Hepatitis C Support Group
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease which can cause liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact with an infected person's blood. Many people with HCV infection have no symptoms and are unaware of the need to seek treatment. Hepatitis C infects an estimated 150-200 million people worldwide.
Hi everyone and a big hug to all.
I'm in my early fifties and was diagnosed with HCV about two years ago after donating blood.
I'm asymptomatic, but fibroscan reveals some evidence of fatty liver and gallstones.
I'm on schedule to commence pegylated interferon and ribavirin treatment coming Tuesday. But the closer I get to Tuesday, the more reluctant I feel about it.
I have 1a genotype. Telaprevir is not available to me. So I only have 50% chance of the treatment working. And if I get bad side effects I have to stop treatment because I can't afford to stop working at the moment.
So I'm inclined to try a self hack treatment with a combination of diet and supplements.
Supplements will be quercitin, monolaurin, lactoferrin, B12. I think I first heard about these on a post here.
Diet I'm still researching. I've been a vegetarian for a few years. I anticipate going vegan, mostly eating raw and dried food. Food that's either easy on the liver or positively healthful.
I'm generally skeptical about alternative therapies. I like science. I suspect that quality of life may ultimately be more important than length of life.
So, finally after all that, does anyone here have any positive or negative experiences with the diet/supplements approach?
How about diet information/recipes ideas? Any pointers anyone?
Thanks for any thoughts and I wish everyone here all the best.
:-)
I'm in my early fifties and was diagnosed with HCV about two years ago after donating blood.
I'm asymptomatic, but fibroscan reveals some evidence of fatty liver and gallstones.
I'm on schedule to commence pegylated interferon and ribavirin treatment coming Tuesday. But the closer I get to Tuesday, the more reluctant I feel about it.
I have 1a genotype. Telaprevir is not available to me. So I only have 50% chance of the treatment working. And if I get bad side effects I have to stop treatment because I can't afford to stop working at the moment.
So I'm inclined to try a self hack treatment with a combination of diet and supplements.
Supplements will be quercitin, monolaurin, lactoferrin, B12. I think I first heard about these on a post here.
Diet I'm still researching. I've been a vegetarian for a few years. I anticipate going vegan, mostly eating raw and dried food. Food that's either easy on the liver or positively healthful.
I'm generally skeptical about alternative therapies. I like science. I suspect that quality of life may ultimately be more important than length of life.
So, finally after all that, does anyone here have any positive or negative experiences with the diet/supplements approach?
How about diet information/recipes ideas? Any pointers anyone?
Thanks for any thoughts and I wish everyone here all the best.
:-)
-
My 6mo twin DD's are EBF and just started rice cereal on the first. Everything has been going fine except this morning one of them had a diaper rash (lots of redness around her anus). I read this as one of the signs of an allergy. BUT I did just buy a different brand diaper yesterday (which they have used randomly before w/no issues). Do you think its the cereal or the diaper? Im ready to start...
I have been vegan for 2 months and have never felt better! I highly recommend it for our lifestyle.
If I don't start the treatment this time it will be the second time I've dropped out at the last minute.
They don't call me Mr Decisive for nothing. :D
That must be a remarkable treatment crystalcrane. Where I am it takes a few years to approve a treatment after its approved in the US so I got to factor that in.
I really like the idea of vegan pokergypsee. Do you eat dried fruit and nuts at all? I'm thinking of going seriously nutty. Not to mention fruity. Always been kinda veggie. Know any definitive online hep c vegan diet plans or food lists?
pugdaddy thanks for that I'll check it out. Regarding alternative therapies, I'm concerned that when you examine a lot of alternative therapies closely (i.e. with double-blind trials etc) claims often evaporate. Well that's what it looks like to me (total layman but curious) after observing for many years. We hear a lot about the negative factors of conventional tx. These negative factors are presented in stark % risk factors. But we never really see alternative therapy risk/efficacy presented that way. Hard to roll the dice. Healthy lifestyle and diet plus supplements. Is that really all you need to do to measurably reduce the potential damage of this virus?
Hopefully we shall see.
Does this website facilitate mass or multiple hugs?
Talk soon
I agree w/ 420 about wasting money on supps that make you think you are doing something.
The only liver dr "suggested" supp is milk thistle, and that does not cure hcv but may help the liver.
If you've got money & want to spend it, and makes you feel good, then go for it.
I take MT & quercitan & some others but prob the best thing is diet/lifestyle change.
Best wishes.
It won't "cure" your Hep C...............but it could buy ya some time:):).....and they say "time is on your side:):)
It's easy for people to recommend getting on a trial but I don't know of any trials that are currently recruiting that have really promising published results. If you do, please let me know. Though I'm sure there will be trials going forward but they are competitive.
Seems as if you are doing lots of research, & I'm confident you'll make sound decisions for your health.
To answer your question, yes, diet/supps have probably kept me status quo (failed treatment in '09). The alt treatment group has a big file for recipes, diets, nutrition, supps.
All your replies are much appreciated. I've read and reread them all. Dont worry about being long-winded DalisMuse, love it.
So much food for thought and a weekend coming to digest it and excrete my decision. I'm currently leaning towards NOT commencing tx just yet.
Trials are out for me. Where I live in Asia trials are apparently only offered to patients who have failed the standard treatment.
My current understanding is:
VIRUS ERADICATION: Not possible without standard interferon-based treatment or trial treatment
LIVER DAMAGE CONTAINMENT: Possible with diet, exercise and maybe supplements
Joep8930, I do a lot of cycling and get muscle cramps unless I drink a sports drink afterwards. Get fatigued sometimes too... but I tell myself this must be connected with a very active routine.
BTW, following link goes to the source that inspired me to try supplements. It's all rather thin, but after researching the supplements I found it quite compelling.
http://www.hepatitis-central.com/mt/archives/2012/04/quercetin_might.html
Love to hear what you guys think of this.