So, if you've read anything we've written (here, on Facebook, or in our book), you know we go on and on and on about how much better absorbed and more effective #IVvitamins are than oral supplements. It's a fact. Read any study from anywhere (other than maybe one written by an oral vitamin company), and it'll say the same thing: IV beats oral, hands down.
But you know what? I get up every day and take a boatload of pills anyway.
I'm not sure if that makes me a hypocrite or a genius, but it is what it is.
Here's the thing too: We make about 40 bucks on every IV package, no matter what it is. That's how we set our prices. If you pay $99, the whole shooting match costs us about $59. If you pay $169, there's about $129 in cost in that bag. So, since I get everything on the cheap, why the hell do I choke down 8 things every morning?
For starters, The Lagniappe ($139 to you and costs us $99) is what I'd do for vitamin supplementation, and I don't want to be dropping a hundred bucks a week on frickin' vitamins. Yeah, I get them every so often, but only when I NEED them because there's been a booboo in my routine. Sometimes we'll go hiking or something and I ain't taking 5 days worth of pills in my backpack. Sometimes we'll go out of town for a four day weekend, and I'm not going to be the guy standing at my brother's sink trying to explain to my nephews why Uncle Bobby has to take a bucket of meds every morning. I don't ALWAYS get it done the way I'm supposed to, I fall a little behind on the nutrition/supplementation thing, and an IV makes up for it.
Secondly, I just feel in my gut that you don't halfass it most of the time and then try to make up for it in one convenient fell-swoop. Yeah, getting back on track in a hurry is a good thing, but it HAS to be better for your body to just stay on top of it as much as possible. If there's a 0-100 "got enough good stuff in your body" scale, I don't want to go 100-90-70-50-20-10 then back to100, I'd rather stay around 90 or 100 all the time if I can.
Lastly, I'd probably rather spend 90 seconds a day working on getting things right than have to spend an hour in a chair... though I do usually work in a nap while I'm getting an IV, but lack of sleep is another topic for another day.
So, yeah, we want you to come see us when you've gotten sick so we can replace what you've lost. We want you to come after a business trip where you ate in that restaurant in the hotel parking lot 4 times, but didn't eat right. Come after you spent that weekend at Hot Springs and didn't take your vitamins with you. Don't HAVE TO COME because despite being at home and not being sick, you just didn't take care of yourself. Yeah, we'll see you even then, and we'll get you back on track, but you might expect the nurse to give you the old "we love you, but you've gotta take better care of yourself" speech.
So, here's the skinny on what I do, if you care to know:
I'm 55 and I weigh +/- (depending on how good I've been) 155 pounds. I'm in pretty good shape I'd say, though I could be better.
Every morning I take:
One low-dose aspirin. 80mg. My Grandpa had a stroke, I've had friends die of heart attacks and aortic dissections, and I'm just deathly afraid of both.
One Vitamin D3 supplement. In the sunny months (when your body makes plenty of its own Vitamin D) I only take 1,000iu. When it's crap weather (late fall, all the way through Easter) I take at least 2,000iu, if not more. You only absorb about half of it, so consider that. It's good for absorbing calcium (keeps my bones nice and strong), and it's a bit of a mood elevator and good for your immune system.
One Glucosamine/Chondroitin supplement. My knees suck badly, and though it might be hokey, I believe those things help lubricate your joints. Hell, we make our dogs eat treats that have those things too. It's only anecdotal evidence, but when I started seeing our Labrador retriever getting up in the morning easier and not having to stretch and pop stuff after he started getting it, I decided it was for me too.
One prostate health horse pill. It's probably worthless, but can't hurt. I actually had this very exchange with Dad (who's an M.D.): "Prostate supplements. 1) Awesome, Definitely need them. 2) Total Scam. Don't waste your money. 3) Probably worthless, but can't hurt so might as well." He didn't give me any explanation, just typed back "3".
One extra strength Focus Factor. I also think this is likely a total and complete waste of time and money, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, so I can't really afford to get any more dull. I really want to do Prevagen instead, but that crap is so expensive I'd have to raise your prices to afford it. I think you'd rather have me "less genius" than have us raise prices. ;-)
200mg CoQ10 in gummies. This is a BIGGIE. Once you get to the age that you know people who just fall over dead from heart issues for no apparent reason, you really start paying attention to your ticker. CoQ10 is proven to improve heart health, and if I couldn't take anything else, and had to pick just one thing, this is the one I'd take.
One Alive 50+ Men's Health multivitamin gummy. I figure this covers anything else I might've missed.
I choke down the regular pills then pretend the gummies are like dessert or something, even though the cherry flavored one (Alive 50+) pretty much tastes like hell.
After that I drink one 16 pounce bottle of water with a packet of Walmart brand EmergenC in it. Then I drink 5 more of those bottles throughout the day, though without the EmergenC. That gets me to 96 pounces of water, which is MORE than enough. At 155 I'd be good with 72 ounces, but I like to be an overachiever.
So there you have it. Captain "Get An IV Because They're More Effective Than Supplements", also takes supplements. So should you in all likelihood. You can't JUST come in and let us top off your deficiencies. Sure, that's good occasionally, and GREAT sometimes, but it can't be the only way you take care of yourself. If you don't believe me, ask your doctor. If you don't have a doctor, we can help you find one, and even the ones who send patients to us will say "yeah, he's right. Get on a supplement program."
So, I'm going to get an IV this weekend (not feeling totally on my game and might have a cold coming on), but it ain't gonna by an excuse to not take care of my vitamin business the rest of the week.
Get in there with me and stay on top of these vitamins. It can't hurt to try.
