I've been suffering from allergies way too long so I decided to do some research. Some of what I've found says to up the intake of Vitamin C. I've taken 750 mg today along w/ drinking a couple glasses of OJ and I am breathing better. I've read some people will take 2-10 grams and others even more, it all depends on what your system tolerates. I thought I'd try 1-2 grams a day and see if anything positive comes from it. Has anyone else tried something similar?
That story about Vitamin C and colds/allergies has been around for decades, but my doctors have repeatedly said that there just aren't any credible scientific studies which back up the pro-vitamin C claims. It is also unlikely that any help it could give you would work in one day. That said, hey - if it seems to help, why not? Only downside is that some reports say that mega doses can sometimes do unexpected damage to other organs - liver, kidney, speen, etc.
It's funny you mention this, because I have been thinking of trying this. Many sources say the RDA for C is too low, because they were set before there were so many processed foods. I don't think 10 grams a day is healthy, but 2-3 wouldn't cause any harm. Vitamin C is water soluble, so any extra is exceted out of the body.
I'm day 2 into it. I started to get sniffly this a.m., sneezing a couple of times, popped 500mg, and it quieted down. I'm at 1500mg for the day thus far (3 seperate doses of 500mg each) and I think I'm at my max of what I can take. I haven't had diarrhea yet, but it's close, so I'll back it off now. I am breathing very well today and last night I slept very well too. I'm going to stay at 1500mg a day, taking a 500mg dose at breakfast, lunch & dinner, for the next few weeks. I'll post my results.
In my opinion, the RDA on most vitamins are way too low. Things have changed in the last 50 years. Our food does not contain the vital nutrients it once did because of over use of our land, pesticides, etc. As far as doctors, they do not have to time or inclination to really study the facts about vitamin C. I take it along with other supplements, and my allergist denies they help me at all. But they help me, and that's all the study I need to be concerned with!
I'm day 2 into it. I started to get sniffly this a.m., sneezing a couple of times, popped 500mg, and it quieted down. I'm at 1500mg for the day thus far (3 seperate doses of 500mg each) and I think I'm at my max of what I can take. I haven't had diarrhea yet, but it's close, so I'll back it off now. I am breathing very well today and last night I slept very well too. I'm going to stay at 1500mg a day, taking a 500mg dose at breakfast, lunch & dinner, for the next few weeks. I'll post my results.
If you're getting close to having diarrhea, I suggest you switch to Ester C. This is an acid neutrolized variety of vitamin C that also has a higher absorbtion rate.
Well I"m a good week into upping my Vitamin C intake (anywhere from 1500-2000mg per day) and my stuffiness & sneezing has virtually disappeared. Coincidence? I'm not sure.
Vitamin C is very safe, even in high doses. I started a thread about this subject in the vitamin section about a year ago. If anyone is concerned about safety issues they might want to find and read that thread. A search of vitamin C safety copper on this site should bring it up. I have taken 10-15 grams a day for over a year myself without any problem and that should be enough for most allergies and a lot of people could get by with 3 or 4 grams a day.
Through experience with my husband’s seasonal asthma and the experience of various friends of ours with allergies to mold we have discovered that if you take some form of niacin with the vitamin C it works many, many times better, in fact, either one of them alone does not help my husband’s asthma, but both together do. If any of you reading this have tried vitamin C without success you should try it with niacin or niacinamide and you may be surprised at the difference.
If anyone is interested in trying this there are three forms of niacin that can be taken that are very safe. Slow release niacin is not as safe and has caused liver damage in several people, but there is not a single case of a person having actual damage from the forms I am going to suggest, even at doses up to 30 grams a day, although it does often raise the liver enzyme function test results somewhat.
The three forms are regular niacin, niacinamide, and hexanicotinate. Niacin has the advantage of working very quickly, in a matter of hours, and it does not cause nausea in most people, but it causes a very annoying flush that goes away at higher doses after the body gets accustomed to it, but it can be painful at first, but it is harmless. Don’t take it on an empty stomach until you are used to it and don’t give it to children at all because of the flush. Niacinamide also works quickly, but high doses can cause nausea and some people are not able to take enough of it to overcome their allergy. Most people can take enough niacinamide, though, and it does not cause a flush. Hexanicotinate does not cause a flush, and does not usually cause nausea, but I have read that it takes 3 days for the niacin level in the blood to peak and so it probably will take two or three days to get results.
How much niacin? My husband gets results with 100-500 mg twice a day with vitamin C. A teenager we know uses 500 mg of niacinamide with vitamin C twice a day for mold allergies. That will work for a lot of people. But some people need more, and a few people need a very large amount. If you need 6 grams a day and you take 4 grams a day you will get no result at all. There is a very narrow dose range where you see partial results, but basically it is an all or nothing response; once you take enough, your symptoms just go away, if you take a little less, nothing happens.
It happens that our son has a very severe allergy; we think it is to mold. When we gave him 18 grams of niacin a day for 3 months, it did not help at all, and we thought that maybe some people just can’t be helped by niacin and vitamin C because their allergies are too severe. Maybe I should say intolerances instead of allergies, because he does not have the typical allergic response, but he does get terrible symptoms from mold. This year we decided to try giving him an extremely large dose for a few days to see if it would help. I gave him 40 grams total spread out over the day, along with about 20 grams of vitamin C, and his symptoms completely disappeared! The next day I lowered the dose a little and gave him 10 grams in the morning instead of 15 grams, and he had some symptoms, but in the afternoon I gave him 15 grams and his symptoms were gone in 3 hours.
Now very few people need as much niacin as my son. If a person wants to try it they should keep raising the dose each day until their symptoms go away or they reach 35 grams a day, because a very few people will be like my son and get relief only at very high doses. You only need to take the high dose for up to 3 days (if you are using hexanicotinate, less otherwise) to see if it will help and then if you feel worried about taking such a high dose you can stop taking it or lower the dose, but at least you will then know if it can help you, which you will never know if you do not take a high enough dose to find out. Most people will get results long before they reach 35 grams, most at less than 10 grams.
Most people will not be able to take more than 4 grams of niacinamide a day without nausea, but a lot of people will find that 500-1000mg of niacinamide two or three times a day is enough along with vitamin C. For very high doses only regular niacin or hexanicotinate will work. My son has absolutely no side effects from the niacin at his high dose. When he was taking 10 grams a day he had a slight flush each day with the first dose.
Interesting info Kime, I'm going to supplement my Vit. C intake with Niacin and see how it works. I'm 3 weeks into this and my allergies are 80% gone. I'm taking approx. 500mg 2 x per day and I"m pleased with the results. I'm also getting Vit. C with the food I eat & drink + I take a multi-Vitamin, so I'm guessing I'm getting much more then 1000mg, probably closer to 1500mg. The top end of what body seems to tolerate is 2-3 grams. If I can get by at 1 gram a day, I'll take that.
