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HEALTHY HAPPENINGS May 2014

Who Needs IV Therapy?*
by Dr. Ray Andrew

When most people hear the term “IV therapy,” they think of unpleasant experiences in a hospital, such as being a patient in the Emergency Department, undergoing surgery, receiving chemotherapy for cancer, or receiving fluids, antibiotics, and/or painkillers to help with a life-threatening condition.

Few people realize that forward-thinking doctors have actually been using IV therapies safely and effectively in their offices for decades. Because nutritional IV therapy and IV chelation are not taught in medical school and are not covered by insurance companies, they have become two of the best-kept secrets in the practice of medicine. Patients from all over Utah and other states come to our offices in Moab and Springville because they have discovered how helpful IV therapy can be for their problems.

Mainstream medicine has long recognized the value of IV therapy in replenishing blood volume lost through vomiting, diarrhea, acute blood loss, and lack of oral intake. Common additives include sodium, chloride, potassium, and glucose. For those whose medical conditions prevent them from eating for days or weeks at a time, doctors prescribe “total parenteral nutrition” in order to provide life- sustaining fats, amino acids, glucose, vitamins, and minerals.

However, the benefits of IV therapy are not limited to such a narrow segment of the population as those who are hospitalized and/or fighting for their lives. A growing number of patients—including professional athletes and celebrities— have found IV nutrition helpful for a wide variety of conditions that are not optimally addressed by conventional therapies such as drugs and surgery.

The concept behind IV nutrition is simple: By bypassing the gut, one is able to achieve 100% absorption of key nutrients. This is important because, in our increasingly toxic world, healthy digestion and absorption are falling prey to problems like gluten sensitivity, food allergies, leaky gut, deficiencies of stomach acid and digestive enzymes, and unrecognized infestation by unfavorable bacteria, parasites, and yeast.

Additionally, the list of drugs that either deplete the body of vitamins or minerals OR impair their absorption is growing daily. Big offenders include drugs used for heartburn, high cholesterol, diabetes, birth control, high blood pressure, heart failure, depression, and seizure disorders.

Whereas even a healthy gut only absorbs a fraction of any vitamin, mineral, or drug that is swallowed, IV therapies deliver the full amount to the body’s tissues. As a result, 100 mg of IV magnesium, for example, will have far greater benefits than 1,000 mg of oral magnesium.

Moreover, the human body is able to tolerate significantly higher doses of substances intravenously than it can tolerate orally. If a person took 10,000 mg of vitamin C orally, chances are good that he wouldn’t be able to leave the toilet that day. And he would still be far from providing his cells the high concentrations that help the body fight infections or cancer. By contrast, the body can safely tolerate and utilize much higher doses intravenously.

Additionally, increasing numbers of people in this country are undergoing weight control surgeries (lap band or gastric bypass) that permanently impair absorption of many vitamins and minerals. Although patients are advised to take specific supplements, absorption will be less than optimal due to irreversible changes to the stomach and intestines.
IV nutrition has been used to help with the symptoms of depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, migraines, respiratory problems, colds, Flu, asthma attacks, angina (chest pain), heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome, high blood pressure, injuries, autoimmune disease, allergies, memory loss, peripheral neuropathy, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s colitis, and much more.

Patients report increased energy, an overall sense of wellbeing, improved athletic performance, improved healing and recovery from sports and surgical procedures, improved immune function, and stress relief.
Depending on the severity and duration of the condition, you may benefit from a single treatment or require a series of them. If you are run down and could use some rejuvenation, give us a call for an appointment to discuss your specific needs. Fortunately, you don’t have to be an athlete or celebrity to afford—or benefit from—IV nutrition.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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