Last week I started to get symptoms of the flu-like plague that has spread like wildfire through almost everyone I know.  Most people that experienced it told me it lasts anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks and to just brace myself for misery.  Being the scientist that I am, I decided to use this misfortune as an opportunity to do an experiment on myself.  I have been reading a lot about vitamin C lately and decided to see whether it shortened the duration of this dreaded cold.

My main complaint during this time was being so congested that I couldn’t sleep.  Coincidentally, I found that when I started my experiment by taking 1,000 mg of powdered vitamin C dissolved in a little bit of water mixed with apple juice my congestion was immediately relieved for about 30 minutes.  This dose is on the high end to take all at once, but I wanted to take it further and actually find out how much vitamin C I needed (our bodies need more when we’re sick or under stress) by undergoing a protocol called a “Vitamin C Flush”.  Here is a link to the instructions that I followed:

http://www.perque.com/pdfs/Pt_Ascorbate_Slush_FIN.pdf

The vitamin C which I used, and which is the best type of vitamin C for most people to use for this protocol is a fully-reduced, buffered vitamin C powder such as the one we sell at Marilyn Farms (Vitamin C Powder).

Without giving away too much info, I wanted to share with you that in order to get the…desired result…I had to take 25,000 mg of vitamin C over the course of 24 hours.  That is a LOT more than it normally takes me when I do a flush, which showed me that my body really needed the extra boost.  I was able to beat the 3-week flu in 2 days, and I credit that to vitamin C!

NOTE: Please talk to your physician before making any dietary or supplement changes.  This blog is not intended to replace the advice of a qualified healthcare practitioner.

Related posts:

1. Vitamin C and Your Healthy Heart
2. Vitamin D and Depression
3. Vitamin D
4. The Importance of Vitamin D
5. Electrolytes for Everything