Hi Aneela, welcome to the forum! The only food or drink that should be avoided during treatment (as far as I know) is grapefruit juice if you're being treated with Daclatasvir (you can drink grapefruit juice with the other Hep C medications such as Harvoni and Epclusa). Hopefully Dr Freeman will confirm this for you soon. All the best with your treatment.

Hi Michael,

I'm just going to jump in here and wish you well as you start your treatment. I am one of the many people who were cured of Hep C a few years ago with the (then) new antiviral drugs and with the support of Dr Freeman and fixhepC.

It's sounds as if you are giving yourself the very best chance of success. Looking forward to hearing how you are going.

Coral

Thank you for your extensive review of the supplements that I take!
I'm a little bit perplexed about your advice to not take any supplements during my 3 month treatment. My naturopath went over the same supplement list and he didn't think there would be any problem with them, but I also realize that he is not a heptologist, so I've decided to take a bare minimum of my supplements. I will be taking a multivitamin, vitamin c capsules, glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM, CoQ10, amino acids, milk thistle, a protein drink with whey protein powder/wheat grass powder/spirulina and daily fiber formula, Omega XL and Kyolic circulation formula.
I will take the supplements first thing in the morning and I will take the generic Epclusa with my dinner meal(including some fat to help with absorption).
If this protocol seems unworkable to you, I will gladly accept any additional advice about it.
I normally work out 3 or 4 times a week. Is exercising something that you are ok with or should I avoid it for the 3 month treatment period?
Thank you again for your help,
Michael Penney

Hello ekimyennep,

Wow, that's possibly the biggest list of supplements I've seen a single person taking.

The bottom line is simple enough:

1) We know that food does have an impact on the absorption of medications like Epclusa

www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/assessmen...ssment-report_en.pdf (page 55)

With Epclusa, the problem to hand is that it is not very well absorbed and a high fat meal improves that so while the official line is that it can be taken with or without food, I suggest with a meal with some fat in it.

2) While many patients with Hep C do take liver supplements (nd were likely included in the trials) formal testing of drug interactions with almost all the supplements you list has NOT been done.

3) While most people think of a tablet of (say) vitamin C as being a vitamin C supplement it also typically contains half a dozen other ingredients that turn the API (vitamin C) into the tablet.

My suggestion would be to leave the supplements alone for the duration of your treatment. In order of "known not to be a problem"

• DHEA is part of the steroid axis, and although it is not specifically listed at the Liverpool interactions checker www.hep-druginteractions.org/checker we can see things like female HRT (oestrogens and progestogens) and cortisols do not interact. In addition, you would probably start to miss this after 3 months
• Milk thistle contains silymarin and is helpful in liver disease. If the liver disease is cause by Hep C then any of the new DAA Rx are MORE helpful but plenty of my patients took it during their Rx with no problem. Note that after patients liver function numbers come back to normal on treatment the logic for it evaporates
• Whey protein
• Vitamin C
• VMultivitamin

Now let's look at some of the things that you might like to consider, both short and long term.


Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, produced in the skin, from exposure to sunlight. Less sunlight in the northern/southern extremes and the need for vitamin D is one of the reasons humans evolved to become paler skinned. Fat-soluble == this vitamin accumulates. This can be a problem www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nut...oxicity/faq-20058108

With Vitamin D there is a simple blood test. If you are not deficient you don't need it. If you are deficient you may like to consider sunshine for its side effects...



Colostrum

I encourage new mothers to breastfeed. That gives their newborn children what nature intended, but that said...

Nature did not really intend for humans to consume cow's milk - it was designed for baby cows. Are cow antibodies likely to be useful for you? Cow growth factors? ...

Colostrum is a liquid and contains live cells as well as other proteins that will not survive spray drying so (and this is probably a good thing) people consuming colostrum are not getting the fresh product, they are getting the "processed food variety".

I'm none of paleo, vegan or vegetarian so quite happy to eat my yoghurt and cheese. That's a taste/protein thing rather than a health thing.

In general


In general, a diet that has variety will almost invariably everything needed for good health - supplements are marketed but are not required.

The story of Fish Oil

Fish oil is not a health food. It's probably toxic, but here is how it enters the zeitgiest.

In the decades after WWII it is noticed that Japanese living in Japan have less heart attacks and strokes then genetically related Japanese living in the USA.

Why? Theory - it is the diet. Ah ha, what is different. Ah ha, fish vs McDonald's. Ah ha, what is in fish? Ah ha oil!

If you've ever been to Japan, and stayed in a hotel, and visited the breakfast buffet, you might have noticed that ~ 90% of all the food on the Japanese side is more or less unrecognisable to Western eyes ie the Japanese diet differs in almost ALL respects to a Western diet.

Anyway, it turns out that after you have filleted a fish what is left are the bones. What do you do with them? Well, we used to make blood and bone fertilizer but that is a low value add...

Ah-ha! Eureeka!Tada!

If you crush waste fish and bone you can remove the oil and put it in a gelatin capsule so thick the consumer will not be able to taste or smell the rancid fish oil flavour and market it...

So starts a 20+ year human experiment. You can look up the results yourself but it turns out stale fish oil does not deliver the same health benefits as a Japanese, living in Japan, eating a Japanese diet.

Haha yes!!! One of my all time favorites!

So, I was wondering... is this the song?

Hi Nads,

Thsnks for the kind words. Like joy2world says 2020 has been such a shit show - it's nice to be able to share a little bit of happiness!

Best Wishes

James

Hi One and all - there seems to be alot of interesting developments- but nothing which seems to wipe out the virus outright.

heres a few links to a few youtube channels that cover alot of areas herbal / supplemental as well as things like ivermectin and vaccines --

www.youtube.com/c/USMLEOnline/videos

if you scroll through the various videos there a fair ammount of info there - some of which ive personnally have applied and found most useful!

www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2020.588508/full

personally im taking vit D3 /Zinc/quercetin/black cumin oil and occasionally ivermectin (not a herbal remedy) as a prophylactic.

Dr James recommended Indometacin in another post here-- which ive found to be good as well.

there is more info coming in from many places - and hopefully we ll get on top of this virus

ivermectin is being used alot in south america /india and other places alot of feed back is very promising both as preventative and treatment. I also think big pharma is probably thrwarting alot of things intentionally thus preventing any low cost solutions that might be a potential threat to their financial/profit making activities and agendas !! rem de sever being just one example - and we all know about the exhorbitan prices for hep c treatment when the drugs first came out GiLL EE add for example..

stay safe and well
everyone

Bob in ireland

Hi everyone its been a long long time since I have been here but still keeping an eye on everyone. Joy2world what wonderful news! You must be feeling so good at the moment despite all the other crap going on. It is such a joy to know this programme continues to help people get well.

As I have said before and will carrying on saying Dr James you are a star!!!! Thank you.

Joy2world lets hope other things will improve in all our lives and allow you to enjoy the full extent of recovery.

Take care of yourselves everyone.
much love and hugs (oh those illusive hugs!!!)
Nads

Thank you all so much. I can’t even begin to describe how thankful I am for all of you. Without you, I would have fallen into a very dark place.

A year ago today I found out for certain that I was carrying around Hep C for over a decade with my very first RNA test results. One full year from start to finish, and it’s been one hell of a rollercoaster ride. From my treatment beginning and ending right at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and not knowing for sure if treatment was working, as I was not allowed to have labs done during treatment due to Covid. To not clearing at a week after EOT, to not clearing 12 weeks after EOT, to finally clearing 24 weeks after EOT. Whew! What a wild ride it’s been!

2020 has been a shit show for so many, but I will always remember it as the year that I took the step to get my life back on track. I’ll forever be grateful to you wonderful people for always offering kind words of encouragement and wisdom!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! May you all have a blessed holiday season!

Hi Sven,

Thanks for the reassuring words from somebody who has walked in those shoes!

Best Regards

James

I knew you had this! Like the rest of us whom have been cured, PLEASE enjoy your new long life......you’ve earned it.
May your God walk with you always.
Sven

Hi Joy2world,

It's taken a while but very glad to hear you've made it!

Congratulations joy2world,

Now, it's just got to be time for a happy dance



Best wishes

James

Congratulations joy2world!! As you and Coral said, this news gives a lot of hope to the people who fail their first 12 weeks of treatment, enjoy your Hep C free life