Misused Therapies
Chelation
Colonic Irrigation
Diets
Fish oil
Hypnotherapy
Leeches
Massage
Bee Venom
Oxygen
Vitamins
(1). Chelation Therapy (1/4)
If you have heavy metal intoxication from lead, arsenic or mercury, then the standard of care is the chelating agent DMSA. If you have been poisoned by a heavy metal, then this treatment can be life saving. It was developed during WWI to defend against the effects of poisonous gases that were being used on soldiers*. If you have not been poisoned with a heavy metal, then you have no reason to inject a chelating agent into your bloodstream.
Nevertheless, the placebo medicine industry found the idea of “cleansing” your entire system on such a grand scale to be too enticing to pass up. They conjured up the idea that calcium deposits in atherosclerotic arteries need to be chelated out in order to prevent heart attacks. They found a less toxic chelating agent called disodium EDTA for this purpose and they use it extensively.
Medical science studied this claim back in the -1950s and found it to be incorrect. Furthermore, the calcium level in your blood stream needs to stay within a fairly narrow range. Chelating calcium out can have serious consequences. For example, at least thirty people have died from the intravenous administration of disodium EDTA, most likely from hypocalcemia induced heart attacks.
Proponents of chelation therapy for coronary health were undaunted by reality. They grew this idea into an industry. Thus, it was re-studied in the -1990s and again found to be worthless. NCCAM is now in the process of spending fifty million tax payer dollars to study it again.
Talk about a government program that needs to be trimmed. Hey … Obama … Over here!
If you want to better understand the use of chelation therapy for heart disease, I refer you to this textbook:
Autism is the other major condition that placebo healers claim chelation cures. It was theorized for about five minutes back in the eighties or nineties that micro amounts of mercury exposure in vaccines might be etiologically related to autism. This turned out to be false but the chelation people latched on to the idea and began using disodium EDTA to treat autism.
Sadly, on Tuesday the twenty third of August, (2005), a five year old autistic boy named Abubakar Tariq Nadama died while being given an IV push of disodium EDTA in the office of Dr. Roy Eugene Kerry in Portersville, Pennsylvania. Dr. Kerry is a member of The American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM) which is an organization that has existed since (1973) for the expressed purpose of promoting chelation therapy.
It was later falsely claimed by ACAM that Abubakar’s death was a case of one doctor making a mistake and using the wrong chelation drug. They said, “This death was not due to the appropriate use of disodium EDTA.”
However, the only chelating agent that Dr. Kerry had purchased was disodium EDTA. The only one that ACAM reccomends is disodium EDTA. Dr. Kerry is a member in good standing of ACAM. Finally, the coroner’s report states that the boy’s death was directly due to the use of a chelating agent.
Since the mercury-autism connection theory would not die a quite death, it was recently re-studied. This time by a chemist who is also the father of an autistic child. He buys into the mercury theory and wanted to prove it but he is also a good and objective scientist. He was interviewed by NBC in (2006).
Part II
Adam’s well done study is now complete. Despite his clear desire to find a link between mercury and autism, he simply did not. I can appreciate that this scientist was able to remain critically objective but I would argue that it would have been considerably more helpful to children with autism if the good scientist had actually studied something that was worth studying.
Dr. Paul Offit is chief of infectious disease at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. He is also a good scientist but, unlike Mr. Adams, he has learned how to avoid the distinctly human quality of being intelligently illogical. If you watched the Adam’s video you should watch this one with Dr. Offit. It might restore a little confidence in my profession.
VIDEO: Autism’s False Prophets
*As a footnote, my grandfather inhaled mustard gas in WWI and lost a lung. His life was saved by the chelating agent DMSA. If it were not for chelation therapy, there would be no Dr. Levy.
(2). Colonic Irrigation (1/4)
I must admit that I am scheduled to undergo colonic irrigation at on Wednesday. It is not something I am looking forward to.
My father died prematurely at age fifty-three due to colon cancer. Therefore, I consume Activia® yogurt, which contains Bifidus Regularis™, on a daily basis so that my colon stays healthy. I also get a colonoscopy every five years in order to prevent becoming another colon cancer statistic like my father. Much to my chagrin, I just turned forty-five so it is “clean out the poop shoot” time once again.
The last time I did this my ex-wife accompanied me. She says that after the procedure, when I was under the influence of fentanyl, I was particularly amorous towards her. This was frustrating for me considering the amount of money she had recently cost me and how angry I was at her.
Colonic irrigation is a standard procedure in medicine. It is used prior to surgery or a colonoscopy. A routine enema is also a standard procedure. It is used to relieve constipation. There are numerous solutions that can be placed in your colon for such purposes. These procedures are fairly safe but can have serious complications. For example, you would not want to use the wrong solution in the wrong patient.
Unfortunately, putting a solution in your anus is not considered to be a medical procedure. Anyone can do it anytime and anywhere. You can even put anything that you can think of in the solution. Chiropractors have been doing “high colonics” for years and claiming all sorts of medical benefits.
The theories generally center on the idea that your colon is unclean and, therefore, it needs to be cleaned. The fact that it contains a lot of shit notwithstanding, it does not need to be cleaned. In fact, the studies on this go all the way back to the (1920)s. Way back then it was conclusively shown that colonic irrigation was unnecessary.
The next time someone tells you that your Chiropractor will be giving you a load of shit, tell them, “No, I will be giving him a load of shit.”
In case you didn’t think that an enema could kill you, check this out:
(3). Diets (3/3)
Does anyone remember these words; “You should eat a balanced diet including the four basic food groups.”
I learned that in kindergarten and guess what? It’s still accurate.
There are some additional things to remember that will make your diet a little healthier. You should probably try to minimize fat, cholesterol, sodium, and sugar which translated means only one Twinkie per week.
That’s it! There isn’t much else to know in regards to eating right.
Oh, sure, fish oil is good and fiber is reasonable and yogurt has its advantages and too much beer is probably bad but if you eat a balanced diet that includes all four food groups you will be fine.
So, why all the diet craze?
The basic idea is a bit of neurotic thinking in regards to the old cliché, “You are what you eat.”
If that were true, then I would surely be a DING DONG. OK, maybe that’s evidence for its veracity but let’s not go there.
Actually, I eat oatmeal every day because the balance of my good and bad cholesterol is teetering on the brink of disaster. I also eat Activia® yogurt and a banana on a daily basis for good colonic health. That and about fifteen hundred Suzie Qs would be the official Dr. Levy diet.
The idea of becoming what you consume has created a cottage industry. If you want to be this, then eat that. If you want to be that, then eat this. There are so many diets that are marketed to make you be what you want to be that it’s ridiculous. Since everyone wants to be healthy, there is no shortage of medicinal diets.
Dr. Johanna Budwig says that if you eat organic flax seed oil & cottage cheese together they will stimulate each other to work and will prevent cancer, arteriosclerosis, strokes, cardiac infarction, and pretty much everything else.
Rev. George Malkmus says that if you follow the Genesis (1:29) diet of raw fruits and vegetables and drink a lot of carrot juice, then the cancer that is growing inside you will simply go away.
Dr. Max Gerson says that if you consume an abundance of nutrients from thirteen fresh organic juices every day you will provide your body with a super dose of enzymes, minerals, and nutrients. This will heal cancer, arthritis, heart disease, allergies, and many other degenerative diseases.
A particularly poignant observation is that in America our poor people are fat. I think this was said in a derogatory way but the truth is that we are the best nourished society in the history of the world. The simple fact that we can sit around and complain that eating too many hamburgers can be a bad thing is incredible.
(4). Fish oil (snake oil) (4/4)
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) lists three conditions for which fish oil and other omega-3 sources are most highly recommended:
(1). Increased triglycerides
(2). Cardiovascular disease prevention
(3). High blood pressure.
To obtain this benefit you can either consume a -300mg supplement that contains both docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) three times per day and/or eat fish at least twice per week.
As it turns out my orthodox fiancé eats fish on Wednesday and Friday every week. I wonder how the eighth century Christians figured this out. Perhaps, there is a God. You think?
If there is a God, then why does he want us to stay alive and not come visit him. Oh, I understand.
If you recall from chapter one, the Chinese water snake called Erabu is the richest known source of Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in nature. I suggested to my fiancé that we eat some Erabu this Wednesday. She said, “But, that’s a snake?”
I said, “Yeah, but it’s a water snake.”
She said, “We are supposed to eat fish.”
I said, “Well, technically, orthodoxy requires us to eat fish that have open circulatory systems such as shell fish. You usually eat salmon. So, why can’t we eat Erabu?”
She said, “But, that’s a snake.”
I breathed heavy and looked at the ground and said, “uuuuuuuuu.”
It is easier to win an argument if you are not being logical. Humans have learned to be intelligently illogical. My fiancé is a much better human than I am.
Leave it to me to perfect the art of calling my woman an idiot in a way that makes her feel complimented.
Now, what does fish oil not do?
There is some reasonable evidence that it helps with infant eye / brain development, inflammation, and Rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Everything else is highly questionable. It probably does not help with asthma, dementia, ADHD, bipolar disorder, cancer, cystic fibrosis, epilepsy, lupus, osteoporosis, stroke, psoriasis, schizophrenia, or diabetes. Interestingly, this list was compiled from an ad created by a company that markets Omega-3 supplements.
(5). Hypnotherapy (4/5)
I am actually an approved consultant in clinical hypnotherapy. I spent several weekends and around one-hundred fifty hours of continuing medical education (CME) credits to attend the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH).
As proof of my skill I would like to point out that as you are reading these words you are getting sleepier and sleepier … am I wrong?
OK, bad writing is not the same as clinical hypnotherapy.
As I explained in chapter two, hypnotherapy is a procedure in which a patient voluntarily gives up his or her personal autonomy to follow a therapist’s instruction. The idea is to facilitate the patient to do something they wanted to do but couldn’t under normal conditions. It is a collaborative endeavor and it is impossible to force the patient to do something they don’t want to do.
The appropriate applications for hypnotherapy include temporary analgesia, insomnia, sub-acute depression, mild anxiety, and psychosomatic illness. In addition, it can be a useful adjunct for anything an individual wants to do very badly but is having a hard time doing such as smoking cessation. It isn’t an automatic treatment but if the individual genuinely wants to quit smoking it can help.
The problem with hypnotherapy is that most people believe ridiculous explanations of how and why it works. They end up thinking that it does all kinds of things that it simply does not do. There is also a magical quality to it that charlatans exploit.
The most interesting aspect of hypnotherapy is its action as a non-pharmacologic intervention. You can hypnotize an individual and suggest that their arm goes numb. Then, you can take a picture of their brain with a positron emission tomography (PET) scan. You will see areas of the brain that are involved in pain management become activated. There is a similar effect with opioid painkillers.
This effect may be the same with hormones and immune agents but these studies are more difficult to conduct.
(6). Leech Therapy (3/5)
You probably thought that the reason doctors were called “leeches” had to do with their relationship to your pocketbook. However, for hundreds of years the use of medicinal leeches was very popular and it was for this reason that the moniker stuck.
Galen, in his infinite second century wisdom, determined that there were four “humors” in the body that needed to be in balance. These were blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. Following this logic it made sense that too much blood in the body was a bad thing. Therefore, bleeding became a popular medical treatment.
Leeches were soon found to be ideal for this purpose. At least they were somewhat safer than the older “opening of an artery” technique.
Through the end of the 19th century leech therapy was seen as standard medicine. It was against this kind of treatment that the patent medicines were being compared. Can you understand why snake oil might have sounded nicer than a blood-sucking leech?
Leeches fell out of favor for about one-hundred years and I bet you thought this therapy was dead and buried. Not so fast my young weed-hopper. As Stephen King would say, “Theeeeeeeere’re baaaa…ack.”
A surgeon back in the (1980)s was attempting to repair a severed ear on a five year old boy. He could not get the microvasculature to cooperate. Then, he got an idea. How about applying a leech?
It worked and it created an entire industry of leech therapy for vascular and micro-vascular surgery. Medicinal leeches provide an effective means to reduce blood coagulation and relieve venous pressure from pooling blood. In reconstructive surgery they work to stimulate circulation in reattachment operations for organs with critical blood flow such as eye lids, fingers, and ears.
In June (2004), the FDA cleared the first application for leeches (Hirudo medicinalis) to be used in modern medicine as medical devices.
You can now go on-line and purchase high quality medicinal leeches at:
When a leech bites you it injects an anticoagulant called hirudin and an analgesic. Then, it sucks at exactly the correct rate to delicately prevent damage. After it drops off it leaves the hirudin and other chemicals which entice the damaged microvascular system to re-establish adequate circulation.
Medical engineers have even built a mechanical leech that injects heparin. This device should be FDA approved relatively soon.
Wow! I bet you didn’t know all that.
In fact, leech therapy should not even be in this book. Placebo medicine providers no longer use it extensively and it has a sound and rational place in modern medicine. Of course, now that regular medicine is using it again I bet the placebo folks latch back on to it. Sorry for the pun on the word “latch.”
(7). Massage Therapy (4/5)
When I was a resident physician my friend Chip and I went on a ski trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico. We met up with the family that lived next door to Chip when he was growing up. They own a condo in Santa Fe and invited us to dinner. The daughter is good looking and when we were growing up she was literally “the girl next door.”
Yeah, Chip did her once but that’s a different story.
In any case, she brought her Santa Fe boy friend to dinner and I found myself sitting across from him.
Santa Fe tends to be a place that is on the fringe of medical science. Pretty much all the stuff I’m talking about in this book can be bought there.
This guy took a peculiar interest in me and he said, “I know that you’re a psychiatrist.”
I was trying to make casual conversation so I said, “Yes I am … and what line of work are you in?”
This was the question he was enticing me to ask. It pleased him very much that I asked it. He answered, “I’m a massage therapist.”
I said, “Oh, that’s great. Do you work in a hospital?”
He made a sarcastic grin and said, “No.”
I said, “Oh, well, do you treat patients with physical injury?”
He said, “No.”
I said, “Do you have your own clinic?”
He said, “We treat emotional conditions.”
I don’t know why I tend to think the best in people even when it is starting to be obviously not true. I said, “Oh, people who are stressed and need to relax?”
He said, “No.”
I said, “OK, then what is it you do exactly?”
He said, “We don’t believe in organized psychiatry. We think that all mental and emotional conditions can be successfully treated through the ancient art of massage therapy.”
As a psychiatrist I have learned that there comes a point in a conversation when you should stop talking.
He meandered on for quite some time talking about how horrible psychiatric medications are and how beautiful and safe his treatments can be. He related case histories of individuals who were abused by regular doctors. He went on to tell how these individuals came to him and were saved.
I smiled and pretended to be interested and told him I would love to learn more about it. If he detected my sarcasm, he did not let on. I never saw him again.
Massage therapy is a fabulous way to sooth aching and strained muscles. I know from experience that deep tissue massage does wonders for the muscle spasms that are frequently associated with MS. I participate in the annual BIKE MS which is a one-hundred fifty mile fund raising ride. When I arrive at the end point on the first day, I gladly pay the thirty dollars for a deep tissue massage. It is an orgasmic experience that I always look forward to.
Massage therapy can also help relieve stress and anxiety. Muscle tension headache pain can be relieved and it can even help with self-esteem. It can relieve ordinary mild depression but not real medical depression. Of course, serious psychopathology such as Schizophrenia can’t be helped with massage therapy either.
Massage therapy can not cure cancer or Aids.
It could possibly increase the body’s immune system to help you be generally healthier but only through its effect as a non-pharmacologic intervention. However, as a non-pharmacologic intervention it may be quite potent. The direct touch tends to heighten the placebo effect.
Massage therapy can also improve your love making sessions. It is an opportunity to show your lover how unselfish you are. My fiancé frequently makes this argument in vain.
(8). Bee Venom Therapy (1/4)
Apitherapy is the medical use of any honey bee product. Bee Venom Therapy is the injection of the venom from the stinger of a honey bee. The idea is this; if you get hit in the shoulder by a ninety-mph fastball, then sticking a needle in your butt will make you forget all about your shoulder pain.
Actually, the theory is that a bee sting will stimulate your immune system to produce activating immune agents to attack the venom. This increased immune response will be non-specific and it will attack other pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, or fungi. Then, immune de-activating agents such as cortisone will be produced that reduce the immune response so the swelling will subside.
Of course, bee-venom therapy is purported to treat every illness known to man but the illnesses it is most famous for treating are auto-immune conditions. These conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or multiple sclerosis (MS) are not associated with a weakened immune system. They result from an over-active immune system and they are aseptic meaning that there are no pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, or fungi present.
According to this theory, bee-venom therapy would have to produce an increased immune response that does not worsen the auto-immune disease then produce a decreased immune response that treats it. This is possible but unlikely.
For example, all current treatments for MS are treatments that purely decrease specific immune activity. There are no treatments that increase and then decrease general immune function. The general immune modulators like cortisone are only effective for symptomatic relief. They do not change the underlying disease course.
Unfortunately for the Apitherapy community, bee-venom was demonstrated to be ineffective for RA over forty years ago and more recently a very good study in the journal Neurology has shown it to be ineffective for MS.
Despite a poorly reasoned theory of action and negative results in controlled trials, you can go on-line and find a booming Bee Venom therapy industry. They even have their own journal.
Journal of ApiProduct and ApiMedical Science
The really bad news is that bee-venom therapy carries a significant risk of death. Approximately two percent of people have allergic reactions to bee stings. The problem is that it could take multiple stings to worsen this reaction to the point of causing anaphylactic shock. You may not die on sting number one through forty-nine but number fifty might just do the trick.
A person who’s having a severe reaction to a bee sting may develop hives on the skin and swelling around the eyes, lips, throat, and tongue. He or she may vomit, slur spoken words, show signs of mental confusion, and even struggle to breathe. Soon the person may lose consciousness. These are signs of anaphylactic shock, a condition that can be fatal if not treated quickly. If you notice these signs, call -911 right away.
Anyone undergoing bee-venom therapy should have a bee sting kit handy. The kit should include a syringe and a dose of epinephrine (also known as adrenaline). It’s also a good idea for a beginner to get a single “test sting” on the knee or forearm before undergoing a full bee barrage.
Also, bee sting therapy should not be used by people with insulin-dependent diabetes, syphilis, gonorrhea, tuberculosis or severe allergies.
Melittin is the principal active component of bee venom and is a powerful stimulator of phospholipase A-2. Melittin also exhibits potent anti-microbial activity. Therefore, it is not inconceivable that bee-venom might find a medicinal use in the future. It might be effective for a specific infectious disease such as Lyme’s disease or as a general anti-inflammatory similar to ibuprofen. However, it won’t alter the underlying course of any auto-immune disease and it is not currently indicated for anything.
(9). Oxygen therapy (4/4)
The ambient air is only twenty percent oxygen (02) so it is often advantageous to breathe one-hundred percent (02) in order to better oxygenate your blood stream. People with asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, occupational lung disease, lung cancer, cystic fibrosis, or congestive heart failure may use (02) therapy at home.
Football players from teams like the Raiders, who are pussies, may need (02) therapy when they visit Invesco Field at Mile High here in Denver.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is the medical use of oxygen at a pressure that is higher than atmospheric pressure. It successfully treats embolism, CO-2 poisoning, gas gangrene, acute traumatic ischemia, decompression sickness, difficult wounds, anemia, intracranial abscess, necrotizing fasciitis, osteomyelitis, soft tissue and bony necrosis, compromised skin grafts, thermal burns, diabetic foot, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic nephropathy, epidural abscess, certain kinds of hearing loss, radiation-induced hemorrhagic cystitis, and inflammatory bowel disease. It may also treat Lyme disease, stroke and migraines.
All other purposes of oxygen therapy are bogus.
One study back in (1983) suggested that HBOT might improve MS but numerous other studies demonstrated that this was not true. In addition to not treating MS, oxygen therapy also does not treat cancer, AIDS, atherosclerotic heart disease, rheumatic disease or any other illness not specified above.
Ozone (03) can be dangerous and is unproven to treat any condition. Injecting oxygen subcutaneously or IV does nothing. Oxygenating blood and returning it to the bloodstream is pointless. Oxygenating water and giving someone an enema is just plain stupid.
Despite the fact that these more bizarre types of oxygen treatments do nothing you can visit an entire hospital in Malaysia dedicated to them.
The Malaysian Ozone Hospitals.
If you go to this website be sure to watch the video of an (03) injection into an actual abdominal tumor.
(10). Vitamins (3/3)
There are thirteen essential vitamins (eight B-vitamins, A, C, D, E, and K) that the body can’t produce and, therefore, needs to acquire endogenously. Certainly, specific deficiencies can cause illness that is treatable by replacement therapy. However, a normal diet will provide ample amounts of all vitamins.
There is no evidence that any form of daily vitamin supplementation is necessary for a normal healthy adult.
The argument that mega-doses of vitamins would provide additional benefit is not correct. We need to have adequate amounts of vitamins but high doses are either pointless at best or harmful at worst.
When a particular vitamin is deleted from the diet it takes months or even years for you to become deficient.
Ironically, vitamin supplementation is the number one most purchased form of CAM therapy in this country. I think that it is popular because it’s relatively cheap and easy to obtain without seeing any type of health care provider. It’s also seen as totally safe but that may not always be true.
Nature Made is a site where you can purchase any vitamin you want. You can also see all the claims that are made.
If you want to know whether or not you should be taking vitamins or any other supplements you should go to Quackwatch and read: Dietary Supplements: Appropriate Use
Register to receive notification of new content.