To Andy, Jean and Chemar

[efgh]

Long time since I posted here.

 

Andy, what exactly is Chelation Therapy - can you please be kind enough to elaborate the entire process.

 

Jean, are you considering chelation therapy for your son? How are his tics now? does he watch TV these days?

 

Chemar, would appreciate your valuable inputs on Chelation Therapy pros and cons from you.

[Spring]

Hi Efgh,

 

It's good to see your post. How is son doing?

We have not started his chelating yet since he needs to correct his nutrition imbalance first. His tics are under control, but not disappered. He's been taking supplements for 5 months. He just had his blood test rechecked 2 days ago. We'll see how his mercury, cadmium and nutrition levels will be. My son actually doesn't miss TV any more, but he watches once a while from school.

 

Again, it's good to hear from you. Hope all well!

[Chemar]

Hi efgh so good to hear from you.

 

we did NOT do any chelation therapy and so I honestly am unable to comment personally about it.

 

As you know, my son had a combination of biofeedback, acupuncture, aromatherapy, supplement, lots of reverse osmosis water and a regular epsom salts tub soak to aid his detox process, both for the heavy metals and also when he was withdrawing from the prescription meds.

 

we found this to be very effective and never were advised by our Integrative physician to even consider chelation

 

I know other folks have benefitted from it enormously, yet there are cautions that do need to be considered.

 

As in all things, the INDIVIDUAL metabolism and general physiology is IMHO a very important factor to be considered before embarking on ANY treatment.

 

Just my opinion..........

[FranklySpeaking]

In todays paper:

 

Autistic boy dies during controversial treatment

 

 

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

By Karen Kane and Virginia Linn, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

 

 

A 5-year-old Monroeville boy died this week during a medical treatment that's being touted by some as a cure for autism.

 

The autistic boy died while receiving chelation -- an intravenous injection of a synthetic amino acid known as EDTA, for ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the practice only to treat heavy metal (such as lead) poisoning. The treatment is becoming increasingly popular, though still controversial, for autism.

 

Police are investigating the boy's death, which occurred Tuesday morning in the office of Dr. Roy Kerry in Portersville. Kerry did not return calls today.

 

An autopsy conducted today was inconclusive. Results on the cause and manner of death are pending additional testing that could take up to five months to complete, authorities said.

[Andy]

Basically, chelation is when you put an agent into the body to remove something else from the body. Medically chelation has been used for people who avoid heart by-pass surgery by chelating with EDTA which removes the calicum or other deposits from the veins. Medically chelation has been used for people who suffer from lead poisoning when DMSA is introduced into the body to "pull' out the lead.

Medically chelation agents like DMPS can be brought over the counter in Germany and other european nations to detox the body. Detoxing in general has been a big thing in Europe for years and in a way can go back to the Romans with their "Roman Baths" which ranged from sauna's/steam rooms to mineral baths.

Most chelation agents as far as I know are sulfur based. Most as far as I know are safe when administered under a trained doctors care. The doctors with the most experience with chelation would be various, not all, DAN doctors. Some like Dr. Berger who now lives in Tampa but used to practice in the Miami area have been featured in articles like the Wall Street Journal where kids who were diagnoised as being austic were now free of that horror. The idea behind the chelation procedure is that the label that the child is suffering from is actually toxic heavy metal poisioning and that once the heavy metals are removed from the body, the child's body will have a chance to heal itself to various degrees which would make most labels like ASD, TS, ADD, OCD, etc... obsolete. The whole procedure is based upon medical testing and research. Most doctors do not accept the premise for many reasons. After all who would want to admit that one in every ten kids they treated may have been poisoined by their insistance of parents giving their children all those vaccination shots. There is a ton of research that shows that as the amount of vacination shots increased the various special education populations exploded never mind the explosion in childhood allergies, cancers, etc...

This may be the reason why my son did not respond as well as older kids who were treated with more natural methods. My son was exposed to more vaccination shots.

Now chelation can be done with oral DMSA pills or liquid, lotion DMSA/DMPS, DMSA or DMPS supposortories, and DMPS or DMSA IV's. The DMPS and DMSA's are sulfur based and smell and taste nasty. So many opt for the pills unless their kids are homebound and the smell is less of an issue. What type of chelation a person choses should be based upon testing for as Claire stated other factors must be in place before it begins. A person needs to know what their vitamin, mineral, amino acid, and anti-ox's levels are as well as be tested for delayed food allergies and yeast infection. I know of some parents who have had their kids preped for six months before starting chelation. Once starting chelation a urine test is done to see what metals were pulled the first push. If no metal show up then a retest may be done but one has to then consider that toxic metal poisoning may not be the issue. If heavy metals do show up then usually they increase with the chelation procedures which pull out more and more metals with every push until the levels start to drop for there is less metal to pull. During the whole treatment various blood test are to be done to ensure that the liver and kidneys are not in danger and other tests to ensure that good stuff like zinc is not being pulled to low levels. This is another reason for the prep. To make sure that the body is strong enough with zinc, etc before the treatment starts. Most problems I feel that happen with chelation is by doctors who were not trainded in the process and do not fully understand all that needs to be done. The actual chelation is only one aspect of detox treatment. In case you were wondering DMSA was invented in this nation to treat WWII navy yard workers who were exposed to lead while painting the ships. That is where the term "get the lead out" comes from while DMPS was invented in China and Russia in case their cities or armies were ever "gassed" during a potential war with the west. Most DMPS today comes out of Germany as far as I know. It is considered an expermental drug in the USA.

[Andy]

In regards to the fine posting by Frankly Speaking.

 

I have never came across the name of Dr. Roy Kerry before. I am always telling others that it is recommended to only use DAN doctors who were "trained" in the "chelation" method that one wants to use. My son's doctor specializes in DMPS and DMSA and I would not think to ask him to use ETDA on my son. I would go to another doctor who specializes in it and I mean specializes in detoxing children and not adult heart patients. So much depends on body weight and pre-detox testing. The problems that I seem to read about tend to come from doctors who are following the money and are not the leaders of the field. This does not mean that Dr. Kerry is one of those. All that I am saying is that I never heard of his name or read his name anywhere. Listed below is an old list perhaps two years old but it has the names of recommend doctors by Amy Holmes one of the leaders in chelation.

 

Pennsylvania

 

Conrad G. Maulfair, Jr., D.O.

Maulfair Medical Center

P.O. Box 98

403 North Main Street

Topton, PA 19562

tel: 610-682-2104

fax: 610-682-9781

 

 

W. Wm. Shay, D.O.

19 Anthony's Mill Road

Barto, PA 19504

tel: 610-845-8400

fax: 610-845-8426

 

 

Peter Prociuk, M.D.

322 North High Stret West Chester, PA 19380

tel: 610-701-5702

fax: 610-701-4225

 

 

Philip L. Bonnet, M.D.

1086 Taylorsville Road

Washington Crossing, PA 18977

tel: 215-321-8321

fax: 215-321-9837

 

 

Arthur Koch, D.O.

57 W. Juniper Street

Hazleton, PA 18201

tel: 570-455-4747

fax: 570-455-6312

[kim]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05237/559756.stm

>

> =================

>

> Boy dies during autism treatment

> Thursday, August 25, 2005

>

> By Karen Kane and Virginia Linn, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

>

>

> A 5-year-old autistic boy died Tuesday in a Butler County doctor's

> office while undergoing an increasingly popular though controversial

> medical treatment touted by some as a cure for the lifelong

> neurological and developmental disorder.

>

> Abubakar Tariq Nadama died while receiving chelation therapy, an

> intravenous injection of a synthetic amino acid that latches onto

> heavy metals and is then passed in the urine.

>

> State police at Butler are investigating Nadama's death, which

> occurred at about 10:50 a.m. Tuesday in the office of Dr. Roy Eugene

> Kerry in Portersville.

>

> Authorities said Kerry's office reported that the child was receiving

> an IV treatment for lead poisoning when he went into cardiac arrest.

>

> The boy was being treated with EDTA, or ethylene diamine tetraacetic

> acid, which has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for

> use only after blood tests confirm acute heavy-metal poisoning.

>

> Exposure to heavy metals, especially mercury, has been linked by some

> researchers as a contributing cause to autism. Removing those metals,

> they believe, can improve a child's condition. The theory is a matter

> of dispute among scientists and within the autism community.

>

> A family friend said the boy and his mother, Marwa, who are from

> England, moved here in the spring, specifically to receive chelation

> therapy, and were living in Monroeville.

>

> In the autism community, the use of chelation as a way to detoxify

> environmental contaminants in children has exploded since 2000 as

> more and more families have reported miraculous improvements and even

> cures. But skeptics in the community say they fear the procedure is

> at best risky and possibly lethal.

>

> "It was just a matter of time before something like this would

> happen," said Howard Carpenter, executive director of the Advisory

> Board on Autism-Related Disorders.

>

> "Parents of children with autism are desperate. Some are willing to

> try anything," he said.

>

> "I can't sit there and endorse it as a viable treatment. It's not

> something published in peer review journals and studies," said Dr.

> Gary Swanson, a child psychiatrist at Allegheny General Hospital who

> works with autism patients. "It's probably a quack kind of medicine."

>

> If the child's death is tied to chelation therapy, it would be the

> first associated with the procedure since the 1950s, said Dr. Ralph

> Miranda of Greensburg. Miranda is the former president of the

> American College for Advancement in Medicine, a group that sets

> clinical practice and education standards for chelation and other,

> similar therapies.

>

> Chelation can be administered through pills, skin creams or other

> transdermal methods, nasal sprays, sauna baths and intravenously.

> Miranda said it is unusual to give a young child IV treatments unless

> he has an extremely high level of heavy metals.

>

> He said although EDTA is a "very safe drug" he usually administers an

> oral form of chelation drugs to children to remove toxins because

> pills are safer. It does, however, take longer to remove the toxins

> with the pills.

>

> "There are people out there suggesting using the IV to get faster

> results. I'm not," he said.

>

> Marwa Nadama said yesterday she did not want to comment except to say

> that she is not blaming chelation for her son's death, at least not

> at this point.

>

> "Let's wait until we have the results of the autopsy," she said.

>

> An autopsy conducted yesterday on the child's body by the Allegheny

> County coroner's office was inconclusive. Results on the cause and

> manner of death are pending additional testing which could take up to

> five months to complete, authorities said.

>

> Kerry, who is a board-certified physician and surgeon, advertises

> himself as an ear, nose and throat specialist, dealing with allergies

> and environmental medicine. He operates out of offices in Greenville

> and Portersville under the name Advanced Integrative Medicine Center

> Inc. Kerry did not return calls to his offices yesterday.

>

> Doctors affiliated with the National Institutes of Mental Health and

> American Academy of Pediatrics do not endorse the use of chelation

> therapy to remove heavy metals for autism. Such drugs used in the

> process can cause liver and kidney damage and other problems.

>

> Cindy Waeltermann, director of the Pittsburgh-based national advocacy

> group AutismLink, issued a statement to members yesterday warning

> that caution needs to be used as parents seek help for their autistic

> children.

>

> "Please, before you try any new therapies, we urge you to research

> the physician, the methods, and the safety. Some of these therapies

> are quite dangerous. We're not telling you what to do, we're just

> urging you to use caution. We all do what we think is best for our

> children, and sometimes we are desperate. While we've heard stories

> of chelation success, it is definitely a dangerous process,"

> Waelterman wrote.

>

> She said parents on her group's online forum have referred to Kerry

> as a known practitioner of chelation therapy.

>

> News of the death soared across the autism community yesterday,

> alarming proponents and foes of the treatment.

>

> "It's just terrible. My heart is just dying for the family," said

> J.B. Handley of San Francisco, who helped found Generation Rescue, an

> international advocacy program for the use of biomedical treatments

> that include chelation therapy to help autistic children.

>

> He claims his son Jamison, now 3, has dramatically improved since

> undergoing chelation therapy to remove mercury, the metal most

> associated with autism because of its presence in some childhood

> vaccines. He and his wife launched their international group in May.

>

> He said that, in 2000, perhaps a dozen autistic children were treated

> with chelation therapy. This year, it's more than 10,000.

>

>

>

[kim]

efgh and All,

 

Andy, that was a great response. I have been following this whole thing on the autism/enzyme and asd_solutions site, and wondering how to bring up such a complicated subject here. It has been recommended by one of the bd. moderators there, that the biochat notes by Dr. Usman be edited for now, as they refer to the use of EDTA for chelating. She goes on to say that therapies are always changing and it is their goal to give the most up to date info. on any form of treatment and their safety, and until more is known about the death of this little boy, the recommendation of IV EDTA be put on hold. There are so many unknowns at this point about the way this was administered, and as you said, it would appear there are many Dr.s that have pieces of the chelation process down, but are not experts.

There is also the possibility that this Dr. did nothing wrong. The fear is that this will be "pounced" on, as another way to discredit the whole treatment proticol, which so many have found to be beneficial. The greastest wish amongst the parents posting on the autism bds. is to learn from this tragedy, and find the safest most effective treatments to aid in the recovery of their children.

 

The new Dr. I took the boys to was most interested in gut issues and metals. I told him that I wasn't interested in metals right now, he was very puzzled, as we both agreed it was probably at the heart of the matter, or at least a big piece. I felt we had seen amazing success with the use of supplements and diet etc. and just wanted to make sure everything was balanced and maybe eliminate some things that may not be needed, also yeast and probiotics were a main concern for me. His feeling was, once you dealt with the gut and metals, all of the other things would self correct. I knew if we were going to try ANYTHING with metals, it would be with someone in the top of the field. This man, while being fimiliar with the DAN treatments is not a DAN Physician, he is a pediatric DO specializing in allergies, and for the last 8 years, vitamins etc.

 

I so hope parents research and get very fimiliar with these treatments and the Physicians who oversee them if they plan to pursue it, as Andy and others have done. It is the only way to judge the risk/reward. The new Doc was heading to a place that I was not willing to go. He was very respectful of my opinion, and I think he can be of great help, but not involving chelating agents, which I personally do not feel are a completely necessary therapy at this time for my boys.

 

Kim

[efgh]

Thanks for all your responses.

 

Jean , my son is doing fine. I should say that he is virtually tic free. He is on his supplements still. He watches TV regularly. Hope things continue to be the same once he is back to school.

 

Chemar, nice to see your response.. As always , it was a useful one. How is your son doing?

 

 

Andy, what a valuable post!. Hope your son is doing fine now.

[Andy]

Thanks for the thanks. I hoped I had communicated that topic well since I have a cluttered mind right now. The thing that puzzles me the most about the ETDA treatments is that from everything I have read from the "experts" is that ETDA is great for taking out metals from the blood stream. I read one doctor from the San Diago Conference a few years back describe ETDA as a PAC MAN for it was found to gobble up metals in the blood stream. However that same doctor and many more all stated, wrote, etc... that ETDA is not effective for kids who have been exposed to the metal poisoning in the past for the heavy metals are now not in the blood as much as in the soft tissue, the bones, the fat cells, the gut, etc.. So based upon that I can not see ETDA even being used as the primary chelation agent. Only perhaps as an assistant detoxer to ensure that all the metals that are being pulled out by a DMSA or DMPS agent leave the body and not be re-aborsed. This is why I have to wonder about the doctors training in detoxing. Now why would a doctor do detoxing well anyone who has gone done the route of alternative medicine of detoxing knows it is costly and it is paid for the most part in cash so doctors do not have to go thru medical claims and wait for their money. As an ending note: Once again as a reminder to any potential readers, I am not a doctor nor do I claim to have the knowledge of one. However, I try to base all of my postings upon the "experts" research and findings that I have had come across over time.

 

I also would like to add again that I feel that some of the older kids may not need as drastic measures as I have wrote about. If one agrees that the vaccination shots were the primary cause of the damage then one would see that the older kids/adults may have had less exposure to the metals that those shots contained for they may have had less vaccination shots to begin with. Also if one looks at the explosion of cases in certain areas one also has to wonder if a child in that area might have gotton a bad dose from a tainted shipment. Let us not forget that one year the flu shot was cancelled from England for it was found to be tainted. Who knows how many bad shipments of any type of shot were shiped in the past without being tested for quailty control or were overlooked for profit? If this sounds a little off the wall just remember the phony data that the cigeratte companys produced for years and they are no way as big as the medical industry.