Introduction
After 13 years, the Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine’s program of Biodetoxification continues to be amazingly cost effective in turning around poisoned and impaired patients.
What we have learned is that the sooner a worker or injured person begins the program, the faster the turn around to recovery. However, what is also amazing is that chronic and even “old” injured patients can make significant improvement.
We are seeing more and more patients injured by exposure to pesticides including some with severe peripheral neuropathy – and many of these have recovered. One example of this was a carpenter exposed over time to an old leaking can of organophosphate pesticide. He had all of the signs and symptoms of acute poisoning which occurred episodically depending on the weather and the ventilation in his garage where he worked making cabinets. He lost feeling in his hands and feet and could not pick up nails. Despite his late referral to our Biodetoxification program, he recovered most of his health and function.
It must be emphasized that this patient’s neuropathy did not totally recover until he had completed nine months of Biodetoxification maintenance. This emphasizes the importance of an ongoing maintenance program.
There are some injured patients who deteriorate if they stop doing maintenance and this negative reversal becomes obvious in as short a time as 3 weeks after the initial program. This phenomenon is analogous to the kidney failure patient who deteriorates when off renal dialysis.We recognize then another system failure similar to heart failure, kidney failure and liver failure which is complex and at a molecular and metabolic level. There are 3 possibilities to explain this phenomenon:
- People are born with specific genetic endowments for detoxification and if exposed, are more vulnerable.
- People are normal prior to exposure but injure their ability to detoxify.
- There is both a genetic and an acquired mechanism.
Either way, we see enough patients to recognize that there are those who will require very prolonged, even – in some cases - life long, ongoing Biodetoxification if they are to maintain their health. Workers may achieve maximum medical improvement, but if you stop maintenance, they can deteriorate.
Another patient demonstrated the effectiveness of Biodetoxification after almost a lifetime of injury from exposure to organophosphate pesticides. This was a 31 year old woman with overt signs of psychosis manifesting auditory hallucinations, bizarre behavior and panic attacks. A careful history revealed multiple exposures to organophosphate pesticides each with resulting panic and psychosis. Within 5 weeks of intense Biodetoxification, she improved dramatically with complete clearing of auditory hallucinations and “feeling almost normal for the first time in my life.” The role of pesticides in both physical and mental emotional disease cannot be sufficiently emphasized and treatment through Biodetoxification should be strongly considered.
It is discouraging to hear the occasional disparaging comment from an occupational physician or toxicologist about the effectiveness of Biodetoxification. These physicians who negate the role and value of this program are, for the most part, completely unfamiliar with what it is. We have been fortunate that some Worker’s Compensation Commissioners have ordered the insurance carriers to pay for the program when they see how effective it is.
Thus, after 13 years of providing injured patients with Biodetoxification, we continue to be enthusiastic about its cost effectiveness in reversing toxic chemical injuries. We encourage all physicians to learn more about this program and to consider it for injured workers and others.
