Since ancient times, people have sought ways to cleanse and purify themselves. The Romans had their baths and the Indians had purification teepees with steam, or the Scandinavian cultures had dry heat saunas. Different cultures have had all sorts of purification rituals which have included herbs, special diets, prayer and fasting.

Toxins
Toxins are produced by our bodies as a normal part of our metabolic processes and are usually easily excreted. With age or with disease affecting our organs the excretion of toxins may become impaired. In addition, we are exposed to an overwhelming number of chemical contaminants every day in our air, food, water, and general environment. The body is generally well-equipped to excrete those chemicals which are water soluble, but not so well-equipped to excrete some of the fat-soluble ones. Thus, many fat-soluble chemicals tend to accumulate in the body’s fatty tissues, where they may persist indefinitely. This process is called “toxic bioaccumulation”.

Toxic “recirculation”
Storage of toxins in the body’s fat is a defense mechanism. The body tries to prevent harmful substances from damaging vital organs so it puts them in the fat if it can’t easily remove them through the lungs, urine, or feces. Sweating is a great mechanism for normal detoxification, but in today’s air-conditioned society, we are by-passing this process. Studies show that fat can be mobilized by things such as heat exposure, exercise, emotional stress, illness, fasting, and overnight fast during sleep. When this happens, toxins are “dumped” out of the fat and back into the circulation where they can cause symptoms. That is why some patients feel worse in the morning.

Toxic “spiral”
With time, our detoxification pathways can become so polluted, that the effect is like a septic tank that no longer is in balance and backup occurs. We can at least pump-out a septic tank. The human body is a different mechanism. Once it becomes so poisoned, a spiral effect can occur where the system starts breaking down, and exposures to chemicals or substances that do not bother an average person, can now create significant symptoms such as fatigue, malaise, brain fog, irritability, asthma, depression, low body temperature, intolerance to heat or cold, fibromyalgia symptoms, or worsening of other disease states. For example, mercury can poison multiple organ systems and enzymatic reactions in the human body. It can effect the thyroid and bind to part of the thyroid hormone (T4) so that it is less effective. The body’s metabolism slows down. Less waste is excreted because of this, and the accumulation of toxins and poisoning accelerate.

Am I “toxic”
In acute exposure and poisoning this is a simple diagnosis to make. In chronic cases where bioaccumulation is going on, this is a diagnosis that is most often made based on a person’s history and symptom complex. Depending on the circumstances, there are some laboratory tests that can be useful such as hair analysis or blood tests to assess liver and kidney function.

Detoxification
Detoxification means “to remove toxins (or harmful substances) from the body. This is not as simple as it seems. There are some things you can do to help. These are Dr. Erickson’s general suggestions and are not intended as a recommendation for treatment of a specific medical problem you might have.

1. Avoidance is always better than treatment. Stay away from polluted air, water, food, chemicals, etc. as much as possible. If you have occupational exposure wear protective clothing or respirators.
2. Avoid foods with preservatives, hormones, insecticides, or color additives and “artificial” anything on the label. You may want to consider buying organically grown vegetables, dairy products, and meats.
3. Drink only purified spring or well water (not distilled water as this can pull minerals out of your system). Chlorine in city tap water is a proven carcinogen. A water purification system is a must (or your body becomes the filter) to remove chlorine and other contaminants. The Amway® Water Treatment System has been rated #1 by Consumer Reports for many years for small systems. (We can order one for you). I highly recommend a chlorine-removing filter at the showerhead as well as chlorine is absorbed through the skin.
4. Certain foods act to help detoxification occur: fresh vegetable and fruit juices, fresh vegetables (especially green vegetables rather than starches), super greens such as Chlorella, blue green algae or barley green are very good. If you have a reaction to these super greens, check them with me to make sure you are not allergic.
4. Fasting – either a juice or water fast for a day or two will release toxins from fat.
5. Sauna. Many toxins come out with sweat, including heavy metals. I recommend a low heat, infrared type of sauna as this type of heat penetrates the subcutaneous tissue and the risk of dehydration is less than with a health club sauna where temperatures may be in the 200 F. range. If you have significant toxin accumulation or health problems, your sauna therapy should be under medical supervision.
6. If you have known toxin sources in your system such as mercury dental amalgams, infected teeth, caps or bridges with nickel in them, have your physician evaluate the need for removal by an approved dental protocol.
7. Moderate exercise increases your metabolism and helps push toxins out of the muscles and into the circulation where they can be removed in the urine or feces.
8. Some vitamins act as chelating agents and can bind to or neutralize toxins in the body. Vitamin C is the most powerful vitamin in this category, especially in intravenous (IV) form.
9. Avoid constipation. A healthy person will have 2 - 3 bowel movements a day. Some people will benefit from herbal cleansers or enemas. Make sure you have adequate fiber in your diet.
10. Drink at least 8 glasses of fluids a day to flush your system. If you are drinking water, add lemon or lime juice to it. This makes the water “electrically positive” and will not drain energy from you.
11. Electromagnetic (EMF) pollution may be the biggest health hazard we will see in the new millennium, with our systems being constantly bombarded with EMF’s from cell phones, radar units, appliances, TV’s, computers, electric hair dryers, electric toothbrushes, flying in airplanes. There is a great deal of scientific evidence showing a casual relationship with high EMF’s and cancer development (especially brain cancer), learning impairment, fatigue, brain fog, irritability, and a host of other symptoms where our immune systems are being stressed. Ask Dr. Erickson what you can do in your particular circumstance.

Drugs and alcohol

These are especially difficult toxins and require a special type of detoxification. Standard 30 day detoxification programs or psychotherapy do not “cure” drug or alcohol craving, even though a person has stopped putting these toxins in their body. The relapse rate with drugs and alcohol according to the 1988 Surgeon General’s Report is in the 80 - 90% range. The problem centers around bioaccumulation of drug and alcohol residuals in the fat and how to effectively get rid of the minute amounts that remain. These residuals can come out of hiding long after a person stops drinking or using drugs, causing a person to be restimulated into craving more of the substance or even feeling “high” again. This is a biochemical process where just “saying no” may not work or be realistic. There is a special detoxification protocol which has an average 75% success rate. It uses sauna therapy, vitamin B3 and other vitamins/minerals, cold pressed oils, therapeutic exercise and must be administered under supervision. Treatment is daily for an average of 30 days, 5 hours a day.

We have a similar program at the Center for non-street drug related detoxification for people who have been on prescription drugs, have had multiple surgeries with accumulated anesthesia, or have chemical toxins.

Symptoms while undergoing detox

If a program of detoxification has been recommended to you by Dr. Erickson, or if you are doing some of the things already to remove toxins from your system, you may have symptoms. These, in most cases, are temporary and mild. These can be in the form of nausea, diarrhea, sweats, chills, feeling cold, spacey sensation, anxiety, racey heart, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, urine or stool that smells.

These symptoms can be minimized, by realizing that the RATE of detoxification is what causes symptoms in most people. If you or your doctor are “overzealous” and you accelerate the rate past which your body can easily handle toxin removal, you will be defeating the purpose of detoxification and will end up reabsorbing many of the toxins back into the body. Think of this like a bathtub, where the water going into the tub is flowing faster than the water going out – it will overflow. The idea is to have the rates equal, so toxins coming out of your tissues exit without overflowing back into the body.

Can supplements cause toxic symptoms?

Vitamins, minerals, and herbs can act as toxins! You can put too high a dose into your body that it cannot handle. Or the dose can accelerate the detoxification at too fast a rate. Dr. Erickson uses specific supplements to avoid this. These are low-dose, high potency whole food supplements made in the U.S. from organically grown food. (See the Pamphlet on Vitamins). Do not buy the cheap, synthetic, mega-dose vitamins. Your body will not handle them well. For instance, many vitamin/mineral preparations contain calcium from Dolomite (ground up rock or limestone). Rock is not handled by your body very well. But rock is cheap. It requires the action of a lot of stomach acid to break some of it down, and then goes through about a dozen processes to become calcium bicarbonate (the kind of calcium found dissolved in spring water), which your body uses. You can’t make calcium bicarbonate tablets because as soon as you start drying the bicarbonate it changes to calcium carbonate, which is insoluble. Eat food instead of rock. The organic calcium in the supplements we carry is from vegetable sources. It might take 80 pounds of vegetables to make one bottle of supplement. This is not cheap. But it gives you a vegetable source of calcium lactate, which takes one metabolic step to become calcium bicarbonate, and your body can easily absorb and handle this calcium.

So how do I start?
Removing the toxic wastes out of your body is a first step before healing and improved health can occur. These are general recommendations which are not intended to represent specific medical therapy for you. As no two persons are alike, if a detoxification program is needed, it will be custom tailored to your needs and clinical status. Ask Dr. Erickson to outline a plan of action for you to follow. Lab tests may be needed before you begin. Also, you want the foods and supplements you take to aid in the detoxification process. Your doses of supplements will be adjusted based on your clinical symptoms and utilizing contact reflex analysis (CRA). Dr. Erickson has seen many patients improve on a cleansing program. This is a day by day process. It is a journey, not a destination. The first step is the decision to improve your health and to take one day at a time. You can do it and feel much better.