FCT Explained

(conservative version for Allopathic Health Care Professionals)

Field Control Therapy, or FCT, is an experimental, integrative medical modality that seeks what all other modalities seek: restoration of the body's homeostasis. In an ideal state of homeostasis, a person should be free of disease, have a sense of well being, and free of dependence on supplements or medications. The allopathic medical model seeks to primarily use pharmaceuticals to modify chemical reactions that control factors that cause disease. Examples include lowering excessive blood pressure and glucose that lead to cardiovascular disease.

Medical science does not know the precise etiologies of most disease processes. An example would be cardiovascular disease. There are several known risk factors such as blood pressure, family history, cholesterol levels, smoking, etc. Even modifying all those risk factors, people still die from cardiovascular disease. Some pathologic processes such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue are very poorly understood.

FCT was developed by New York integrative physician, Savely Yurkovsky, M.D. He was frustrated by the results of both conventional and alternative medicines. He felt that too many people had adverse reactions to medications and that too many did not respond to alternative treatments. Some illnesses such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue did not respond to anything. He also had a personal reason: he had a sick son who did not respond to conventional and alternative therapies.

The first step in the development of FCT was determining what disturbs human homeostasis. Dr. Yurkovsky proposes that root cause of most chronic disease is usually environmental toxins. In the Western world, the most common, significant toxins, he believes, are heavy metals, especially mercury and lead. He feels that the primary source of mercury are leaking mercury dental fillings and contaminated seafood. It is well known that mercury is one of the most cytotoxic substances in the world.

By removing mercury and other toxins, it is believed that homeostasis can be restored. Dr. Yurkovsky developed a unique non-invasive test and a unique system of natural supplements which is believed to remove these toxins from the body

Dr. Yurkovsky believes that current conventional tests for toxins are inadequate because of lack of sensitivity. It is known that the half-life of mercury in blood is very quick because of its rapid uptake into body tissues. Organs can be contaminated with mercury while the blood is completely clear. Therefore, the best conventional method to confirm the presence of these toxins is through a biopsy, but FCT questions if current testing methods are sensitive enough. The most common test for detecting mercury is to administer a chelator, usually DMPS or DMSA, then measure the output of mercury in the urine. FCT believes that these chelators can only reach a small portion of the total mercury load in a person because most of it is likely intracellular. Also, chelation tests can lead to side effects because when mercury is dislodged from an organ into the bloodstream, it can lodge into a different organ before it can be excreted by the kidneys.

In FCT a treatment cycle is considered to be about 2-4 weeks. At the beginning of each treatment cycle, patients take several supplements one at a time over a period of 1-3 days. The rest of the treatment cycle is to let the remedies continue to work and to allow the body to recover from the removed toxins. Patients return for a followup appointment at the end of their cycle. Typically, FCT requires a minimum of several months of treatment to remove most of body's toxic load. Patients usually note changes in their symptoms during the first 6-8 weeks.

There are no known side effects from the supplements and no interactions with medications. Because supplements are not covered by insurance, patients must pay out of pocket for them.

FCT involves more than just taking supplements. It involves patients actively avoiding activities that interfere with the supplements. They are required to follow a strict diet which is primarily a no sugar diet. The second thing patients must do is to avoid high electromagnetic fields during critical time periods during the treatment. It has been observed that exposure to high electromagnetic fields interfere with the efficacy of the supplements. Therefore, patients must avoid computers, fluorescent lights, TVs, phones, and cars during the first couple of days of their treatments cycles.

The bottom line is whether this theory translates into practice: do patients become healthier? There are numerous anecdotal reports worldwide that patients who undergo FCT do indeed feel better resulting in discontinuation of medications. There are unfortunately no published data on the efficacy. Funds to perform research on alternative medicine remain limited. A number of academic institutions have been approached to study FCT but they declined to. My personal experience with using FCT is that the results far exceed the placebo rate of 30%. A review of my patients' charts will show that nearly 100% of my patients who properly follow FCT have had significant decrease in the intensity and frequency of their symptoms with corresponding improvements in their functional capacity. Many have been able to discontinue some of their medications. Given that I've only been practicing F.C.T. for 6 months as of this writing, it is still too early to tell to what degree my patients will recover from their illnesses, but I am hopeful to continue to observe results that exceed conventional and alternative medicine.

--Dave Ou, M.D.

-March 2006