one year on: Hi I'm new to site.I have... - Hepatitis C Support

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one year on

john1111 profile image
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Hi I'm new to site.I have had interferon with ribavirin treatment with no effect other than to make me feel worse,they took me off half way through due to my platelets failing and I would strongly advise anyone not to go on interferon as I found it done more harm than good.i have since had harvoni with ribavirin and found it a walk in the park and it cleared the virus( hep c gn 4 ) I had a lot of joint pain since but cannot tell from which treatment,i still have a lot of brain fog bladder problems but could be related to my cirrhosis .I have been chopping and changing and experimenting with different natural supplements and have found a product called zell oxygen which seems to have sorted the joint pain and I am taking zinc and iodine daily.can anyone suggest a nutritionist that deals mainly in this field ie liver,and post treatments,that could advise me on diet and supplements.i have found that the medical profession are in total denial in Ireland as to the harmful effects of these drugs and can offer no advise.I have suffered with depression from the treatments also but I find that a positive mental attitude exercise and a refusal to let it have any momentum or power in my life keeps it at bay.

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Rayvenjade profile image
Rayvenjade

Hi, John1111!

Your experience with intron therapy sounds very similar to mine. It made me worse & the therapy was stopped 3 months in. I also developed severe depression which is the number one side effect of interferon therapy.

I have not heard of the herbal supplement you mentioned. I got into herbs after the intron therapy looking for a more natural way to feel better. At the time, my neighbor had a friend studying holistic medicine & helped me out in this area. One thing that is very important is knowing the vitamin content of each herbs you take. It's important to keep your vitamin A intake at 5000IU daily. Large doses damage the liver. Fresh lemon water drank daily helps detox the liver. All the water I drank at first was only lemon water. It took a couple of months before my urine was no longer dark(tea colored). After that, it would be dark in the morning & nearly clear in the evening. I don't recall anything helping my joints & I still have issues but have been diagnosed with RA since. Much of my knowledge came from reading multiple books on herbs & finding as many herbal combination products as possible. Make sure the supplements are capsules, soft gels or liquid. Tablets contain any fillers to form the tablet & our bodies don't need any of them. Make sure any vitamin supplements are all natural & not synthetic which most are in the US. The body absorbs very little if any of the synthetic version. Elixirs & extracts are concentrated use cautiously. Start slowly with supplements giving each addition at least 2 weeks for signs of interactions in your body & with the other herbs you take. Flowering herbs , such as chamomile, are best ingested as a tea. Use natural honey to sweeten tea, never sugar. Sugar makes some herbs bitter & is over processed. Keep a small notepad handy to write down how you're feeling day to day, what herb you add to your regime with date & dosage began, stick with the most natural & organic foods possible. It's difficult to get full vitamin & minerals intake from food alone now days due to mineral depletion of soil food is grown in, pesticides, gmo grown vegetables (genetically altered) have little nutrients, over processing of them. Switch to olive oil, cocoanut oil, & grape seed oils for cooking & recipes. Steam vegetables that you don't eat fresh or roast them over low heat. Don't eat burnt food of any kind, loaded with carcinogens. Cook all meats on low to med- low heat in oven or on a grill. Keep fried food to a minimum. All the herbs books will tell you to no this & no that. I found this to be a pain in the ass & impractical to follow raising kids & having a full work load. Just try to keep processed foods to a minimum & listen to your body. No soda or colas at all. They leach calcium from the bones & create other health issues. Ginger ale is the only soda I will drink to satisfy craving or if my stomach is upset. Remember, depression is a side effect of the intron therapy that bottomed out the serotonin level in the brain & despite our best efforts, sometimes an antidepressant is needed. The herbal equivalent, St. John's Wart, didn't work for my depression.

The following list is the top recommend herbs for the liver......

1. Lemon water- 32 oz of spring water, a little ice. Fresh lemon wedges.

Squeeze a few of the lemon wedges for juice & pulp in water. Drink twice daily. It may take a little bit but as you detox, the brain fog clears up.

2. Milk Thistle-take as directed on bottle

3. Garlic & Parsley soft gels- get the highest mg of the garlic you can. Use only the soft gels or real garlic(roasted). The odorless is worthless in my opinion. Natural antibiotic

4. Chamomile tea with honey. Bedtime drink- very soothing. Helps induce natural sleep. Melatonin & Valerian root also promote natural sleep. Very good tea for fevers!

5. Extra vitamins to get- vitamin B complex & B12, vitamin C, E, & D3(10,000IU daily) get soft gels or melt aways, or liquid, & ester-C is best.

6. Royal jelly & bee pollen. Boosts immune system

7. Yellow dock & dandelion herbal combo builds iron rich blood. Helps with platelets.

8. Hawthorne berry is an herb specific to male anything, lol. Good for heart.

9. Cinnamon capsules- take 2 daily- supports metabolism & sugar levels in the body.

10. Herbal teas-drinking these have a host of benefits due to the various combos of herbs in the tea bags.

Since you can access anything via the web, the first thing to do is get educated. The best site for this is lef.org. This is the Life Extension Foundation. It's informative, conclusive, & a useful source & guide for health & disease issues & treatments. They believe in treating the whole person, body, mind & spirit. They use herbs, conventional medicines, natural foods & relaxation therapies for treatments. If you join the Foundation- an annual donation set fee, you get a huge book of info on diseases & remedies, nutritional food values, the proper vitamin types & dosages needed, minerals & trace minerals the body needs, & the list goes on. You also receive news letters & updates from doctors, specialists, & lab techs from all around the world. They also tell you the health content of food & best diets for your specific needs. Their supplements are top notch.

I hope this info I'm passing on helps! I've had hepatitis since I was 2yrs old & told I'd be lucky to survive to age 34. I'm now 51.

Oh! One overlooked vital thing, keep your oral health up!

Let me know what all you learn! The iodine is a good thing! Tell me how you get extra iodine please. I need this info. Thanks!

Good luck my friend, & I hope this helps!

john1111 profile image
john1111 in reply to Rayvenjade

Hi there there thank you so much for the info.i use nothing but natural supplements,the product zell oxygen is fantastic it is an imunecomplex and was developed by two german doctors back in 59 I think. you can google it and it contains loads of what we need it even works on the platelets and I felt I turned a corner when I started taking it let me know if you have any trouble getting it,its totally natural so worth a shot.i source my minerals from a nutritionist in devon uk and he posts me iodine and zinc in drops I had been seeing a acupuncturist and doctor of Chinese med in London and he put me on to him. I have to contact him soon because he recommended a substance called 5mph but I think that is the wrong name and it is a mineral used for depression johns wort was hyped up a lot and now this new one called rhodeola every one is talking about but has no positive test results so I'm going to stick with my nutritionist suggestion.hope this helps

Rayvenjade profile image
Rayvenjade in reply to john1111

Hey, john1111! Hope this finds you well. Thank you for the info! I wrote down zell oxygen so I can look it up & see if it's available in the US. I've been getting the iodine from Himalayan (pink) sea salt, unrefined of course. Does the zell oxygen help with memory also? I need to find a holistic doctor but not sure at this time if there is even one in my home town.

Have I mentioned lef.org to you? If not, I am now, lol. I mention them because they have a list of all natural/organic products produced in their own labs. Their site the most up to date with information, newest treatments & statistics of what works & what doesn't & why.

All their info. Comes from doctors all over the world & their testing of various mess, herbs, etc. & the success rates of their findings. They use every avenue available to treat diseases in combination formats. They believe you have to treat the person as well, not just the disease. They treat the mind, body & soul- the whole person. I may be able to get the zell oxygen through them. That's where I learned about iodine deficiency & the thyroid issues associated with it after diagnosis of hypothyroidism.

I hope you like the site & I'll keep you posted on the z.o.! Thanks again for the info! It's greatly appreciated!