Are you willing to give Vitamin C that serious chance to relieve your suffering?
Sinus infections are a source of ongoing suffering for many, many people. These deep-seated infections often do not respond well to “conventional treatments” (read, drugs). Vitamin C, when taken in appropriate doses, may bring the relief so many people have been looking for for a long time.
I got the inspiration for doing this study from two sources. The first was my continuing frustration with study results that did not show the power of vitamin C because the doses were too small. In his 1980 paper on determining the proper dose of vitamin C, Dr. Cathcart states (remember, this is 1980, more than twenty years ago!):
“It seems incredible to the growing number of physicians familiar with the proper doses of ascorbic acid that recent papers would describe studies utilizing only up to four grams per 24 hours”.
In this regard, times have not changed.
What is Sinusitis?
There are eight pockets in the bones of the face around the inside of the eye cavities. When these pockets get filled with mucous during a cold or the flu, they become a choice spot for a bacterial infection. Due to the serious and chronic vitamin C deficiency that most people live with, these infections are all the more likely to occur and all the more difficult to eliminate.
How bad is it?
To quote from The Medical Advisor -The Complete Guide to Alternative and Conventional Treatments,
“One of the most common healthcare complaints in the United States, sinusitis affects as many as 30 to 50 million Americans a year. Some researchers estimate that as much as 14 percent of the country’s population suffers chronic sinusitis.”
Isn’t that almost unbelievable? Fourteen percent of the USA is over 35,000,000 people that could be suffering from chronic sinus infections! This is not a rousing endorsement of conventional medicine.
The second inspiration for this study was a letter from a Cforyourself reader, Rick Trupp:
Please be advised that I have recently had unbelievably excellent results with 1000 mgs. of time released Vitamin C per day. I have had allergies (hay fever) and sinus trouble most of my life. I am thunderstruck as to why any doctor has never suggested Vitamin C to dry up my runny nose, post nasal drip, catarrh, and phlegm. Instead I’ve taken Flonase, Benedryl, and a host of other medicines for many years.
After a recent bout of bronchitis that Zithromax and Cefclor didn’t help, I finally recovered but still had this forever present ongoing drainage of clear mucus from my sinus area down into my throat and chest. Just to explore all my options, I tried the time released Vitamin C ( chewable tablets don’t seem to agree with my system) in the hope that it would act as the natural antihistamine it is purported to be. To my complete amazement, I don’t have any post nasal drip or any of the ensuing problems. Furthermore, I really feel healthy and allergy free. I don’t take any other supplements, just the Vitamin C, and am TOTALLY symptom free and feeling terrific.
A great study would be to monitor the health and survival details of several specific groups. One being regular users of a gram or over of Vitamin C per day, the next being smaller amount regular users of Vitamin C; and lastly people that don’t take Vitamin C at all. I’ll bet the higher end Vitamin C people enjoy far better health and longer life spans than the non usage sector.
My experience tells me that Rick’s results should not be unusual or surprising except for the low dose of vitamin C required for his success. Which brings us to the rest of you out there that are suffering. Please see experiences of others on the Sinusitis Experiences page.
The Study Overview
First, I must say that I am NOT recommending that anyone stop taking any prescribed medications. The decisions for your treatment should be a collaborative affair between you and your doctor. I am just trying to help make it so at least one of you will be knowledgeable and consider the nutritional aspects of your situation (please see the About Us page for our disclaimer and the Specific Conditions page for a further discussion of disease and vitamin C). It is perfectly all right to participate in this study and continue taking medications. There are no contraindications or interactions with vitamin C.
Clinical studies are designed by selecting a group of participants, giving them a specific dose of the study material and then comparing their responses to those of a “control group”, a similar group that gets a placebo instead of the study substance. The more rigid the rules and study procedures, the more reliable the outcome. The Cforyourself Sinusitis Study will be a reasonably scientific, not very well controlled study. Our results will be published here for the benefit of our readers.
The Study Process
The most important departures from conventional study practice will be:
- Dose
If you would like to participate, the dose of vitamin C for you to take is “as much as you can”. - Controls
There will be no control group. The vast number of chronic sufferers that don’t take vitamin C says enough to me and if you are a chronic sufferer that has tried several medications, I think the “placebo effect” will be minimal. We will accumulate the results of all those that participate as they are available. - Results
The benefits, or lack thereof, of the vitamin C treatment will be the subjective results from the participants. As such, we hope to show that given the lack of risks involved, vitamin C supplementation should be part of everyone’s treatment arsenal even if we fall short of producing scientifically valid study results. - Anecdotes
We are more than willing to publish the personal experiences of participants. While we understand the irrelivance of anecdotal evidence in epidemiological terms, that does not mean that we need to disregard it entirely, especially when the double-blind controlled studies that the medical community desires have not been done, probably won’t be done (money) and cannot overcome the biochemical individuality problem for the need to tailor dose.
Participation
Who should participate?
- Do you currently suffer from a chronic sinus infection?
- Has your conventional treatment produced less than satisfactory results?
- Would you like to try a more natural approach than antibiotics?
- Would you be willing to take vitamin C several times a day for six months in doses as high as comfortably tolerable?
- Would you be willing to share your experience with other readers as Rick Trupp has?(optional)
If you answered yes to all the above questions, then We Want You. Please review the Study Details. If you decide to participate, you can maintain your anonymity if you like, or share your identity with others-your choice, I will be asking you a list of questions so that we can accumulate study results. I hope to hear from you.
Look over the study details