When David Graham, drug safety reviewer for the FDA, could no longer stay silent about the lethal side effects of Vioxx, the house of cards started to fold. But it isn’t just the FDA’s house -- or even just the drug companies’ -- that you hear crashing down around us. It’s the very medical system that spawned them.

Smart doctors will understand that Graham is not the turncoat the FDA makes him out to be, but the canary in the coalmine. My hope is that their underlying passion for healing -- the very thing that led most of them to medical school -- can be rekindled. But first, they must come to terms with the impact of the pharmaceutical force-feeding they have undergone which, for many, effectively extinguished their urge to truly heal and understand the body.

The weaning won’t be easy. Most doctors have been courted with free trips to exotic locations, free dinners to exclusive restaurants -- I know one who was given a credit card with a $500 limit to use however he wanted. While it seems obvious to those of us outside the profession that this is blatant bribery, to many of them it is an expected norm -- an acceptable perk of the profession.

The problem is, if you were a doctor, who would you rather face down, the complaining patient in your office or the drug rep passing out thousands of dollars of goodies every year?

Add into this equation the set-up of direct-to-consumer advertising for drugs that end with the tagline: “See your doctor to find out if [this drug] could be right for you.”

Let’s face it, health care is a $1.55 trillion a year business -- it represents 15 percent of our national economy. And doctors are sitting squarely in the middle of what is bound to be a very long, ugly dismantling of a dangerous and broken system.

All that being said, I have sympathy for them -- really, I do. I think most doctors entered their profession for pure and admirable reasons and got tainted along the way. And I think with our support, many of them could very well return to their early idealism. But in this case, our support needs to look a little more like tough love. It means asking them the hard questions, starting with “What drugs are safe and how do you know?” Or better yet, “What can I take if I don’t want to take pharmaceuticals at all any more?”

We should ask more of our doctors, share more information with them, and push them to discover how they might practice medicine beyond pharmaceuticals. Thanks to Dr. Wright and his pioneering colleagues, we know it’s possible. So don’t be afraid to demand more. When the last card falls, and your doctor is still standing, I believe he will thank you.

Grab and go

Q:  I’ve recently suffered a heart attack and a friend is encouraging me to consider chelation therapy. He’s had great results and says it saved him from heart surgery. Can you tell me more about it and how it works?

JVW:  Many doctors, including myself, find chelation therapy to be a safe and effective treatment for vascular problems. Over the years it has saved many thousands from having to undergo surgery. 

Chelation is literally the process of one molecule “grabbing” another. It happens continually in the human body. For example, when you eat, amino acids bind with minerals in the digestive tract so they can be absorbed into the blood stream. Chelation therapy simply takes this natural process one step further to remove unwanted or harmful mineral or metal substances from the body.

There are several forms of chelation therapy, and the best approach is to work with a physician to determine which would be best for your condition. The more rapid method of chelation is by intravenous injection. This is done in an outpatient setting and requires a couple of hours per session. There are also oral forms that come in liquid or pills and can be purchased at health food stores or on-line. Overall, the oral form acts more slowly but has the advantages of convenience and cost. Generally this method is preferable for those with less severe symptoms or who desire long-term health maintenance.

To find a doctor near you who administers chelation therapy, contact the American College for Advancement in Medicine (800-532-3688, 949-583-7666, www.acam.org).  

What is…EDTA?

The primary substance used in chelation therapy is called ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetic acid, or EDTA. It was developed in the 1950’s to treat lead poisoning, which occurred often in workers who used lead-based paints or who had frequent contact with batteries. Patients who received EDTA for lead poisoning also demonstrated improved circulation and many doctors started expanding their use of EDTA for vascular conditions as well.

EDTA is approved by the FDA—although only for lead and heavy metal toxicity. But over 500,000 patients have safely and effectively used EDTA with beneficial results. The National Institutes of Health have recently undertaken a large clinical trial on EDTA chelation therapy for coronary artery disease that is scheduled to run through 2008.

Yours in good health,

Amanda Ross

Managing Editor

Nutrition & Healing

Sources:

Olszewer E, Carter JP. “EDTA Chelation Therapy in Chronic Degenerative Disease,” Medical Hypotheses 1998; 27(1):41-49

Olszewer E, Sabbag FC, Carter JP. “A pilot double-blind study of sodium-magnesium EDTA in peripheral vascular disease,” J Natl Med Assoc 1990; 82(3): 173-177