Vitamins in Hospitals

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Vitamins in Hospitals

 

VITAMINS IN HOSPITALS: THE FINAL FRONTIER

Some things are known to just not mix. There's oil

and water, and then there's hospitals and vitamins.

 

A hospital, by definition, is a collection of the

sick, the injured, the infirm, and the stressed. All

these situations call for larger than the normal

quantities of dietary vitamins. When is the last time

you saw a hospital or nursing home routinely give even

a daily multivitamin, let alone specific high-dose

therapeutic supplements?

 

This can immediately change, and you can help do it.

Prepare to stand firm on what is most important, and

negotiate the rest.

 

1. If you want to take your vitamins while

hospitalized, bring them with you. A written

statement from your doctor that you will be doing so

may save a lot of fuss. I'm not exaggerating:

hospital staff often tell patients they may not take

anything that the hospital didn't authorize them to

take. You can hardly count on them to provide

megadoses of vitamins. So it is a bit like a movie

theater telling you that you can't bring in your own

popcorn, but they won't sell you any, either.

Vitamins are vastly more important to an enjoyable

hospital stay than popcorn is to a movie.

 

2. If you are given a plausible medical reason why

you should not take vitamins, be bold and ask for

written references. Look up each surgical procedure

or medicine you are offered. Is there REALLY a

problem with a vitamin? Complete information on drugs

is contained in the PHYSICIANS' DESK REFERENCE (PDR),

found in any hospital pharmacy, library or doctors'

lounge. Your public library will probably even look

it up for you if you telephone them from your room.

 

The PDR lists all prescription medications (and there

is another book for nonprescription medicines) with

all their side effects, contraindications and any

nutrient-drug interactions. It is quite rare for a

vitamin to interfere with a prescription drug. Any

such caution is in the PDR in writing. The same

information is on drug package inserts. Do not assume

that you doctor or nurse has memorized the

nutrient/drug connections of some 3,000 drugs in the

PDR.

 

Surgical information may be obtained from sources

other than your surgeon. Try the public or hospital

library for the non-technical Good Operations, Bad

Operations by Charles Inlander (Penguin, 1993). To

know every aspect, two standard reference works are

Textbook of Surgery, David Sabiston, ed. (Saunders,

1993) and Principles of Surgery, S. I. Schwartz, et al

(McGraw Hill, 1989).

 

By the way, any doctor or nurse who makes fun of you

for being thorough probably should be more thorough

themselves. Don't stand for harassment, especially

when you are in the right. Tell a supervisor.

 

Unacceptable Reasons for Stopping Vitamins:

a. " Vitamins will interfere with your tests. " Just

have the words " takes vitamins " added onto any

paperwork. Interpretation can readily be made. If

there is a specific and essential test or procedure

that clearly requires suspension of vitamin

supplements, you can stop the day before and resume

immediately after it is over. This way you only lose

a day.

 

b. " Vitamins will be dangerous after surgery. " Since

all nutrition textbooks indicate a substantially

increased need for vitamins during wound healing, this

is illogical. Some patients have been told that their

blood-thinning medications (like Coumadin brand

warfarin) are incompatible with vitamins, especially

K, C and E. First of all, your supplements do not

contain any vitamin K, because your intestinal

bacteria make it for you.

 

Vitamin C may lessen clotting time, and vitamin E may

increase it. Taking both allows the body to achieve a

natural balance. If you are given Coumadin, your

prothrombin time should be monitored. Since they are

constantly taking blood for some reason or other

anyway, your " pro-time " can be checked often. Instead

of reducing your vitamins, doctors can simply adjust

the amount of their drug.

 

c. " Vitamins are unnecessary if you eat right. " I

say, long hospital stays are unnecessary if they FED

you right. Since they don't, supplements are the

simple answer. If you find a hospital that feeds

you a vegetarian, three-quarters raw food diet

(blended or juiced for some patients, as needed) then

I will lighten up. Until then, " hospital food " will

continue to deserve its almost pathogenic reputation,

and supplements are completely justified.

 

It may be their building, but it is your body. Accept

nothing without an explanation that is satisfactory to

you. If the nurse or doctor or aide or clerk or

orderly or anyone else " says so, " ask for a

supervisor. If the supervisor " says so, " ask to see

the hospital administrator. If she or he is " too

busy " for such contact, leave. There are other

hospitals. If this sound like shopping for a new car,

well, it very nearly is. Only this is more important.

 

 

Remember: all bureaucracies are most sensitive at the

top. Schoolchildren (unfortunately) know that the

principal is more likely to be understanding than the

teacher they just talked back to. The Board of

Education will be even more attentive. Do not argue

with a nurse, doctor or hospital staff member. DEMAND

TO MEET WITH TOP AUTHORITY if there is any unresolved

problem. No hospital executive wants another lawsuit.

If it takes a call to your attorney to make your

point, then do it.

 

Perhaps, after a tirade like this, you expect me to

grab my broomstick and wail, " I'm melting! " I have no

apology to make for asserting your right to assert

your rights.

 

Hospitals provide essential services and save lives.

They will save even more when they fully utilize

megavitamin therapy.

 

 

Copyright C 1999 and prior years Andrew W. Saul.

From the books QUACK DOCTOR and PAPERBACK CLINIC,

available from Dr. Andrew Saul, Number 8 Van Buren

Street, Holley, New York 14470.