IV Therapy ResearchIV Therapy and Vitamin Drips in Edmonton
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The classic Vitamin Drip - frequently used for fatigue |
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Both low dose and high dose Vitamin C infusions |
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"Gluta" is versatile - inflammation, detox & cosmetics |
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Intravenous NAD+ treatment for longevity & fatigue |
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Many IV Therapy treatments can be stacked with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy |
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Top Uses for IV Therapy in Edmonton:
Fatigue
Depression & Anxiety
Immunity
Skin Brightening
Infections
Neurological Disease
Cancer Support
Hydration
Sports Performance
5 benefits of IV Therapy
#1 - Absorption
Unlike substances taken orally, IV Therapy treatments are always absorbed 100%.
Digestive side effects are not seen with IV Therapy.
#2 - Rapidity
In comparison to oral administration, IV Therapy often yields rapid results.
In our experience, conditions such as fatigue and low mood can respond sometimes within minutes of a treatment.
#3 - Effectiveness
Administration of identical substances both orally and intravenously can yield wildly different results.
IV Therapy often has sharp, easily recognizable clinical end effects especially for areas such as low energy, low mood and cognitive enhancement.
#4 - Durability
Typically after a series of a few treatments patients can see weeks to months of a sustained effect.
This is typical for nutrient based IV Therapy treatments such as the Modified Myers Cocktail our Naturopaths use at our Edmonton office.
#5 - Tolerability
Nutritional IV Therapy treatments are frequently extremely well tolerated.
Minor adverse effects such as local irritation are sometimes seen but in our experience the overall incidence of adverse effects with nutritional IV Therapy is exceedingly low.
IV Vitamin Therapy FAQ
Why even use IV Therapy?
IV Therapy bypasses the digestive tract and allows for 100% absorption of Vitamins and Minerals and can create blood nutrient concentrations that are simply not possible when the same nutrients are taken by mouth.
In our experience, oral, sublingual, or intranasal administration of the same vitamins rarely robustly improves fatigue, mood or cognition in the same ways as IV Therapy.
These routes cannot achieve the high serum concentrations that are achieved through infusions.
What are the mechanisms behind IV Therapy?
IV Therapy achieves dramatically higher blood concentrations and allows for more effective repletion of nutrient levels within cells.
When we repeat intravenous treatments, these cells are repeatedly “flooded” with nutrients such that the nutrients can build.
These higher blood concentration provides a better opportunity for nutrient deficient cells to take up what they need.
It is our observation that some patients feel function better simply when they have higher cellular and blood levels of nutrients, in particular the B Vitamins and Magnesium.
How much does IV Therapy cost?
Average IV Therapy costs range between $135 and $185 on average depending on the type of infusion, the complexity and length of time the drip is administered.
At our office in Edmonton, we do a high volume of IV therapy and we're frequently able to keep costs down relative to other clinics because of this volume.
We do our best to keep costs low, especially with additions to an IV Treatment - for example, adding a Myers Cocktail to a NAD treatment is usually an additional $20.
How often does someone need IV Therapy?
How often someone needs IV therapy depends on what's being treated.
Most commonly, our Naturopaths administer one IV drip per week for 3-4 consecutive weeks to achieve consistently enhanced cellular and blood nutrient levels.
Maintenance infusions are usually every 4-6 weeks for many IV treatments such as the Myers Drip and IV NAD therapy.
Occasionally more aggressive treatment protocols are used.
How safe is IV Therapy?
By using well established doses and infusion rates, IV Vitamin Therapy is remarkably safe.
Our Naturopathic Doctors have administered over 10 000 intravenous treatments at our Edmonton office with a remarkably low incidence of adverse effects.
Moreover, our nurses and Naturopathic Doctors constantly monitor our patients during IV treatment.
I'm really bad with needles, what should I do?
Come to your visit early, well hydrated, have a snack before hand and grab a heating pad to improve appearance of your veins.
Your IV Therapy will be administered by one of our extensively experienced Naturopathic Doctors or nursing staff.
We can recline you as well during the insertion of your IV treatment for maximum comfort.
If I'm pregnant can I do IV treatments?
Our office does offer a limited amount of IV treatments in pregnancy.
A reasonably doses Myers Cocktail is one of the most commonly used pregnancy IVs.
Very commonly, we are administering Ringer's Lactate hydration IV Therapy for fluids and electrolytes in pregnant patients.
How long do infusions take?
Shorter IVs, like the Myers, are usually over 15-20 minutes.
Whereas, IV Vitamin C treatments can be upwards of 3-4 hours depending on the dose.
As you can see, infusion times vary greatly depending what is being used.
IV NAD is usually run over 60-90 minutes unless very large doses are used.
How quickly will I feel better after IV Therapy?
Infusions can give very rapid results.
Most IV treatments give effects within 24 hours.
For example, IV NAD+ can frequently improve energy and clarity the same day as the treatment.
Whereas a Vitamin Drip frequently has "next day" effects.
What ingredients are used the the IVs?
Many of our IV Therapy drips use B Vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12), Magnesium, and Vitamin C.
We offer Edmonton a wide range of ingredients so we can tailor the IV to you and your needs.
Additional nutrients (Selenium, Zinc, Calcium, Folate, Carnitine, Taurine, Amino acids, Cobamamide) are added depending on the condition being treated.
Some single ingredient IV Treatments - NAD+, NADH, PolyMVA, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Curcumin and Glutathione.
IV Vitamin C Treatment Edmonton
We work with IV Vitamin C Therapy
IV Vitamin C in Edmonton
Why give Vitamin C Intravenously?
Oral dosing of Vitamin C achieves a maximum serum concentration of less than 0.25 mM due to the limited absorptive capacity of the gastrointestinal tract.
Whereas, intravenously administered vitamin C will increase serum levels more than 100-fold: up to 30 mM (Levine 2011).
How can IV Vitamin C help in Cancer?
When present at such high serum concentrations, vitamin C generates cytotoxic reactive oxygen species, such as hydrogen peroxide. In normal cells, hydrogen peroxide is metabolized to water and oxygen by the enzyme catalase.
However, tumor cells lack catalase, leaving them vulnerable to the cytotoxic effects of hydrogen peroxide (Chen 2005).
Tumor cells selectively take up more vitamin C compared to normal cells through an upregulated metabolic need for glucose due to similarities between Vitamin C and Glucose (Agus 1997).
Can IV Vitamin C be used alongside chemotherapy?
In many cases yes. For instance, 2014 pilot trial looked at stage III-IV ovarian cancer patients receiving IV Vitamin C therapy alongside chemotherapy.
Women who received IV Vitamin C treatment reported fewer side effects related to chemotherapy in almost all categories of toxicity and median time to disease progression or relapse was 8.75 months longer in the Intravenous Vitamin C group - 25.5 vs 16.75 months (Ma 2014).
Another study looked at data from 125 breast cancer patients (stages IIa to IIIb) treated with a modest 7.5g IV Vitamin C in addition to standard therapy for at least 4 weeks.
IV Vitamin C administration resulted in a significant reduction of complaints induced by the disease and chemo-/radiotherapy (Vollbracht 2011).
Because of data like this our Naturopathic Doctors frequently suggest simultaneous intravenous Vitamin C treatment alongside many common chemotherapy regimens.
IV Therapy with Vitamin C is frequently given once weekly on chemotherapy "off-days."
IV Vitamin C and Quality of Life:
A review of all patients receiving IV Vitamin C for cancer at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital over a 7 year period looked at 86 patients who received a total of 3034 doses of IV Vitamin C (50 to 150g).
32 patients received only IV Vitamin C as part of their cancer care (1197 doses) and 54 patients received ascorbic acid in conjunction with chemotherapy (1837 doses - which included drugs such as paclitaxel, carboplatin, sorafenib, irinotecan, and gemcitabine).
Bladder, Breast, Colon, Endometrial, CLL, Liver Cancer, Lung, Lymphoma, Mesothelioma, Ovarian, Pancreatic, and Prostate Cancer were the main cancers in this review.
All patients receiving IV Vitamin C, had a significant improvement or stability in fatigue, bowel habits, and pain symptoms (Bazzan 2018)
60 patients with newly diagnosed cancer who visited participating institutions in Japan were used for another study.
In most of the study patients (95.0%), the primary lesions were solid tumors (Lung, Breast, Stomach, Colon, Uterus, Liver, Prostate, Ovary, Pancreas) and 61.7% had advanced cancer with metastatic lesions and 34 patients had co-administered standard care (mostly chemo).
The global health status scores showed significant improvement from after 4 weeks of IV Vitamin C therapy as well as significant improvement in physical, emotional, cognitive, and social functioning with fatigue showing the largest improvement (Takahashi 2012).
Vitamin C and Infections:
Vitamin C is needed for neutrophil function and can stimulate the production of interferon and other anti-viral cytokines, as well as direct antiviral properties such as hindering viral infection, replication and protein assembly.
Observations from the literature that millimolar levels of Vitamin C (pharmacologic concentrations as provided by IV Therapy) hinder viral infection and replication in vitro such as Herpes simplex viruses, cytomegalovirus, and parainfluenza, influenza and picornaviridea viruses to infect cells.
With this in mind, data looking at 178 patients with elevated Epstein Barr Virus antibodies that were treated with intravenous vitamin C (7.5 g to 50 g infusions) was analyzed. Most of these patients had a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome.
Their data showed a reduction in antibody levels over time during IV Vitamin C therapy.
The authors concluded "our data provide evidence that high dose intravenous vitamin C therapy has a positive effect on disease duration and reduction of viral antibody levels." (Mikirova 2014).
5 benefits of IV Vitamin C
#1 - Dosage
Intravenous use of Vitamin C allows our Naturopaths to dose Vitamin C in dramatically higher amounts than what is possible with oral administration.
Most adults can tolerate a maximum of 5-6 grams in a single dose when Vitamin C is taken orally, however, with IV Therapy we can dose 20 fold higher amounts of IV Vitamin C - anywhere from 2 grams up to 125 grams!
#2 - Pharmacologic Effects
IV Vitamin C Treatments behave differently in the body than oral Vitamin C.
For instance, oral dosing of Vitamin C functions principally to enhance anti-oxidant and immune related functions of Vitamin C.
However, intravenously Vitamin C has direct anti-viral and oxidative effects hence its use in infections as well as Cancer.
#3 - Compatibility
IV Vitamin C drips are water soluble and can easily be combined with other water soluble IV Therapy ingredients.
Frequently our Naturopaths add additional B Vitamins and Minerals (such as Magnesium, Selenium, Calcium and Zinc) into our Vitamin C IV treatments.
#4 - Safety
Intravenous Vitamin C is remarkably safe and the same can be said for nutritional IV Therapy in general.
Our Naturopaths have literally given thousands of IV Therapy treatments at our Edmonton office.
IV Vitamin C drips are remarkably well tolerated even at high doses, and in sensitive populations like the elderly.
#5 - Efficacy
Vitamin C IV Therapy frequently gets the job done and done well.
Whether it comes to acute infections, chronic infections, boosting immunity or alternative cancer support Vitamin C infusions have a very broad use and can be effective in a large range of conditions.
Interested in Vitamin IVs?
Get in touch
(780) 757-8378
IV Therapy - Myers Cocktail
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Glutathione IV Therapy
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NAD+ IV Therapy
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