Post
by gmdodaro » Thu Jun 11, 2015 8:50 am
I read Pauling's Vitamin C and the common Cold circa 1982, and for thirty years I've taken 10-15 grams per day of ascorbic acid powder. Interestingly enough, during last summer when the lp(a) score of 18 was recorded, I had backed off considerably on the dosage. I had read that the body could get too acidic, so I was then taking maybe 5-8 grams per day. During that time I was also getting regular EDTA chelation treatments for heart disease.
When I found your Pauling-Therapy site about heart disease and vitamin C, I again increased my dosage to 15-20 grams per day. But, you may recall the discussion to which you and JohnWen contributed, last November-December, when my ferritin and liver enzymes when off the scale. I found out that I have the hepatitis C virus. The Bert Burkson treatment brought it under control, and now the viral load remains undetectable, but before I knew what was causing the spikes in ferritin and liver enzymes, I had again backed off vitamin C dosage because I read that thalassemia patients can use vitamin C to increase the effectiveness of iron chelation. I have thalassemia minor, which tends to increase iron retention, and I thought vitamin C might be pulling iron out of where ever it is stored in the body. During two months of treatment for hepatitis C, I was tested twice for lp(a), and the scores were 22 and 15 as I recall. Strangely, in my case, if there is any correlation between vitamin C dosage and the four lp(a) scores that I can remember, the lp(a) scores were lower during times when I took 5-8 grams per day.
My exercise routine is about the same, 4-6 days per week of running and weight training. The ferritin score is now about 100, which is good for me. It's generally been 250-350, and during the hepatitis C flare-up it was over 4000. I take lactoferrin and ocassionally IP-6 to reduce iron retention. Inflammation, LP-PLA2, also went way up to 650+ during hepatitis C, but now is 275, not great but better than it was. Homocysteine is high: last tested at 13.1. CRP has been in normal range.
At the suggestion of my integrative MD I have, since the lp(a) and homocysteine tests, started taking Trimethylglycine (TMG) to attempt to lower the homocysteine.