High Dose Vitamin C
High dose ascorbic acid has been used successfully for a variety of conditions over the years. Hoffer and Osmond may have first used it clinically in orthomolecular psychiatry, Linus Pauling put it on the world map, and then Fred Klenner, MD described the oral and intravenous clinical use of Vitamin C in his monographs. It has an outstanding history of safety and effectiveness.

Pauling made the point that humans, unlike all other mammals, are unable to synthesize vitamin C within the body to fulfill the demands that various stressors put on the organism. He later postulated that this fact may account for the observation that only humans experience arteriosclerosis. He also was responsible for promoting its use against the common cold.

Fred Klenner, MD, a front line general practice physician, first described its value for viral and bacterial infections such as colds, encephalitis, herpes virus, measles, mumps, chickenpox, herpes zoster, hepatitis, diphtheria, strep, and staph. Vitamin C activates immune system cells, loads the guns of their microbe-killing mechanism via hydrogen peroxide, and strips and stops replication of the viral protein coats by entering infected cells, thus stopping the infection. In one of his children, he once kept a measles syndrome going for 30 days by giving 1 gram of ascorbic acid (AA) every 2 hours around the clock for two days (symptoms controlled), then off 2 days (symptoms recur). It was then stopped by giving one gram every 2 hours by mouth for four days. One might question the wisdom of this tactic for a parent with his own children, but no one can doubt that Klenner was a man of science straight though to his core!

He also described the vitamin’s importance in cholesterol metabolism. He stated that high cholesterol diets deplete AA levels, and when that happens, cholesterol levels rise and gallstones and plaque may occur. Intravenous vitamin C (incorporated in our chelation IV’s as well as our straight vitamin C IV) causes a significant drop in serum cholesterol. This occurs with high dose oral use as well. He was convinced that low levels of vitamin C contribute to, or cause, human arteriosclerosis. You can read Pauling and Rath’s book “Why Animals Don’t Get Heart Disease” for more on this subject.

Klenner also brought up the use of vitamin C for heavy metal poisoning. He quoted animal studies which showed that AA protected against the lethal effects of mercury poisoning. For example a group of rats were given previously proven lethal doses of mercury after pre and concomitant treatment with AA, and not a single animal died over the next 20 days! The equivalent human dose used in this study would be 14 grams per day. Lead workers all have subclinical scury, and regular adequate oral AA will prevent lead toxicity and eliminate the evidence of lead in the system, which causes a stipling effect on the red blood cells. He also pointed out a good example of “junk science” when he recommended ignoring a negative study of AA’s benefit in a lead toxic child. The author’s “extremely high dose” of AA was 250mg orally 4 times daily and a single injection 250 mg. Enough said about that. Relating to toxicity issues, he also discussed the problem of carbon monoxide (CO) in city dwellers and smokers. This polluting dangerous gas will displace oxygen from red cells and manifest as confusion, fatigue, headache, and sometimes coronary decompensation. He also points out that victims of burns in house fires, especially children, may end up dying because of the delayed and untreated impact of carbon monoxide poisoning while the medical team’s attention is focused only on the burns. IV AA is useful in these cases and should be administered asap because it neutralizes the effects of CO, prevents the sludging of blood so instrumental in the formation of third degree burns, and speeds the healing of heat damaged tissue.

Then there is the cancer story. High blood levels of AA appear to be lethal to cancer cells, and harmless to normal cells. In Pauling’s published studies of terminal cancer patients (he was a fearless promoter of the truth), IV AA improved the quality and extended the life of these patients. Pain was markedly reduced. Klenner thought IV AA and local douching should be applied to reduce the incidence of the virus induced cervical cancer, and also wryly commented that the so called “wasted” vitamin C that gets excreted out the urine can prevent recurrences of bladder cancer. Klenner concluded : “The potential is so great, and the employment so elementary, that only the illiterate will continue to deny its use.” This was a great man, a fantastic family physician, but as seen in this statement he naively believed that physicians were scientists like himself who looked at facts unclouded by prejudice, bias, and conflict of interest, and were purely motivated to help the human condition in the safest and most effective possible ways. Unfortunately we know that this is not true.

This has briefly reviewed the major applications for AA in a general way. Next time I will discuss some miscellaneous applications, and focus in on it’s IV use here at Caring Medical.
 

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