TOPIC:

Hi Everyone,

I finished 12 weeks of Hepcvr & ribavarin a week ago. The treatment was for HCV1a and I was undectable at week 2.

Overall the treatment went well, just tired towards the end and a rash that developed in the past 4 weeks (my Dr has reviewed this).

Since finishing treatement I have had a lot of headaches, aches in my liver (never had this before) and just generally feeling a bit rubbish.

I wondered if anyone here could recommend supplements / a particular diet that helps with healing the liver / body / mind post treatment.

Thanks !

hello, Londongirl,

Glad to hear you've finished TX. The worst part is over. As for supplements, MILK THISTLE is a very good supplement for your liver. Just to feel better, Vit. b12 helps to give energy.Of course vit C is always good. . Also take about thirty days of Echinacea. This helps clean and strengthen your immune system. Hope this helps and good luck.

happi

Hi Happi,thanks for your advice on the supplements. I'll give them a try!

Thanks

Hi London_R,

Ribavirin has a halflife of about 12 days so it takes a while to get out of your system. Both times I've treated with it I found that sides took several weeks to drop to reasonably low levels.

I would be a little wary about echinacea so soon after finishing treatment due to its potential effects on your recovering liver.

"Use cautiously in people who have or are at risk of liver disorders or are taking a large amount of echinacea. Echinacea may cause liver damage."

www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/ech.../safety/hrb-20059246


For diet I would suggest a balanced heart smart type diet with plenty of fresh vegetable and fruit and limited 'processed' foods is a good way to go if you can manage it.

This is what happened to me. I am not saying it will happen to you but am sharing information.
I had HCV for all my adult life. Whenever I had my cholesterol checked it was nice and low, in the low end of the healthy range.
I started 3 months of Harvoni in March 2016 and back then my total cholesterol was 4.2.
A few weeks ago it was over 6.
I have posted about this elsewhere and Dr James suggested this is a healthy liver doing its thing (making cholesterol)
I have modified my nutrition and for then next 3 months will cut out red meat and trans fats and processed food in an attempt to get it to more acceptable levels. I started this 2 weeks ago and the upside is I have lost a couple of kilos

Hi Beaches and everyone,

Perhaps it is useful to look at this in context? A score of 4.2 is fine but 6.0 isn't all that bad either. In the UK the point at which NHS guidelines advise treatment is 5.9 and that is a bit arbitrary anyway. But this test is approximate and only measures total blood cholesterol levels, that is both HDL's and LDL's. To understand more you have to do a fasting overnight test which will give a figure that is different and far more useful as a guide for prescribing. It is the ratio of HDL's to LDL's*.

Having said that, this whole matter is mired in controversy. There is a shortage of direct evidence linking stroke and heart disease with cholesterol levels. Nearly everyone in the field does, however, accept that lower levels are preferable but it is good to understand that pharmaceutical companies have a VERY direct motive in promoting statins (drugs for lowering blood cholesterol levels) and they supply most of the data......

My view is that you should just eat a decent diet, get some exercise and not worry too much about numbers. I expect that will get me into trouble!

Good on you for losing a few pounds. I keep telling myself that I will but it's difficult in chilly England. Spring will come, or so they tell us.

RSF

*Too complex to be interesting to most of us but if you had nothing to do one evening, you could Google it.

PS It probably isn't wise to be taking food supplements after EOT unless you really know about them. Adverse effects are possible and your liver has just taken a pasting but will recover all on its own. Perhaps it would be good to see a medical herbalist or a nutritionist? This is a very technical area. R.

Just to clarify, this result was from a fasting test. HDLs and LDLs were not horrible but not great. I'm borderline just ok and not ok.
Enough to galvanise me into action, which is a Good Thing. I know I need to lose weight but this has given me a sense of urgency. Having cleared one significant health issue I'm not keen to be burdened with another any time soon