Take2 Healthcare
Case Studies

In Just 5 Months

•  Can Walk Up & Down Stairs
•  Vision Improving
•  More Independent
•  Able To Walk On Toes
•  Off All Prescriptions
•  Increased Energy

Forget about walking, this patient improved so much she is dancing “the grapevine” around town- literally. She struggles with keeping a consistent exercise program so her husband adjusted his schedule and they workout together, incorporating dancing into the workouts to make them more enjoyable. This is also great for coordination practice. We did yearly testing for this patient and also decided to retest the hair. Over the course of the past year, her anemia has improved and the ESR (an inflammatory marker important to MS) is better than ever!

The 44-year old patient was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) 15 years ago and as symptoms progressed began taking Avonex. About 8 months ago her symptoms flared up so she switched to another drug called Copaxone which treats relapsing forms of the disease. At the time of the initial visit, she weighed 132 lbs at 5’6” and her blood pressure was 108/70. Her symptoms had progressed to the point where she was no longer able to drive and suffered muscle weakness on the right side. She also experienced vision problems and loss of bladder control.  

There were no major red flags in the patient’s blood work but several tests were not within optimal ranges. The low BUN and high lymphocytes show signs of some G/I dysfunction and poor digestion. High ESR, LDH and Basophils mean possible infection or inflammation and the low T7 shows a poor metabolism which in turn produces a slow rate of healing.

Mercury causes significant damage to the body by debilitating and destroying parts of nerve cells. In this case, Mercury overload was quite possibly the main factor affecting the patient’s MS so we placed her on a 10-week chelation cycle to start eliminating these metals at a more rapid pace. The high level of Mercury and other toxic elements also caused a few vitamin and mineral deficiencies so we recommended a supplement regimen to boost the low levels indicated on the test results.

There were no major red flags in the patient’s blood work but several tests were not within optimal ranges. The low BUN and high lymphocytes show signs of some G/I dysfunction and poor digestion. High ESR, LDH and Basophils mean possible infection or inflammation and the low T7 shows a poor metabolism which in turn produces a slow rate of healing.

Over the past six months, the patient has maintained her healthy lifestyle, continuing with all vitamin recommendations and chelation therapy. In an odd coincidence I ran into the patient at a local health food store and she is a new lady, walking with confidence on both her toes and heels and able to balance on either leg. She was ecstatic about the results and even did a little dance to show how much she improved. With her new coordination and strength also came the ability to drive, something else she had been incapable of doing for months.

It’s now been a year since the patient’s last test and she is off all MS medications, so we ran another chelation challenge and blood work to check her overall status. The DMSA dosage was lowered for this test which may account for some of the reduced values however the challenge still showed phenomenal results with Mercury dropping to 2.1! There were no major changes in the blood work except for the Creatine Kinase which dropped from 145 to 56 showing a reduction in muscle breakdown.

Have you ever heard the expression “mad as a hatter”? The phrase actually derives from an early industrial occupational disease when felt hats became a fashion staple in North America and Europe. Hatters started with a pelt of fur (typically rabbit) then layered on a solution of mercurous nitrate to roughen the hair fibers and make them mat. The fibers were shaved off and turned into felt, which was immersed into a boiling acid solution to make it thick and hard. Finally the workers steamed and ironed the felt to form a hat. In all these steps, hatters worked in poorly ventilated warehouses breathing in Mercury compounds. Due to the accumulation of this heavy metal in their body, hatters often suffered mercury poisoning and developed trembling (known as hatter’s shakes), loss of coordination, loosening of teeth, slurred speech, irritability, loss of memory and other personality changes.

Back then, the public was unaware of the damaging effects of mercury and the phrase “mad as a hatter” came to be. Today, Mercury is known for its toxicity and has been linked to debilitating diseases such as Autism and Alzheimer’s. A study out of the University of Calgary actually demonstrates how this toxic element affects the body. Dr. Fritz Lorscheider and two associates extracted neurons from the brains of snails and exposed them to the same concentration of mercury that appears in the urine of a person with 7-8 amalgam dental fillings. Within 30 minutes, the mercury ions caused microtubules (which are like the scaffolding that gives cell walls and membranes their shape) to break down, stripping the neuron of its protective layer. About 15 minutes later, these damaged neurons became tangled together forming aggregates similar to those seen in Alzheimer’s patients. The rate of neuron degeneration was filmed and can be viewed at ‘http://commons.ucalgary.ca/mercury/’.

How does Mercury fit in with Multiple Sclerosis? MS is a demyelinating disease that affects the central nervous system. An inflammatory process creates leaks into the nervous system allowing a special set of lymphocytes known as “T-Cells” to sneak in. These T-cells then attack the myelin sheath which acts as a protective layer for neurons. When the myelin sheath is damaged, it disables the conduction of signals to and from the brain causing impairment in sensation, movement, cognition and other functions.

With T-cells cutting into the myelin sheath of neurons and high levels of mercury destroying neuron microtubules, this patient could not heal quickly enough to keep up with the damage; thus her MS symptoms progressed at a more rapid rate. By eliminating one source of these problems and using essential vitamins and nutrients to get her body back to its healthiest state, she stands a greater chance of healing and repairing herself.

-Dr. Van D. Merkle

Dr. Van D. Merkle is a Certified Clinical Nutritionist and a Doctor of Chiropractic who has practiced in the Dayton, Ohio area for 25 years. A Diplomate on the American Chiropractic Board of Nutrition and a Diplomate on the Chiropractic Board of Internists, he is also a member of The International and American Association of Clinical Nutritionists. Dr. Merkle earned a patent for his innovative diagnostic computerized program which takes into account hundreds of numeric data and their roles, combinations and inter-relationships as related to disease diagnosis. To set up your consultation and get started on the road to better health, please call the Back To Health Center at (937) 433-3241 or email mail@Bk2Health.com.