Aa
Rooibos Tea? Any experience? Forseegood?
A number of you (including TallBlonde, Rocker and others) have suggested that Rooibos (Red Bush) Tea is good for the liver. From the little research I've done -- Rooibos is a natural non-caffinated tea, native to South Africa with a very low tannic acid content. Many accalades on the net, but mostly from either alternative health sites or those selling the product. Only found one medical study which did demonstrate that Roobios had a protective effect in rat's livers.
The claims for Rooibios are numerous, including applying it in the form of wet soaks for various skin problems.
Very interested in anything anyone here can add from personal experience. How much they drink? Which product? Any noticeable effect on liver or enzymes? What did their doctor say about the product?
Forseegood, if my memory serves me (and it doesn't a lot lately :))you commented recently that you found Rooibos too strong for you? Could you please clarify and elaborate? I'd like to get both sides of the story.
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To be continued...
The claims for Rooibios are numerous, including applying it in the form of wet soaks for various skin problems.
Very interested in anything anyone here can add from personal experience. How much they drink? Which product? Any noticeable effect on liver or enzymes? What did their doctor say about the product?
Forseegood, if my memory serves me (and it doesn't a lot lately :))you commented recently that you found Rooibos too strong for you? Could you please clarify and elaborate? I'd like to get both sides of the story.
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To be continued...
On the thread above there is someone who needs very important questions answered. The thread is "Vision Problems" and other post.
Thanks,
cajun
Thanks,
cajun
You ville be taking yoor viba pills on time can-do. Und zoes vhat you can't svallow I ville administer zem personally....." as she slips on the heavy rubber glove....
YEP that would be my luck.
Jim, i just hope i don't get them moths now, think upping the riba could cause it?
YEP that would be my luck.
Jim, i just hope i don't get them moths now, think upping the riba could cause it?
Jim says: ....afford a great excuse to hop on a plane and meet some nice Swedish ladies :)
Acccck!! I have this image of can-do getting off the plane and being greeted by the Sweedish Riba nurse with her little silver tray of pills and tiny cup of water. In my vision she makes Nurse Cratchet look like Linda the Good Witch from the North.
"You ville be taking yoor viba pills on time can-do. Und zoes vhat you can't svallow I ville administer zem personally....." as she slips on the heavy rubber glove....
Acccck!! I have this image of can-do getting off the plane and being greeted by the Sweedish Riba nurse with her little silver tray of pills and tiny cup of water. In my vision she makes Nurse Cratchet look like Linda the Good Witch from the North.
"You ville be taking yoor viba pills on time can-do. Und zoes vhat you can't svallow I ville administer zem personally....." as she slips on the heavy rubber glove....
Thanks, my hepo is also in the camp with more riba for geno1 with me being stage 4. He thinks that since i was handleing the 1200 per day pretty good and my hgb at begin of tx was 17 but has held study at around 12.5 He told me if i felt like it was to much to back off to 1400, plus thats why he wants me to have labs twice a week. Never posted my 12 week pcr. My viral load to start was 11 millon and change. Just did have a 2 log drop but with my stage we were hopeing for much better. Sunday will be week 15 so were gonna do another pcr at week 20 if im able to keep at this dose, if we lower it he thinks maybe doing one at 18 and see where we stand. Plus my work is being great and told me to cut back on hours and use the phone and email more to keep in touch with my clients. So i can keep my vacation and sick and personal days for later which looks like will be sooner. LOL
Regarding the first part of your question about thoughts on the general concept of HDR (high dose ribavirn).
From what I've read, I'm a big fan of HDR for those who can both tolerate it, and for those geno 1's who are willing to take more treatment risks because of significant liver damage -- stage 3-4.
The trick as I see it is to balance dosage and tolerability with the always present risk of too high a dose resulting in temporary or permanent treatment discontinuance, although a good agressive and knowledgeable doctor will go a long way to do what is necessary to keep you in the game.
In Sweden, a small pilot study had almost 100% SVR using HDR based not on body weight but on serum riba levels as determined by HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) blood tests. Unfortunatly, these tests are probably still not offered in this country, but do afford a great excuse to hop on a plane and meet some nice Swedish ladies :) I have also heard anecdotally, that they have had some success with slow responders by using HDV later in treatment but have no idea if they eventually SVRd.
Keep in mind, that everyone in the Swedish study was on Procrit and iron supplementation, and two of the participants had 2 tranfusions each. But also note that the average riba dose was a lot higher than you're talking about.
By week 48 the average dose was 2325 mg/day with a range of 1600 to a whopping 3,600 mg/day! Why such a range? Different people metabolize riba differently dependent on a number of factors including kidney function. That's why HPCL dosing IMO is so elegant compared to our crude weight-based dosing which just tries to approximate riba absorption based on weight tables.
All the best luck.
-- Jim
From what I've read, I'm a big fan of HDR for those who can both tolerate it, and for those geno 1's who are willing to take more treatment risks because of significant liver damage -- stage 3-4.
The trick as I see it is to balance dosage and tolerability with the always present risk of too high a dose resulting in temporary or permanent treatment discontinuance, although a good agressive and knowledgeable doctor will go a long way to do what is necessary to keep you in the game.
In Sweden, a small pilot study had almost 100% SVR using HDR based not on body weight but on serum riba levels as determined by HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) blood tests. Unfortunatly, these tests are probably still not offered in this country, but do afford a great excuse to hop on a plane and meet some nice Swedish ladies :) I have also heard anecdotally, that they have had some success with slow responders by using HDV later in treatment but have no idea if they eventually SVRd.
Keep in mind, that everyone in the Swedish study was on Procrit and iron supplementation, and two of the participants had 2 tranfusions each. But also note that the average riba dose was a lot higher than you're talking about.
By week 48 the average dose was 2325 mg/day with a range of 1600 to a whopping 3,600 mg/day! Why such a range? Different people metabolize riba differently dependent on a number of factors including kidney function. That's why HPCL dosing IMO is so elegant compared to our crude weight-based dosing which just tries to approximate riba absorption based on weight tables.
All the best luck.
-- Jim
I think I missed your 12 week results. Maybe you can repost? I take it it wasn't great since you are ready to up dose. Best wishes to you my friend. We'll all be hoping for improved results for you.
I dropped Riba dose from 1,200 to 1,000 for a couple weeks, and as promissed, I started feeling better in one week. Sorry to say this, but assuming the inverse will hold, I think you can expect to feel a pretty big whack going 400 mg the other way. On the other hand, I guess it depends on where your hgb is. Mine was pretty low at the time.
Was there any talk of upping the INF? Did you notice the study posted by BOBBYULLC on twice wwekly INF? Looks like they did about a 3/4 dose twice weekly and got great results.
I dropped Riba dose from 1,200 to 1,000 for a couple weeks, and as promissed, I started feeling better in one week. Sorry to say this, but assuming the inverse will hold, I think you can expect to feel a pretty big whack going 400 mg the other way. On the other hand, I guess it depends on where your hgb is. Mine was pretty low at the time.
Was there any talk of upping the INF? Did you notice the study posted by BOBBYULLC on twice wwekly INF? Looks like they did about a 3/4 dose twice weekly and got great results.
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