You may have never heard of chelation therapy, but if you have a need for it, you will want to know more about it and what it can do for you. Chelation therapy is a doctor’s way of administering chelating agents to your body in order to remove heavy metals. This type of therapy has a long history of use in toxicology trials and the most common form used removed heavy metals like lead, mercury, or arsenic. It is also a good option to treat lead poisoning in children, but it can even be used as an alternative medicine source alongside normal, conventional medicine fields.
There has been no medical research done on using chelation therapy for anything other than removing heavy metals from a human body. Over the counter products that feature chelation are unapproved by the FDA and violate federal laws since they make claims they cannot prove. There are currently no approved over the counter chelation products.
Chelating agents first came onto the medical scene when they were used to combat poison gas during the First World War. The first widely used compound was created as an antidote to poison gas, but some of the early forms have severe side effects. After World War II, some navy personnel had a great deal of lead poisoning issues because of their jobs painting ship hulls. The medical use of chelating agents was introduced to combat that particular type of poisoning and the side effects of that medication were not as severe as earlier versions.
By the 1960s, the chelating agents were modified even further and they had even fewer side effects. The standard agent became the best treatment for poisoning including lead, mercury, or arsenic products. Even more effective agents came onto the scene during that time as well.
Since the 1970s, the therapies have also been used for alternative reasons such as to treat iron storages in people with certain diseases. There have been even more discoveries of chelating agents, but they all function using chemical bonds along with the metal ions. This reaction makes the chemicals less dangerous and more water-soluble so they can exit the bloodstream in a harmless manner.
Some of the chelating agents have been approved by the FDA to be used for lead and other heavy metal toxicity issues, though not as over the counter medications. The agents are generally administered intravenously, but they can also be taken orally, depending on the agent and the type of poisoning that is in effect. Patients need to be medically diagnosed with having heavy metal poisoning before they get an administration of the chelating agent. The drugs will then bind to the heavy metals and help them to exit the body without causing too much harm.
