Dr. Nieters,
If you have the information at your fingertips, I would love know the doses of Vitamin C & D to take as flu prevention so that I can include them in my newsletter.
Thanks,
Katharine
Owner, Pure Joy Bodywork
Dear Katharine,
Vitamin D
The average dosage of vitamin D to stay at the appropriate serum levels of 56-60 is about 4,000 iu of Vitamin D. Since most of us are deficient, we should use a loading dose of 10,000 iu for about a month and then go down to 5,000 iu per month during the 6 dark months.
This level is only dangerous in Sarcoidosis patients and those with some very intense cytokine storm problems (maybe 1/1,000 people) and then it is only truly dangerous in the Sarcoidosis patients.
The Vitamin D council recommends 1000 units per 2 pounds of body weight if you think you are coming down with something. So for 150 pound individual it would be 75,000 iu (minimum) for first three days of viral attack. I take 100,000 units when I feel that I have been compromised. I have not missed a day of work for illness in 27 years.
Vitamin C
I recommend a dose of about 3,000mg during cold and flu season. At the first sign of problems go up to bowel tolerance (enough to cause diarrhea, and then reduce to eliminate diarrhea) which could be up to 100,000 mg or more. The body needs very high doses to repair the damage done by the virus. The greatest cause of death from the flu is tertiary level heart attack from the inflammatory damage done to the blood vessels by the virus.
Epicor
Some type of yeast extract is good to increase sIgA levels (secretory IgA levels) on the mucus membranes to increase mucosal immunity.
Mushroom
Mushroom extracts to increase lung and mucosal immunity.
Yin Qiao Plus
This is a tincture from Bioessence (the standard formula Yin Qiao + banlangen, da qing ye, and chuan xin lian would be my choice with mixed herbs) at the first sign of sore throat or viral attack.
Sleep
This is the most important factor. Sleep as much as you need to feel rested. In January this could be 10-12 hours. This is “normal” human physiology and not a sign of illness.
Stay healthy.
Be Happy!
John Nieters, DAOM, L.Ac.
Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
