Raw foods/hep c/blood work

[bessiebelle]

I was diagnosed in Nov 08 with Type 1.  I began the Ultra thistle/Liv52/SST regimen with high antioxidant supplements.  Also, I began to eat the Living raw foods program.  My latest blood results show better AST/ALT's from January, but falling platelets, wbc's and K...also ferratin is a sky-high 427 (as a result of liver inflammation, most probably).  Can anyone share experience with the combo of raw foods and blood values and hep c?  Can anyone recommend a holistic MD somewhere in the mid-Atlantic area who can help me?  I feel that the better enzyme level is encouraging, yet I am terrified by the dropping other values...I am sorely tempted to see what the next bloodwork shows, as I trust the healing power of the food (with the enzymes) to be somewhat corrective.  Any help???  Thanks and BTW, this is my first post!

[Rockerforlife]

Ny girl is right...if you are a stage 4...you have to be careful with your diet and certain foods,i didnt realize you had cirroius,so all i can say is junk food is not too wise...also ive herad at a stage 5 protien intake has to be monitored

[evangelin]

My husband also has cirrhosis and we have tried many things in addition to the standard treatment .  He has so far been a nonresponder to tx.  Of all the different supplement regimes we have tried, the only one that made a difference was the list proposed by an amazing hepc Dr/researcher that visited this forum for a while.  It is listed on Gauf's profile under the heading, "HR's liver lovin list"  (something like that.)  Gauf recorded it for all who come looking later.  You can also find all of HR's old posts too.  This list of supplements got Joe well enough to try treatment for the third time.  The treatment hasn't worked for him so far but I'm so glad we have the supplements to go back to when he is off tx.  Joe was not considered well enough to be retreated because the cirrhosis had his platelets,hgb,white cells etc.  too low but about 8 months of the supplements with a vegetarian diet brought them up enough to be safe.  We'd been doing the diet for several years prior, since his diagnosis, and it helped a lot with how he felt but didn't make a measurable difference in anything except the liver enzymes.  
I wish you well,
Ev

[nygirl7]

I am encouraged by the lowered liver enzymes in 3 months, but, as I said, the wbc's and platelets are a worry...

Actually the falling liver enzymes could be a result of the cirrhosis.  Less healthy liver cells to kill - less rising enzyme number.

At your stage of the game I admire that you would like to handle this with diet and exercis but would strongly encourage you to see a top notch top of the line specialist if possible.  Cirrhosis is nothing to mess around with and you need to be trying to figure out which next step to take as it sounds as if your liver is getting very close to liver failure at this point to me.

Diet and exercise are great in conjunction with more desperate measures now.  Please reach out to the local hospitals in your area and see if you can find a heptologist who has a lot of experience with cirrhosis.

[Rockerforlife]

Raw food is ok,as in veggies and stuff,,,but as to raw meat and fish,forget it...if its organic,just make sure its washed...i love raw nuts too..not roasted that is..before you eat and aplle do you cook it..and orange?...most fruit we dont...why not veggies?

[newleaf09]

A freind drug me to her health food store nutritionist who recommended a raw diet to "give me more energy, not using so much to digest foods'.  I was immediately reluctant because he pushed warm distilled water and lemon juice as a liver tonic.

Wait a minute.  The liver does not process lemon water, it processes blood.  No way any of that stuff is going to get to my liver in the first place.  Plus I used up a lot more energy running to the bathroom from all the fruit and raw food going straight through.  I gave it a fair trial for 10 days.

Diet can't change one's manufacture of blood cells.  If your liver is storing iron and not manufacturing vitamin K, you are getting dangerously close to liver failure.    Some things are just beyond your personal control.  Sometimes you have to trust science to save your life

[GreatBird]

I don't know what a raw living food diet is, but when I was diagnosed in 2002 I went to an organic diet that contained as little in chemicals and artificial ingredients as I could manage and I also dropped weight. It was amazing and somewhat of a verification (at least to me) that my liver was being overworked just dealing with the normal ingredients in our everyday food. I also felt great however I still had the virus. But, I did find out this past November when I had my second biopsy that there had been no progression. I don't really know why. I do think that eating healthy is one of the best medicines there is--and one often overlooked by people when they are wondering why they don't feel well or get sick often.

Welcome to the forum.

[GSDgirl]

Oh, I saw on Wife Swap a little while back a family actually ate raw meat and canned raw fermented meat.  About gagged me.  That was my first thought.  About the high iron I had phlebotomies to reduce mine.  I know nothing about platelets & wbc's.

[bessiebelle]

Many thanks for your reply.  There is a great deal of difference between the raw food diet for dogs (raw meats, yoghurt, etc) and raw foods for people.  I began the raw foods program thinking that it would lighten the digestive burden on my liver, not having to deal with the extra burden of the by-products of processed foods, pesticides, et al. (no meat, dairy, processed or canned, no sugars, low glycemic fruits and veggies). The result has been a 60 pound weight loss in 5 months, which has been uniformly praised by the MDs I deal with...

I have cirrhosis and Hep c, so already something is very much NOT alright!  I am encouraged by the lowered liver enzymes in 3 months, but, as I said, the wbc's and platelets are a worry...

Anyway, just wanted to know if anyone else has changed to the raw living foods diet.  There are  MDs who adhere to the idea (ancient) that 'terrain is everything'...in other words, if one changes the biological terrain of the body, it becomes less hospitable to the invader (virus) and the body can begin to heal...that's not to say that conventional medicine doesn't have answers as well and should be a part of treatment, but one must make changes in things like pH, etc to maximize healing.

So, hello and thanks for taking the time  and energy to reply to me...it's a welcome welcome!
Lanise

[justme53]

I tried a raw diet pre-tx and although I didn't notice any alarming changes in labs, I didn't feel "great". Not even good really. I still juice daily, but also have incorporated other foods into my diet that seem to work better for me.

Have you had a biopsy yet or been seen by a liver Dr.? I don't know of any diet that causes platelets to fall yet this can indicate further progression of liver disease.

Take care, Pam

[Bill1954]

Hi, and welcome to the discussion group. I think GSDgirl pretty much summed it up. The thing is, while eating carefully and taking supplements, etc might be good for the body, it doesn’t address the core issue which is obviously HCV.

We’ve had patients from all over the world try just about every possible combination of diet, exercise, supplement regimen, and everything in between, and eventually they concede that treatment is necessary and unavoidable in the long run.

This is one crafty virus; medicine (allopathic and otherwise) has spent countless hours trying to overcome it; and to date, interferon and ribavirin is the only thing that can possibly kick its butt. I’ve done treatment, and although I didn’t like it, it eventually did its job; I’m HCV free now.

Good luck to you, and I hope you can find something that works in your benefit eventually,

Bill

[GSDgirl]

Hi, I am not an expert by any means but I have researched and used the raw diet for my dogs.  Any dog that is immune compromised, very old or very young got cooked meat and juiced veggies.  those 3 scenarios can be deadly becauce as we all know there is bacteria in raw food.  

In my opinion if one has hep c the body is already fighting a problem and it doesn't need any more stress.  something is not right and maybe it is your diet.  You don't say what your liver values are.  You have a problem going on there, the high iron is a problem.  Sometimes conventional medicine and a regular sensible diet is necessary.

Denise