JULY 6, 2011 I AM GRATEFUL FOR NO MORE METALS

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others." - Cicero

Are you grateful? How many people do you know who are actually grateful? Today I know many grateful individuals, mainly those from my 12 step fellowship. I do not know if the average individual outside of a 12 step program is grateful. What do you measure gratitude by? When asking many individuals what are they grateful for, the topic of health is usually in the top five. Yes you should be grateful for your health. My gratitude is endless. I am grateful for the simple things in life. I am grateful for the sun, the soil, and the plants. We usually take for granted the water and electricity, except when there is a black out (NY 1964,1977,2003).

Expand your gratitude. Make a list of what you are grateful for. Are you grateful for the spiritual gifts you have received throughout your life? At the end of the day, a list allows you to count your blessings. Pray for those less fortunate. I am truly grateful to be in a 12 step program that I use throughout my day, every day. I never thought I would say this but I am grateful that I am a recovering addict in a program. I wonder where I would be if I was not in a 12 step program. I do know I wouldn't be here writing this blog.

Heavy metal intoxication is a real disease. Today I see many individuals with high serum and provocative urine levels of mercury due to ingestion of fish and sushi. I also see toxic levels of serum aluminum in patients who use underarm antiperspirant, certain make-up, and aluminum pans. I even had a couple with high aluminum levels from ingesting coffee made in their new cappuccino maker.

I usually treat heavy metals using a variety of supplements, herbs and medicine. The medicine is EDTA or DMSA. Both are considered chelators. Chelate in Greek means to 'grab onto'. Certain chelators are used for certain toxic metals. Chelators not only remove the bad substances but also the good minerals like calcium, iron, manganese, selenium et al.

I use different herbs to chelate the metals. These include cilantro, parsley, curcuma and ginger.

Until recently I did not think of homeopathy as a means of removing metals from the body. There have been double blind studies in 2005 and 2011 using a homeopathic remedy, Arsenicum album 200C. I thought the markers for toxicity would be the actual toxic metals as mercury (Hg) lead (Pb), arsenic (As), aluminum (Al) and cadmium (Cd). Instead liver markers and enzymes were used as markers of toxicity. Those who used this homeopathic remedy were found to be in better health and had lower markers after 1 and 2 years.

Another lab used another homeopathic remedy, Cadmium Sulphoricum 30 and Cadmium Sulphoricum 200 to show less toxicity. This lab used different markers. The conclusion is that I can now widen my treatment protocols to include homeopathy in the treatment of metal detoxification. I do believe more studies need to be done with a wider variety of homeopathic remedies.

I am grateful that I have come to respect different modalities for treatment of disease.

Until tomorrow...