Intravenous (IV) Therapies — Part 1, by Dr. Connie

Why are we dedicating a series of articles to IV therapies?

We feel that many of our readers may not have considered this extremely safe, effective therapy. And we aren’t exaggerating when we say that it can be life-changing.

Nature is the best healer.
Nature is the best healer.

At Pacific Naturopathic, whenever we start to experience anything like the beginning of a cold or flu, we receive an immune IV, and the infection never manifests.

As a result, we’re confident in crediting IV therapy for helping us stay healthy for years without a single full-blown infection.

The most common complaint we hear at our clinic is fatigue or low energy. And no wonder. Our Bay Area lives include many powerful stressors: traffic, work, the media, pollution – yadda yadda yadda.

We’ve found that IV therapy can help very effectively with stress, fatigue, and many related issues.

In the first article, below, Dr. Connie describes various considerations for IV therapy.

Later, Dr. Marcel will answer the most common questions about IV therapy.

Dr. Corrine will talk about IV therapy and athletic performance, and how IV therapy supports the immune system.

We believe that the wealth of information in these articles will inspire you to try IV therapy for yourself.

Be Well.

Intravenous (IV) Therapy Considerations – by Dr. Connie

When Dr. Marcel and I were first introduced to IV therapies in naturopathic medical school in the early 1980s, these therapies were of great interest to us but weren’t available in Vermont, where we intended to practice.

connieIn the 1990s and early 2000s, we joined with many others to help get these valuable treatments approved, while we worked to expanding gain legal recognition for our naturopathic training. California was the first state to issue licenses to naturopathic doctors, in 2005. The legal right for naturopathic doctors to administer IV therapies was granted in early 2013.

At Pacific Naturopathic, we waited for legal approval before we began to provide IV services.

Shortly after legalization, an extended family came to us with a sad story. A mother of four young children had been unsuccessfully treated for her cancer at Stanford Hospital.

She was horribly ill, suffering terribly from the severe side effects of her treatment regime. To make matters worse, the family were told that nothing more could be done for this desperate mother.

Her husband, however, had researched IV Vitamin C. He had found in his readings that the side effects of chemotherapy could often be dramatically reduced by IV therapies. He petitioned Stanford to provide the service for his wife, but they refused, insisting that the treatment was not scientifically validated.

The family begged us to help, and we took them on. From being so ill that she could barely speak, with regular IV therapies the mother rallied and survived for almost a half a year longer than predicted, with a high quality of life.

Over the past several years, the naturopathic use of IV therapies has flourished. As a naturopathic doctor trained in nature cure and vitalistic therapy, I found it somewhat difficult to jump on the IV bandwagon. Although the substances we use are derived from natural sources (purified and standardized), I couldn’t see what was “natural” about injecting botanical medicines or nutrients into our veins. Although I continue to have questions, I have found significant benefits from including these therapies in our practice.

The most persuasive reason is the efficacy we are seeing in treating viral conditions such as shingles and genital herpes, as well as in resolving acute infections, in supporting chemotherapy patients, in providing adjunctive cancer care, in restoring nutrient status, and in working with autoimmune diseases.

The second reason I’ve come to accept the need to offer IV therapies in our practice is the scarce availability of these powerful therapies in mainstream medicine.

Conventional medical doctors and treatment facilities are often unwilling to even consider offering these therapies to their patients.

I mentioned Stanford Hospital. Recently, at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, renowned for its innovative cancer research, I was informed by the doctor representing Integrated Medicine that they simply “don’t do those things” at the center.

(On the positive side, although they were conflicted and confused about this mode of treatment, the doctors at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA consented to provide IV nutrients to one of our patients!)

I do not doubt that IV therapies will come into their own in the not-too-distant future. Our ongoing battle, for now, is to persuade insurance companies to provide reimbursement for these safe and very effective – and cost-effective – therapies.

Read more about the medical services offered by Dr. Connie: http://www.naturopathichealthconsultations.com

 

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