I recently posted on Instagram that I was having vitamin C intravenously, and many people asked me why this was. I hope to answer this by writing this personal blog post. Let me first start with the fact that my health has been quite erratic shall we say since the birth of my son, almost 6 years ago now.
It must be known that before I had Kade, I did have some gut issues, mild anxiety and endometriosis. Although I had a very healthy pregnancy and beautiful natural birth, my body seemed to have a fall apart when my periods came back (around 2 months after having Kade) and I am trying to put back the pieces and understand why still today.
Not taken seriously by NHS doctors
Unfortunately, my health issues post-birth (underactive thyroid, low iron, low B12, endometriosis making a come back, recurrent UTI’s to name but a few) were not taken seriously enough by doctors that I saw on the NHS at the time.
Some doctors back then outright, for instance, stated that I did not have endometriosis as they checked by ultrasound (when this is not an accurate way to check in the first place and when I moved back to South Africa I was immediately diagnosed with stage 3 and 4 endo). Some also argued that the tests I did on my hormones with Genova Diagnostics had no relevance (even though it showed my cortisol to be very high and my progesterone and oestrogen were out of whack). On occasion, I was told it will all get better when I stop breastfeeding, or worse, that maybe I had post-natal depression.
Some improvements, more to be made
Since I moved to South Africa I have made a lot of progress with several doctors, including a gastroenterologist, and a functional doctor. Despite this, I have still had one too many doses of antibiotics for mostly the UTI’s (one was a kidney infection) but also one bout of pneumonia and some random viral infection last year (that we thought initially was bacterial as I was tested before taking more antibiotics).
So you could say my immune system needs some help. Especially when on top of this I have had a lot of stress in my life in terms of relationships especially with some people close to me, and sadly, I have seen the passing of 5 beloved family members all last year, and three years ago my cat died suddenly after being attacked by my own dogs. Stress definitely affects your health, and especially your immune system.
Which is why my focus now is to do all I can to help reprogram my immune system to be strong again, and vitamin C is one of the ways that my functional doctor and I feel we can help to do this.
Vitamin C therapy – What does the science say?
For years, natural health therapists, nutritionists and dieticians have been using vitamin C therapy as a way for their clients to boost their immune system. This is because it is an antioxidant and because it has an ability to inactivate viruses.
Also, it is accepted that vitamin C is an immune-relevant nutrient which is needed for many things outside of the immune system (such as to make skin healthy and produce collagen) but because it is water-soluble and the body cannot make it – the body must be given its daily need through food and supplementation.
A person also may not absorb high doses of vitamin C when given orally, as much as 50% may be excreted when a dose of 1 g or more is given. It is also the higher doses that make vitamin C supplementation so powerful.
I have also found several studies that have found vitamin C to be useful as part of a treatment plan:
Vitamin C + Polio – This is an old study but at the time the conclusion from this study stated that vitamin C administration may help to convert “abortive attacks into an altogether non-paralytic infection”.
Vitamin C + Tuberculosis – This study carried out in 2013, concluded that the bacteria that cause TB is “extraordinarily sensitive to killing by a vitamin C-induced Fenton reaction.” The authors also went on to say that this study could help to add vitamin C to an anti-tuberculosis regime.
Vitamin C + Shingles – This cohort study that looked specifically at intravenously administered vitamin C stated that “concomitant use of intravenously administered ascorbic acid may have beneficial effects on herpes zoster-associated pain, dermatologic findings and accompanying common complaints. To confirm our findings, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical studies are necessary.” It is important to remember that shingles is caused by the herpes zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox.
Vitamin C + ICU stay length – In this study, the authors concluded that they “found statistically highly significant evidence that vitamin C can shorten the length of ICU stay.”
Vitamin C + Anelgesic properties – This review of vitamin C data stated “Accumulating evidence from literature has shown that vitamin C has its potential role in antinociceptive effect and postoperative pain relief. In addition, future trials are needed to further explore its potential effect on postoperative pain following tooth extractions, treatment of oral ulcers, and its optimal doses and routes of administration.”
Vitamin C + Allergies – Another study that used vitamin C intravenously stated: “Our observations suggest that treatment with intravenous high-dose vitamin C reduces allergy-related symptoms. Our observations form a basis for planning a randomized controlled clinical trial to obtain more definitive evidence of the clinical relevance of our findings. We also obtained evidence of ascorbate deficiency in allergy-related diseases.“
Vitamin C + H.Pylori infection – This study published in 2018 stated, “it is worthwhile to include pharmacologic ascorbate with or without standard antibiotic treatment on H. pylori eradication, especially for H. pylori with antibiotic resistances.”
Vitamin C + Drug Addiction – This study demonstrated in 1977 that “In the 30 addicts tested in this pilot study, the results were excellent in all cases, and it would appear that this simple nontoxic procedure should serve as the basis for large-scale testing to develop a new program for freeing drug addicts of their addiction. In drug overdosage, sodium ascorbate can be a lifesaving measure.”
From reading all of this research, it seems that in some cases intravenous vitamin C can be more beneficial than oral, and vice versa. Also, determining the correct dosage is important also. Either way, doctors can no longer ignore the benefits to be had for their patients for various health complaints with vitamin C therapy.
My experiences so far with intravenous Vitamin C
So far I have had two vitamin C drips. The first dose was 10,000 IU. I felt like I had more energy for two days after this first drip was administered. On the second I had 15,000 IU and it was hard to notice the difference as I had got shingles by this point. But I definitely felt good afterwards, and it was only at this dose, several hours after, did I notice I had little stomach cramps which soon after resulted in me emptying my bowels. This wasn’t diarrhoea but a healthy stool. But it may have a been a sign my body had hit its tolerance and something I will report to my doctor next time I have a vitamin C drip.
I also feel relaxed when I do the drips as the environment my doctor has set up is relaxing. Even when the first drip I had started to sting, the nurse who administered it was with me and immediately removed it and put it into another vein. This sting was simply the vitamin C infusion going into my tissue and not a vein, despite the vein ‘looking good’. (This is the story of my life – thin veins!)
After removing it, there was a small bit of swelling but this and the stinging sensation soon dissipated. Now the nurse always puts the drips into a vein much lower in my arm to avoid that happening again and so far all has been good!
I am due to go back for my third vitamin C drip this week, which will be the remaining 15,000 IU of the 50,000 IU I first started with. Although some doctors administer these extremely high doses, my doctor advises to start off lower and observe how the body handles it.
I am interested to see how I feel when I have the vitamin C drip and don’t have shingles. All I know is I am going to keep going with them for the next few months alongside other treatments that I am trying to boost my immune system with. And when I fly soon, I will definitely be having a Vitamin C IV! Just to help my body cope with those in-airport and in-flight germs.
