High dose vitamin C as a treatment for Lyme Disease has helped a lot of people. However there is some evidence that massive doses of vitamin C can mess with your hormones. How did I stumble upon this? I started taking intravenous vitamin C (IVC). My estrogen and progesterone, at one time in balance, were suddenly down regulated and I became estrogen dominant. I can’t say definitively that IVC caused my estrogen dominance, but there was a certain correlation. Wanting to know more I did some research and stumbled across numerous stories about women inducing abortions with the use of vitamin C.
Tons of women have tried this, but few studies have been done. Here’s a note from one Russian study:
The scientists who conducted the research, Samborskaia and Ferdman, came to the conclusion that high doses of Ascorbic Acid appeared to increase estrogen levels which contributed to the interruption of an otherwise normal pregnancy. 20 women who approached doctors requesting an abortion participated in the study. Research was conducted by ob/gyn L.I. Ivanyuta. The women ranged from 20 to 40 years of age. The article does not say if a positive pregnancy test was obtained from the participating women. We also don’t know how much ascorbic acid the women were given. They did however measure estrogen levels before and after treatment with ascorbic acid, finding that estrogen levels were higher after taking the ascorbic acid. Of the 20 women, 16 began menstrual type bleeding within 1 to 3 days of administration of ascorbic acid.
It would appear that vitamin C increases estrogen and decreases progesterone in this study.
Progesterone provides nourishment for eggs waiting to be fertilized. If there is not enough progesterone, the bond between the uterus and egg weakens.
What’s this got to do with Lyme?
It’s important to keep your hormones balanced when living with Lyme Disease because when one hormone is out of balance, other imbalances follow. I’ve posted this video before, but in case you haven’t seen it, Dr. Lam describe the link between sex hormones, thyroid hormones and adrenals. With estrogen dominance, expect hypothyroid and adrenal fatigue to follow.
So I just wanted to offer this theory. Consider massive dosing with vitamin C a likely culprit if you have wonky hormones like I did while on IVC. Adrenal exhaustion can also result from your infection, and this article provides more details.
Resources:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/can-vitamin-c-induce-abortion/
http://www.sisterzeus.com/vit_c_ab.html
Lyme caused me to have “wonky” hormones before I ever took ANY vitamin C. And what is a person who is pregnant doing having anything like IVC therapy???