Graham, age 53 came into the office one year ago, with symptoms of heart arrhythmia and high blood pressure. His doctor had put him on a medication called metoprolol which seemed to help but he didn’t like the side effects. They made him tired and lowered his libido. He was checking with me to see if there were complementary therapies to help him out.

I took a complete history and physical and found the following:

1. he worked at the local mine so he was exposed to heavy metals
2. he had a mouthful of old mercury amalgams
3. he had never taken vitamins or minerals in his life
4. he drank 2 glasses of wine every night with dinner, he did not smoke
5. he drank one can of diet coke or diet pepsi per day at work
6. his heart rate was slightly abnormal and his blood pressure was 135/85 slightly borderline
7. his waist circumference was at 40 inches, which is too high for men

The tests showed:

1. his HDL’s (good) cholesterol was .9  and LDL(bad) cholesterol was 4.0 making his chol/HDL ratio 4.5 (above my normal of 3.0).
2. his fasting blood sugar was 6.0 and triglycerides were 2.00
3. homocysteine was 10, CRP (C –reactive protein 6.0)
4. ALT, AST and GGT (all liver enzymes) were between 40-55
5. His PSA was normal at 1.2 but this was his first test so was baseline
6. serum magnesium was 8.5
7. serum potassium was 4.0

The first thing I did with Graham was put him on a two week detoxification program. This helped with his cravings for sweets and to stop drinking wine and pop. I told him that although the research for drinking a glass of red wine per day was supposed to be good for his heart, it was really playing havoc with his insulin resistance. Insulin resistance contributes to elevated blood sugars and increased waist circumference and weight in general. The aspartame in diet pop is very much implicated in the heart arrhythmias and increasing the cravings for sweets.

Then I got him on my typical naturopathic cardiovascular program. This always includes doses of magnesium glycinate: which helps with the heart irregularity and also lowers blood pressure (his serum magnesium was on the low side); Cod liver oil: will lower the bad LDL cholesterol and raise the good HDL cholesterol as well as have a blood thinning effect that anyone with a heart arrhythmia needs to be concerned about as the blood may clot easier in these cases. CoQ10: this antioxidant is not only depleted by the drug metoprolol but is the most important anti-oxidant for the heart muscle itself; extra potassium which will not only help to lower blood pressure but will also makes the heart muscle less irritable; B12, B6 and folic acid to help lower the homocysteine, a risk factor for heart disease.

In the long run I suggested to Graham that heavy metals might be really aggravating his heart so a hair analysis was eventually done and high levels of lead and cadmium were found. After following my heavy metal detoxification program for one year and slowly getting rid of the amalgams in his teeth, Graham was feeling 10 years younger and his hair analysis results became normal. He was able to discontinue his medication through his doctors approval. Graham had purchased a blood pressure cuff and demonstrated to his MD that over time his blood pressure was averaging 125/78 and he no longer had arrhythmia after stopping the diet pop and following the naturopathic program. Graham lost 20 pounds on his type O blood type diet, his blood sugars came right down to 5.3, and triglycerides to 1.3. His HDL was 1.2 and LDL was 3.2, homocysteine had come down to a normal of 5.4, and CRP was 1.2. His liver enzymes were all around 28, a more optimal range and his PSA in one year was 1.5. He continues on a maintenance program to this day!

By taking charge of his lifestyle Graham not only averted his inflammatory heart problems but stopped the progression of diabetes and insulin resistance. He has no doubt also decreased his chances of getting cancer from the heavy metals but because  he is constantly exposed to them, he regularly does detoxification programs.