allergies

SAUNA DETOXIFICATION OF METALS, PESTICIDES AND CHEMICALS: ADDRESSING THE BACKGROUND EXPOSURES AND INCREASING HEALTH PROBLEMS OF AN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY

Chemical contamination is not always recognized as a causative or contributory factor for illness, even when following an isolated event involving known substances. In non-occupationally-exposed individuals it often remains undiagnosed and related symptoms are assigned to other causes. We are being contaminated daily by unregulated chemicals of unknown toxicity. It is undeniable, however, that daily contamination by a range of chemicals whose toxicity and long term health affects are not fully understood is a fact of modern life. Recent biomonitoring surveys show that people carry mixtures of highly toxic chemicals. There is a dearth of knowledge on the relationships between body burden levels and health risks in any population.

The following three cases are similar in that none had a known exposure incident. We surmise an etiology of gradual exposure and increased body burden that occurred over time and resulted in disease. Each case underwent the Hubbard method of detoxification with chief complaints resolving on program completion. Routine metals testing showed toxic levels of various heavy metals and there is evidence of elimination during treatment that deserves future study. One case also underwent biopsy that revealed additional data about fat stored toxins, also reduced by this therapy. Daily written report of progress details, medical examination and laboratory tests aid in monitoring progress.

A disturbing pattern of human health damage has emerged that appears to be linked to synthetic chemical substances. The Hubbard method of detoxification appears to fit well in emerging prevention paradigms: As a means to undo the health effects of contamination while scientists and regulators address long-term environmental solutions.

Case 1:

LW was a 45 year old, 127 pound, non-smoking female who had been diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent mastectomy without chemotherapy or radiation for one year prior to enrollment in the Hubbard method of detoxification. Her lifestyle included regular exercise and a primarily vegetarian diet with nutrient supplementation. She had a good health history except for mild familial glaucoma, persistent bleeding gums and migraine headaches that developed during college. 

Laboratory tests conducted prior to mastectomy included hair trace mineral analysis, red blood cell trace mineral analysis, CBC, comprehensive metabolic panel, 24 hour urine hormone collection, urinalysis, ferritin, iron and copper. Test results were within normal ranges except for her mineral evaluation which revealed fairly significant toxic metals and urine hormone which indicated low normal estrogen. She was diagnosed with heavy metal overload and elected to undergo sauna detoxification.

Fat biopsy before detoxification also revealed high levels of various pesticides, including DDE above linear range for this test. These are correlated in the medical literature with development of breast cancer. Pesticide levels were reduced approximately 60 percent during detoxification.

Reduction in Chlorinated Pesticides

(21 pesticide panel: Accu-Chem Laboratories)

During her 18 day program reaching 3000 niacin on a gradient, a persistent rash that existed prior to treatment resolved as did the tendency of her gums to bleed. At completion she states “…most incredibly I have such a sense of well being. After being diagnosed with cancer I felt anxious about my future. I was sure that there was an environmental factor at play and was uncertain how to handle this issue. The purification program was my answer. I truly believe I have been given back my life.” She had noticed her bleeding gums stopped during the program and have not reoccurred to date enabling her to avoid a bone graph. She enjoys good dental health with no redness or swelling or bleeding of gum tissue.

Case 2:

PS was a 40 year, 165 pound, female, non-smoker, speech and language pathologist for New York Public Schools and various private schools. Her chief complaints included high sensitivity to food, chemicals and agricultural products, along with various nervous system, endocrine, circulatory, allergic, musculoskeletal and skin symptoms. She was diagnosed with fibroids, endometriosis and GERN in 1999. She was sleeping only five hours per night.

She tried a total of 15 prescription medication and 5 over the counter medications to address her symptoms over the five years prior to enrolling in the Hubbard method. Laboratory tests conducted prior to enrollment included hair trace mineral analysis, red blood cell trace mineral analysis, comprehensive stool analysis, CBC, comprehensive metabolic panel, 24-hour urine hormone collection, urinalysis, ferritin, iron and copper. These test revealed significant intestinal dysbiosis and malabsorption, anemia, significant toxic metal overload, and low estrogen levels.

She completed the program in 78 days after gradiently reaching 5000 mg of niacin. During the program there were a number of notable events. After 7 days of therapy, she experienced stinging and burning of her scalp accompanied by the smell of ammonia in her sweat and on the towels. She attributes this to hair relaxer she used throughout her life. Her scalp did not begin to sweat until after day 27 on the program. She also developed a pattern of skin rashes and burns consistent with the chemical in the hair product, calcium hydroxide. These were healing by program completion and later cleared. Fecal matter analysis during the program showed elimination of many metals including antimony, arsenic, beryllium, tungsten and uranium.

Patterns of skin rashes that cleared during detoxification

Patterns of skin rashes that cleared during detoxification

78 day detoxification program achieving 5000 mg niacin

78 day detoxification program achieving 5000 mg niacin

At completion she stats “The first thing I noticed was the improvement in my blood circulation, my fingers and toes used to be white, almost blue, and painful especially in cold weather. This improved early in the program and remains fine. I have also noticed a decrease in joint pain. My past scalp irritations due to chemical relaxers caused sensitivity and burning, the burns that appeared during the program are now healing well. My visual perception increased and I am more aware of my surroundings, my friends have noticed I have lost weight. I am more energetic and feel happy.”

Case 3:

KB was a 38 year old, 140 pound female, non-smoker, minister’s wife and musician. Her chief complaints include swelling in her neck that impairs her voice and ability to swallow, she had been experiencing serious mood swings and disturbed thought patterns which caused her so much stress she had, about a year prior to detoxification therapy, checked herself into a psychiatric hospital to avoid acting on her destructive and violent thoughts. She believes this is explained by mercury poisoning from dental amalgams including additional contamination during their removal done without a protective rubber dam.

Additionally, she experiences fatigue, dizziness, and some gastrointestinal problems. She was prescribed various psychiatric medications which she discontinued after a short time of taking each of them. Laboratory tests conducted prior to enrollment included hair trace mineral analysis, CBC, comprehensive metabolic panel, 24-hour urine hormone collection, urinalysis, ferritin, iron and copper. Test results were with normal ranges except for significant heavy metal overload.

She completed the Hubbard program in 55 days at 5000 mg of niacin. Fecal matter analysis during the program showed elimination of many metals especially mercury as well as arsenic, copper and uranium. During the program, marks she attributed to the mercury contamination during amalgam removal appeared around her mouth. She experienced a number of emotional incidents that finally lessened and then ceased. At different times a number of materials appeared in her sweat or on her body including a pink perfume she used as a girl, ink scribbles she made on her hands as a girl, and a blue color, during one day she smelled like mosquito repellent for a few hours. 

She reports that “I now have more energy, in fact a lot of energy. I feel more connected and emotionally alive. Friends say I look healthier; my eyes are expressive and clear. This is truly an amazing program in that accomplish sooo much in such a short period of time. Thank you.”

TOXIC TIME BOMBS: THE POLLUTION IN YOU

—Dr. Conrad Maulfair, Maulfair Medical Center, Topton PA

Fatigue, allergies, joint aches or mood swings got you down? Although concern over the effects of pollution on the environment has held our attention for decades, new research is detecting chemical toxins in most people.[1;2] While industry furiously challenges the evidence, scientists argue that low-level chemical exposures are linked with these subtle but all too common problems, not to mention diseases such as autism, ADHD, and cancer, to name a few. Long term, low level exposures to chemicals cause an accumulation in the body referred to as “body burden.”

As we gain increasing understanding about the adverse effects of body burden on health what remains less clear is when the time bomb may go off. The medical community is trained to look to yesterday’s exposure to explain today’s symptoms. Yet, body burden, accumulations of toxic chemicals, may have more subtle but important health effects that are not seen for years, or even lifetimes. Because of this time delay, it is not uncommon for a chemical to be banned for safety concerns after decades of use — a real world experiment.

Studies link ZIP codes near waste sites with low-birth-weight babies, thyroid disease in women and female reproductive disorders such as endometriosis — even in regions with higher per capita income, less smoking, better diet and more exercise.[3] The same researchers have data linking living near waste sites to elevated risks for stroke, ischemic heart disease and high blood pressure.

287 chemicals were found in the umbilical cord blood of babies at their birth in a small study recently conducted by the Environmental Working Group based in Washington DC. www.ewg.org. The chemicals found included mercury, pesticides and the chemicals used in stain-resistant coating and fire-retardant foam. Breast milk of nursing mothers has been tested and found to be laden with chemicals which she passes on to her child when she nurses. Preconception care should include reducing the chemical load of the mother before she becomes pregnant. Men, our future fathers, suffer infertility problems due to the effects of toxic chemicals.

Our life support system: Better living through chemistry?

You don’t live near an industrial waste site? The truth is that even if you do, you probably get most of your toxins as pesticides and additives in your food or each time you apply various consumer cosmetic products. Your home, your cars and even the water you drink slowly leak chemicals into your life.

There has been a staggering proliferation of toxic chemicals produced without due regard for testing for long-term health effects of low level exposures. Thousands of new synthetic chemicals come into manufactured consumer products every year with little to no safety testing or public approval process. According to the World Health Organization, there are over 100,000 synthetic chemicals in use in consumer products today with 1,000 to 2,000 being added to the list each year.

We breathe these chemicals through our lungs, absorb them through our skin and ingest them in the food we eat and water we drink. We are soaking up chemicals that we'd be hard-pressed to spell or pronounce, if we could even find out what they were.

The body burden problem.

Toxic chemicals know no boundaries. Chemicals contaminate not only wildlife and the environment, but people, breast milk and the unborn child yet most people are unaware that they carry chemical compounds in their bodies. Each of us has some load of industrial chemicals stored in or passing through our bodies. Human fat tissue sampled in the United States contained 700 contaminants that have not been chemically identified.[4] According to Michael McCally, M.D. Ph.D., of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, “Current ‘normal’ body burdens of dioxin and several other well-studied organochlorides are at or near the range at which toxic effects occur in laboratory animals.” A recent Mt Sinai study found 167 chemicals in the blood and urine of volunteers; chemicals used in consumer products and found in industrial pollution.[2] Of the 167 chemicals discovered, 94 are toxic to the brain or nervous system, 76 are carcinogenic (cancer-causing) and 79 are linked to birth defects. None of the participants worked with chemicals or lived near an industrial facility. In other words, these toxins represent the average body burden of the ordinary American citizen.

This is not a uniquely American problem. A 2005 British study funded by the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Co-Operative Bank found chemicals including banned pesticides like DDT, flame retardants and the PFOA chemical found in Teflon and used on nonstick pans and stain repellents.

If the body burden of adults isn’t enough cause for alarm, it is shocking to learn the effects on future generations. In 2005, the US Environmental Working Group [5] reported that umbilical cord blood samples taken from newborn babies were all heavily contaminated. A total of 287 contaminants were detected. Many of these were known or suspected carcinogens, neurotoxins or linked with birth defects if present in high concentrations. Meanwhile, an exhaustive review of the evidence points to prenatal exposures as a source of postnatal mental deficits.[6]

Scientists have never assessed the effects of exposures to the endless combinations of chemicals found in people. One reason why measuring such effects is difficult is that these chemicals are persistent (meaning they do not break down) and bioaccumulative (meaning they tend to build up in living things, particularly areas of the body rich in fat such as fatty tissue, brain and other organs).

Our understanding of when a chemical is toxic is changing and concerned individuals are calling for laws to regulate these compounds more carefully. However, because of their widespread use, tendency to persist and accumulation in body tissues — especially fat — even regulatory changes will not remove them from our world very quickly.

While we wait for industry, government and science to reach agreement, the vast increase of chemicals in our environment, foods, cosmetics and medicines puts an enormous burden on our bodies’ natural abilities to break down and remove toxins. With the exception of certain minerals, these chemicals do not belong in the body. While minerals are needed at low levels for normal function, some are now found measured at high or even toxic concentrations.

Most people wait too long to do something about it.

The good news is that something can be done about the toxins in our bodies. Our livers, lungs, kidneys are constantly working overtime to remove the onslaught of chemicals. To function properly, these systems require broad nutritional support. When we don’t give our body what it needs to help it eliminate these chemicals or when we expose it to more than it can handle, it just can’t keep up. Symptoms such as fatigue, aches, allergies, asthma, mood swings, foggy thinking, and more set in. Before this happens — and even afterwards — the correct detoxification program can make all the difference.

The Maulfair Medical Center uses the Hubbard method of detoxification, the most established and scientifically validated regimen available. This precise regimen combines exercise, sauna bathing, and vitamin and mineral supplementation to increase the elimination of chemicals while rebuilding and repairing your body. Its safety and effectiveness in treating a wide range of exposures have been established for more than two decades.[7;8]

Originally developed by Hubbard in 1979, this program has been successfully used to aid individuals exposed during large-scale environmental contaminations, including those resulting from the 2001 World Trade Center disaster [9] and the 1986 Chernobyl incident [10]. Thousands of people have enjoyed relief from symptoms caused by more gradual build-up of toxins.

Sauna detoxification at the Maulfair Medical Center.

Dr. Maulfair gets you started on your sauna program with a thorough medical examination and a series of key tests plus a complete physical exam. Tests may include a pre and post assessment of toxic body burden and some tests may be repeated periodically, to monitor your status while on the regimen.

Dr. Maulfair has over thirty years experience utilizing detoxification regimens

to treat chronic disease. Join those clients of the Maulfair Medical Center’s program who have gained back their quality of life, enjoy restored energy, clear thinking, motivation and an overall sense of well being.

For more information see DrMaulfair.com

Reference List

  1. Calafat AM, Wong LY, Kuklenyik Z, Reidy JA, Needham LL: Polyfluoroalkyl chemicals in the U.S. population: data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004 and comparisons with NHANES 1999-2000. Environ Health Perspect 2007; 115: 1596-602.

  2. Environmental Working Group. Body Burden: The pollution in people [Web Page]. 2003; Accessed 2008 Feb 20. Available at: http://archive.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden1/ 

  3. Baibergenova A, Kudyakov R, Zdeb M, Carpenter DO: Low birth weight and residential proximity to PCB-contaminated waste sites. Environ Health Perspect 2003; 111: 1352-7.

  4. Onstot, J., Ayling, R., and Stanley, J. Characterization of HRCG/MS unidentified peaks from the analysis of human adipose tissue. Vol. 1: Technical Approach. 87. Washington DC, US Environmental Protection Agency Office of toxic Substances. 

  5. Environmental Working Group. Body Burden: The pollution in newborns [Web Page]. 2005; Accessed 2008 Feb 20. Available at: http://archive.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/execsumm.php. 

  6. Williams JH, Ross L: Consequences of prenatal toxin exposure for mental health in children and adolescents: a systematic review. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2007; 16: 243-53.

  7. Schnare DW, Denk G, Shields M, Brunton S: Evaluation of a detoxification regimen for fat stored xenobiotics. Med Hypotheses 1982; 9: 265-82.

  8. Schnare, D. W., Ben, M., and Shields, M. G. Body Burden Reduction of PCBs, PBBs and Chlorinated Pesticides in Human Subjects. Ambio 1984; 13(5-6): 378-380.

  9. Cecchini MA, Root DA, Rachunow JR, Gelb PM: Chemical Exposures at the World Trade Center: Use of the Hubbard Sauna Detoxification Regimen to Improve the Health Status of New York City Rescue Workers Exposed to Toxicants. Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients 2006; 273: 58-65.

  10. Tsyb, A. F., Parshkov, E. M., Barnes, J., Yarzutkin, V. V. , Vorontsov, N. V., and Dedov, V. I. Rehabilitation of a Chernobyl Affected Population Using a Detoxification Method. Proceedings of the 1998 International Radiological Postemergency Response Issues Conference. 1998. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.