MAK1AH's Journal

Treat alternatively. It takes time and money and determination, and it took me 18 months to regain my tattered health. I was too sick to do treatment. Not that I would do it if I wasn't. I'm 56, Type 1A, post menopausal, and my chances of clearing are minimal.

But my chances of lowering the toxic overload on my liver through diet, exercise, positive thinking... I quit being afraid of this virus!..supplements, and living and loving life! ...Now those chances are really good.

I've spent $8000 since I found out, that's exactly 3 years ago this month, on supplements. A little of it was for my hubby or the dogs, but mostly for me. That's about $200 a month on me. I get then from iHerb.com, or they would have cost a LOT more.

They love me! LOL They give me deep discounts and coupons to share with new customers. If you want I can give you one. Put KAT800 into the coupon box when you check out!

I've also totally eliminated most of the Standard American Diet from my home. We eat FRESH vegetables and fresh, dried and frozen fruits. We eat whole grains, raw nuts and seeds, and a little salmon and brown eggs. We recently started eating a little organic dairy yogurt, butter and cheese. That's it. No packaged processed foods, no fast foods, no junk foods, no table salt, no white sugar, no donuts, bakery stuff, soda, alcohol. My hubby and I have basically the same diet. He eats more grains and nuts than I do and more eggs. He is 67 and does not act his age! People think he is 50.

If you don't have other serious health problems it's something to consider. Others have done it. A good book is Herbs for Hepatitis C and the Liver, By Stephen Buhner. It's got a lot of information. I don't take all the supplements he recommends, nor do I think he means that you should take them all. But a few I do and they have helped me considerably.

I went from barely able to drag my sorry butt out of bed around noon and stagger around the house for a couple of hours, then be exhausted, to working at my own massage business and doing 3-4 massages a day 5 days a week! I went from barely able to get on the elliptical trainer and do 5 minutes to doing 60 minutes at much higher levels, swimming a mile in less than an hour, and maintaining a huge garden with more than enough food for our family.

So, I guess it really depends on what you want to do.....suffer through a year of TX (Type 1A) and then struggle to get your life back afterwards and deal with all the long term side effects of poisoning your body with interferons, or eliminate the toxins and loads on your liver that you can eliminate and let it handle the virus. I think if you get rid of all the other loads, it can handle the virus. I really do, and so does Stephen Buhner, Herbs for Hepatitis C and the Liver, who talks about that in the Epilogue of his book.

From the book, Herbs for Hepatitis C and the Liver, by Stephen Buhner.

Virologists have discovered that when a balanced symbiotic virus is disturbed it tends to jump species in order to survive. There are some 4000 mammal species on the earth, and 750,000 insect species. Of the mammal species, 2000 are rodents and 1000 are bats. That is 3/4 of the mammals in two families. Most viruses that jump species and infect people come from rodents, bats and primates.

This is truly interesting: there is a squirrel monkey in the Amazon who lives in peace with a herpes virus, it does not bother the monkey although it lives in the monkey. Even if the monkey's immune system is artificially suppressed, the virus will cause it no harm. This virus is in the feces and urine of this monkey, so it is liberally sprinkled everywhere in their territory. Now, if another competing monkey, such as the mormoset, tries to invade squirrel monkey territory, the virus jumps immediately. The marmoset monkey is infected and quickly develops lymph cancer and dies.

For those who cannot do Tx, or for whom Tx is not an option, or for those for whom Tx has failed, there is hope. If we can see this virus as an ally, not an enemy, perhaps we can see a way to live with it in harmony. When viruses first enter a new species they are very aggressive and try to kill off the one they have invaded. But that which does not kill us makes us stronger. And viruses are a part of our ecosystem.

Perhaps we can delve deeper into the implications here and see that HCV is our ally. If we can learn to live in harmony with it, we will be stronger for it, and it can no longer hurt us. We cannot kill off viruses, this has been known for a long time, there is no cure for the common cold, which is caused by a virus. Some people get colds all the time and others never do, yet the virus is everywhere. So what makes the difference? The immune system. Keep the immune system strong and viruses cannot destroy you.