Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is one of the worst physical afflictions. It causes pain while walking and more severe cases can involve pain while resting. The impaired mobility can feel like shackles around one’s feet, affecting one’s mental health. Physical pain reduces the desire for exercise, which negatively affects cardiovascular health too.
Treatments for PAD
Common treatments for PAD include drugs and surgery. Drugs prescribed are the same as for general cardiovascular issues and include blood pressure and cholesterol lowering drugs, as well as blood thinners. Surgical interventions include angioplasty, stent and bypass surgery. Amputation is a last resort and only in cases where the diseased area is in danger of spreading and endangering the person’s life. Criticism of these treatments are similar to the criticism of drugs and surgery in general. They only treat symptoms not causes, and can be toxic and dangerous.
Chelation & PAD
A seldom considered treatment for PAD is chelation therapy. It is usually done in clinics using EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid), which is an amino acid first synthesized in 1935 to treat lead poisoning. Administered intravenously, it cannot be taken orally as stomach acid neutralizes the compound.
How Chelation Works
Chelation works similar to how vinegar dissolves eggshells or how any acidic household cleaner removes hard water deposits from faucets in homes. By ingesting organic acids and increasing the acidity of the blood, any calcium deposits inside the blood vessels will gradually dissolve. It’s so simple that it’s hard to believe mainstream medicine has not adopted this treatment for vascular issues.
Sounds good, but is there any clinical data? Fortunately, for us there is. In his book Chelation Therapy, published in 1964, by Alfred Soffer, MD, documents 5 cases of patients with PAD and four of them experienced significant improvement with EDTA infusions. He mentions one severe case of a 67 year old hospitalized with severe ulceration of the big toe caused by PAD. After 3 months of treatment the ulcers were completely gone.
Issues With EDTA
One of the issues with EDTA is that it can only be administered intravenously, as oral doses are poorly tolerated and can cause nausea. Dr. Soffer verifies this. Fortunately, there is an alternative chelation treatment that can be taken orally without nausea and the discomfort and inconvenience of IV and needles. It is also less expensive.