A Dr Joan Priestley alumnus here, Nelson, with a question about Vitamin C. When I was going to Dr Joan in the early 1990s, she was an advocate of mega Vitamin C. I remember that you could take up to four 1,000 mg capsules at a time and up to 20,000 mgs or more a day. The office even set up Vitamin C IV drips--which I never could bear because of my fear of needles. I haven't read anything lately about such high doses of Vitamin C. Is this thinking obsolete? As always, thanks for your time.

I think Vitamin C is a great and cheap antioxidant but I have concerns about the diarrhea associated with its higher doses. I am also concerned about a study I just saw at the ICAAC conference that showed that 1000 mg of Vit C lowered Crixivan levels significantly ( they have not studied other protease inhibitors) The IV vitamin drips are a great way to get vitamins to bypass your GI track but most insurance companies and Medicare do not pay for this. I would stick with lower doses (below 1000 mg/day)for the mean while until we find out more about interactions with other meds! By the way, I also followed DR Priestly's work for years. Too bad she moved to Alaska! Nelson