Treatment of the flu with massive doses of
vitamin C.
I want to emphasize first that the main reason that massive
doses of vitamin C work against infectious diseases has little to do with the
vitamin C functions as ordinarily understood. They work in massive doses
because we are throwing away the vitamin C for the extra electrons carried.
These extra electrons neutralize the free radicals (molecules missing electrons)
that mediate all inflammations and cause the symptoms and deaths from these
infectious diseases. It is not really a matter of medicine; it is a matter
of chemistry. Doses of ascorbate which are massive enough to force a
reducing redox potential into tissues affected by the disease will always
neutralize the free radicals.
For prevention of many cases of flu. When you are still
well take ascorbic acid to bowel tolerance to determine
what your bowel tolerance is. People who have known difficulties with
their stomach or bowels will have to be careful. For instance, ascorbic
acid may cause a burning sensation in people who have ulcers or gastritis.
If you have symptoms when you take ascorbic acid, you already have something the
matter with your stomach or bowel. See a local orthomolecular physician in
this case.
Different people have different levels of organisms in them
that produce free radicals. Also, allergies or autoimmune diseases,
injuries, parasites, etc. produce free radicals and the free radicals produced
by theses conditions have to be neutralized with ascorbate before you get extra
ascorbate to work on jobs like preventing the flu or slowing down the aging
process, etc. This fact is why people vary so much in the amount of
ascorbic acid they will tolerate orally and, as a matter of fact, why bowel tolerance
to ascorbic acid may be more at one time during the day than another.
For maintenance doses, take an amount of ascorbic acid that is
comfortable for you about 4 to 6 times a day. Remember that the dose may
vary depending on how you feel. The better you feel, you take less.
The worse you feel, you take more.
Always, always, always drink water with ascorbic acid by mouth!!! Never
let yourself get seriously dehydrated which can happen if you are very nauseated
from the illness or medications.
Start with pure ascorbic acid crystals or powder. Then
after you learn to read the needs of your body, switch over to capsules or
tablets. Always take these with water. Over a long period of time
ascorbic acid powder or crystals could cause topical damage to the enamel of
your teeth. Capsules or tablets will not do this.
If you are exposed to the flu, increase your doses to very
close to bowel tolerance. If you feel a virus is threatening, take doses
even as frequently as every hour during the day and take an extra dose in the
middle of the night if you wake to urinate.
If you get the flu, take doses every hour, or maybe even more
frequently, until diarrhea is almost produced. Actually, the diarrhea is
not that bad so it might be better to tolerate a little diarrhea at first.
If the flu is causing diarrhea, this may be difficult but those with experience
in taking ascorbic acid can tell the difference between the flu diarrhea (which
is uncomfortable) and the
loosening of the stools by ascorbic acid (which is not usually uncomfortable.)
If you are unable to take enough ascorbic acid by mouth to
control the flu see an orthomolecular physician for intravenous sodium ascorbate.
Lists of physician who will probably
give intravenous sodium ascorbate. Otherwise, ask the owners of a mom
and pop health food store. They will probably know the names of physicians
who will give intravenous sodium ascorbate in your area.
If 60 grams of
sodium ascorbate does not reverse the symptoms given over 3 to 4 hours, then 120
grams in 1000 cc or 180 grams in 1500 cc may be administered. When enough
ascorbate is given rapidly enough, it will eliminate the symptoms because the
symptoms are mediated by free radicals. If enough electrons are made
available through massive doses of ascorbate it will eliminate the symptoms
including all the inflammation. It is matter of chemistry, not medicine.
Remember to continue to take ascorbic acid by mouth while the
IV sodium ascorbate is being administered. Bowel tolerance to ascorbic
acid by mouth is increased by simultaneous administration of sodium ascorbate by
vein. You might stop the ascorbic acid by mouth about 1/2 hour
before the IV stops because diarrhea my start when the IV stops. It is
safe to start the oral ascorbic acid an hour or so later.
When the IV stops, after an hour or so, resume the ascorbic acid by mouth until you
are well. Before you are well. especially if you did not take the
intravenous sodium ascorbate but were not able to take enough ascorbic acid by
mouth, you may become what I call "unsick." You know you have the
virus but your symptoms are much less, hardly noticeable, and complications are
very rare. You may be unsick a day or so longer than you would have been "sick-sick" untreated
with ascorbate if absolutely no complications occur, However, there is no contest as
far as which patients prefer. Massive doses of ascorbate, by neutralizing
free radicals, turns on cellular immunity but delays humeral immunity (the
formation of antibodies.) If the doses of ascorbate are not high
enough to completely eliminate free radicals and thereby turn on cellular
immunity in the seat of the diseased tissues, humeral immunity may not eliminate the disease
as rapidly as it would if you had been "sick-sick.".
Children take reduced doses IV. Usually a 10 year old
takes adult doses. Sometimes you have to give chewable ascorbate by mouth
in children. This does not work quite as well as ascorbic acid by mouth. Chewables are buffered of necessity
to protect the teeth and are are not quite as powerful but better
than nothing.
People who cannot obtain sodium ascorbate by vein and who cannot tolerate bowel tolerance doses of ascorbate will get
some lesser benefit from more moderate doses of ascorbic acid by mouth or from
buffered C by mouth. They do not work a well against acute symptoms but
may prevent serious complications. Remember that those people who die of
the flu mostly have acute induced scurvy. If you take moderate doses of ascorbates, they should prevent acute induced scurvy.
With any physician who does not believe this, have them take your serum levels
of ascorbate when you are sick.
The children who are dying of the flu mostly have what I call "acute
induced scurvy." Read the story about babies dying of acute induced
scurvy in
Archie Kalokerinos' book Every Second Child. I, personally, treated
one 2 year old who would not take the vitamin C I prescribed because of a viral
disease and a temperature or 104 F.. In the middle of the night during a
snow storm, the mother called saying she thought her son was dying. I saw
him immediately in the middle of the night. The boy was almost comatose
with his back arched. I quickly gave him an intramuscular shot of one gram
of sodium ascorbate in 4 cc of water without preservative. In a minute or
so he was sitting up acting perfectly normal. The response was so dramatic
that there was no question that the mother would have the child take the
ascorbate subsequently. This was exactly the type of case described by Dr.
Kalokerinos in Australia. There was no question that in an hour or two, if
I had done the legally correct thing and sent him to the hospital, he would have
been dead of acute induced scurvy.
ROBERT F. CATHCART III, M.D.
ALLERGY, ENVIRONMENTAL & ORTHOMOLECULAR MEDICINE
127 SECOND STREET, SUITE 4
LOS ALTOS, CALIFORNIA 94022
(650) 949-2822
FAX (650) 949-5083