Vitamin C
I posted some here about our use of lypospheric vitamin C
here and here.
But this post is about how we landed on lypospheric vitamin C to begin with.
We wove our way to the lypospheric vitamin c.
Vitamin C and Seasonal Allergies
In the spring of last year (2012) I believe, my son started what had become usual for us each spring - intense nasal congestion. It was spring allergies. He would get so congested that he could not even breath through his nose at night - I spent weeks at a time sleeping with him the previous years and holding him up so that the congestion would drain and he could sleep peacefully. We'd finally succumb to nasal steroids - adding to our steroid burden.And in 2012 - that is where we were headed. Bear in mind, we'd use the netti daily, zyrtec, stay indoors - but still he would spend about 3 months battling intense nasal congestion that could only be tamed with flonase. So here we were March-ish 2012 and my son was beginning the seasonal stuffies. I let it go for as long as I could and then ordered the nasal steroids. In the meantime, he caught a flu or something that was going around school - so he was out for a week. I decided to start the steroids once he was well again. Towards the end of the week, when I thought he was getting better - he spiked a fever and a really rich cough. This was Saturday night - I decided that we'd last out the weekend and then go into doc on Monday. He had pneumonia when he was 2 - and then some other quasi lung infection thing at 3 (all before asthma diagnosis) - so I was totally afraid he had gotten pneumonia. The cough was intense and the fever relatively high (hovering around 101.9 to 102.5 if I recall). Around 11ish at night, I spooned as much lypospheric c mixed with apple juice as my son would take. I would wake him periodically and give it to him. In the morning, I gave him a gram - and then throughout the day - I think it was every 4 hours or so I'd give him 1 gram.
Needless to say by Monday morning he was fine - fever had broken the day before never to return. The other thing that didn't return was the nasal congestion. So I continued giving my son 1 gram, sometimes 2 grams, daily of lypospheric vitamin C. About 5 months ago, I stopped giving my son a daily gram. He now only takes it when he is sick or sniffly. We'll see how the spring goes - whether or not we need to pulse back on, and what effect, if any, that has.
Vitamin C and IgE
Over the next year and a half we experienced an IgE reduction of 30% (the first 4-6 months) followed by a slow rise again, despite our daily dose. Our IgE experience seems similar to the findings of this article:Assessment of oral ascorbate in three children with chronic granulomatous disease and defective neutrophil motility over a 2-year period.
This is a fascinating article. The children, all three of whom had elevated IgE levels, experienced an initial drop of IgE in first 6 months - followed by a gradual rise over the next year and a half that they were tracked.
Why does vitamin C (sodium ascorbate in particular) initially reduce IgE? Why does it stop doing that after about 6 months? What organ does it initially effect, that grows tolerant to it?
More food for thought:
The Analysis of Vitamin C Concentration in Organs of Gulo-/- Mice Upon Vitamin C Withdrawal
An interesting study, keeping in mind that it is mice model. The mice are bred not to produce vitamin C (like humans). But it's interesting read - if only to get a clue to which organs it effects:
According to the report by Harrison et al. (14), vitamin C is preferentially deposited in brain (4~10 mM), adrenal gland (2~10 mM), liver (0.8~1 mM) and cerebrospinal fluids (CSF; 0.2~0.4 mM). However, the reason why such organs contain the high concentration of vitamin C is still largely unknown. Moreover, in vivo kinetics of vitamin C in organs under vitamin C insufficient condition has not been investigated yet.
