IV Nutrient Therapy - Salt Lake City / Holladay and Park City, Utah
Dr. Thaddeus Jacobs
1881 Prospector Avenue Park City, UT 84060 435-647-9500
2180 E 4500 S Suite 185 Salt Lake City, UT 84117 801-277-7000
Intravenous nutrient therapy supports conditions such as seasonal allergic rhinitis, acute asthma, acute migraines, fibromyalgia, fatigue (including chronic fatigue syndrome), cancer, autoimmune disease, lyme disease, acute muscle spasm, chronic pain, IBS, PMS, upper respiratory infections (bacterial, viral, fungal), heavy metal toxicity, hypertension, atherosclerosis. and other problems.
The Theoretical Basis for IV Nutrient Therapy
Intravenous (IV) administration of nutrients can achieve blood concentrations not obtainable with oral or intramuscular (IM) administration. For example, the maximum blood concentration of vitamin C given orally is 9.3 mg/dL. In contrast, IV vitamin C can raise blood concentrations as high as 400 mg/dL. Similarly, oral magnisium supplementation results in small changes in blood magnesium concentrations, whereas IV magnesium can double or triple the blood levels over a short period of time.
IV nutrients exert pharmacologic effects and can rapidly correct intracellular nutrient deficits throughout the body, resulting in improved metabolism and functioning of the body's various systems, including the nervous, digestive, detoxification, hormonal and immune systems. Vitamin C exerts antiviral, antihistamine and oxidative (anti-cancer, antibacterial/antifungal) effect at levels only attainable via IV administration.
Magnesium, which is responsible for over 500 enzymatic processes in the body, promotes vascular and bronchial smooth muscle relaxation; which may be useful in the acute treatment of vasospastic angina and bronchial asthma. Additionally, heart muscle magnesium concentrations in patients with cardiomyopathy were found to be 65% lower than healthy controls. Because magnesium plays a key role in mitochondrial energy production, intracellular magnesium deficiency may exacerbate heart failure and lead to a viscious cycle of further intracellular magnesium loss and severe heart failure. IV magnesium has recently become standard first-line treatment for myocardial infaction (AKA "heart attack") in some emergency wards.
Intravenous nutrients produce a marked, although transient, increase in blood concentrations, providing a window of opportunity for ailing cells to easily absorb nutrients. Nutrient influx into the cells is believed to restore their healthy function, at least temporarily. If cells are repeatedly "flooded" with nutrients, the improvement appears to be cumulative and patients become progressively healthier. Following an initial series of nutrient infusions, the intervals between treatments can be gradually increased, and eventually the injections are no longer necessary.
Some patients require regular injections indefinitely in order to control their medical problems. This dependence on IV nutrient infusions could conceivably result from any of the following: 1) a genetic impairment in the capacity to maintain normal intracellular nutrient concentrations; 2) in inborn error of metabolism that can be controlled only by maintaining higher than normal concentrations of a particular nutrient; or 3) leakage of nutrients due to impaired kidney function. In some cases, continuous IV therapy may be needed because a disease state is too advanced to be reversible.