Vitamin C and Its Healing Affects

Year after year I would come down with the flu around the holidays and on vacations -- almost as if my body knew I couldn't get sick during the busy times, but had permission to "let down" when I had some time off. I wanted to understand why this happened to me and to many busy entrepreneurs and executives I know.

Year after year friends and acquaintances would come off a high stress period in their business and develop chronic illnesses, some severe including cancer. And friends I've known that have been relatively healthy would start developing various chronic problems in their forties and beyond -- back and joint pain, fatigue, depression, etc.

Three to four times a year, most recently just before Thanksgiving, I receive 30,000mg (30 grams) of vitamin C intravenously. I use a protocol created by Dr. Hugh Riordan over the past 20 years -- I had him share the protocol with my doctor so I can get it locally. And the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH), in an April 2004 study, is finally validating Dr. Riordan's approach. The study showed that much more vitamin C gets taken up when it is given via the intravenous route than when the vitamin is taken orally. The authors of the study include Sebastian J. Padayatty, MD of the Molecular and Clinical Nutrition Section at one of the NIH institutes, and his chief, Mark A. Levine, MD (Harvard Medical School). Both are highly regarded figures in academic circles.

More importantly, the study shocked the medical community when it found blood plasma levels of Vitamin C could be achieved 60 times what was thought possible through intravenous Vitamin C-- breaking down one of the huge myths about large doses of Vitamin C. And there's a study being led by the University of Kansas Medical Center to study the impact of large does of intravenous Vitamin C on cancer (80 -- 100 grams of C). Remarkably, there are no side-effects of large doses of Vitamin C, as opposed to what has been found with Vitamin E. And the intravenous method bypasses the impact on the digestive system, going straight into the blood stream to replenish cells, boost your immune system and refill your adrenal glands, etc. But do your own research.

Stress dramatically reduces your plasma levels of Vitamin C. Pumping adrenaline dramatically reduces your plasma levels of Vitamin C. Sitting on airplanes on runways (and taking in the engine fumes) dramatically reduces your plasma levels of Vitamin C. Firefighters, after a fighting a fire, or policeman, after engaging in a chase, will see their plasma levels of Vitamin C drop to zero. A simple cut consumes massive amounts of Vitamin C. Environmental factors all around us are causing our bodies to consume massive amounts of Vitamin C, which the body robs from cells over time since we are one of only two mammals that can't produce Vitamin C. And over time our cells and immune system are compromised to the point that flu and cancer and other chronic illnesses are able to grab a foot hold in our bodies. Joints actually start bleeding when you're low on Vitamin C (thus lots of early back problems with firefighters, not from the work as they had thought). Bleeding gums is actually a sign of low Vitamin C. Vitamin C is needed to maintain the strength of artery walls.

In addition, I take 8 grams (800 times the Recommended Daily Allowance) of C orally a day. I've come to learn this is the right amount for me (different for each person). I've learned from research why you have to increase your tolerance slowly, why you need this much, how enzymes are produced by the body to aid absorption, how this impacts you if you skip a day, how it DOESN'T make you dependent, etc.

After exhaustive study and first hand experience, let me state emphatically here that we'll look back on chemotherapy as the equivalent of bloodletting. We'll look back on all the pills we're consuming as the equivalent of poisoning ourselves. Traditional medicine is effective at treating acute problems, but has been largely ineffective at dealing with chronic problems. The long term research is conclusive that most of the infectious diseases can be cured with large doses of Vitamin C. And rather than heal us through cutting, burning, and poisoning (present approach to cancer), IV Vitamin C will both kill the cancer while strengthening the immune system and building up the cells to prevent its spread. I'm going out on a limb, but I've done my homework.