Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Chelation Therapy - Your Solution To High Blood Pressure

By Anju Mathur, MD

Blood pressure has two measurements - systolic, which is pressure of blood against artery walls when the heart pumps, and diastolic, which is pressure when the heart is at rest. When blood pressure is higher than--0/90 that is considered high blood pressure or hypertension. Normal blood pressure is 120/80 or lower. High blood pressure occurs because the flow of blood encounters resistance in the arteries.

High blood pressure is called "the silent killer," because there are no symptoms and often people do not know they have it, although one in three American adults have high blood pressure. As the heart beats harder to force blood through the arteries, the heart itself increases in size and that means less efficiency. If high blood pressure is not handled, it can cause damage to kidneys and other delicate tissues as well as increase risk of heart attack and stroke.

Calcium, cholesterol and various minerals can form deposits inside blood vessels, making them smaller and sometimes completely stopped up. This process, which increases blood pressure because it slows blood flow, has several names - hardening of the arteries, arterial plaque build up, arteriosclerosis or atherosclerosis.

Physicians tend to prescribe medications to lower blood pressure. But these drugs, in addition to having undesirable side effects, do not handle the cause of the high blood pressure. If the medications do not lower the blood pressure sufficiently, more drugs are prescribed, with more side effects

There is another solution. Chelation therapy is not new - it was invented in the early 20th century to remove heavy metals from the body and it is still a valid therapy for such. An IV drip is used to stream specific chemical compounds into the blood. To assist the heart and lower blood pressure, the agent used is EDTA (ethylene diamine tetra-acetate acid).

One theory about why chelation works is that the agent (EDTA) binds calcium and other minerals to itself and allows them to pass out of the body, which improves the condition of the arteries. The second theory about why it works is that EDTA attaches itself to free radicals, which can cause a lot of tissue damage, and allows these free radicals to be eliminated.

Another benefit of chelation with EDTA is that it thins the blood making it easier for blood to flow, and also puts a damper on the formation of blood clots.

Chelation can increase circulation and reverse effects of deteriorating arteries and thereby lower blood pressure. It has little or no side effects. Much testing and research has proven it to be an effective and healthful therapy.

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