From: The role of vitamin C in the treatment of pain: new insights
Study type | Intervention | Findings |
---|---|---|
Placebo controlled RCT | ||
 Herpes Zoster [70] | i. Placebo infusion (N = 42) | i. 4.2 ↓ VAS, 57% PHN incidence |
ii. 5 g IV vitamin C (N = 45) on days 1, 3, 5 | ii. ≥5.6 ↓ VAS*, 31% PHN incidence* (at 8 and 16 week follow up) | |
 Postherpetic neuralgia [69] | i. Placebo infusion (N = 20) | i. 0.9 ↓ NRS, 10% PGIC |
ii. 50 mg IV vitamin C/kg body weight (max dose 2.5 g/day) (N = 21) three times over 5 days | ii. 3.1 ↓ NRS*, 62% PGIC* (at 7 day follow up) | |
Uncontrolled prospective | ||
 Herpes Zoster [68] | 7.5 g IV vitamin C (N = 64) 2–4 times/week for 2 weeks | Baseline: 58% pain (VAS) |
Week 2: 22% pain | ||
Week 12: 6% pain | ||
 Chikungunya virus—moderate to severe pain [75] | H2O2 + 25–50 g IV vitamin C (N = 56) single infusion | Before: 80% pain (NRS) |
After: 20% pain, no pain in 9% of patients | ||
Case report | ||
 Parvovirus B19 viremia—chronic arthralgia [74] | i. 10 g/day oral vitamin C for 10 days | i. Before: 30% pain (VAS) After: 5% pain |
ii. 10 g/day oral vitamin C for 3 weeks | ii. Before: 40% pain (VAS) After: 10% pain (at 3–5 week follow up, there was↓ pain within 5 days) | |
 Chikungunya virus—severe joint pain [73] | 100 g/day IV vitamin C for 2 days | Pain resolved within 24 h |
 Refractory herpes zoster-associated pain [67] | 4 g/day IV vitamin C for 5 days | Before: 70% pain (VAS) |
After: 0% pain (at 3Â month follow up) | ||
 Herpes zoster—severe dermatological pain [66] | Cantharidin + 7.5 g IV vitamin C every 2 days for 2 weeks | Before: 80% pain (NAS) |
After: 40% pain (within 2Â weeks), 0% pain (at 8Â week follow up) | ||
 Acute herpetic neuralgia [65] | 15 g IV vitamin C every 2 days for 12 days | Before: 80% pain (VAS) |
After: 0% pain (within 8Â days) | ||
 Acute herpetic neuralgia [65] | 15 g IV vitamin C every 2 days for 16 days | Before: 100% pain (VAS) |
After: 0% pain (within 12Â days) | ||
 Postherpetic neuralgia [64] | 2.5 g IV vitamin C every 2 days for 5 days | Before: 73% pain (NRS) |
After: 0% pain (within 7 days and at 3Â month follow up) |