Downside

Any IV treatment carries a risk of bruising, infection and vein inflammation. That is why they are best administered by professionals. Doctors, nurses and naturopaths are trained to routinely administer nutrients and medicines this way, and in emergency situations this is essential medicine.

Many seem attached to the idea that the best way to absorb nutrients is through the gastrointestinal tract and that an IV drip should be used only if a person has a real medical condition that prevents him from taking vitamins by mouth.

Dr. Gilbert Ross is one who cannot fathom intravenous medicine. He says, “Unless patients suffer a specific type of malnourishment due to GI absorption problems, vitamin drips are nothing more than complete quackery.” He was also quite concerned to learn that people were administering such IVs at home. “Only licensed health professionals should be allowed to perform IV drips,” he says. “And in this case, state medical boards should intervene by informing the public that infusing various vitamins or electrolytes provides absolutely no medical benefit but is fraught with many risks—including death—if components such as magnesium, a cardio-toxin in excess, is administered without supervision.”

Dr. David Seres, director of Medical Nutrition in the Division of Preventive Medicine and Nutrition at Columbia University Medical Center, says, “Time and again we have learned that vitamin supplementation has no positive impact and is, in fact, frequently harmful. Until chemical infusions like this are tested in a randomized, controlled setting, it must be assumed that the infusion is harmful. This is the way we would approach any medical therapy.”

Dr. Seres is not talking about real medicine—he is talking pure arrogance, the kind that kills people. Reading his words reminds me of that famous case of the New Zealand farmer Allan Smith. His family sued and won a court order that forced a hospital to administer high-dose vitamin C intravenously and it saved the man’s life. Intravenous vitamin C is a well-researched and proven antiviral and is a registered medicine in New Zealand.

The mainstream medical media has been showing off its most unintelligent side by writing up bad copy about intravenous medicine saying, “There’s little evidence the practice has any health benefits.” They like to point out, for all the wrong reasons that, “In addition, the invasive IV method poses more risks than taking vitamins by mouth.” The fact is, many celebrities practice intravenous medicine.

All of these sources might as well be saying that we should trash emergency room and intensive care medicine. The truth is there are alternatives to this kind of medicine and they can be practiced at home without medical supervision. Through intense oral and transdermal administration (a topic thoroughly addressed in many of my other essays), a person can do almost everything necessary to bring himself back from the edge—but there are times when an IV is what will save the day.