From cancer to sepsis to pneumonia, IV Vitamin C can help turn the tables on infection.
Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) is a major water-soluble antioxidant with a variety of biological functions. It may be important in maintaining proper immune cell function. Even though Vitamin C commonly functions as an antioxidant, it can also act as a pro-oxidant that actually oxidizes tissues, which is what chemotherapy does. Vitamin C converts free radicals into hydrogen peroxide, a molecule that can damage cell membranes if not neutralized by an enzyme inside the cell called catalase.
High-dose Vitamin C uses intravenous injections of Vitamin C of up to 85 gm every 5 days, for 6 to 8 rounds to increase oxygen levels in cells; oxygen kills cancer cells. More correctly, High-dose Vitamin C uses injections of ascorbate and this acts as a pro-drug to increase H2O2 in cancer cells, which kills them.
Recent research suggests simultaneous fasting and/or Hyperbaric Oxygen can help achieve even better results...we use supplements, the most important of which is lipoic acid, which has been found to enhance the cancer killing effect of Vitamin C.
NIH Study - High-dose Vitamin C Intravenous for COVID-19
Vitamin C has been extensively applied in the treatment of viral infections, with studies revealing that patients with pneumonia and sepsis have low levels of Vitamin C and elevated oxidative stress…there is sufficient evidence to suggest that Vitamin C is effective in the treatment of pneumonia and infection. Further, Vitamin C has been shown to reduce the severity and duration of pneumonia.
Vitamin C can improve the resistance of white blood cells to viruses, has an antioxidant effect, and can induce interferon production in vivo…The implementation of High-dose Vitamin C treatment can significantly reduce the demand for high-dose corticosteroids, antibiotics, and antiviral drugs, as these drugs may have the effects of immuno-suppression, adrenal suppression, and toxicity, complicating the course of the disease…
Therefore, High-dose Vitamin C infusion may be a significantly effective therapeutic agent in COVID-19 treatment.
There are at least three challenges that have thus far prevented large-scale, randomized controlled trials of Vitamin C for cancer therapy.
First - Vitamin C is not patentable. Therefore, there is no financial incentive for pharmaceutical companies to support Vitamin C clinical trials, and those that have been done have largely relied on government grants and small private donations.
Second - as discussed above, Vitamin C cancer therapy has a long history of controversy. Due to the Mayo clinical studies in the 1980s, many orthodox, mainstream clinicians have a prejudice against Vitamin C therapy.
Third - although many preclinical studies showed High-dose Vitamin C could kill cancer cells or retard tumor growth in vivo, Vitamin C’s mechanisms of action have not been clear, making it hard to predict the pharmacodynamics, the rational design of combinational therapy, and biomarkers for patient stratification.
Virtually all studies show improved quality of life for cancer patients by minimizing pain and protecting normal tissues from toxicity caused by chemotherapy.
Dr. Paul Marik - a Norfolk doctor found a treatment for sepsis. Now he’s trying to get the ICU world to listen.
“Medical residents started calling the concoction "miracle juice." Marik dubbed it "the cure for sepsis."
Also added to the concoction: Thiamine, which is Vitamin B; Hydrocortisone or Glucocorticoid, which are both steroids.
Kurt Hofelich, Norfolk General's president, said the protocol is being rolled out to other ICUs in the Health system to validate the findings. 'We hypothesize that this new treatment will evolve into a national best practice and a new standard of care for patients with sepsis in an ICU level of care environment.' Hofelich said.
The patient was dying. Valerie Hobbs, 53, was in the throes of sepsis – an infection coursing through her veins that was causing her blood pressure to tank, her organs to fail and her breathing to flag.
"When you have a person that young who's going to die, you start thinking, 'What else can we pull out of the bag?' said Dr. Paul Marik, who was on duty that day in the intensive care unit of Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. In this case, he reached for Vitamin C.
The next morning, Hobbs had improved so much she was removed from four different medications used to boost her blood pressure. Her kidney function was better. Her breathing eased. Three days later, she left the ICU. That was in January 2016. Today, Hobbs is back at her home in Norfolk.
Marik wants there to be a comprehensive study and he said that Stanford University has expressed some interest. But he said it will be difficult to fund because it uses drugs that have been on the market for decades. "We are curing it for $60. No one will make any money off it. Studies take money, and that money often comes from pharmaceutical companies. By the time it's done, it could be three years and the number of people who will die of sepsis by that time will be ginormous," Marik said.
The bottom line is Vitamin C, in all its forms, is necessary to human Health and has shown over and over again to be beneficial, if not life-saving. The problem is, it can't be patented and there's no money to be made from its use. Damn the fact that it is highly effective in saving people's lives.
When will modern medicine remember to not only Do No Harm, but that its purpose is to save lives, NOT to make money?