This was borne home to us by both our clinical findings and our counter-experiments involving extirpation of thyroid, gonads, adrenal, and thymus. Incidently,I should comment that one result was our report that the thymus was an important endocrine gland-a report made some 30 years ago. M.D. The quandary facing physicians wishing an antipyretic for children with flu or chickenpox but not wanting to risk the increased incidence of Reye's syndrome with aspirin administration is easily resolved by administering large doses of ascorbic acid orally or sodium ascorbate intramuscularly. Repeat doses can be given if the temperature elevates again. It is interesting that the common childhood diseases which increase bowel tolerance to ascorbic acid the most are influenza and varicella.
Mononucleosis is champ among teenagers.
I think that this increased bowel tolerance is a sign that the metabolic processes are utilizing the additional ascorbate so that it does not reach the rectum and cause diarrhea. This increased utilization of ascorbate puts at risk all metabolic functions of the body dependent upon ascorbate. Since some of the symptoms of aspirin toxicity are perhaps not coincidentally some of the symptoms of ascorbate deficiency, it may be that aspirin increases the body's utilization of ascorbate. Perhaps there is an accumulatively induced deficiency of ascorbate which has something to do with the increased incidence of Reye's syndrome in profoundly ill children administered aspirin. Titrating to bowel tolerance, anascorbemia, and acute induced scurvy.