Medical Questions » Alternative Medicine Questions » Question No. 34
| Question: | I am 65 years of age, and my problems are controlled by tablets, but I don' t want to take them forever. Have you any information regarding ' chelation therapy' , which I would like to use to cure my high blood pressure, high cholesterol and coronary artery disease? |
| Answer: | The medical profession quite freely admits that it cannot cure all diseases, but patients often do not want to believe this, and sometimes have a far higher expectation of medical science than is reasonable.
Because of this, a few desperate people turn to the alternative forms of health care, where the words incurable and impossible are unknown.
One alternative therapy that pops up every few years is chelation.
Proponents of chelation claim that it will cure, or dramatically improve, everything from hardening of the arteries and strokes, to senility and cancer. It involves a series of 30 or more, three-hour-long intravenous injections of a chemical called EDTA.
The injections are undertaken only after a long and expensive series of high-technology investigations, that are designed more to impress the patient, than enlighten the naturopath.
The total cost of a course of chelation treatment may exceed $3000, and most of these ' clinics' demand cash in advance.
As well as the course of injections, treatment may include large doses of mineral supplements, vitamins, thyroid extract and hormones, all of which may have serious side effects.
EDTA is actually used in rare instances by doctors to treat heavy metal poisoning.
There is no scientific evidence that chelation therapy will achieve the numerous claims made for it. The claims are made by a skilful combination of accepted facts and reasonably accurate statements about theories concerning many diseases, interleaved with a subtle mixture of statements which are not supported by any scientific evidence.
Anyone contemplating undertaking a course of chelation therapy, or any other form of alternative treatment, would be well advised to discuss the matter further with their own general practitioner. |
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