Southwest Florida's Health and Wellness Magazine Health and Wellness Articles
By Katherine Hermes
If you are thinking of traveling this year but you are worried about possibly catching an uninvited bug along the way, getting an IV Vitamin drip is a great way to “rev up” your immune system. Your white blood cells are your internal army and 1st line of defense against infection. Instead of rolling the dice and hoping that you don’t get sick, IV vitamins are a tool that you can use to strengthen your body in advance of a trip.
First, a quick primer on white blood cells. White blood cells are a key player helping your immune system combat infections. The average healthy human body contains 4500-11000 white blood cells in the bloodstream. When your body is challenged by an infection (bacteria, virus or fungus) your white blood cell jumps up. Your body builds the army it needs to fight off the invasion.
• If the white blood cell concentration is higher than average, it is referred to as leukocytosis. Based on the nature of the infection, it takes the body up to 5 to 25 days for the white blood cell count to return to normal.
• If the “fight” between the infection and white blood cells is a tough one, you can have cells die off (killed in battle). Once the white blood cell count drops, it remains low for 7–10 days. The lowest level that blood cell counts reach is called the nadir. During nadir, the body’s resistance to infection is weakest. Neutropenia and leukopenia are terms used to refer to lowered numbers of white blood cells in the blood. When WBC counts are low, there is a higher risk of infection.
In either case, a growing army or an army that has suffered losses, you can see that you need to give your body support to either feed a large army or build back a diminished army.
What kinds of IV Vitamins should you get before planning travel and when should you get them? I recommend to my clients to come in the day before you travel. That means that when you first get on the plane, train or in your auto, your body has a nice fresh dose of vitamins. As for the combination of IV vitamins, I suggest zinc, vitamin C, glutathione and of course additional hydration. No one keeps up their “8 glasses of water a day” routine when they are traveling.
The right combination of IV vitamins can support your immune function without the side effects and potentially gut injuring consequences of antibiotics. Zinc, vitamin C and glutathione are great vitamins to achieve healthy and balanced white blood cells.
Zinc is essential for immune function. However, the body does not organically create zinc at all. Zinc comes from your diet. Zinc is used in your body for wound healing, immune function, DNA synthesis, and other cellular functions. Zinc improves your sense of smell, and the absence of zinc can cause things to not taste or smell at all. People who are vegan, have chronic kidney disease, Chrohn’s disease and other GI issues tend to lack zinc. The best source of zinc is in oysters – which of course most of us do not eat on a daily basis. So, a zinc is added to a lot of foods. Most of us, however, are very low on zinc.
IV vitamin C may help to fight the virus that causes illness. Vitamin C is easily sourced in lots of foods including broccoli, citrus fruits, strawberries and Brussel sprouts. Vitamin C deficiency can result in swollen or bleeding gums, fatigue, joint pain, colored spots on the skin and even loose teeth.
However, it is also use to treat cancer (at high levels), improve your general health, and improve your immune system. It is one vitamin that you can almost never get too much of.
Glutathione is a tool to improve how well the foods you are giving your white blood cells are absorbed. It also reduces “oxidative stress”, which is that whole free radicals story. Glutathione can help remove psoriasis, repaid damaged cells and fatty liver disease due to alcoholism and even helps diabetics.
There is a BONUS benefit of getting additional fluids: preventing and reversing dehydration, Saline solution can also include amino acids to provide protein nourishment in the face of decreased food intake and increased metabolic demand. (Dehydration can amplify the negative symptoms of any acute illness, put a strain on the kidneys, and make it difficult for the body to flush out toxins.) So, if you are not keeping up with your water intake, that saline will go a long way to help your body prevent and fight off infection.
When you are traveling, not only will all these great vitamins help your body stave off infection, but they will also keep your nutrition level nice and strong at a time when you may not be eating as responsibly as you usually do.
So, before you travel this holiday season, please call 941-867-9406 to make an appointment at The Drip Bar, 1473 Main St. in Sarasota. You can also check us out online at www.TheDripBar.com.
The Drip Bar
941.867.9406
www.TheDripBar.com
1508 Main Street, Sarasota, FL 34236
