Certainly each of us has at some time in our lives taken various nutritional supplements or pharmaceuticals, which we have started to take for various purposes. Whether it’s boosting immunity, preventing disease, improving mental health, relieving pain, and so on. It is about influencing our health based on some of our subjective feelings and based largely on our own discretion. It is important to know the difference between a dietary supplement and a medicine. These characteristics directly define for us the revenues of the MoH and the MoPRV SR.
Nutritional supplements – are foods to supplement the natural diet which are concentrated sources of nutrients such as vitamins and minerals or other substances with a nutritional or physiological effect, singly or in combination. Dietary supplements shall be placed on the market in dosage form (…) so that they can be taken in measured small unit quantities Dietary supplements shall be manufactured according to the principles of good manufacturing practice.
Medicinal product – a medicinal product or a mixture of medicinal products and excipients modified by a technological process into a pharmaceutical form and intended to protect against disease, to diagnose disease, to cure disease or to influence physiological functions.
From our practice, we are increasingly encountering the request from patients to inject various substances directly into the vein, we perceive several aspects of why this is happening. The most common aspects include: lack of time on the part of patients, the need to resolve a health problem quickly, busy and unavailable public health appointments, and previous downplaying/unwillingness to address patients’ health problems by other health professionals.
On a daily basis, we see requests for immunity support, pain relief, mental health support for increased stress loads, and overall health support. All of these requirements can be addressed to some extent with supportive therapy directly into the vein. Of course, some treatments need to be discussed with a doctor first, possibly supplemented with blood tests to make the treatment meaningful.
Supporting the immune system is most often done through the application of vitamin C directly into the vein. It has been known for years that vitamin C can reduce oxidative stress and is an important immunomodulator in the processes of fighting various types of infections. When administered directly into a vein, it reaches 65 times greater plasma levels than if taken orally (directly through the mouth). Such vitamin C supports the immune system, hydrates the skin, improves skin tone, improves symptoms of long cavida, reduces high histamine levels, supportive treatment of alopecia (hair loss), combination in analgesic (pain relieving) treatment, poorly healing wounds, osteoporosis, endocrine, or vascular diseases.
The relaxing infusion contains minerals to relax muscles and reduce stress, vitamins to support the nervous system and reduce fatigue, amino acids to relax and reduce stress, antioxidants to combat oxidative stress, and electrolytes to help maintain hydration and promote overall health.
Pain relief infusion, or also analgesic infusion. This is a type of treatment that we try to cure different types of pain, most commonly musculoskeletal pain. Before this kind of treatment, of course, it is necessary to have an examination with our doctor so that he/she can correctly select the type of medicine and other drugs/supplements with an effective administration scheme. With this type of infusion, we must remember that our goal is pain relief and not to suppress the primary disease causing the pain, so that we do not neglect the primary diagnosis.
Last but not least, we must not forget to mention the infusion, which is tailored to each patient. This is a complex infusion, maintaining a strong and resilient immune system is key to the overall well-being of the body and mind. This treatment is preceded by an examination by a doctor and blood and urine tests. So that we can target the substances that the patient is lacking.
So, to summarise, the role of administering substances obviously has a significant role to play in supporting our health, both physical and mental. Of course, we must not forget about a varied and nutritious diet and hydration of our body. Of course, let’s keep in mind that this is primarily a supportive treatment to maintain full health or to support a return to full health.
Sources:
Compendium of Medicine, IV. International Congress on Supportive Therapy with Infused Vitamin C, 2023
Decree of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Slovak Republic and the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic of 25. July 2007 No. 16826/2007OL, which issues the title of the Food Code of the Slovak Republic regulating the requirements for foods for special nutritional purposes and for food supplements
Act No. 140/1998 Coll. on medicinal products and medical devices (as amended)
