"The doctors of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and the cause and prevention of disease.”- Thomas Edison
Almost all dis-eases are a result of Chronic Toxin Overload (CTO).
The Concept of CTO allows practitioners to look at each person as an individual and fully evaluate the variety of different toxins impacting him or her on a daily basis. It allows for the identification of imbalances in a person’s health and address them utilizing the very best of conventional and alternative medicine. Looking at a patient’s life situation from a perspective of CTO allows for the compassionate address of imbalances in the person’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual being. It allows for a more structured and comprehensive approach to treatment. This comprehensive view of diagnosis and treatment consistently results in patients regaining their health.
CTO provides us with a framework that allows us to understand that one toxin is rarely the problem. As an Osteopathic physician, I was trained that each person has self-healing mechanisms that maintain health. I often wondered, “then why do people get sick?” These self-healing mechanisms were designed to deal with a few discrete toxins at a time. When the body is exposed to only a few toxins self-healing can take place and the experience of symptoms is very minimal. Today, people are bombarded with multiple toxins at all times. If you walk down the hallway at work you’ll likely be exposed to numerous bacteria, many viruses, several molds, some fungus, irritable co-workers, fluorescent lights, cell phones, computer screens, and a sense of urgency to get to the meeting you’re late for. And, realistically, this list is much, much longer.
The point is that we all experience a tremendous amount of pressure from the outside world that our detoxification systems need to push back against in order to maintain balance and health. There is only so much toxic stress our bodies can deal with before this balance is lost and they begin to breakdown. Because people are no longer getting sick from one or two toxins, but rather a myriad of toxins, doctors often are unable to isolate a single cause of illness and erroneously believe it is all in their patient’s head. By looking at all of the possible chronic toxin exposures a patient may have, the physician is more easily able to make sense out of their symptoms and create a roadmap towards health.
Regaining Your Health
In order to truly start down the road to regaining your health, it is important to be brutally honest with yourself and your physician. Many of the chronic toxins we are exposed to may be obvious to a well-trained professional, however others may be as simple as a deep-seated, reoccurring negative thought or emotion in our head. These more subtle mental and emotional toxins are critical to address if you are to truly get well again.
I would suggest that "all illnesses in one way or another are significantly impacted by Chronic Toxin Overload (CTO) and the key to healing from any dis-ease is to:
1. Detoxify 2. Purify and 3. Amplify." (a quote from my colleague Tom Moorcroft DO).
Detoxify
Detoxify the body, mind and spirit. We live in a world where we’re inundated by various toxins. In addition to the external toxins that bombard us on a daily basis, there are a variety of microorganisms that attack us internally. Many of the causes of chronic fatigue and chronic pain are actually these undiagnosed microorganisms. The interesting thing about these microorganisms is that they have the ability to alter the internal environment of our bodies specifically by releasing biotoxins as well as altering messenger molecules. This results in a block of your body’s self-healing mechanisms and detoxification pathways. When these microorganisms are eventually killed by your body or by the use of herbs or medications, many of them also release internal toxins as they die. This in addition to all the other physical, mental and emotional toxins that our bodies need to deal with leads to a significant buildup of toxic materials. Heavy metal and pesticide exposures synergistically Augment this toxicity.
The foundation of any truly effective healing approach is to promote detoxification. This can be done in a variety of ways, including improving our diets, appropriate exercise, and appropriate use of detoxifying nutritional intravenous and/or oral supplements and herbs. It is also a key to address mental and emotional stressors through an appropriate avenue such as counseling, meditation, journaling, qi gong, tai chi, or yoga.
Another critical element is balancing our energetic systems and protecting ourselves from the deleterious effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF). Since most of us are unable to get away from cell phone towers, cordless phones, computer screens and the like, the best way to do this is by supporting our energetic systems, getting quality reparative sleep, and reduce EMF exposures, i.e. turn off the Wi fi at night. Protecting ourselves from EMFs and balancing our energetic systems helps maintain balance and optimize natural detoxification.
By starting our healing work with a focus on detoxification we can ensure that we are safely and effectively mobilizing toxins and our body is ready to deal with an increased toxin load as we work to remove the source of these toxins. Binding and Chelating these toxins out of our bodies, offer the best outcomes for many inflammatory cardiovascular and neurologic conditions.
Purify
Purify the body, mind and spirit by decreasing the buildup of toxins. Once we have reestablished the flow of toxins out of the body, it is time to focus on removing the causes of the toxin buildup in the first place. Some of the most common causes of toxin buildup in CFS and fibromyalgia include persistent bacterial, viral, yeast and/or mold infections, heavy metal exposures, low vitamin D levels, subclinical hypothyroidism, chronically elevated levels of stress, and chronic exposure to electromagnetic forces.
The most common persistent bacterial infections include Lyme disease, Babesiosis and Bartonella. Persistent viral infections leading to chronic toxin overload include Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus and human herpes virus six (the causative agent of roseola in children). Yeast often becomes a problem due to the high levels of processed foods and sugar in the standard American diet. The use of antibiotics without appropriate probiotics is another cause of yeast overgrowth. Molds are hidden everywhere. Many people are exposed to molds at home, work or school and do not even know it.
Sources of heavy metal toxicity/exposures include; contaminated drinking water, dental amalgams, aluminum foil, non organic foods and air pollution. Almost everyone who lives in the Northeast is toxic from lack of sunshine which leads to vitamin D deficiency. Many people develop subclinical or full-blown hypothyroidism due to chronic exposure to fluoride in toothpaste, bromine in breads, fertilizers or plastics and chlorine in water, which all displace iodine from the thyroid gland. Most of us lead lives that are filled with stress, both physical and emotional. If we do not develop systems to help us stay in balance these stressors become toxic.
It is common for many people to eat the same types of food every day. How many people do you know who have a bread product at least once a day? While some people have food allergies, it is more common to become hypersensitive to a certain food because it is eaten too frequently or sprayed with Glyphosate (Round-Up). Food hypersensitivities lead to allergy-like symptoms, "brain fog", gastrointestinal problems and even pain and fatigue. As the colon and its Microbiome is one of the largest organs of detoxification in the body, creating food hypersensitivities through incorrect eating habits leads to decreased ability to detoxify and Chronic Toxin Overload. The colon is also a major part of the immune system. Disruption of colon function through CTO can lead to suppression of the immune system and decreased ability to deal with toxins, especially infections. Greater than 70% of your Immune system and 80% of your neurotransmitter capacity can be controlled by the proper micro-organisms within your gastrointestinal tract. Each of these chronic toxins need to be addressed until the toxin load has been decreased to the point where the self-healing mechanism is able to regain control and maintain balance.
Amplify
Amplify the function of the immune system so it can re-balance the systems that have been thrown out of balance by Chronic Toxic Overload. The immune system is the driving force behind maintaining optimal detoxification in the body. It identifies foreign invaders and eliminates them. When the body is overwhelmed by toxins, the immune system becomes suppressed. When it is functioning at the highest level, identification and elimination occur freely and easily, for the body only needs to deal with small amounts of toxins at a given time. Amplification makes the immune system more powerful. It re-gains control over the balance of health and dis-ease. Each patient must have an individualized immune system support plan created for them. The key is to slowly amplify immune system function after detoxification and purification are well established. A Cardiopulmonary exercise program, proper clean water at 60% of your weight in ounces, quality nutrient support and organically grown food with proper bowel habits are cornerstones to amplify health.
As a physician who specializes in the treatment of chronic fatigue, Lyme, Heavy metal Burdens, Autism, pain and brain fog, etc., I commonly see patients who have been diagnosed with one of these syndromes. They have often seen 5, 10, 15 or more doctors and have truly lost hope that they will ever get better. These are the patients who benefit the most from the concept of Chronic Toxin Overload. This model allows us to look at them as unique individuals and see where their symptoms are actually coming from. Not everyone has the same fatigue. No one’s pain is the same as someone else’s. We start by identifying where the most likely blockages to detoxification are and then work to open them. Next we look at all the possible causes of toxin build up. Once they are identified, we are able to create a treatment plan to purify the body of these toxins. Once we have unloaded some of the toxic burden, we focus on rebuilding and amplifying the immune system so it can maintain health.
The take home message for suffers of CFS, Lyme, Autism, Auto-Immune diseases, fibromyalgia and other inflammatory diseases, is that there is hope. Chronic Toxin Overload to help them and others regain their health and live the life they want. We need to enhance everyone’s Detoxification pathways to remove the toxic build-up within us. Stop the offending toxins from accumulating and chelate them out of us- helps us thrive better!
David Dornfeld, DO, has been practicing Family Medicine for more than 30 years, with extensive experience covering the full spectrum of clinical family medicine, including children beyond the age of two. His experience encompasses all spectrums of family medicine, spinal manipulation, chelation therapy, IV infusion therapy and hyperbaric therapies. Focusing on whole body and alternative therapy techniques. He has been considered a (LLMD) LYME Literate Medical Doctor form his training from ILADS for many years. His Family Wellness Center is in Middletown, NJ. For more information visit www.familywellnesscenter.com Welcome New Physician- Andrew Marino MD.
This article appears in the May 2019 issue of Natural Awakenings Magazine Monmouth Ocean edition. Click here to subscribe, thanks :)