Astrid Stewart, astridstew@rogers.com

by Astrid Stewart
(Miramichi, NB, Canada)

I'd like to share the following with readers that may consider chelation therapy: I got the worst headache of my life from this chelation therapy and the wound in my neck hurt quite intensely too, and I didn't know what was coming over me. Putting two and two together I realized only the chelation therapy could have done that. So, I did some research on chelation therapy and this is what I found out. ----
1. Dr. Hamer, an oncologist and founder of German New Medicine(GNM)stated, "If intra-venous fluids are administered during this critical phase, the swelling in the brain increases, which can exacerbate an already serious situation."

2. On WIKIPEDIA under Chelation Therapy – Side Effects – it states the following:
There is a low occurrence of side effects when chelation is used at the dose and infusion rates approved by the U.S. FDA as a treatment for heavy metal poisoning. A burning sensation at the site of delivery into the vein is common. Other side effects include fever, headache, nausea, stomach upset, vomiting, convulsions, bone marrow depression (dropping blood cell counts), a drop in blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmias, respiratory arrest, and hypocalcemia. Other concerns include kidney failure, which can require permanent life-limiting and expensive dialysis, or cause death. (I was not warned of any of this.)

3. Also on WIKIPEDIA under Chelation – Heavy Metal Detoxification - it says the following:
Chelation therapy is the use of chelating agents to detoxify poisonous metal agents such as mercury, arsenic, and lead by converting them to a chemically inert form that can be excreted without further interaction with the body, and has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1991. Chelation is also used as a scientifically unsupported, dangerous, and occasionally deadly treatment for autism. Chelating agents have been supplied to patients by practitioners of 'alternative medicine' prior to urine tests to help elevate the levels of heavy metals in the blood to one which they can then claim is unsafe (and could be, for a patient who had not taken the chelating agent), justifying the application of scientifically unproven treatments.
Though they can be beneficial in cases of heavy metal poisoning, chelating agents can also be dangerous. The U.S. CDC reports that use of disodium EDTA instead of calcium EDTA has resulted in fatalities due to hypocalcemia.

4. I also looked up other reports on chelation therapy which were mostly controversial. If I had known what I know now before starting the therapy I’d not have agreed to taking it.

I also found out that chelation therapy depletes the vitamin C household and therefore a patient has to go back for Vitamin C treatment after the chelation treatment - so, where does it all end??? The therapy is quite costly and I feel they're into this for the big bucks alone.

I feel people ought to be made aware of this. My Naturopath doctor only told me when I asked about side effects that I might get a slight flu-like feeling which would pass.

Please pass on the information. - Astrid