw-like" bonding between an organic ring compound and a metal not unlike the way a lobster claw might clamp down on some object. This bonding is relatively strong and often permanent. Once chelated, toxic metals can now be safely eliminated from the body, usually in the urine but with some exiting in the stools.

Certain foods are natural chelators. In fact, foods provide the foundation for a profound and powerful approach to restoring and enhancing health. Many orthomolecular nutritionists and conscientious health care practitioners believe that the natural chelators found in certain foods and supplements are the key to a healthy life.

The effectiveness of foods and nutrients as chelators can be dramatically enhanced by combining them in specific formulations. Certain combinations of food chelators taken regularly are more than capable of reversing atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and rejuvenating the cardiovascular system through their natural ability to remove toxic heavy metals from arteries, cells and organs. This is not theoretical hype. Many medical research studies report a complete clearing of coronary arteries and other arteries throughout the body. In fact, the results have been so impressive that some countries now routinely recommend such food programs for preventing heart disease (e.g. National Health Board of Holland).

The oral chelation program developed by Spirit of Healing is based upon a more powerful and more effective formulation designed to be maximally effective in removing toxic metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, strontium, thallium, and other dangerous heavy metals commonly found in tissues. Removal is necessary to prevent the catastrophic free radical damage these toxic metals cause.

The Spirit of Healing Oral Chelation Formula is a slower, yet more natural process for removal of heavy metals and arterial plaque than intravenous or oral EDTA chelation therapies. Intravenous chelation with EDTA must be performed by a chelation doctor. Natural chelation (with food substances and supplements including oral forms of EDTA) can be performed by you at home or at work. When the all natural or EDTA reinforced oral chelation products are used regularly and in accordance with directions, you will ultimately realize the same benefits that hundreds of thousands of patients have already realized from iv EDTA chelation therapy.

Mercury exists in three states in your body. These are: the "mercuric" ion [HG++]; the "mercurous" ion [Hg+] and metallic mercury [Hg]. It makes no difference whether you employ i.v. or oral EDTA chelation therapy, EDTA will only remove the mercuric form of mercury and leaves the mercurous and metallic mercury alone. Thus, EDTA will remove anywhere from 2 to 8 percent of the mercury in the body. This means that even after a complete i.v. or oral chelation program where EDTA is the sole chelator used, that 92 to 98 percent of the mercury in your body will still be there. That's the bad news. The good news is that either i.v. or oral EDTA will remove most of the other toxic metals from the arteries, organs and tissues with the exception of the brain and central nervous system (CNS).

EDTA will not cross the blood brain barrier. Another more specific mercury chelator, DMPS, will not cross the blood brain barrier either. DMSA, another chelator with a specific affinity for mercury shows only limited ability to cross the blood brain barrier.

Foods that exhibit specific abilities to chelate mercury are capable of crossing the blood brain barrier and thereby remove mercury from neurons. Chlorella pyreneidosa, an algae, has been shown to be capable of mobilizing mercury bound up in nervous tissue. However, the predominant ability of Chlorella to bind (chelate) mercury is seen in non-neurologic structures and compartments such as muscles, ligaments, skin, connective tissue and bones.

Cilantro, or Chinese parsley, can mobilize mercury and other toxic metals very quickly in nervous tissue. If the correct amounts of cilantro are given, the mercury contained in the nervous tissue is removed and can be measured in the urine, stools, or can be re-distributed to other tissues (e.g. connective tissues) for later removal.

Mercury that enters the body's mobile pool can be reabsorbed from the bowel contents in the small intestine and colon. Therefore to prevent this from happening, cilantro must be used in excess on the days that DMPS or DMSA is given. Bowel transit times must also be decreased to move the feces out of the body as quickly as possible. This can be accomplished by using large doses of Vitamin C, magnesium and fiber laxatives.

Benefits of Chelation

Intravenous or oral chelation, whether from natural foods or synthetic amino acid chelators (i.e. EDTA, DMPS, DMSA), alone or in combination, can prevent coronary artery disease, strokes, protect against heart attacks and restore impaired circulation. But that's not all that chelation does.

Oral or intravenous EDTA chelation reverses senility and Alzheimer's disease thereby improving memory. Chelation reverses diabetic gangrene, and restores impaired vision. Chelation prevents the depositing of cholesterol in the liver, reduces blood cholesterol, lowers high blood pressure, will correct about half of all cardiac rhythm disorders (arrhythmias), reduces heart irritability, removes calcium and other metals from arterial plaques, helps dissolve kidney stones (and with oral EDTA will dissolve kidney stones), reduces serum iron, protects against iron overdosing and arteriosclerosis secondary to hemochromotosis, and dramatically improves heart function.

While aspirin does offer some protection against blood clots that can form in clogged arteries, it does this by its actions on one of the three clotting mechanisms. Thus, with aspirin, you could still form clots in your coronary arteries that could cause you to have a heart attack. Intravenous EDTA chelation therapy offers protection against clotting by any of the three clotting mechanisms but only while the EDTA is in the body. Most of the actions of i.v. EDTA are over with by 12 hours. Oral EDTA programs on the other hand offer greatly extended hours of protection from blood clot-induced heart attacks because the EDTA is in the blood stream much longer. These results were reported by Dr. Garry Gordon, the so-called father of chelation therapy and president of the American College for Advancement in Medicine (i.e. ACAM). Dr. Gordon reports that with oral EDTA chelation programs offering as low as 40 mg EDTA per day, that no heart attacks or strokes were experienced in more than 10,000 of his chelation patients. That is remarkable.

Oral or intravenous EDTA chelation can heal necrotic ulcers of the skin and improve vision in diabetics (diabetic retinopathy). EDTA, by either route, decreases macular degeneration and dissolves cataracts.

Perhaps on of the most profound effects of oral or i.v. EDTA chelation therapy is its effects on male impotence. EDTA corrects impotence through the restoration of normal blood flow to the penis and through its ability to chelate nickel, a toxic metal that often accumulates there. EDTA also increases blood flow in all vascular beds including the penis and in all the endocrine organs. Therefore blood supply-induced disturbances in endocrine glands that manufacture male hormones is corrected. EDTA unplugs carotid artery plaque build up and can also unplug renal arteries thereby reducing blood pressure.

Perhaps the most meaningful way to think about all the benefits that chelation provides is to simply understand that either i.v. or oral chelation therapy actually reverses the aging process. Chelation therapy makes you feel good and most people report that they feel like they have been given back 20 years of their life. My own personal experience verifies this.

Chelation therapy prevents osteoarthritis, causes rheumatoid arthritis symptoms to disappear, smooths skin wrinkles, cleans out metabolic wastes from the mitochondria (energy factories) in all cells and thereby returns cells to an earlier (i.e. younger) level of metabolic efficiency. The feelings of wellness and euphoria that result are profound. In fact, most people report feeling better than they have ever felt in their lives.

It's not uncommon to feel better after beginning an exercise program or while losing weight. And indeed, compared to the way you felt before you started exercising or losing weight, you do feel like a "10" on the "1-10" scale. But there are differing degrees of wellness. What most believe was a "10" after a successful diet, turns out to be only a "1" on the "feel good" scale once they experience the benefits of chelation. In fact, people who have been chelated report that their motivation changes, even including changes in their system of values. They typically feel so good that they become health conscious for the first time in their lives.

Becoming health conscious is particularly notable for smokers. For smokers the results can be profound. It reversed the effects of my personal 35-year addiction to cigarettes. The damage done by 3 packs of Camels per day can't be described. Now instead of smoking to feel better, ex-smokers like myself realize that smoking provides the exact opposite. The desire to stay off of cigarettes becomes exceedingly strong.

It is very unfortunate that the medical monopoly refuses to accept chelation therapy. This is all the more tragic since chelation therapy provides a proven, speedy reversal of the health consequences of a 10, 20, or 30-year cigarette habit. But perhaps this is understandable since the cancer industry now employs more people than actually die of cancer annually. To put this number in perspective simply know that one in three Americans will develop cancer; of these, approximately two-thirds will die within five years. Only 2 to 3 percent of the nearly one million new cancer patients each year will be saved by chemotherapy. It is indeed strange that over half of them will still be treated with chemotherapy even though it has been repeatedly shown to further cripple a person's immune system. The medical monopoly clearly has a $750 million racket going here. Cigarettes keep the cancer patients coming. Maybe that's why the American Medical Association is a major stockholder in a number of major cigarette corporations!

Higher Standards in Oral Chelation

Oral chelation programs are not diets. Some oral chelation products are worthless because they contain far too little EDTA to be truly effective within a reasonable period of time. Other oral chelation products are carefully formulated mixtures of specific and highly beneficial ingredients. Among the best are those built on a foundation of organic or ultra-high quality food stuffs, seeds, herbs, nutrients, oils, vitamins and minerals. Each ingredient in these better products is either a well-documented chelating agent or is present to support the chelators or enhance their effectiveness. Some of the ingredients are there to protect you from the damaging effects of free radicals as they are moved out of your body.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Individual Herbal Products

The following provides information on certain herbal products that may be used in any mercury detoxification program depending on the severity of the mercury toxicity. Information is provided on dose levels and frequency of usage. Best results can be obtained by using the Spirit of Healing Oral Chelation Formulas and further supplementing with individual herbal products.

Oral Chelation by Spirit of Healing -- The Oral Chelation Formulas developed by Spirit of Healing contains the purest forms of EDTA, chlorella, L-Glutathione, Lipoic Acid, complete B complex vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin D.

Chlorella -- green micro algae with open (cracked) cell walls. The cracking is usually accomplished in the freeze drying of these algae and helps you digest this product. Chlorella is beneficial in the removal of mercury because of its ability to move mercury out of connective tissue so that all chelating agents including DMSA (by prescription only), ginko biloba or garlic for example can remove it from the body. To supplement the Chlorella present in the Oral Chelate, take 3 200 mg Chlorella tablets daily for the first 2 weeks after amalgam removal. Then increase to 6 200 mg tablets daily (i.e. 1 at and between each meal). Increase to 9 200 mg tablets daily and finally increase to 12 200 mg tablets taken daily. Maintain that dose level for at least 45 days. Studies have shown that preparing a subject with Chlorella before EDTA chelation therapy will increase the amount of mercury removed by EDTA by a minimum of 300 percent! Chlorella may cause diarrhea as the dose level is increased. This will usually disappear as your body becomes used to this supplement.

Reduced L-Glutathione -- Recent research indicates that reduced L-Glutathione is an exceptionally powerful detoxifying substance that is critically important in liver detoxification reactions.

Reduced glutathione is vital to a broad range of cellular functions including antioxidation, detoxication, and the maintenance of the reduced biochemical state found in healthy cells. It also plays an essential role in protein structure formation, DNA synthesis and repair, immune function, and the regulation of cellular proliferation.

Glutathione exists in both a reduced and oxidized state, but it is the reduced state in which all of the vital biological functions of glutathione are carried out. In normal, healthy cells, oxidized glutathione is quickly recycled back to the reduced state. The optimal ratio of intracellular glutathione ranges from 100:1 to 400:1 in favor of the reduced state.

Research has shown that oxidative stress, exposure to toxins and toxic heavy metals such as mercury can result in the inability to recycle enough reduced glutathione to meet basic cellular needs. Decreased intracellular levels of reduced glutathione are associated with a number of chronic degenerative diseases.

Oral Chelate contains some reduced glutathione but should be supplemented with AMNI's Reduced Glutathione

In cases of severe mercury toxicity take 2 Glutathione capsules between meals 3 times daily. Before bed open one capsule and dissolve contents under the tongue.

In less severe mercury toxicity cases take 1 Glutathione capsule between meals 3 times daily dissolving the contents of the last one under the tongue.

Glutathione from AMNI is not the only product capable of generating reduced glutathione. Various intracellular glutathione accelerators are available to health care practitioners. One excellent product is IGA+ from Ecological Formulas. In addition to providing accelerated glutathione production, IGA+ supplies ample quantities of N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC), Vitamin E and Selenium. These biochemicals and minerals are necessary to protect the body from the oxidative damages of mercury and to safely remove the mercury from the body. For severe mercury toxicity

Take 2 capsules of IGA+ 2 times daily.

Silymarin -- milk thistle seed has profound activity in the liver and can speed up liver detoxification reactions while actually promoting increased levels of biochemicals needed in the detox reactions.

If digestive problems are believed to accompany the mercury toxicity, take 2 to 4 Hepatic Complex C42 capsules between meals 3 times daily.

Otherwise, take 1 to 2 Lipotropic Complex capsules 2 to 3 times daily with meals or as directed.

Milk thistle extract is also highly beneficial.

DHEA -- dihydroepiandosterone -- an adrenal hormone precursor that helps improve stressed adrenal function -- also assists in the overall chelation process. Make no mistake about it, mercury toxicity is extremely stressful to the body and detoxification is also stressful. Therefore supporting the adrenals is essential to the ultimate success of any good chelation program.

Take 1 25-mg capsule DHEA in the morning and 1 25-mg capsule in the evening. It is not necessary to take more than 50 mg of DHEA daily.

Selenium -- a powerful anti-oxidant with the ability to assist in chelation. Selenium is often thought of as a specific antidote to mercury.

In the week immediately before removal of amalgams increase daily selenium levels to 150 mcg.

On the day of amalgam removals increase the daily selenium levels to 500 mcg and continue at that daily dose level for the next 7 days.

On day 8 through day 30 after amalgam removal reduce daily selenium levels to about 300 mcg or even further.

Take 50 mcg 3 times daily between meals thereafter for the next 6 months.

NOTE: Selenium is present in many of the above products.

Acidophilus -- it is necessary to restore the microflora in the intestines because mercury adversely affects their levels and profiles. Products containing acidophilus and related bacteria (the good guys) are called "probiotics." Diverse probiotic products exist. Getting them into the intestines alive is the problem. Keeping them alive in the intestines is no small matter either. Often unfavorable conditions exist in the lower G.I. tract that hinder or often prevent probiotic growth.

Take 4-6 Colon Aid Capsules twice daily with a large glass of water.

Lactobacillus salivarius -- or "L salivarius, is a unique "good guy" that flourishes in your small intestine and provides you with many benefits. Bio-Culture 2000^TM is a facultative anaerobic bacterium, a microorganism remaining active in either an aerobic or anaerobic environment. Although the primary effects will take place in in anaerobic conditions, this makes Bio-Culture 2000^TM more resilient than the obligate anaerobes (i.e. L. acidophilus). And because of the special culturing process used to produce Bio-Culture 2000^TM the organism will not mutate from its present form and is not associated with pathogenicity or toxicity.

Bio-Culture 2000^TM is highly prolific and will double its population of viable organisms every 20 minutes. This creates substantial cost savings for the cost-conscious consumer. Unlike other products (i.e. L. acidophilus) that require as many as 12 capsules or several grams daily to achieve only minimal results, the recommended dosage of Bio-Culture 2000^TM is one capsule daily.

Take 1 capsule of Bio-Culture 2000^TM daily unless you are directed to take more.

Since mercury is likely to accumulate in the intestinal mucosa, the end result is diminished intestinal activity. Peristalsis is usually diminished in mercury toxic patients. Constipation is the norm. It is not uncommon for mercury toxic patients to have only 1 bowel movement per week. This condition is always accompanied by large quantities of putrefied material in the intestines. This can also be a contributing factor in intestinal toxemia.

Bio-Culture 2000^TM is very active on proteins as well as by-products of protein putrefaction. This allows the bacteria to accomplish the breakdown of undigested proteins making nutrition readily available to the body while helping to render potential toxins inert.

Water -- the importance of water cannot be overstated or underestimated. Anyone going through any mercury detox or oral chelation program had better understand the quintessential importance of drinking lots of water. What is lots of water? Your body thrives when you consume at a minimum of 1 oz for each pound of body weight. Thus, if you weigh 125 pounds, you need to be drinking at least 125 ounces of water (NOT LIQUIDS) daily. If you weigh 150 or 225 pounds then you need to be drinking either 150 oz or 225 ounces of water daily.

Coffee doesn't count. Tea doesn't count, nor do soft drinks or other liquids such as milk. ONLY WATER COUNTS. Without proper hydration of the body chelated metals are not removed quickly enough. This is critically important to the success of any chelation program. DRINK LOTS OF WATER and KEEP ON DRINKING IT.

DMSA -- (2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid) -- an effective prescription agent for binding heavy metals. Can cross the blood-brain barrier and help remove heavy metals from neuronal and glial tisues.

On the day of amalgam removal, take 3 100 mg capsules both in the morning prior to removal and on the day after removal. Take 30 minutes before or after eating.

Once the amalgams have been removed and after you have been on this supplement program for 3 months, on one occassion only, take 2 capsules (100 mg each) 3 times daily for 3 days. (Source: Daniel Royal, Health Hazard in Your Teeth - Alternative Medicine Digest: Issue 13, 1996, pp 42-43)

Cilantro should be used only after a good chelation program has been under way for some time. Cilantro can enter the brain and peripheral nerves and remove mercury. But unknown to most, cilantro can also take mercury into the brain. This is why it is critically important to use cilantro only after most of the mercury has been removed from the rest of the body. Do not use cilantro until at least 60 days has elapsed on any oral chelation program.

Buy fresh organic cilantro. Wash and put approximately 1 cup in blender with small amount of water. Add 1/4 tablespoon of sea salt and 2 tbs of cold pressed olive oil. Blend until creamy.

Take 1 tablespoon 3 times daily with meals. May by used as a salad dressing. Use more if mercury toxicity is profound enough to cause depression, Alzheimers or brain fog.

Thioctic Acid -- has been shown to be a powerful toxic metal chelator with the ability to bind mercury, lead and other hazardous metals such as beryllium, thallium and thulium. In fact, years ago many alternative physicians used thioctic acid to chelate patients.

Take Thioctic Acid capsules as instructed.

Organic Flax Seed Oil and High-Sulfur Protein Mixture

Dr. Johanna Budwig, a seven time Nobel Prize nominee and Europe's foremost authority on cancer and nutrition has spent more than half of her 89 years telling the world how highly unsaturated essential fatty acids such as those found in flax oil, when combined with high quality protein (such as that found in organic, low fat cottage cheese or yogurt) not only renders the essential fats easily soluble, and completely usable, but equally as important enables the body to counteract toxic and poisonous accumulations in all tissues.

Take 1/4 cup of organic, low-fat cottage cheese mixed with 2 Tablespoons of organic flax seed oil daily.