Vitamin Therapy

Patrick Massey MD PhD MhD 
ALT-MED Medical and Physical Therapy, Elk Grove Village IL and serving the Chicago area.


What is Intravenous Vitamin Therapy?
Intravenous vitamin therapy is administering vitamins, minerals and other nutrients to a patient through the vein.  This is not a new therapy.  It has been used in traditional medicine since the 1930"s. 

Why Intravenous Vitamin Therapy?
Vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are necessary for health.  Contrary to common medical thought...we do NOT get everything we need through food alone.  In addition, those who are ill and debilitated actually may not be able to absorb enough nutrients from food to heal.  Even for those who are healthy, when under severe physical or mental stress, they may need more nutrients than food can reasonably provide.

My doctor told me there was no evidence for intravenous vitamin therapy.
Your doctor would be wrong.  There is significant medical research, beginning in the 1940's, on the use of intravenous vitamins for a variety of medical conditions including viral and bacterial infections, fatigue, fibromyalgia, peripheral neuropathy, cancer and even recovery from surgery.  Dr. Massey has published the first medical studies on the use of intravenous vitamins for both fibromyalgia and hot flashes. 

How Does It Work?
A high dose of vitamin C (often 25,000 mg ) is infused over about one hour.  Side effects are rare and usually associated with not eating before the infusion.  I usually recommend once a week if treating a specific medical condition but for prevention, once every 2-3 weeks is usually sufficient. 


MEDICAL CONDITIONS 
 
Flu and Coronavirus: Medical research has demonstrated that vitamin C has strong anti-viral properties that directly affect the virus as well as stimulate the immune system to seek and destroy viruses.  Indeed, vitamin C is necessary for some white blood cells to kill viruses once they have found them!  Unfortunately, blood levels of vitamin C taken by mouth are much lower than blood levels after intravenous vitamin C and a higher blood level may be needed.  Vitamin C may be an effective therapy and preventative for viral infections including influenza and SARS (Coronavirus outbreak a few years ago).  It also may be effective for people who often fly and are exposed to the re-cycled air in an airplane. In my clinical experience, people who get regular vitamin C infusions rarely get sick even if everyone around them gets the flu.  

Sports and Athletics: Although there are no medical studies looking at athletics and intravenous vitamin therapy, there is good evidence that intravenous vitamins can enhance the healing process.  Many professional athletes recognize that intravenous vitamin therapy helps to accelerate healing and recovery. Dr. Massey works with a number of professional athletes as well as serious college and high school athletes decreasing injury-based recovery time...ultimately improving performance.

Peripheral neuropathy: nerve damage resulting in a sensation of pain and burning. It is most common in patients with diabetes as well as patients undergoing chemotherapy. There is robust medical evidence that alpha lipoic acid can significantly improve peripheral neuropathy associated with chemotherapy as well as diabetes.
 
Fibromyalgia: a medical condition that is associated with chronic widespread pain as well as an increased sensitivity to pain perception. It is also associated with sleep disturbances, depression, profound fatigue, bowel dysfunction and changes in memory and cognition. Approximately 2-4% of the US population carries a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Two medical studies have demonstrated that intravenous vitamin therapy is beneficial for relieving many the symptoms of fibromyalgia. The first published medical study published was the work of Dr. Massey and the other clinical trial was done at Yale University Medical Center.
 
Chronic fatigue syndrome: according to the Centers for Disease Control, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating disorder characterized by a feeling of profound fatigue, decreases in memory and cognition, muscle pain, sleep disturbances, lymphadenopathy, etc. There is some data to suggest that it may be the result of chronic viral infections as well as associated with bowel dysfunction. Case studies in the medical literature have indicated that intravenous vitamin therapy can be beneficial.
 
Adrenal fatigue: although discounted by many in the traditional medical realm, adrenal fatigue is real. Chronic stress, either from illness or lifestyle can result in an adrenal gland that is operating at a suboptimal level. This is reproducibly measurable. Intravenous vitamin therapy as well as intravenous vitamin C can have a profound impact in patient's quality-of-life and energy levels.
 
Cancer: there is increasing medical research demonstrating a positive benefit for high dose vitamin C and cancer. There seems to be a direct toxic effect of vitamin C on cancer cells as well as enhancing functioning of the immune system. High dose vitamin C is safe and well tolerated in most patients.
 
Hot flashes: Dr. Massey was the first to publish research that intravenous vitamin therapy is effective in treating hot flashes both as a result of menopause and chemotherapy. One possible mechanism is that a number of B vitamins are necessary for the production of the neurotransmitter, serotonin. Increased levels of serotonin may be responsible for turning off hot flashes.

Wound healing:  Many patiens with chronic wounds have significant nutritional deficiencies...especially vitamin C.  Vitamin C is essential for tissue repair.  High dose, intravenous vitamin C would be the usually recommended intravenous vitamin therapy.