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Best Foods to Eat During Hep C Treatment
Hi All,
I was just taken off SOC tx after I didn't reach a 2 log drop at 12 weeks. Went from Viral Count of 5 million to 149,000. Will be taking tx when new drugs come out in the next few months. Been reading recent info regarding purines and impact of absorption for Ribavirin and was wondering what is the best meal plan during tx. I want to have all the odds in my favor for the next round. During the 12 weeks, I had either yogurt (non fat or low fat) with raisin bran or oatmeal and soy milk every day for brkfst and included fruit (bananas, blueberries, strawberries) with brkfst. Also would have a slice of bread with cream cheese maybe twice per week. For lunch, had lots of salads with spinach or a small piece of chicken with rice and veggies. Snacked on trail mix, apples, oranges, bananas throughout the day and then would have a dinner of usually chicken (fish usually salmon or tilapia once per week) with veggies, sometimes rice and usually spinach salad with broccoli. On weekends, would have eggs and pancakes once in a while for breakfast and sometimes dinner out like chinese food, greek food or pizza. Had steak a couple of times and maybe a couple of hamburgers the entire time. Am still following this same type of diet along with still drinking massive amounts of water. Just added coffee again as my doc says a couple of cups helps manage the hep c progression at my level of damage (fibrosis). Any thoughts about what to change to have a better treatment success the next time? Thanks for your thoughts.
I was just taken off SOC tx after I didn't reach a 2 log drop at 12 weeks. Went from Viral Count of 5 million to 149,000. Will be taking tx when new drugs come out in the next few months. Been reading recent info regarding purines and impact of absorption for Ribavirin and was wondering what is the best meal plan during tx. I want to have all the odds in my favor for the next round. During the 12 weeks, I had either yogurt (non fat or low fat) with raisin bran or oatmeal and soy milk every day for brkfst and included fruit (bananas, blueberries, strawberries) with brkfst. Also would have a slice of bread with cream cheese maybe twice per week. For lunch, had lots of salads with spinach or a small piece of chicken with rice and veggies. Snacked on trail mix, apples, oranges, bananas throughout the day and then would have a dinner of usually chicken (fish usually salmon or tilapia once per week) with veggies, sometimes rice and usually spinach salad with broccoli. On weekends, would have eggs and pancakes once in a while for breakfast and sometimes dinner out like chinese food, greek food or pizza. Had steak a couple of times and maybe a couple of hamburgers the entire time. Am still following this same type of diet along with still drinking massive amounts of water. Just added coffee again as my doc says a couple of cups helps manage the hep c progression at my level of damage (fibrosis). Any thoughts about what to change to have a better treatment success the next time? Thanks for your thoughts.
something that we know that can be influenced by diet and excersise is insulin resistance.
HepC can cause this by itself and since you had a poor response I always suspect IR
as a possibility.It is a negative predictor to INF therapy.
Your blood sugar levels alone are not enough you need to run a
FASTING blood test for both insulin and glucose from the same blood draw and
calculate your homa score. Very Easy.
This is something I did before and half way thru tx and I find it good to know
that I am not IR and that my homa score even improved on tx.
HepC can cause this by itself and since you had a poor response I always suspect IR
as a possibility.It is a negative predictor to INF therapy.
Your blood sugar levels alone are not enough you need to run a
FASTING blood test for both insulin and glucose from the same blood draw and
calculate your homa score. Very Easy.
This is something I did before and half way thru tx and I find it good to know
that I am not IR and that my homa score even improved on tx.
At the beginning of my recent clinical trial in November 2010 involving SOC, Telaprevir and Vertex-222 I was told by both my trial nurses it was imperative I dose the oral meds with food each and every time and the fattier in nature they were the better. I followed their orders to a T due to wanting to give myself the best shot @ SVR. Personally I am not into Holistic or natural remidie
Your diet sounds wonderful. It hasn't been mentioned here yet so I'll take a stab at it. I believe it is suggested that if an antacid is needed during treatment that it not be taken within several hours of taking your riba. I believe the same holds true for calcium supplements. Calcium supplements and antacids work against the absorption of a lot of medications so it's best to take them 2-4 hours prior to or after taking riba.
As has been said before...research this suggestion for yourself to see if it is something you feel would benefit your situation.
As has been said before...research this suggestion for yourself to see if it is something you feel would benefit your situation.
Bill, you said:
Susan, I might be missing something, but I don’t understand the fuss over ribavirin ‘absorption’.
___________________________________________________________________________
And I cannot say that I do either. After reading another thread, I thought that I wasn't as fully informed as I could be. Looking into the matter I cannot draw any hard and fast conclusions only "generalizing orientations." Basically, that a perceived benefit comes isn't without a detriment to something else. The pithy quote "pick your poison" comes to mind. So, I appreciate your sage advice - "You’d be ill advised to take any advice from an internet forum to heart."
I am happy that your perseverance paid off and also appreciate your contributions to this board.
Susan
Susan, I might be missing something, but I don’t understand the fuss over ribavirin ‘absorption’.
___________________________________________________________________________
And I cannot say that I do either. After reading another thread, I thought that I wasn't as fully informed as I could be. Looking into the matter I cannot draw any hard and fast conclusions only "generalizing orientations." Basically, that a perceived benefit comes isn't without a detriment to something else. The pithy quote "pick your poison" comes to mind. So, I appreciate your sage advice - "You’d be ill advised to take any advice from an internet forum to heart."
I am happy that your perseverance paid off and also appreciate your contributions to this board.
Susan
Hi there...I would just like to add that I am also in the same situation as you find yourself..not being able to clear the virus at the wk12 benchmark,and just to le you know you are not alone in that situation.As all of the previous posters have mentioned the future looks brighter.so hang on,,you will achieve the ultimate goal sooner or later.
As far as Riba absorption...I think the first thing we all tend to do when we don"t for some reason achieve the desired result..we say.."what could I have done differently,and should I have eaten this or that etc... Well, I think that as long as we eat a well balanced diet we have done the best we could do.
All the best .going forward
WILL
Susan, I might be missing something, but I don’t understand the fuss over ribavirin ‘absorption’.
By its nature, ribavirin dosage is limited by toxicity; many of us are up against the fence in regards to dosage anyway. Wouldn’t increased bioavailability only result in increased anemia and subsequent dose reduction?
I appreciate the role ribavirin plays in treatment, although I don’t necessarily understand it. In fact, I appreciate it enough to have taken up to 2000 mg/day through roughly three years of therapy. However, if ‘absorption’ is an issue, why wouldn’t dose be adjusted accordingly?
Good luck as you go forward,
-Bill
By its nature, ribavirin dosage is limited by toxicity; many of us are up against the fence in regards to dosage anyway. Wouldn’t increased bioavailability only result in increased anemia and subsequent dose reduction?
I appreciate the role ribavirin plays in treatment, although I don’t necessarily understand it. In fact, I appreciate it enough to have taken up to 2000 mg/day through roughly three years of therapy. However, if ‘absorption’ is an issue, why wouldn’t dose be adjusted accordingly?
Good luck as you go forward,
-Bill
Sounds pretty healthy to me! My Dr. recommeded the coffee too during tx, which I did. The only other thing I would add, iff you haven't done so already, is to check your Vit. D and make sure your levels are OK. There've been recent articles about having an adequate Vit. D level may improve chances of SVR. And it can't hurt with overall health either.
Something to consider anyway....Pam
Something to consider anyway....Pam
I have to agree with Trin and Bill. I was not on this site for most of TX only found it at the very end and I'm kinda glad. I ate what I could when I could. When I couldn't eat I had carnation instant breakfast milkshakes with whole milk and ice cream. Quite often I took my riba on an empty stomach.
I am not telling you to do that but it is what I did.
I am sorry that you relapsed.
Denise Oh BTW, I cleared
I am not telling you to do that but it is what I did.
I am sorry that you relapsed.
Denise Oh BTW, I cleared
THANK YOU!
While I can certainly understand a person's motivation to do research, in reading some of the "musings" I had a first hand experience about just how quickly doubt can overtake my mind. I've spent a couple of hours trying to sort various aspects of the best way to load Riba and none of it seems cut and dried. More a matter of what appears to be known i.e. people with eVR, SVR often had early anemia... Since anemia can lead to heart complications is this really something I should strive for???
For me, and I imagine many of us, it isn't comfortable to not be in "control." While I would like to have some "certainty" in today's medical approaches, the truth is, we are still in a time of "creativity" about discovering what works and why it works. It's the dance between certainty and creativity that keeps life so darn interesting. Anyway, thanks again for your post, and even the chuckle over the dog chow.
Susan
While I can certainly understand a person's motivation to do research, in reading some of the "musings" I had a first hand experience about just how quickly doubt can overtake my mind. I've spent a couple of hours trying to sort various aspects of the best way to load Riba and none of it seems cut and dried. More a matter of what appears to be known i.e. people with eVR, SVR often had early anemia... Since anemia can lead to heart complications is this really something I should strive for???
For me, and I imagine many of us, it isn't comfortable to not be in "control." While I would like to have some "certainty" in today's medical approaches, the truth is, we are still in a time of "creativity" about discovering what works and why it works. It's the dance between certainty and creativity that keeps life so darn interesting. Anyway, thanks again for your post, and even the chuckle over the dog chow.
Susan
Your diet sounds wonderful,,,,, I eat what I like, so that I eat, I always have some butter or yogurt with my riba and I just try to eat pretty well.
I am so sorry to hear you have relapsed, the new drugs coming out soon, should be of help to you, Best of luck
Mary4now
I am so sorry to hear you have relapsed, the new drugs coming out soon, should be of help to you, Best of luck
Mary4now
By the way, I’m sorry to hear of your relapse. Both Trin and I have suffered the same fate, along with many others in here. You’ll eventually prevail; there’s really never been a better time to manage HCV, what with the upcoming medications currently in clinical trial. Hang tough,
--Bill
--Bill
I agree with Trinity. Diet probably plays an insignificant role in clearing the virus; and as far as liver histology is concerned, unless cirrhosis is present, your liver should be capable of metabolizing most foods within reason.
Purines, Purina Dog Chow, or any other dietary considerations along this vein are the musings of individuals here; they may have merit in research, but to my knowledge have no clinical relevance and fall far short of being ready for prime time.
After spending years in these forums, you’ll probably notice there’s always a ‘flavor of the month’ adjunct to treatment. Over time, we’ve seen blueberry extract, acai berries, grapefruit juice, endocrine malfunction, bovine thymus, human growth hormone, ad nauseum; all with little or no peer reviewed, published support. You’d be ill advised to take any advice from an internet forum to heart.
Rather let this forum inspire individual research based on qualified medical providers who practice evidence based medicine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence-based_medicine
Good luck,
-Bill
Purines, Purina Dog Chow, or any other dietary considerations along this vein are the musings of individuals here; they may have merit in research, but to my knowledge have no clinical relevance and fall far short of being ready for prime time.
After spending years in these forums, you’ll probably notice there’s always a ‘flavor of the month’ adjunct to treatment. Over time, we’ve seen blueberry extract, acai berries, grapefruit juice, endocrine malfunction, bovine thymus, human growth hormone, ad nauseum; all with little or no peer reviewed, published support. You’d be ill advised to take any advice from an internet forum to heart.
Rather let this forum inspire individual research based on qualified medical providers who practice evidence based medicine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence-based_medicine
Good luck,
-Bill
There are NO assurances that diet change will enhance SVR. When you're on treatment you eat what you can, when you can. A little more fat for riba absorption is recommended.
Don't stress about purines or believe everything you read on an Internet forum. People are always posting sure fire ways to attain SVR and in the end they don't always prove to be sure fire. Balanced meals are always advised regardless of what you read.
Trinity
Don't stress about purines or believe everything you read on an Internet forum. People are always posting sure fire ways to attain SVR and in the end they don't always prove to be sure fire. Balanced meals are always advised regardless of what you read.
Trinity
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