August 2024

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Case of the month: Speech delay in 22-month-old

August 15, 2024webadmin Educational Videos Medical Articles Patient Stories Usefull info Links

A look at healing through lead detoxification

By: M. Kyu Chung MD

A 22-month-old boy presented to the office with severe eczema and speech delay. His mother noted that he barely spoke 9 words while his peers of the same age spoke two-word sentences.

He had severe eczema on his face and body.

History was pertinent that they lived in a house built before 1978.

Physical exam: revealed a slender toddler with moderately severe facial eczema.

Autonomic response testing (ART) revealed lead and nickel sensitivity.

He was treated with oral EDTA chelation and a low nickel diet. The video is a testimonial to his healing:

Over the past 20 years we have seen numerous patients with various neurological conditions recover and regain their function following chelation. In addition to this case, we have seen reversal of attention deficit disorder (ADD), and peripheral neuropathy when those individuals tested positive for lead before treatment.

Discussion:

Currently lead toxicity is poorly understood and poorly managed in conventional medicine. Most physicians do not understand how to best diagnose chronic lead toxicity. Even when lead toxicity is diagnosed or suspected, most experts do not realize that neurological damage from lead can be largely reversed.

There are misconceptions regarding lead toxicity.

Misconception #1: To test for lead toxicity, one should obtain serum lead levels.

The current method of diagnosing lead toxicity is by testing the blood for elevated lead (serum lead level). Unfortunately, when one has been exposed to lead contaminated food, water, or air (contaminated dust) the lead levels drop to normal levels within a brief period of time. Some of it is naturally excreted but some of it becomes deposited in your body in the extravascular compartment such as your organs, bone, and nervous system. When this happens, the lead does not remain in the blood and will not be detected through a serum blood test even though the lead may be causing health problems. ,

Misconception #2: Once neurological damage occurs from lead toxicity, little can be done to reverse the damage other than behavior enrichment programs.

EDTA chelation therapy has been shown to be effective at removing lead from the body, reducing symptoms of toxicity. Studies have shown that chelation therapy lowers blood lead levels and can improve verbal ability, memory and motor speed. We have found this to be true, not only in the video case presented above, but in many of our patients who were symptomatic of lead exposure.

Information for patients:

Any lead exposure is considered dangerous, so minimize risk of exposure.

To Decrease potential exposure to lead:

Consider having your home inspected by a lead inspector if your home was built before 1978 (to find lead inspectors please see: https://www.epa.gov/lead)
Consider having your water checked periodically
Renovate safely (For tips, suggestions and to find qualified contractors: https://www.epa.gov/lead)
Check products for lead including ceramic cookware, drinkware, and toys (please check out the Lead Safe Mama website for a wealth of information: Lead Safe Mama – Environmental Activist, Filmmaker, & Mother of Four Sons (tamararubin.com)

Message to physicians:

Having instructed medical students for the past 40 years, I am very aware that students are rarely taught about heavy metal toxins or other toxins. Just because you have never been taught or heard of treatments for heavy metal toxins does not mean that effective treatment does not exist. Since there is no toxicology physician specialty or training in traditional medicine, you must learn about heavy metal toxins on your own through conferences outside your own specialty.

The most common alternative method of diagnosing heavy metal toxicity is by performing a provocation heavy metal testing. This is a method by which one administers a set dosage of a chelating agent and measures the lead that is excreted from the urine. A chelating agent will attract and bind to the lead that is in the tissues and will get excreted out to the urine.

Pros to provocation testing:

Can detect heavy metals that are found outside the blood.
Gives an objective quantitative number that one can use to follow as treatment progresses.

Cons to provocation testing:

Sometime does not correlate with patient clinical status. E.g., individuals may have minimal symptoms and have elevated levels, or some individuals may have severe symptoms with minimal elevations.
Usually takes a specialized lab and takes up to 14 days to receive the results. Doctor’s Data does this testing.

At the Chung Institute we use a muscle testing method called Autonomic Response Testing (ART) developed by Dietrich Klinghardt, MD. We have found this testing to be the most clinically useful test. We often use provocation test following ART and have found them to show consistent results.

Pros to ART:

Can detect heavy metals that are found outside the blood.
We can obtain information as to whether that the toxin is in the area of disturbance. For example, an adult may show high levels in the feet and not in the head.
Results of the testing are immediate.

Cons to ART:

No objective number to follow or show to the patient.
Conventional medicine and even some Integrative Medicine practitioners do not recognize this method.
It is a skill that requires practice after taking course work to be able to trust the testing.

You can take coursework on ART through Dietrich Klinghardt, MD (What is A.R.T.? – Klinghardt Institute)

Those practitioners who are serious about learning how we manage this method are welcome to take a short preceptorship at our office.

Contact:

Brigid Bandomer: bbandomer@wonsookchungfoundation.org

Or Carolann Wileczek: cwileczek@gmail.com

1 professional, C. C. medical. (n.d.). Lead poisoning: Causes, symptoms, testing & prevention. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/11312-lead-poisoning

2 Sanders, T., Liu, Y., Buchner, V., & Tchounwou, P. B. (2009). Neurotoxic effects and biomarkers of lead exposure: A Review. Reviews on Environmental Health, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh.2009.24.1.15

3 Barbosa, F., Tanus-Santos, J. E., Gerlach, R. F., & Parsons, P. J. (2005). A critical review of biomarkers used for monitoring human exposure to lead: Advantages, limitations, and future needs. Environmental Health Perspectives, 113(12), 1669–1674. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.7917

4 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Lead exposure symptoms and complications. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/lead-prevention/symptoms-complications/index.html

5 World Health Organization. (n.d.). Lead poisoning. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health

6 Fulgenzi, A., Vietti, D., & Ferrero, M. E. (2020). EDTA chelation therapy in the treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases: An update. Biomedicines, 8(8), 269. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines8080269

7 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). About childhood lead poisoning prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/lead-prevention/about/index.html

8 Register for Webinars. Doctor’s Data Doctor’s Data Specialty Testing Clinical Laboratory | Doctor’s Data doctorsdata.com. (n.d.). https://www.doctorsdata.com/

9 What is A.R.T.? – klinghardt institute. Klinghardt Institute – Welcome to the Klinghardt Institute. (2024a, June 23). https://klinghardtinstitute.com/what-is-art/

Unknotting the Tension: Rapid Neck Relief

August 5, 2024bebando Uncategorized

Dr. Kevin Q. Ng

Have you ever woken up and felt like your neck was tight for no particular reason? If you said yes, I would not be surprised and in fact I would be surprised if you said no.

Chronic non-specific neck pain is a frequent complaint often attributed to myofascial pain. One study estimated the prevalence of myofascial pain as the chief complaint to be 30% in a primary care practice. . In our practice the prevalence is even higher affecting all levels of activity from professional athletes and fitness enthusiasts to sedentary and chronically immobile patients.

What is Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS)? It is a regional pain disorder caused by the presence of trigger points within muscles or their fascia. It has been described as “hyperirritable spots, usually within a taut band of skeletal muscle or in the muscle’s fascia that on compression can give rise to characteristic referred pain, tenderness, and autonomic phenomena” . The pain of MPS is of a deep aching quality, occasionally accompanied by a sensation of burning or stinging, or restricted active movement. A useful website to determine if these pain patterns are related to MPS is http://www.triggerpoints.net/.

In our recent post on Chronic Dizzyness we discussed briefly how different providers including chiropractors, osteopaths, physical therapists, massage therapists, body work experts, acupuncturists, prolotherapists, and neural therapists would approach myofascial dysfunction. I would like to highlight one of the modalities in trigger point release. Trigger point release is a manual therapy technique used to alleviate muscle pain and tension by releasing or softening muscle knots. I believe nearly all patients should be doing some form if not multiple modes of self-trigger point therapy. When these self-treatment modalities do not completely resolve the issue, or they seem to recur frequently this would warrant an evaluation. A systematic review and meta-analysis found that wet needling (injection therapy) was more effective than dry needling (solid needle therapy) for sustained relief in the neck and shoulders (3). In my experience the key to a successful trigger point injection is a hybrid technique with elicitation of a local twitch response followed by injection as demonstrated in this video. I believe the key to sustaining a trigger point release is a combination of neural therapy, trigger point release followed by acupuncture.

Information for physicians and health care providers:

Myofascial pain and trigger points are a common cause of neck stiffness and pain that may evolve into headaches, dizziness, numbness and weakness. Conservative management can include hydration with repletion of electrolytes, manual therapies, stress reduction and life style changes. When the above treatments are inadequate trigger point therapy is a simple and effective tool to consider.

1. Skootsky, S. A., Jaeger, B., & Oye, R. K. (1989). Prevalence of myofascial pain in general internal medicine practice. Western Journal of Medicine, 151(2), 157.

2. Simons DG, Travell JG, Simons LS. Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual, Vol. 1 – Upper Half of Body, 2nd Edition, Williams & Wilkins, 1998.

3. Liu, L., Huang, Q. M., Liu, Q. G., Ye, G., Bo, C. Z., Chen, M. J., & Li, P. (2015). Effectiveness of dry needling for myofascial trigger points associated with neck and shoulder pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 96(5), 944-955.