By Dr. Mahboubeh Hashemi, ND and Dr. Matthew Cavaiola, ND
As fall and winter are fast approaching, many people, and maybe you, are anxious about what’s in store for this flu season. This year’s flu season promises to be even more dramatic as it intersects with the ever-continuing health pandemic that continues across the globe and in our communities. Flu prevention, therefore, may be more important than it ever has been before.
Did you know that there are many action steps that you can take now to help your body’s immune system stay strong? Making sure to eat a healthy diet, devoid of large quantities of refined sugar, is a great starting point. Dr. Matthew Cavaiola, ND, co-founder of Conscious Human Medicine in downtown Santa Monica, stated “One of the biggest culprits for suppressing your body’s immune system and making you more susceptible to viral infections is sugar. Eating foods high in sugar can weaken your white blood cells, a crucial part of your immune system, for 5 hours or longer.” Other extremely important factors to take into consideration when trying to boost the health of your immune system include getting adequate sleep, reducing your stress levels and making sure that you have adequate vitamin D levels in your blood. Dr. Cavaiola added “Naturopathic doctors can run laboratory tests to determine the health of your immune system and guide you in coming up with a comprehensive and individualized plan to prevent you from getting sick.”
One of the most cutting-edge therapies that you should consider this flu season is Intravenous (IV) Vitamin Therapy. IV Vitamin Therapy, especially the Myer’s IV Treatment, delivers the most important immune-boosting nutrients, like vitamin C, B vitamins and magnesium, directly into your bloodstream. It is nearly impossible to reach optimal levels when taking these vitamins orally as compared to IV Vitamin Therapy. This is because when you take vitamins by mouth they have to be processed by the body and their absorption in the gastrointestinal tract is often impaired. When the body becomes supersaturated with these powerhouse vitamins using IV Vitamin Therapy, white blood cells are strengthened and this helps them respond faster when you are exposed to a virus. If you do get sick with the flu, IV Vitamin Therapy has also been shown to reduce the intensity and duration of an illness.
One of the most important immune-enhancing vitamins that you can receive while doing IV Vitamin Therapy is Vitamin C. Vitamin C is stored in your white blood cells and helps specialized immune cells called Natural Killer Cells (NK cells), T cells and B cells in fighting viral and bacterial infections. High-dose Intravenous Vitamin C (IVC) is a specialized IV Vitamin treatment where 10-50 grams of Vitamin C is infused directly into your bloodstream over the course of one to two hours. If you have ever taken vitamin C by mouth, you may realize that you can only take a certain amount before you get loose stools or intestinal upset. This is because vitamin C draws water into the intestines. Intravenous Vitamin C goes directly into your bloodstream, bypasses the intestines and thus you are able to take levels 5-25 times higher than you can tolerate orally. Dr. Mahboubeh Hashemi, ND, co-founder of Conscious Human Medicine stated, “We have seen amazing results using high-dose IVC in our practice to help our patients prevent viral infections and to reduce the severity and duration of a cold or virus, including the flu. High-dose IVC can even help in support against Lyme disease and other chronic viral infections, like Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Hepatitis.” She added “It is always important to work with a naturopathic doctor who can make sure that IV Vitamin Therapy and High-dose Vitamin C are safe for you and who can come up with a holistic treatment plan designed just for you.”
So, this flu season, consider IV Nutritional Therapy and High-dose Intravenous Vitamin C to prevent getting sick and help take the health of your immune system to the next level!
