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any ideas to keep from losing the weight?
I have not started tx yet, but I know that I will be soon at the advise of my doctor. My concerns are weight loss. You see I am co-infected with HIV/HCV. MY labs for the HIV are under control and good numbers and always has been and I have been able to keep my weight really good for my height at around 150-154. I am one of these people that has always been compliant with taking my HIV meds when I am suppose to. I do not want to lose to much. Does anyone know if the weight loss is attributed to the meds or just to your lost of appetite? How is the best way to fight this ahead of time. My Dr. has mentioned placing me on a 12 -week run of serostim to get my weight up to at least 163. As much as I would like to believe that this world is comfortable to our faces about certain things ( diseases ) in our lives, the harsh reality is that they just aren't. This is my first post....one of my biggest concerns...If someone would respond kindly I would appreciate it. You see I am a flight attendant and so people tend to look at this as being a somewhat glamorous job. Trust me...now days...it isn't. Thank you guys ahead of time for your wisdom, bravery, and responses...
In Him,
In Him,
Just before treatment I too was concerned at losing weight, I have kept a normal weight for years and so I was concerned I'd end up too thin and feeling even weaker than I was!
I deliberately ate more than normal, think out of nerves actually, but still not over eating anything that would do damage. I swear by muesli or rolled oats (porridge)in winter, with my own added things like sunflower seeds, linseed, pumpkin seeds, lecithin, poppy seeds, psyllium husks, slippery elm bark, raisins, sultana's, fresh blueberries, yogurt, and on and on. I personally would use a lot of carbs such as steamed potatoes, brown rice and wholemeal breads add to that nuts, your vegis and other fruits and chosen meats and fish.
I try not to eat too much sugar or fat....and if you suffer candida swap the peanut butter for cashew butter....peanuts have moulds. Smoothies are great and a quick meal, banana's are fantastic, full of carbs and potasium. I was told beetroot (which I hate but do try to eat) is really good for your liver.
Rice cakes or oat cakes with spreads or avocado and alphapha sprouts is a good snack....banana cake or carrot cake is lovely too....like everyone said we are all different.....I started yoga each day, 6 months before treatment to strengthen my body and am still managing it a few times a week. Those protein drinks sound good, but I have cerosis so must keep away from the protein. Hey the best of luck to you from across the pond. Blessings All.
PS Wish there was spell check on this....feel some words look wrong but too tired to check!
I deliberately ate more than normal, think out of nerves actually, but still not over eating anything that would do damage. I swear by muesli or rolled oats (porridge)in winter, with my own added things like sunflower seeds, linseed, pumpkin seeds, lecithin, poppy seeds, psyllium husks, slippery elm bark, raisins, sultana's, fresh blueberries, yogurt, and on and on. I personally would use a lot of carbs such as steamed potatoes, brown rice and wholemeal breads add to that nuts, your vegis and other fruits and chosen meats and fish.
I try not to eat too much sugar or fat....and if you suffer candida swap the peanut butter for cashew butter....peanuts have moulds. Smoothies are great and a quick meal, banana's are fantastic, full of carbs and potasium. I was told beetroot (which I hate but do try to eat) is really good for your liver.
Rice cakes or oat cakes with spreads or avocado and alphapha sprouts is a good snack....banana cake or carrot cake is lovely too....like everyone said we are all different.....I started yoga each day, 6 months before treatment to strengthen my body and am still managing it a few times a week. Those protein drinks sound good, but I have cerosis so must keep away from the protein. Hey the best of luck to you from across the pond. Blessings All.
PS Wish there was spell check on this....feel some words look wrong but too tired to check!
Best of luck with both your HIV/HCV and best of luck when you start tx. As far as weight, I'm in Wk 32/48 & just started losing a couple pounds (down to 124 from 128). What I have lost though are inches. I still exercise alot & have alot of muscle weight which is heavier than fat, I think that's why I haven't lost major pounds, although people can't believe I'm 124. They think I weigh a lot less. From what I've read here, the norm is to lose some weight, but the amount seems to differ for everyone. Try to bulk up now, but try to stay away from really greasy or fatty foods. Hope things go good for you!
sorry to hear you are co-infected. but,everyone is different, and we must hope and pray for the better.
i think more important than weight gain, is maintaining a healthy body.
think antioxidants, aloe vera, vitamins, lots of water, fruit, veggies, olive oil, and exercise.
antioxidants are very high in pomegranates and grapes.
but if u really want to gain weight, i suggest you do it by upping your carbohydrates, coupled with exercise of course. eat more bread, rice, potatoes, without compromising on the fruits and veggies. ( brown bread is better).
i think more important than weight gain, is maintaining a healthy body.
think antioxidants, aloe vera, vitamins, lots of water, fruit, veggies, olive oil, and exercise.
antioxidants are very high in pomegranates and grapes.
but if u really want to gain weight, i suggest you do it by upping your carbohydrates, coupled with exercise of course. eat more bread, rice, potatoes, without compromising on the fruits and veggies. ( brown bread is better).
I have had the reverse, gained 4 lbs since started tx, must be the evening ice cream and bannanas, and keep a few candy bars handy. May raise a few health enthuseists eyebrows but I just don't eat full meals but snack at night watching tv. Thats just me and not advice to do what I do.
Some gain - some loose. Some people have no nauseau some people do.
It's simply impossible to guess if you will or not although it always seems like the people who DONT want to lose weight do! I lost 20 and was simply skeletal but I've gainned most of it back.
I'm on week 54 of 72 - so my body has probably acclimated.
I did develop an autoimmune disease because of my thyroid and my thyroid went completely hyper - so that added much to it.
Personally I tried to keep my weight by eating ice cream since it's about the most fattening thing in the world and it didn't hurt me at all. It was good fun!
You just can't know in advance. Sorry and best of luck!
It's simply impossible to guess if you will or not although it always seems like the people who DONT want to lose weight do! I lost 20 and was simply skeletal but I've gainned most of it back.
I'm on week 54 of 72 - so my body has probably acclimated.
I did develop an autoimmune disease because of my thyroid and my thyroid went completely hyper - so that added much to it.
Personally I tried to keep my weight by eating ice cream since it's about the most fattening thing in the world and it didn't hurt me at all. It was good fun!
You just can't know in advance. Sorry and best of luck!
Here's the catch 22. Starting treatment at a lower weight may give you a better chance at SVR (cure). But as you suggest, it may also at some point make staying on treatment more difficult.
Don't know how much you weigh per your height, etc, but if it were me I'd go in as close to my ideal body weight as possible instead of bulking up, then do whatever I can on treatment to maintain that weight.
Hopefully, you'll be one of the lucky ones that wont drop too much but there's no way of knowing until things start. Part of the weight loss issue is appetite loss but some will lose even with a normal appetitite. What was explained to me is that interferon monkeys around with your metabolism and can eat away at you, especially muscle tissue.
First line of attack is to try and eat regularly, etc. You may find this easy or you may find it impossible. Hard to predict. If things start going sounth, Medical Marijuana is prescribed by many knowlegeable hepatologists. It not only can help the appetite but can significantly cut back on nausea. In fact, a recent study came out suggesting that medical marijuana is assocaiated with better treatment outcomes because it keeps peopl on treatment longer.
Beyond that, if things really get bad, there's testosterone and even anabolic steroids. You don't hear them discussed as much here as on some of the HIV boards but they've both been used for HIV and Cancer Chemo patients for some time. My doctor discussed the possiblity of both but fortunatly my weight finally stablized at 145, 30 lbs below my pre-tx weight.
Again, I'd start treating at your ideal weight and deal with things as they come. Also be prepared to lose some weight and while you may not be crazy about what you see in the mirror, it's not necessarily unhealthy to be below the normal weight for your height. Up to a point, of course.
All the best.
-- Jim
Don't know how much you weigh per your height, etc, but if it were me I'd go in as close to my ideal body weight as possible instead of bulking up, then do whatever I can on treatment to maintain that weight.
Hopefully, you'll be one of the lucky ones that wont drop too much but there's no way of knowing until things start. Part of the weight loss issue is appetite loss but some will lose even with a normal appetitite. What was explained to me is that interferon monkeys around with your metabolism and can eat away at you, especially muscle tissue.
First line of attack is to try and eat regularly, etc. You may find this easy or you may find it impossible. Hard to predict. If things start going sounth, Medical Marijuana is prescribed by many knowlegeable hepatologists. It not only can help the appetite but can significantly cut back on nausea. In fact, a recent study came out suggesting that medical marijuana is assocaiated with better treatment outcomes because it keeps peopl on treatment longer.
Beyond that, if things really get bad, there's testosterone and even anabolic steroids. You don't hear them discussed as much here as on some of the HIV boards but they've both been used for HIV and Cancer Chemo patients for some time. My doctor discussed the possiblity of both but fortunatly my weight finally stablized at 145, 30 lbs below my pre-tx weight.
Again, I'd start treating at your ideal weight and deal with things as they come. Also be prepared to lose some weight and while you may not be crazy about what you see in the mirror, it's not necessarily unhealthy to be below the normal weight for your height. Up to a point, of course.
All the best.
-- Jim
Hi, good luck with your tx, I am at week 10 in the beginning I lost about 10 pounds , but I have also found a craving for icecream that I never had before, so I say a milkshake a day should help, good luck my friend. Pam
I actually gained weight the first few months of tx, 7 or so to be exact.. I was at my heaviest ever. But around week 25-32 maybe, I lost over 20lbs in less than a month. Anxiety was found to be the culprit, and a quick Rx for Effexor XR got me back on track.
What I did was drink protein shakes with whole milk and bannanas when weight started dropping. Sometimes at night I would blend up a 1000 calorie weight gainer shake just for piece of mind. When you are not getting enough calories, the body starts canabolizing....This is not a good thing. Even if it gets hard to eat, the shakes go down pretty easy, and give you the needed calories and vitamins daily. I also use to keep Power Bars in my pocket at all times. This have like 300 calories, and 19g of protein I think. And I use to just take little bites when I could.
The key though, is to really just eat what tastes good, what you are able to get down. Foods start tasting different, so just experiment till you find what you like.
Me, I was addicted to ice cream sandwiches!!
What I did was drink protein shakes with whole milk and bannanas when weight started dropping. Sometimes at night I would blend up a 1000 calorie weight gainer shake just for piece of mind. When you are not getting enough calories, the body starts canabolizing....This is not a good thing. Even if it gets hard to eat, the shakes go down pretty easy, and give you the needed calories and vitamins daily. I also use to keep Power Bars in my pocket at all times. This have like 300 calories, and 19g of protein I think. And I use to just take little bites when I could.
The key though, is to really just eat what tastes good, what you are able to get down. Foods start tasting different, so just experiment till you find what you like.
Me, I was addicted to ice cream sandwiches!!
I purposely gained about 20# before tx, so when I lost I would still be healthy. Guess what ... I didn't lose a pound!
I say don't worry about it, just take note of the good advice given above about what to eat. Weigh yourself once a week or so; when you notice you're down about 5#, start eating nuts and other stuff recommended.
I can attest to the fact that ice cream IS fattening, lol.
I say don't worry about it, just take note of the good advice given above about what to eat. Weigh yourself once a week or so; when you notice you're down about 5#, start eating nuts and other stuff recommended.
I can attest to the fact that ice cream IS fattening, lol.
I went through a period of several months where my body craved fat containing foods. I had eggs in the morning and usually a Rubin sandwich for lunch and peanut butter at supper. For snacks I drank whole milk and ate ice cream. I only lost 6 lbs on treatment (tx) but my cholesterol went up 15 points.
Good luck to you.
Good luck to you.
Welcome to the site, sorry to hear you have HCV. You are smart to preemptively try to solve issues that might arise on traetment. Weight loss is attributed to both the drugs themselves and loss of appetite but hopefully you can combat that. Here is a list I was given by the NP. With so much travelling in your life it might be hard to prepare your own protein drinks, which would be ideal, so possibly you could use a commercially prepared one.If I wwas ou Id speak to your doctor about it too, there are prescribed supplements that pack an even bigger punch.
here is the list of how to control weight loss on tx:
Eat smaller meals frequently throughout the day rather than two or three big meals.
Have snacks between meals.
Establish a pattern of eating meals and snacks at the same time each day. Stick to this schedule, even when you are not hungry.
Keep snacks handy. People tend to eat more when food is readily available.
Rely on foods you really like at times when your appetite is not good.
Try high-calorie, high-protein drinks prescribed by your doctor when you cannot eat enough food to maintain your weight.
here is the list of how to control weight loss on tx:
Eat smaller meals frequently throughout the day rather than two or three big meals.
Have snacks between meals.
Establish a pattern of eating meals and snacks at the same time each day. Stick to this schedule, even when you are not hungry.
Keep snacks handy. People tend to eat more when food is readily available.
Rely on foods you really like at times when your appetite is not good.
Try high-calorie, high-protein drinks prescribed by your doctor when you cannot eat enough food to maintain your weight.
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