Tomorrow, November 11 from 11 am to 2 pm, I will be at the Senior Expo at Gottschalks in the Santa Rosa Coddingtown Mall.  I will be measuring blood pressures and explaining the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, homeopathy, herbs and limiting the use of conventional medicines.  Stop bye and say hello.

Best, Michael Carlston, M.D.
www.carlstonmd.com

Chelation has been a very controversial topic in medicine for decades.  A new study might have cast some light on a good use for the therapy.  Chronic renal (kidney) disease is associated with elevated body lead levels.  Although this is not thought to be the cause of the problem, the progressively higher levels that develop as the kidneys fail, led Taiwanese researchers to conduct a study to see if lowering the blood lead levels by chelation would improve kidney function.  They chose 64 patients with renal insufficiency (under performing kidneys) who had normal body lead levels and treated them with IV chelation or a placebo infusion periodically over 2 years.  The patients receiving placebo had their kidney function continue to decline as is usual.  Those treated with chelation not only did not decline, they actually improved their kidney function.  If confirmed this could be a very important discovery potentially benefiting millions of patients.

While we are on the topic of lead, our concern is growing as we learn more about its effects on children at doses previously thought to be harmless.  I remember learning in my training that a blood level of 50 was a problem and that maybe 25 wasn1t good for a child.  My patient population was prone to lead problems because of their housing and unfortunately also the use of a traditional medicine that contained lead.  As time went by we started to worry that levels as low as 10 could cause developmental problems (ADD and lowered IQ scores).  Two recent studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed ill effects below that level.  Girls with lead levels at 3 or above had delayed onset of puberty.  As blood lead levels increased from 1 to 10 average I.Q. scores dropped by over 7 points.

We really have to do a better job of minimizing our damage to the environment.  After all it is OUR environment and iwe have to live in whatever mess we make of it.  There is no where else to go.

More soon!

Best,

Michael Carlston, M.D.