IV Therapy ResearchIV Therapy and Vitamin Drips in Edmonton
Want to try IV Therapy?
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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 are offered |
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Glutathione drips are versatile - inflammation, detox & cosmetics |
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Intravenous NAD+ treatment for longevity and fatigue |
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Many IV Therapy treatments can be stacked with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy |
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 does anyone 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.
These higher blood concentration provides a better opportunity for nutrient deficient cells to take up what they need.
When we repeat Intravenous treatments, these cells are repeatedly “flooded” with nutrients such that the nutrients can build.
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?
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.
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.
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 with maintenance infusions every 4-6 weeks for many IV treatments such as the Myers Drip and IV NAD therapy.
Occasionally more aggressive treatment protocols are used.
For example, in cancer with Intravenous Vitamin C treatments are frequently twice weekly for 15-20 treatments.
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.
I'm really bad with needles, what should I do?
Your IV Therapy will be administered by one of our IV licensed Naturopathic Doctors or a collaborative professional such as a nurse that have extensive IV administration experience.
Come to your visit early, well hydrated, have a snack before hand and grab a heating pad to improve appearance of your veins.
We can recline you as well during the insertion of your IV treatment.
If I'm pregnant can I do IV treatments?
Our office does offer a limited amount of IV treatments in pregnancy such as low dose drips of Vitamin C and and the Myers' Cocktail drip as well as rehydration.
How long do infusions take?
IV treatments can be anywhere between 15 minutes (for instance for a Myers Drips) up to three hours (for long hydrations bags or large doses of IV Vitamin C)
How quickly will I feel better after IV Therapy?
Infusions can give very rapid results. For example, IV NAD+ can frequently improve energy the same day as the treatment, whereas a Vitamin Drip frequently has "next day" effects.
What ingredients are used the the Intravenous treatments?
Many of our IV Therapy drips use B Vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12), Magnesium, and Vitamin C.
Our clinic frequently uses additional nutrients (Selenium, Zinc, Calcium, Folate, Carnitine, Taurine, Amino acids, Cobamamide) 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 Edmonton
IV Vitamin C Research:
Most commonly at our office our Naturopathic Doctors are using IV Vitamin C for Alternative Cancer Care as well as Chronic infections.
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).
Our experience:
At our Edmonton clinic, our Naturopaths commonly administer 50 - 75 gram bags of Vitamin C IV Therapy. We frequently measure blood vitamin C with a glucometer to approximate 400mg/dL levels of Vitamin C reflecting in-vitro data from the Riordan clinic, or approximately 1.5g/kg.
For chronic infections such as EBV and HHV-6 our Naturopath often use IV Vitamin C in doses of 15-30 grams but we are open to using higher doses up to 50 grams as per the Riordan EBV data.
IV Vitamin C Therapy is an extremely safe treatment.
We have not experienced serious adverse effects in over 10 years of extensive administration at our Edmonton office clinic.
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
Myers Cocktail IVs in EdmontonMyers IV FactsWhat's in a Myers' Cocktail?The original John Myers Cocktail was administered in a 10-ml syringe by slow IV push. It was a combination of B1, B6, B Complex, Calcium, Magnesium, Vitamin C and dilute hydrochloric acid. The Alan Gaby Myers' Cocktail was administered manually in a still fairly small 20ml syringe. It was most commonly 1 ml each of B6, B5, B complex, B12, 4 ml of magnesium, 2 ml of calcium, 6 ml of Vitamin C, and 8 ml of sterile water The TruMed Myers' Cocktail is much stronger in many ways. The IV that Dr. Muradov primarily uses is a small volume IV (base fluid of 30-100ml) that has an additional 50% of most of the B Vitamins as recommended by Dr. Gaby as well as added Riboflavin and up to 7.5x the dose of B12 all in a small volume IV bag treatment. We approximate the hypertonicity of the Gaby Myers' in our IV treatment. What is the Myers' Cocktail IV used for?Originally the Myers' was suggested for use (as per case reports from Dr. Gaby): Fatigue, Migraine, Asthma, Fibromyalgia, Depression, Upper Respiratory Tract Infections, Seasonal Allergy, Narcotic Withdrawal, Chronic Hives, Athletic Performance, Hyperthyroidism and COPD. In particular, we frequently use the TruMed Myers' in Fatigue, Anxiety and Depression and Athletic performance on an extremely regular basis. We love using the Myers at our office to increase brain levels of nutrients for mood and brain fog. It seems that certain patients presumably have a higher-than-normal requirement for particular nutrients like Vitamin B12. The large blood spikes of nutrients from Intravenous administration is able to drive more nutrients into the brain. How much does a Myers' IV treatment cost?At TruMed our Naturopaths use a stronger, drip format Myers which is usually about $175 per treatment. How many Myers' IV treatments do I need to feel better?Frequently, patients that respond to the Myers will respond within 24 hours of their first injection. Occasionally, it can take 3-4 consecutive weekly treatments for a full response. The Myers' TruMed offers: B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12 & Magnesium B1: Thiamine is needed just prior to the Krebs Cycle (Thiamine Pyrophosphate and Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Enzyme makes acetyl-CoA from pyruvate). Orally and Intravenously administered Thiamine ("parenteral Thiamine") has been successfully in MS Fatigue. Through similar mechanisms we rely on Intravenous Thiamine at our office as an important component of IV treatments for fatigue. One practitioner reported that intravenous administration of intravenous vitamins could “dispose of delirium tremens in a matter of hours." It appears that intravenous infusions of vitamin C, B1 and B3 are the most important Vitamins to be used. B2: In the body there are two active coenzyme forms of B2 (Riboflavin): FMN (flavin mononucleotide - also called riboflavin 5’-phosphate) and FAD (flavin adenine dinucleotide) In a 1996 study, a maximum of 27mg of Riboflavin was able to be absorbed orally in contrast to intravenous Riboflavin injections. At our Edmonton office we can easily administer 50-100mg of FMN (Riboflavin-5'-phosphate). Riboflavin is best known for its use in migraine prophylaxis where doses are often 400mg daily orally. Interestingly, Intravenous Thiamine may have a role in migraine treatment as well. FADH generated in the Krebs Cycle is an electron donor in the electron transport chain for ATP generation so it's an important part of our IV treatments for fatigue as well as for athletic performance. Not surprisingly, Riboflavin requirements increase with exercise. B3: There are two main forms of B3 niacin or nicotinic acid and niacinamide or nicotinamide (niacinamide is the form we use in IV Therapy primarily) and all of these are precursors to NAD+. A deeper discussion into the mechanisms of Intravenous NAD+ will be in the NAD+ section. Our office uses Niacinamide exclusively in IV Therapy format as it is well tolerated in high doses and does not cause flushing as seen with Niacin. Data exists for the use of intravenous and orally administered Niacin (nicotinic acid) in the acute treatment of both tension type and migraines. Discussed below there is data for intravenous magnesium in the acute treatment of headaches which we've seen more clinically effective at our Edmonton office. Niacin is known to affect blood lipid levels and a study looking at intravenous niacin gave a possible explanation: that is suppresses endogenous lipoprotein hydrolysis. Niacinamide by inhibiting tryptophan pyrrolase (an enzyme) and can increase the amount of tryptophan available to be converted to serotonin and therefore improve mood. B5: Pantothenic acid is a component of coenzyme A (CoA) which is then added to Pyruvate to produce Acetyl-CoA which enters the Krebs cycle, so B5 is intimately involved in cellular energy production. So B5 is always added to our IV Therapy treatments for fatigue. In fact, disordered pantothenic acid and CoA synthesis has been implicated in both Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as well as Fibromyalgia, which is another reason our Naturopathic Doctors always have clinically relevant quantities of Dexpanthenol in our IV Therapy treatments for these conditions. Injections of Dexpanthenol (the form used exclusively intravenously) at 500 mg intramuscularly daily for 5 days decreases the time to a bowel movement in patients with chronic or occasional constipation. Also, Pantothenic acid is needed for Adrenal hormone synthesis and is therefore helpful for energy production in that regard as well. "Pantothenic acid supplementation stimulates the ability of adrenal cells in male rats to secrete corticosterone." With this in mind, B5 added to intravenous treatments is a must in the context of IV Therapy for adrenal fatigue. B6: Pyridoxine exists in three forms: pyridoxine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine. Pyridoxal's phosphate ester (pyridoxal 5’-phosphate or P5P) is a coenzyme and is the main active form of vitamin B6. Some data exists that suggests that deficiency of Vitamin B6 is involved in neurological sequelae of SARS Cov-2. Intravenous Vitamin B6 has been used in seizure management. Injections of Vitamin B6 into the acupuncture point PC6 can be helpful for nausea and vomiting of pregnancy. Also, injections of Vitamin B6 improves immune response in the critically ill and can improve hair loss in diffuse female alopecia. At our Edmonton office our Naturopaths primarily use Pyridoxine Hydrochloride in most of our IV Therapy treatments. However, we do also have pyridoxal 5’-phosphate (P5P) if we want a more robust response especially in mood concerns in addition to other ingredients such as methyl-B12, methyl-folate and Magnesium sulfate.
Our office frequently considers the use of Methyl-B12 in peripheral nerve injury - conditions such as diabetic neuropathy, and sciatica as well as herpetic neuralgia. Depression is a reversible manifestations of vitamin B12 deficiency and we've seen numerous chronically depressed or anxious patients who had substantial clinical improvement in mood after receiving intramuscular injections or infusions containing predominantly B12. Of course, B12 infusions are well known to improve fatigue (likely through increased succinyl-CoA). Magnesium: Magnesium is involved in over 300 different enzymatic reactions in the body. Similar to Vitamin C, oral consumption of magnesium results in only a small increase in blood Magnesium levels, whereas Magnesium infusions can triple the serum levels. With regards to energy production, ATP must bind to a magnesium ion to be biologically active. In our experience, Magnesium infusions can be extremely helpful in fatigue and chronic fatigue type syndromes. |
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Glutathione IV Therapy
Glutathione IVs in Edmonton
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NAD+ IV TherapyWe offer Edmonton NAD+ IV Therapy Drips for Fatigue & Anti-agingNAD IV Therapy in EdmontonNAD FactsNAD+ is synthesized via three pathways: de novo biosynthesis, the Preiss-Handler pathway, and the salvage pathway. The Preiss-Handler pathway synthesizes NAD+ from nicotinic acid (Niacin) The salvage pathway recycles nicotinamide/niacinamide to nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) by NAMPT and NMN is converted into NAD+, and in this pathway nicotinamide riboside (NR) converts into NMN. It's been suggested that NAD+ cannot enter cells from the blood directly, however, our clinical experience with NAD+ IV Therapy - where patients can feel beneficial effects instantly, seems to dispute this claim. Apparently NMN and NR are thought to enter cells directly however our Naturopathic doctors have not seen much clinical effect using these orally in our Edmonton patients, whereas the effect from IV Therapy is obvious and frequently profound. NAD+ plays an essential role in energy production as it's involved in glycolysis and the citric acid cycle (Krebs Cycle) forming NADH during these processes which we also work with Intravenously at our Edmonton office. The Sirtuins are 7 different NAD+-dependent deactylase enzymes that regulate different cellular pathways. Poly ADP-ribose polymerases (PARPs) are NAD+ dependent enzymes and are involved in DNA repair. An age-dependent increase the glycoprotein CD38, may contribute to cellular NAD+ depletion and impaired mitochondrial function. |
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Need IV Therapy?
(780) 757-8378