Diet before and during tx

[Katy63]

Ok. my husband may have to go through tx again and I was wondering from everything I have read on the net diet is very important.  I was just hoping that someone (that's been there) might be able to offer some suggestions on diet and what has or has not worked to eleviate the symptoms.  

[Trish77]

It depends on what symptoms you're talking about.  If you're talking about nausea, there are things people took or ate that helped different persons.  If you're talking about low white counts, some of us took mushroom compounds or ate mushrooms.  Those are pretty targeted actions directed at a very specific issue.

Alot of us advocate with good reason taking a high fat food with your ribavirin to maximize the absorption factor.  

On the whole though, if you're talking about a general treatment diet, there isn't one other than continuing to eat healthy and eating what you can.  While I was going through nausea, noodle soup was my friend and I couldn't tolerate a whole lot more than that - not exactly a "four food groups" meal plan, is it. :)  Sometimes it's a matter of what you CAN eat, not what you SHOULD eat...but you try to eat healthy as much as possible.  

Hope that and the comments above helps some.

[Bali05]

during tx I check bodyweight ,cholesterol, iron , glucose and insulin and modify my diet
for example I consumed a lot more fat for Riba absorption in the last months
and now my LDL is slightly elevated. Need to cut back on the butter :-)
Many of us have a somewhat modified lifestyle during Tx , change of foods and food
quantities and often  less physical activities.
I primarily gage diet on that.

[Susan_1a_CC]

Hi Katy,
There are specific diet recommendations in Dr. Mark Hyman's book "Ultra-metabolism" under the chapter "loving your liver."  Along with supplement recommendations, he suggests avoiding all white sugar, (alcohol of course), and expounds on the benefits of certain green vegetables.  Wishing you and your husband the best of luck.  

[paen53]

I echo Bill that if your hubby's liver is still in pretty good shape that a heart healthy diet is the way to go - as it is for many us, treating or not. You may have to tweak it a bit if/when side effects crop up (nausea, weight loss, mouth sores, etc.) but only at need.

One thing I would add is to drink coffee if he can. This was my Dr.'s recommendation (at least 3 cups per day) and I see the most recent update regarding coffee consumption here:

http://hivandhepatitis.com/2010_conference/aasld/docs/1203_2010_a.html

And he already probably knows about maintaining adequate water consumption during tx.

Good luck to both of you!  Pam

[nygirl7]

I was just happy that i was able to eat anything at all and mostly survived on ice cream and fudgicles throughout the 72 weeks. Of course that being said you should have him take the ribavirin with something that contains fat as it will help the riba bind to it and not just be flushed out of his system. A piece of toast with peanut butter on it for breakfast something like that.

I took the pills with breakfast and dinner (even if it was only ice cream) so that it was 12 hours apart and easy to remember to take them. Even if I wasn't hungry everyone else in the world was eating...and the pills had the fat to bind to as well.

[Bill1954]

Of course, if your husband has a metabolic disorder such as diabetes in addition to his HCV he should eat accordingly.

--Bill

[Bill1954]

I’m not sure what you’ve been reading, but there’s no diet specific to HCV; assuming your husband’s liver remains compensated. If not, there are sodium and protein considerations to discuss with his medical team.

Otherwise, he should be able to eat anything within reason. Of course, he should avoid alcohol, and we’ll all benefit from a balanced diet; preferably one high in fruits and veggies, as well as complex carbs.

The American Heart Association provides a decent template to follow; good luck and best wishes,

Bill