Intravenous and Intramuscular Vitamin/Mineral Therapy
Why use I.V. Therapy?
By the time symptoms of disease have made their appearance, it is sometimes too late for oral vitamin and mineral supplementation to make a large enough impact on the body. Often times the same vitamins and minerals that would be supplemented orally can be administered through a different route to better benefit many diseases. It may seem that the delivery route of supplements should not matter, but there is a good reason why intramuscular injections, or intravenous therapy can better provide the body with the nutrients used to manage disease.
It is a fact of biology that all life, except for viruses, is composed of cells and cell products. When we attempt to bring a disease under control, what we are really trying to do is provide cells with all the nutrients they need to get the job done. If the cells are not health, we are not healthy, since our bodies are composed entirely of cells and cell products.
Treatment goal of I.V. Therapy:
We approach the problem of curing disease as a problem of “the cell.” We think of the health of a single cell to clarify our thinking, understanding that “the cell” is actually the billions of cells that make up our body. The treatment goal is to provide the cell with what it needs to exist in a healthy condition. What the cell needs to be maximally healthy is always found in nature and not pharmaceutical lab test tubes.
Transport of nutrients:
To create cell health, nutrients must be admitted into the cell through the cell wall, to the inside of the cell. This is called “transport” and constitutes work done by the cell and thus requires energy. The best nutrient formula does no good when the nutrients remain in the extracellular space (the space outside the cell), circulating around the body, waiting to be filtered out by the kidneys.
Absorption of nutrients:
There is another method by which nutrients enter cells: by absorption. Nutrients slip through the wall without requiring the participation of the cell or any work from the cell. The cell wall is thus said to be “semipermeable”; i.e., it will keep out all but a small percentage of nutrients unless they are actively transported from the outside of the cell to the inside. Absorption is a minor method of nutrient entry into cells, under ordinary conditions. It depends on a “concentration gradient,” as the biochemists call it; i.e., it depends on nutrients being in a higher concentration on the outside of the cell compared to the inside of the cell.
A sick cell:
If the cell is sick, it does not perform its functions well. One of these functions which it does not perform well is the transport of nutrients across the cell wall. Therefore, we have a Catch-22: the cell is sick and does not transport well. What is needed to make the cell healthy are nutrients inside the cell; however, the cell may be too sick to transport the nutrients in sufficient quantity to create health.
What can be done?
The answer is simple: give nutrients in a concentration high enough to force the nutrients into the cell by means of a high concentration gradient and the ability of the cell wall to absorb without expending any of its energy on active transport. When nutrients are given in high concentrations through the use of Intravenous (I.V.) therapy, or Intramuscular injections, the nutrients are forced inside of the cell by shear force of numbers. High concentrations outside the cells “semipermeable” wall, allows nutrients to be admitted into the cell because of the high concentration gradient that has been created.
100% absorption:
Therefore, if the cell can only absorb ten percent of what it needs under conditions of usual concentration, and we increase the concentration of nutrient available by 1000% (ten times the usual), we automatically increase absorption to 100% (10% (0.10 x 1000 =100%) of normal. Then, provided we introduced the proper nutrients, the cell becomes healthy and able to transport needed nutrients when those nutrients are in usual concentrations. The numbers used here are not meant to be accurate for any particular nutrient but simply to demonstrate the principle involved.
I.V. vs. Oral supplementation:
The only way to increase the concentration of a nutrient by this “1000%” is by intravenous or intramuscular administration. Why is this? Because the cells of the stomach and intestine can transport and absorb only so fast, and this is not fast enough to create a high concentration gradient throughout the body. IV and IM administration bypasses the stomach and produces an instant large increase in concentration, which is presented to every cell in the body. The intravenous route is especially useful for this purpose, because no time is required for absorption from an injection site in a muscle.
I.V. Therapy is not always the answer:
It is not always necessary to resort to the "parenteral" (intravenous or intramuscular) routes of administration, and we do not do this form of therapy unless it is necessary. Many diseases can be handled by large oral doses of vitamins and minerals, but when this is not effective, parenteral administration provides a real benefit.
Safe and effective:
Because the effects on normal body function of synthetic drugs are unpredictable, especially when given parentally, there is a great fear of this route of administration. Many people have known or heard of someone who has had experienced a problem or complication with the use of I.M. or I.V. administration of a synthetic drug. The situation is different with vitamins and minerals. These substances are natural to the body and, when given in proper doses by an experienced physician, are safe. "Idiosyncratic" reactions, which often happen with synthetic drugs, occur LESS OFTEN with substances which are natural to the body.
Brief Introduction of Advantages and Disadvantages of IV Therapy