Posted on 06/20/2010 7:23:02 PM PDT by STARWISE
The vitamin C has to be the real thing, from fruit, to do any good. All that synthesized C does is loosen your bowels.
When you get into Vit C you're entering the arena of nutrition and homeopathic medicine. Do you know what the academic requirements for a docter are pertaining to nutrition? One college course amounting to no more than 10 contact hours. And they probably take that in pre-med.
The one thing to be totally aware of when following a megadose Vit C regimin: hydration, hydration, hydration. Normal hydration means consumption of sufficient water to generate at least 1 qt of uring per day. That doesn't include diuretics such as coffee, tea, beer, etc. The fact is most people are significantly dehydrated and don't know it.
When following a megadose Vit C regimin one should double their fluid intake. Anything in excess of 1g daily is considered megadose. Short term megadosing shouldn't have any long term complications to health. However, if one has any sort of renal failure, or ever has had kidney stones (or familial history thereof) the subject should be discussed with their specialist. Its long-term megadose Vit C intake that requires attention. Risks 'associated' with megadose Vit C intake can be mitigated by balancing intake with B-complex and niacin (among other minerals). Most such risk is trivial, unless one has predisposing factors that warrant concern. You want to look into the link between oxalic acid, kidney stones and Vit. C. By minimizing the former, the stone issue is significantly mitigated (for normal healthy individuals non-disposed to renal deficiency or diseases).
Vit C is highly recommended with respect to immune boosting, and as prophalaxis concerning stress and trauma of any sort. Surgery definitely qualifies as trauma. Furthermore, trauma induces stress - release of prostaglandins - and the associated insiduous affect of inflamation; also stress is deletrious to properly functioning immune system.
One needs to fortify their diet with extra amounts of dark leafy green vegetables and fiber when undertaking high Vit C intake. 40 g fiber daily should be the healthy daily target for everybody; most especially with regards to high intake Vit C. The single most recognizable symptom of Vit C overdose, per se, is a loose stool. The cure: back off the dose a couple hundred mg (one's stool should firm right up within hours). Also, never take more than 250mg at one time. Stagger doeses equally throughout the day. However, if one consumes sufficient roughage they may never notice this (and be able to consume massive quantities of it without side-effect). Secondly, the vitamins inherent to vegetables that one consumes to meet the fiber requirement should be sufficient to balance high Vit C intake without having to resort to supplements to balance the Vit C.
In the short term - without predisposing factors - there's not much to worry about (its the long-term yearly high Vit C intake that requires special attention). For example: several grams daily Vit C for years.
The Cartilage Transplant procedure sounds very similar to the meniscus allograft. Could it be only a partial (doesn’t make sense - if it’s that far gone, then a total replacement would be in order rather than just a partial)?
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