VITAMIN C IN THE TREATMENT OF ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME (AIDS)

VITAMIN C IN THE TREATMENT OF ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME (AIDS)
My previous experience with the utilization of ascorbic acid in the treatment of viral diseases led me to hypothesize that ascorbate would be of value in the treatment of AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). Preliminary clinical evidence is that massive doses of ascorbate (50-200 grams per 24 hours) can suppress the symptoms of the disease and can markedly reduce the tendency for secondary infections. In combination with usual treatments for the secondary infections, large doses of ascorbate will often produce a clinical remission which shows every evidence of being prolonged if treatment is continued. This clinical remission is achieved despite continuing laboratory evidence of helper T-cell suppression. There may be a complete or partial destruction of the helper T-cells during an initial infection that does not necessitate a continuing toxicity from some source to maintain a permanent or prolonged helper T-cell suppression. However, it is possible ascorbate may prevent that destruction if used adequately during that prodrome period. Emphasis is put upon the recognition and treatment of the frequent intestinal parasites. Food and chemical sensitivities occur frequently in the AID syndrome and may aggravate symptoms considered to be part of the AID syndrome. A topical C-paste has been found very effective in the treatment of herpes simplex and, to a lesser extent, in the treatment of some Kaposi's lesions. Increasingly, clinical research on other methods of treating AIDS is being "contaminated" by patients taking ascorbate.

INTRODUCTION I had previously described that the amount of ascorbic acid which can be tolerated orally by a patient without producing diarrhea, increases somewhat proportionately to the toxicity of his disease (1,2,3,4). Among the roughly 80% of persons who tolerate ascorbic acid very well, -bowel tolerance- will be reached when in excess of 10 to 15 grams of ascorbic acid dissolved in water is taken in 4 to 6 divided doses per 24 hours. The astonishing finding was that when that same person is acutely ill with a mild cold, that tolerance may increase to approximately 50 grams per 24 hours. A severe cold can increase tolerance to 100 grams; an influenza, even up to 150 grams; and mononucleosis or viral pneumonias, to as much as 200 grams per 24 hours. These higher doses may have to be divided as frequently as hourly.

These large amounts of ascorbate are being drawn off the GI tract at a rate sufficient to prevent significant amounts from reaching the rectum and producing diarrhea. Measurements of ascorbate in urine, saliva, or serum indicate that if sufficient doses of ascorbate are not given when a patient is ill, the body level of vitamin C drops rapidly. In such a case, there is not enough vitamin C left in the body, particularly in the cells directly involved by the disease, to guarantee all the known housekeeping functions of the vitamin. Those functions known to be dependent on vitamin C, including several metabolic reactions necessary for proper functioning of the immune system, are put at risk of malfunctioning. I call this condition -acute induced scurvy.-