Choosing a therapy

Some alternative practitioners recommend this process for those people who have a build-up of heavy metals in their blood and tissues. Chelation is only preformed in specialist clinics, where an intravenous drip is used to deliver 'chelating agents' which bind heavy metals, such as nickel, lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic, and then pull them out through the stools, sweat and urine.

Chelating agents were first used during World War I to counteract the arsenic-based poison gas used in the trenches. They have also been used to treat people who are suffering from exposure to lead-based paints, or who have been contaminated with radioactivity. A clinical trial is taking place to examine the effectiveness of chelation in the treatment of atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries due to the build-up of cholesterol and other substances), but this will not report until 2008.

Should You Try Chelation?

This is quite an extreme treatment and should be approached only with great care. Check the qualifications of any clinic or practitioner offering it. If you go to a clinic for chelation therapy to treat heavy metal toxicity, you will need between 10 and 40 sessions, depending on the level of toxins they detect in your initial tests. An intravenous drip will be put in your arm, containing vitamins, minerals and a chelating agent, and you will be told to lie back. Magnesium-based drips take between one and four hours but new calcium drips take just 15 minutes per session. You may feel tired and or dizzy afterwards as your blood pressure may drop, so arrange for someone to pick you up from the clinic rather than trying to drive yourself home. Of course, this therapy will work out to be quite expensive, given the length of time it takes, the number of sessions, and the experienced medical supervision you will need to receive.

In use since ancient Egyptian times, colonic irrigation is an effective method of getting rid of waste from a clogged-up colon by washing it out with water. This is what happens at a session.

A trained therapist will go over your medical history first and ask you to change into a gown. Then you lie on your side with your knees up and a speculum connected to sterile rubber tubing is inserted into your rectum. You lie on your back with your knees bent and the water is turned on. You are asked to hold it in for as long as it feels comfortable, then the therapist releases the pressure, allowing the water and accumulated waste to flow away. The therapist will massage your lower abdomen to help with the elimination process. The flushing is repeated until the water runs clear, or until the therapist feels that you have had enough. At the first session, you might release waste equivalent to 20-30 bowel movements, as the entire 2-metre (6ft) length of the colon is cleansed.

From the waste evacuated, the therapist should be able to advise you on modifications to your diet which will improve your digestion. They will say, for example, if you need to eat more fibre or less fat or sugar. The first session will usually last for 30-45 minutes and you may be advised to return at a later date for more treatments. After a session, you should take probiotic supplements to replace intestinal bacteria that have been washed away.

What Are The Effects?

Most people feel distinctly healthier after colonic irrigation, and you may find that your weight has dropped by several pounds without those clogged-up waste materials. Your digestive system will function more effectively, as will the liver and kidneys. If you were prone to headaches, you might find they clear up now, and many people claim to sleep better. However, the effects might not be particularly long lasting.

If you want to combine detoxing with a holiday, you can book into a spa resort that offers a complete detox package in idyllic surroundings. You might fast during the week, taking in only detox cocktails (psyllium husk and clay, for example), herbal laxatives and one daily bowl of vegetable broth. You will also be taught how to administer your own daily coffee enema and may even be encouraged to sift through the evacuated waste material to see what comes out. Guests at such detox resorts have described finding tapeworms, liver flukes, huge chunks of undigested meat, yellow fatty deposits and string-like shreds of various hues.

After a week of fasting, raw fruits and vegetables may be consumed for the next few days. Everyone loses weight and emerges with clear, glowing skin and improved digestion, but whether they keep the weight off will depend on the eating habits they maintain on their return from holiday. Certainly, sifting through your own waste materials can help to put you off eating unhealthily, but it is not to everyone's taste.

Chinese therapists see good health as a harmonious balance in the body between the forces of yin and yang, with energy know as chi flowing freely along meridians. If chi becomes blocked or imbalanced, illness can result. In Chinese medicine, detoxification involves removing 'devil toxins', which include heat, cold, parasites, damp, fire and food toxins.

At an initial consultation, the therapist will look at your general appearance, examine your tongue, ask questions about your lifestyle and medical history, and take your pulses from three positions on each wrist. Depending on the diagnosis, they may decide to treat you with acupuncture, in which case thin needles are inserted at the acupoints along the meridians to free blockages and stimulate the flow of chi. You might be offered herbal detoxification formulas designed to boost the metabolism to turn fats and clean up the digestive system. These remedies could be herbs with which you brew teas, or pills, powders or pastes. Some therapists use a combination of acupuncture and herbs, as required. There will usually be follow-up sessions to chart progress and adjust treatments according to the way in which the body is responding.

What Can It Treat?

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is especially recommended for treating digestive disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome, chronic skin conditions like eczema; fatigue and depression; hormonal imbalances such as PMS; endometriosis and poor sperm count, and infertility (both male and female). It can produce results with chronic conditions that Western methods fail to help.

Self-diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions are not recommended, but at some TCM centres you can describe your symptoms to the practitioner behind the counter and receive an appropriate remedy on the spot. TCM can be very successful for treating people undergoing withdrawal from drug and alcohol addictions. Alcohol creates liver and gall bladder imbalances, which brings about a combination of excessive dampness and heat. Many drugs are processed through the liver, making it heated and congested so the liver blood becomes weak and deficient. TCM formulas focus on clearing and nourishing the liver and gall bladder, while at the same time treating the heart, to help calm the mind and nervous system.

The main method of detoxification, which is called Panchakarma, works on several levels. First, your diet is cleared out and cleansing foods such as kichari (made from basmati rice, mung beans and vegetables) are recommended. Herbal supplements are given to cleanse the bowel and flush out toxins from the liver, blood, sweat glands and skin. These will be specifically designed according to your dosha balance. You may be given a massage with herbal oils, heat treatment to open the circulatory channels, and enemas.

Nasya

Otherwise known as nose cleansing, this is part of ayurvedic detoxing that many people have heard of. It involves flushing a medicated oil through the nose and sinuses, in one nostril and out the other, to cleanse toxins from the head and neck. Results can be marked for those who suffer from headaches and migraine, nasal allergies, sinusitis, poor memory or eyesight, and certain neurological conditions.

Benefits

Recent tests of ayurvedic detoxing at the University of Colorado found that those who had undergone several detoxes had significantly lower levels of PCBs, DDT and pesticide residues than the control group. It appeared to be particularly effective on fat-soluble toxins of the kind associated with hormone disruption, suppression of the immune system, allergies, and diseases of the liver and skin. If there is a good ayurvedic clinic near you, it could be worth doing an ayurvedic detox. Some complementary chemists stock well-known ayurvedic remedies that they can recommend to treat individual symptoms, but a complete Panchakarma detox must be done under professional supervision.

There are dozens of different kinds of massage, but the following can be used specifically to enhance the effects of a detox programme.

Manual Lymphatic Drainage

In the 1930's, Dr Emil Vodder created this technique to stimulate the lymphatic and help it to eliminate toxins in the cells. MLD is an advanced massage therapy in which the therapist uses special rhythmic pumping techniques to move the skin in the direction of the flow of lymph back to the lymph nodes. It can be used to treat lymphedema (swelling due to fluid accumulation in the tissue), cellulite, sinusitis and arthritis, and it can help to encourage healing after surgery. It's a very pleasant type of massage treatment that would be a useful addition to an detox programme, although it may take several sessions before you see results.

Hot Stone Therapy

This is a type of massage that uses heated volcanic lava stones. The theory is that their heat helps to increase heart rate and stimulate circulation, thus helping to flush the muscles of toxic waste products. Hot stone therapy is also used to treat depression, stress, PMS, stiff joints and certain skin disorders. In one version of the treatment, you lie on the heated stones and are given a massage with aromatherapy oils. In another form of the therapy, the stones themselves are used to massage your arms, legs and back. Sometimes cold stones are used as well, to further stimulate circulation. The treatment is very relaxing and promotes restful sleep.

Rolfing

This kind of deep tissue massage was developed by American biochemist Dr Ida P. Rolf in the 1930's. Practitioners are trained to feel for imbalances in the quality, texture and temperature of tissues and thus determine how to reintegrate the body, 'bringing physical balance in the gravitational field'. Rolfing therapists work on your body using hands, fingers, knuckles and even elbows, and the experience can be uncomfortable at times, but it could be worth trying as part of your detox.

Shiatsu Massage

The aim of Shiatsu massage is to balance the flow of chi energy along the meridians, and practitioners apply pressure to the same acupoints that are used in acupuncture. Some people report a 'healing crisis' after treatments, such as a headache or flu-like symptoms that last up to 24 hours. These are seen as positive signs that toxins are pent-up emotions are being released. The number of follow-up sessions recommended will vary according to the toxicity of your system.

Swedish Massage

Swedish massage therapists manipulate muscles and tissues to stimulate the circulatory, nervous and digestive systems and ease stiffness. They believe that emotional tension from past traumas is stored within the muscles and part of their role is to try and release it. Swedish massage can be very effective for treating stress-related conditions, depression, insomnia, digestive disorders such as IBS, and premenstrual syndrome.

Reiki

Reiki is a system of healing developed by Japanese theologian Mikao Usui, in which the practitioner makes himself into a channel through which energy flows into the patient to heal their imbalances. You lie fully clothed on a couch while the therapist places his hands in a sequence of positions that cover the whole body. When you are detoxing, reiki can support and encourage positive personal change such as improving the diet or getting more exercise, and it may reduce cravings for alcohol and tobacco. Reiki is said to release blockages in the flow of chi in the blood.

Osteopathy is a manipulation therapy which reduces strain placed on the body from physical causes such as bad posture or injury, and emotional causes such as stress, anxiety and fear. It can help to relieve digestive disorders such as constipation, hormonal imbalances causing menstrual pain, headaches, insomnia and depression, among other things. If you tell an osteopath that you are detoxing, they can palpate your liver to stimulate its action and support its efforts.

Craniotherapy

Many osteopaths also use craniosacral therapy, or craniotherapy techniques. The brain and spinal cord are surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid that flows up and down with a steady rhythm when we are well. The osteopath is trained to detect tiny variations in the movement of this fluid that indicate emotional or physical trauma in the bones, organs or areas of the body supplied by spinal nerves at each point. While you lie on your back, the therapist will place their fingers alongside your spine, moving up it, vertebra by vertebra, to feel the place or places where the flow is restricted and they can then free it up using gentle pressure.

This blanket term is now used to refer to all kinds of water-based treatments. Below you will find descriptions of the different hydrotherapy methods that can be particularly useful when you are on a detox programme. The choice is down to personal preference as they are all pleasant and effective.

The Kneipp Method

- A hot herbal bath with lavender and rosemary, and possibly some salts and oils as well.

- A moor bath, which is a hot, muddy sludge of herbs in which you relax for up to 20 minutes.

- High-powered jets of hot and cold water directed onto your back to stimulate circulation.

- Sitz baths, one filled with hot and one with cold water, which are used as a circulation stimulator. You stand with your feet in the hot water until they are warmed through, then you step into the cold water until they cool down, and repeat several times. Salts may be added to the water to intensify the detoxifying effects.

- A herbal wrap in which you lie with herbs bound tightly around you to make you sweat and draw out impurities through the pores.

- Water-based sessions may be followed by a Swedish massage.

Thalassotherapy

Popular at many spa resorts, this term comes from the Greek word thalassos, meaning sea, and is used for any treatment involving seawater or seaweed. Seawater is rich in minerals which are great for drawing out toxins, cleansing and toning the skin, so many thalassotherapy treatments involve swimming in a heated seawater pool or being pummeled with jets of seawater.

Seaweed Wraps

During a seaweed wrap, paste is applied to your body to draw out the toxins.

These are a very popular technique, and are said to boost the circulation, stimulate the metabolism and encourage the elimination of toxins. They are particularly recommended for treating cellulite, sagging skin and stretch marks, and some people even claim to lose a few centimeters after a wrap. When generally happens is that a trained therapist will smooth seaweed paste all over your body, targeting specific areas if you wish. You are wrapped in warm thermal sheets and then left for up to 45 minutes, after which you shower it all off. It is important to drink extra water after a seaweed wrap so that you do not become dehydrated. Thalassotherapy treatments are incredibly relaxing and most people will notice a great improvement in both their skin texture and tone after one of these treatments.

Many local gyms now offer saunas (a hot dry room) or steam baths (hot and steamy) to help eliminate impurities through sweating. However, don't overdo it. Start with a five-minute sauna or steam and do not ever spend more than 20 minutes in there or you could feel very dizzy and unwell.

Resist the temptation to keep throwing extra water on a sauna's coals to increase the heat. Those people with high blood pressure, heart disease, asthma or epilepsy should avoid saunas or steam baths, as they could exacerbate your condition. Some people use a spatula to scrape off the sweat and release toxins. Alternatively, you can have a good rub-down with a loofah or brush in the shower afterwards to slough off any dead skin cells as well as waste products. Do as the Swedes do and follow up with a stimulating cold shower afterwards.