We were conducting an impromptu meeting with our clinic staff today when we got the chance to share this story, the history of our High Dose Vitamin C. Unlike Chelation Therapy when everything was in place when we came into the clinic, our High Dose Vitamin C started from a theory, to conception, stemmed from love and concern for a friend, to birthing pains and growth through the years. It is certainly a baby of TLC, our baby, and this is its story.
Vitamin C, as almost every other person know, is one powerful antioxidant. It combats stress and aids the body in a lot of bodily processes. But let’s not go into the technical side of things, after all, this is just a storytelling.
Almost 5 years back, one of my close friends was diagnosed with an abdominal cyst. Fearing an operation, she was diligent enough to research on alternative therapies and came upon this much used (at least among Integrative Medicine and Alternative Medicine practitioners) but little known of therapy, High Dose Vitamin C. Asked for a recommendation, I sent her to a colleague in Makati who started her right away on it. It was probably a pleasant experience because she did it a few more times. When she mentioned about the logistical difficulty in going for therapy in Makati, I bravely suggested for her to do it at TLC instead, saving her precious driving time and some money. I asked our supplier and luckily, they have it too. We experimented on the dose, experimented yes, based on her experience with the therapy, some baseline knowledge in medical school and a few research articles and online write ups. Her therapy at TLC was also a chance for us to spend time with and do a little health teaching.
Fast forward a few months after, she continued with the treatments, with evident changes in her skin, complexion, energy and immune system. Eventually she decided to have surgery and still continue with occasional infusions for well being and preventive maintenance.
On my end, the research was ongoing. I was then taking some courses with a known naturopathic doctor and she was pushing me to do IV infusions. Her exact words, “Why are you not doing IV Vitamin therapies doc? It will be really good for your patients.”
One day, some hard decisions have to be made, whether or not make it available to patients. In particular, patients with cancer, because when you compile the thousands of studies on High Dose Vitamin C, it is almost always with cancer patients.
I have another close friend who came to me one day with her mama. Her mother was previously coming in for Chelation Therapy for hypertension but on that occasion, I was to find some lumps in her neck area. Diagnosed with Lymphoma, my friend was looking for ways to support her mama’s immune system when she undergoes the proposed chemotherapy.
I told her about High Dose Vitamin C, that it is controversial, but science based, and that she should look into it. Much more a researcher and tech-savvy than me, she was sending me a few journal articles after a few days. And all have some amazing results from IV High Dose Vitamin C applied to cancer cases, as both adjuvant and sole therapy.
It was with brave hearts that we started on the journey – my friend, her mama, and TLC. If my other friend is patient zero, her mama is 0.5. But we went at it with a lot of readings in between, a lot of prayers and a lot of hope. Her mama did her rounds of chemo diligently, and in between would come in to strengthen her immune system, to have high dose Vitamin C work as an adjuvant to her mainstream therapies, and also to just talk and be with friends.
After almost a year of treatments, she was given good news by her oncologist, that she was cancer free and they had a birthday cake to celebrate. But less than a couple of months later, she was back again with some lumps, and her downhill course started from there.
The experience was disheartening. When I was already hoping for this therapy to be our choice treatment for patients with cancer who come through our door, the thought was crushed. When we had nothing to offer them before, that this therapy might just be a glimmer of hope, but no. The loss have affected me personally that I felt myself retreating back to a comfortable course, to continue just doing what were confident in, Chelation Therapy.
Yet, it was my grieving friend, the one who recently lost a mother, who encouraged us to continue with the journey. She urged us to let the therapy be available for those who needs it, those that like her, would like to prepare their loved ones’ immune system and health to the onslaught of side effects from chemo and radiation. Because she was witness how it made the difference in the course of her mama.
It will be many months before a protocol was in place, and our staff and doctors properly oriented. IV High Dose Vitamin C Therapy became our primary therapy for patients with cancer and one by one, we learned from every patient. Since 2017, we have administered to a number of breast cancer cases, stage 4 colon cancer, esophageal cancer, lung cancer, and cervical cancer cases. It is offered as an adjuvant or complementary therapy, never as a sole therapy or a replacement to mainstream treatments. Majority of these patient have concologists who knew of or are familiar with High Dose Vitamin C and no resistance was given. This is the integrated way of medicine. Best of all, results are very encouraging. As in many severe conditions, we lose some. But there are many wins. And future looks exciting and promising.
At present, we have more well patients who do this therapy than patients with the Big C. Once you understand the concept that cancer cells are lurking in vulnerable areas and the body can be overcome by many factors that can render these cancer cells to be aggressive, High Dose Vitamin C can be an interesting concept. It can be an anti-oxidant and a pro-oxidant (or destructive) at the same time, as well as beneficial for our skin, our tissues and organs, our immune system, our energy levels. Patients have reported many and one changes as well as long term benefits from this therapy, and it is here to stay.
It is quite a story of growth, with a lot of quiet introspection and apprehensions in between. But in the end, its the results and feedback from every patient that matter. We have embarked on this journey after all starting from one patient (or one friend), and it’s always a guiding principle for us to make a difference, to improve health and heal, one patient at a time.
P.S. Thanking my 2 friends for their permission to share this story. Also sharing a photo of me with some TeamTLC members (and our clinic mascot) while undergoing High Dose Vitamin C infusion during a quiet time at TLC.
By: Dr. Glorybelle Molano
Lead Physician
Integrative Medicine
The Longevity Center 