With traditional methods of bypass surgery and angioplasty offering no permanent solutions,more and more people are exploring Chelation Therapy What started off as a means to cleanse battle-hardened soldiers of various forms of heavy metal poisoning from their bodies,during the second world war has now moved on to become the new name in non-invasive heart surgery,involving as little as two hours of a patient's time,twice or thrice a week,for about 30-40 sittings. Welcome to the new world of non-invasive heart surgery or Chelation Therapy. Dr Mehli Nazir,who has been practicing this form of treatment for curing patients says,"Chelation therapy has been around since the second world war,when the British army would use Dimercaprol,a chelating agent to treat soldiers for heavy metal poisoning. We,however,make use of EDTA (Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetate) a synthetic amino acid that is injected intravenously into the patient's body using a tiny needle. It is basically a process of removing undesirable ionic elements,which are known as free radicals,which are responsible for various degenerative processes in the body. This therapy is a comprehensive therapeutic programme for the treatment of arteriosclerosis (blockages within an artery)." Soli Paymaster,a 68-year-old man who has successfully tried this form of medication says,"I suffered from a serious heart attack when I was driving my car some months back. When I was taken to the hospital,the cardiologists there immediately sent me in for an angioplasty. I had a stent fitted into the artery but three months later I was found running short of breath and was feeling drowsy and breathless. When I went to the hospital,they discovered a fully blocked left artery and asked me to go in for a bypass surgery. Not wanting to do that,I went in for this method of medication. Forty sittings later,I was feeling much better and I have regained my normal strength. Also,I have not experienced any side effects till date." The EDTA mainly functions as a means of rebalancing and removing metal ions from the body. Explaining the process further Dr Nazir says,"A majority of patients who have opted for Chelation over traditional methods such as bypass have found themselves without their usual symptoms within a short period of time. A majority of patients who have entered EDTA Chelation therapy over the years are those dealing with serious health issues related to the heart or heavy metal toxicity. Most of the time it was found that traditional medicine was slow,unpredictable,and often yielded results that were unclear when it came to determining the level of effectiveness. In Chelation though,not only have there been positive results but also a feel good factor associated with it." Ebrahim Chaney a 66-year-old man who has recently finished this treatment says,"I was suffering from Diabetes,which had lead to problems like low blood pressure. Also I started having pain in my hip joint. When I went to the doctor,it was learnt that the blood vessels supplying blood to the hip joint had been blocked. After a lot of consultation and research,I went in for Chelation therapy. After having completed 48 sittings till now,I have almost been fully cured." "The sessions can cost anywhere between Rs 1500-3000 per sitting. A patient needs to have about 40 sittings over a 20-week period,and another 10 sittings over a 10-week period. The dosage must be accurate and it must be carried out under a simulated environment. As the treatment is economically viable,more and more patients are coming forward and accepting this form of therapy," says Dr Nazir on a concluding note.
