The Personal Story
How Dr. Sica Came to Practice Integrative Medicine: When asked what first led her to the practice of medicine, Dr. Sica replied: “That’s a huge question. I have always wanted to help people solve problems and have a better life. Actually, I was always interested in holistic medicine. I don’t come from a medical family so I was pretty naive to the politics of medicine, how medicine is practiced etc, and in medical school I got pretty disillusioned.”
Dr. Sica started in internal medicine, then switched to a psychiatry residency in Hartford. During this time, she took a year-long program at Interface in Boston where, according to her, “it really opened my eyes. I found this program life changing, learning about many holistic therapies including energy healing, homeopathy, psychotherapy, and acupuncture.”
Dr. Sica continued taking courses in nutrition and integrative medicine, and went into private practice in 1985, working with several doctors with holistic practices. She joined several national organizations and became certified in chelation and heavy metal toxicology in 1996. In 1992, she opened a large integrative practice with several other practitioners in Orange CT, called the Center for the Healing Arts www.CenterHealingArts.org ).
She explains her point of view: “I have been practicing integrative medicine for over 22 years, blending the best of what I found in both conventional and alternative medicine. I do frequently test for and find heavy metal toxicity because, honestly, the world is a pretty toxic place these days. I would say that a large percentage of patients with chronic illness test positive for more than one heavy metal.”
Lead at the Heart of the Matter: What’s ironic about the state’s charges is that, while a few of Dr. Sica’s patients also had cardiovascular disease, a few of them had cerebral vascular disease, and most of them had chronic fatigue, memory loss, neurological problems etc. — all of them had documented high levels of heavy metals. One had high blood pressure and was seeking preventive chelation. When tested, he had very high lead level. After chelation, his blood pressure came down because lead in his body was causing the elevation. Hypertension related to lead toxicity is well documented in the scientific literature. Lead is also a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. AND Chelation therapy is the INDICATED treatment for lead and other heavy metal toxicity.
What’s Lead Got to Do With It? The level of lead considered to be toxic has been lowered repeatedly from what was considered safe only a few years before, making one wonder — is there a line in the sand where on one side of it, lead is safe to have in your body? In Connecticut, the reportable blood lead level is 10 nanograms per deciliter. Fifteen to twenty years ago it was 25. But that’s just the “reportable” level. In its lead regulations, EPA recognizes that there is no “safe” level of lead when it comes to human health. There is evidence that even very low levels cause significant damage. This was documented in a New England Journal of Medicine article in April 2003. For more documentation of the public health concerns regarding lead, mercury, cadmium, etc, visit the CDC’s website for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry: www.atsdr.cdc.gov.
To complicate matters, we are all genetically and biochemically unique. There is a lot of data about the difference in reactivity of subgroups of the population to various heavy metals. The most research done on sub-population reactivity is in relation to mercury toxicity and autism. It has been noted that because autistic children have genetic differences resulting in inadequate methylation, metallothionein and glutathione levels, they cannot tolerate the same amount of mercury that a normal child can. Both of these antioxidants bind to heavy metals to protect the brain.
How Do You Recover from Toxicity: Conventional toxicologists fail to recognize chronic, low grade exposures leading to high tissue levels of these very toxic metals. Even when they are able to recognize this condition, they claim that treating the toxicity is too “dangerous” despite the chronic, devastating, disabling and even life threatening effects of such retention of heavy metals in the body. They simply stick a “lead star” on the patient’s forehead and tell them that they have to live with it. Dr. Sica, however, is one of the specifically trained and certified physicians who understand how to safely and effectively detoxify the body, utilizing chelating agents. She is a Board member of the American Board of Clinical Metal Toxicology (www.abcmt.org).
The principle of innovation: Integrative medicine is dedicated that the principle that medicine must change over time. It must innovate. It must respond to new concerns, new information, new understanding about chemistry and biology, about the relationship between our bodies and our minds and our changing environment. Looking back at Dr. Sica’s explanation of how she came to be here, practicing this medicine in this place at this time, it seems only logical that she would choose to arise to the occasion to take a stand for innovation.
A Tough Choice: She explains, “When I got that letter from the state, followed later by the statement of charges, I knew I had a choice. One was to play ball and the other was to fight. If I had played ball and accepted their settlement, it would have severely limited my treatment of metal toxicity; eliminated any use whatsoever of EDTA; I’d be on probation for five years, paying over $2,000 a month for the privilege of supervision, and possibly have my license revoked (as has happened to other physicians) — and I had done nothing wrong! Furthermore, my patients would have been denied a life changing treatment.”
“So, on the one hand, I could have just done what was needed to stay in practice, but on the other hand, I thought, what right do they have to deny patients proper treatment? Or, for that matter, any reasonable healthcare option that the person needs and wants.” There was no question in her mind.
“My practice is rather unique in that likely half of my patients are suffering from chronic fatigue and/or fibromyalgia. I myself suffered from chronic fatigue years ago and was severely disabled. When I found that my illness was caused by lead, cadmium and mercury toxicity, it was EDTA chelation therapy that saved my life. I would have been totally disabled today had it not been for EDTA chelation. I would have most likely been disabled for life. So I feel pretty passionate as a patient, as a patient, that these therapies need to be available. That’s why I chose to fight for our rights.”
“This battle, however long, expensive, stressful and difficult, has ignited my passion for health freedom. No one should ever have to suffer what I and my family went through.” Moved by her experience, Dr. Sica serves as a Board member for the American Association for Health Freedom (www.healthfreedom.net) and is a founding member of the Connecticut Health Freedom Coalition, a state affiliate of AAHF.
Through healthcare access legislation, education, litigation, and formation of coalitions with other like-minded organizations, the mission of these organizations is to defend the right of the practitioner to practice and the consumer to choose among healthcare options.
Alternative medicine saved my life and that of two other family members
after years of bouncing around the allopathic system. I applaud your
efforts. Beth Dabit
What kind of a “scientific” field do we have, when use of EFFECTIVE therapies are frowned upon? particularly those that have no side effects as many natural therapies don’t? We must remind ourselves the need to seek to balance the power we have given the constructs/structures WE have CREATED to live by or the authorities we have APPROVED and/or ALLOWED to create FOR us? It is the basis of our U. S. Constitution. Let me, as the proprietor of my body, be the one to choose how I may discern or intuit what form my healing may take. It is my birthright to use Earth’s provisions for my survival – I don’t have to be forced to listen to ANYONE.
I don’t see anyone knocking on my door to ask me if I want a genetically altered food to be placed into my mouth, yet the faceless, nameless “authorities” force me to fill my cupboards with them by not telling me which products are… yet I don’t hear that their licenses or jobs are being taken away – and we are talking about foods which are going to feed MY bodily cells – vibrate INTO MY cells – and keep them ALIVE as we know food DOES and death by hunger is irrefutable proof of that. So what will these genes be doing to my cells? THAT may be more of a worthwhile pursuit than bothering people and prosecuting practitioners for therapies that are WORKING for them!
Look up Mongellons.
WHAT kind of world has this become???!!!
Power to you Dr. Sica!!…. if the millions of doctors would just stop cowarding behind pharmaceuticals and the AMA (which is a man-made structure – capable of being FALLIBLE) and LISTEN to their patients who are already telling them how other therapies are helping them, and provide this immense data to medicine.. we WOULD have a better Health Care System!!
Yes!
The simple truth we must face is the FDA is working to indirectly kill us. Hard to believe? Not when you examine the facts over the last 50 or so years. Second fact the FDA is more politically powerful than congress. Third fact the FDA works for the eugenic Rockefeller clan.
EVERYTHING going on makes sense once you accept these three facts.
Well Said Maryann! We must diligently commit ourselves to making our voices HEARD, and not allow the FDA and the pharmaceutical companies to restrict our freedom to chose the way we care for our bodies!
The new Health Care bill that passed in Congress encourages preventive care, and says that Integrative or Complementary Physicians can have their bills paid by insurance companies, so they have now become legal. If Complementary Physicians are now legal isn’t Dr. Sica also legal?
I am not a lawyer.
Kudos to Dr.Sica’s determination and courage to stand up for her patients birthright to choose
whatever treatment is available on our planet that produces healthy results as opposed to lethal
side effects from FDA approved (for genocide purpose) drugs…we patients have to make that
decision because our doctors are just providing us a service and we are the ones who must decide between conventional or alternative…period
Disgusted patient in
Houston, Texas
Frank I agree, there are decisions only we can make. The problem I see is that most doctors instill fear in their
patients, when they many times know, that there are many available options that could heal them without traditional medicine.. take arthritis for example… I for one can tell you that in countless of occasions I saw the healing effects of acupuncture, which after much fight became legal in the US. My husband’s teacher, and a strong group in San Francisco, where we lived, were responsible for fighting for this to become legal. We should unite and use all our resources available to make other choices that we currently either practise on ourselves or know about, help others in their quest towards attainable health. There is so much to do, but never give up, we must continue to do what we know is right & honest. We cannot compromise or we will loose whatever is left in us to have the longing for those who many times are dying without hope or suffering just because others determine they , as though they are God, will decide what is medicine and what is not.
In 1946 the FDA banned the “Gerson Therapy” from being used to treat & CURE CANCER after Dr Max Gerson presented 50 proven cases to the U.S. Congress. The Pepper-Dealy anti-cancer bill which resulted from that hearing has now disappeared from the Congressional records. This says that Big Pharma & the FDA truly do have more power than any other group. Dr Gerson’s daughter, Charlotte Gerson, at age 87 today is the picture of good health, no eyeglasses, clear skin, no osteoporosis or other ailments. She still travels the lecture circuit educating people about her father’s work. She has written books and is in a film entitled “The Gerson Miracle” which can be found on DVD. To research go to: the “Gerson Institute”.com. Her favorite saying is “The pharmaceuticals couldn’t make any money on a bag of carrots”. The Gerson Therapy is a nutritional treatment along with detoxing the liver with coffee enemas. She lives in So. Calif and visits the Gerson Clinic in Tijuana Mexico regularly. One of these visits is in the film. Dr Gerson was Albert Schweitzer’s family physician.
I am aware that this has been happening for a long time. I lived in Moraga Ca. where I met several doctors & alternative therapies that were being applied at the Gerson Institute. I met a few individuals whom we referred to the Clinic. My husband studied under one of Dr Carey Reims students in a alternative therapy that addresses most of the same systems that Dr Gerson utilizes, in addition to working with several calciums & supplements.
It is an alternative method that allows the body given the correct elements to recover & regenerate. Of course, no one dares make this public, because you would be sent to jail. Even our mentor who is a doctor, does not practise, only teaches, because it would be considered illegal…. we follow the method and it works, but you cannot help others unless you are willing to be sent to jail for it… we are becoming a Nation under seige. Our Constitution was written to give us freedom, not slavery, and the most interesting thing about all this is that it is all about profit, not help, the Pharmas are foreign entities, yet they rule our health & well being we are subjected to them by lawmakers willing to be bought by them. If you want a change go to Gooh.com & vote Ron Paul
This recalls a film I saw recently on Dr. Borsynski in Texas. It is a must see film on the veiled tactics of the FDA in bed with big pharma. It boils down to corporate tyranny, and we as citizens under the constitution have a responsibility to stand up against it. Check out “Cancer is Serious Business” on youtube.