Thx Dr F, much interesting reading.

Re 1st link I notice the patient appears to have continued to take Magnesium during tx. After looking at the whole picture when diagnosed with a holistic view to all my personal symptoms, I started on : Alpha Lipoic Acid (as mentioned before in another post), Magnesium, Vit D & Vit B12 (the latter 2 also discussed in another post).

I applied my thinking with a chart of symptoms and which suppliments were recommended after much reading. Then deleted the ones which were not recommended for liver desease. Magnesium came up in all my symptoms so I started on a course of quality Mag . Symptoms eased considerably. (I am aware that it needs to be a certain type of Magnesium which the name of which I forget at this moment in time) .

I told my (then ) liver consultant, (who is one if the top leading Professors of liver desease in the world) about the Mag & he said ‘I doubt very much the Magnesium is making any difference’ . I am convinced it did, especially for joint pain but does it help with the HepC ? and would it be ok to take while on treatment if I feel necessary?

The article is quite technical for my brain-fog & recollecting names. A simple synopsis would be great!
Have stopped taking Mag currently,
Also, is this person saying a low carb diet definitely helps and would that apply to all or just some?
I also notice much reference to fatty liver etc – which I personally don’t have. I had to up my carb intake, as proteins / ‘good’ fat just weren’t cutting it, weight wise.

I guess the ‘one size does not fit all’ thing appears again? but there are staples that there is evidence of benefits, The question is, ‘Is it your opinion that Magnesium can help’ ? I would think re metabolism, the majority of HepC patients are in the ‘trying to avoid fatty liver’ side of things, most literature is aimed at this, but we have a few ‘skinnies’ on here with the opposite and ss you know my Triglycerides are way too low.
Sorry for long post, but I find this most interesting

(edit) I’ll come back in 6 months after I’ve read the rest

CC2B -Thx for that. I eat a similar diet to you, but since re-introducing more carbs I’ve gained much needed weight.
However, it is in the way of wholemeal bread & pasta, organic potatoes & with lots of veggies.
It’s cold outside !

Going to tackle the next bit of reading now, wish me luck

Just got my Vit B12 result and it is 398 ng/l. The normal range starts from >182. I will possibly stick to my plans and take B complex twice a week.
Still waiting for the Vit D result.

Hi all,

While I agree that a good diet should supply sufficient vitamins for most people, we need to keep in mind that most of us have had chronic HCV for long periods and our diets and digestive processes may have been impacted by that. Having had bloods taken recently to test my B12 & D levels I went looking for information on what was optimum for B12 (Dr James had already provided the link that suggests Vit D levels greater than 30 ng/mL (75 nmol/L) during treatment). Anyway, I found this link, which seems a fairly reputable source for what are good levels of B12. So it seems 200-900 pg/mL is considered normal range. But interesting to read: “Older adults with vitamin B12 levels between 200 and 500 pg/mL may also have symptoms” of deficiency. I’ll leave it up to each of you to decide whether you qualify as old.

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003705.htm

Once I get test results back I will be supplementing if my results are below 30 ng/mL for vit D and 500 pg/mL for B12. At least until end of treatment. YMMV.

Just came back from getting my test results with B12 at 582 pmol/L so that looks reasonable given I only started supplementing at low levels about three weeks ago so will boost that a little till end of Tx at least.

OTOH vitamin D was only 32 nmol/L (13 ng/mL) so far too low despite what should be an adequate diet and sunlight.
My GP has recommended a high initial daily supplement to get me back in range then tapering off over time.

Also got LFT some of which can be seen in my sig. At the very top of the normal range so not as good as some on here but the overall summary for all results has changed from “consistent with active” to “consistent with mild” hepatocellular damage. Can’t complain too much considering the lump of old boot leather I started the Tx with.

Hello hope it goes well for you Magpie. I am confused what to eat – I have some chicken thighs (nice lean chicken) and was going to add turmeric, cumin, paprika, …I am adhering to a ‘prevent gastric reflux’ diet which has quite a list of foods to avoid, eg tea coffee tomatoes, broccoli [cabbage family] onion family, chocolate, [of course alcohol] citrus fruits, and more. I though sweet potato / orange yam was fine and spinach, that probably means the ones you cook that has oxalic acid in it.
I am pretty keen to settle my issue naturally and avoid taking Somac a PPI, and sleep semi upright with a comfy pillow arm chair style arrangment. So far since implementing these strategies plus try to stay calm it has worked.
It would be good to know what other choose to eat to maximise the meds kicking the HCV out of the body. Cheers Anne

Thanks Gaj!
My tests came 10 days ago. It shows for vit B12 204 pg/mL (190-980) and vit D 34.2 ng/ml (30-100). Low but in normal range.
I started to take B12 and D vitamins in the second half of the tx.
Hoping to be finally on the row with the others UND before ending the tx.

Your ALT/AST dropped every time you tested. Good sign! You are half tx, right?
I wish you all the best and only UND!