It has been my experience that the most common reason for allergy treatment by means of allergen desensitization to fail to bring about good results is heavy metal toxicity. This is true whether we are talking about allergy desensitization using conventional allergy shots, or through "energy-medicine" allergy desensitization techniques such as NAET and ASERT. In fact, over the eight years or so that I have been using ASERT (Allergy and Sensitivity Elimination and Reprogramming Technique) in my San Antonio office, EVERY patient who had been on a regimen of conventional allergy shots that did not work turned out to have one or more heavy metal toxicities.



It appears that heavy metals cause confusion in the body's immune system, and predispose the body to developing allergies. I have observed that the patients who show up as having heavy metal toxicity also are usually reactive to many more allergens that those patients who are free of heavy metals. By far the most common heavy metals that are problematic are mercury and lead, but cadmium, thallium, and a host of other metals can show up as well.

Mercury toxicity appears to most commonly be related to amalgam dental fillings, exposure to thimersol (a preserving agent used in vaccines and various liquid solutions used in medicine), and industrial mercury exposure. Although there has been much concern in recent years regarding mercury contamination of seafood, I have not found seafood consumption to be related to mercury toxicity in my patients. It is my belief that the majority of people probably do not consume an amount of mercury contaminated seafood for it to create a toxicity concern.

In my experience, amalgam dental fillings are probably the most common source by far of mercury toxicity. Even so, I usually do not recommend replacement of amalgam fillings unless there is an indication of major leakage of mercury into the body, because the removal process can release such large doses of mercury into the blood and it is usually safer to leve the fillings in place and simply de-tox the mercury accumulation from time to time.

Lead toxicity is most commonly seen in people who were exposed to lead-based paint (and possibly ingested lead paint flakes during childhood). Lead toxicity can also be acquired from occupational sources, such as in electricians who can get it from stripping wiring insulation with their teeth (the insulation often contains lead). Another occupational source of lead exposure is seen in military personnel and police officers who, during training, handled large amounts of lead slugs (I have heard that a common "punishment" in such training is for recruits to have to go gather up lead slugs from the firing range to collect a pre-determined large amount of lead).

No matter what type of heavy metal is producing the toxic effects, there are a variety of ways to test for heavy metals, as well as a variety of ways to treat the toxicity. Testing can be done by conventional blood and tissue tox-screens, by hair analysis, and by muscle reflex testing ("applied kinesiology"). Of the three, I prefer muscle reflex testing even though it is a bit esoteric, because it is simple to do, inexpensive, and if there are multiple heavy metals present it tells me which metal is causing the biggest problem (allowing me to prioritize treatment).

Chelation therapy is the conventional medical treatment of choice for heavy metal toxicity. Chelation therapy injects various binding agents into the bloodstream to pull the heavy metals out of solution so they can be eliminated from the body by the liver and kidneys. Similarly, chlorella (a type of algae) and/or cilantro extract can be used to bind heavy metals making them easier to eliminate from the body. Another method, that is still somewhat controversial even among "alternative" practitioners is the use of special foot baths that utilize a very low-level electrical current to draw out heavy metals and other toxins through the skin of the feet.

The method of detoxification that I prefer is the use of metal-specific homeopathic remedies to assist the body in eliminating the particular metal that is causing the problem. If a patient presents with multiple toxicities, I will usually begin with the chlorella and cilantro approach to start the process and then eventually use homoepathics to eliminate the specific metals. The homeopathic de-tox approach usually takes 2 to 4 weeks to sufficiently reduce the toxicity so that allergy desensitization can be effective.

Once the patient has de-toxed the heavy metal sufficiently, allergy desensitization can be performed effectively. If using conventional allergy shots, the desensitization will take place over a period of months to a few years. If using "energy medicine" techniques, it has been my experience that most people can have the majority of their allergic sensitivities eliminated within a few weeks. Because of the remarkable efficiency of the energy medicine techniques, I favor them over conventional allergy treatment, but to be fair the techniques I use are quite strange to most people and they can be a bit hard to believe. Many people simply cannot believe that these strange methods of treatment work, so they will stick with conventional allergy treatment, which is quite effective in the long-run once any interfering heavy metal toxicities have been handled.