Liver Safe Vitamins and Supplements with Cirrhosis
Making sure that you get the right vitamins is important with liver disease. But remember, a damaged or inflammed liver cannot handle an overload of vitamins, and the wrong dose can cause more harm than good. I made a list of liver safe vitamins and supplements with cirrhosis and took it to my doctor.
When my liver crashed I was so surprised when told: NO Vitamins. I was totally baffled. Yet, as a whole, we do not get enough vitamins and mineral in our daily diets and people with liver disease can be malnourished.
Our doctor’s like to get to know us a little. I had a death sentence when Hepatitis C destroyed my liver. I was going to take control of my diet and lifestyle.
My doctor didn’t know if I would follow instructions or not. So he just said NO. After I got ascites drained, bleeding varices under control, and the liver calmed down, we talked about vitamins and supplements some more.
Some websites claimed that milk thistle or herbs were the cure for cirrhosis. Not so fast.
I was reading like crazy, fading fast with End Stage Liver Disease, and fighting to get out of bed. I was NOT going to lay there and wait to die. I had to have some control.
So I took the list to my gastroenterologist and transplant doctor. He agreed to the following list that was safe for End Stage Liver Disease.
The List
Liver Safe Vitamins and Supplements with Cirrhosis
Children’s Daily Vitamin
Vitamin K 2 or 3
Vitmin D
Vitamin B complex
Read these tips:
No or low iron may be helpful for a weak liver, Vitamin K3 can help low platelets, Vitamin B complex helps fatigue and brain fog. Read more about B12 here.
If you are Not super sick the above list is still good, and you can add a green powder or capsules to a protein shake and supplement your diet.
Malnutrition and poor absorption are side effects of liver disease and green supplement powder of any brand can help.
The Warning
If you are decompensated with ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, varices, portal hypertension, or kidney renal failure play it safe and talk to a doctor.
READ the label and watch for any “proprietary blends”. A proprietary blend is a manufacturer’s blend of herbs, amino acids, vitamins, or whatever.
Talk it over with your doctor. Let them know you are willing to do what they say. If you do not agree with your doctor, find a new one.
By taking a multi-vitamin, you can get the vitamins you need. Most of the iron you need is in your daily diet since cereals and breads are fortified.
Please do not ignore the importance of what the Liver Safe Vitamins and Supplements with Cirrhosis are. All my love and my best wishes to you in your nutritional health, Karen 🙂
Check out my youtube channel to find out how I’m doing now.
For a pretty darn good list of all things liver loving check this page out here.
pics via dailymail,
45 thoughts on “Liver Safe Vitamins and Supplements with Cirrhosis”
You are so strong my friend. Thank you for sharing your journey
I always think the same thing about you. I’m in Sedona now with my cuz and she is a nutritional ninja just like we are. She also makes that avocado cacao recipe. I keep wondering if you tried it. She said it tastes like chocolate mouse. Keep up the good work in staying sensational and strong!
xo K
I have done some research on Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) and the good they do for the liver.
I found an article that explains and thought it might help someone. Every morning I have a drink with protein powder that contains BCAA’s
I used to add milk to it, now I am using almond milk, adding frozen strawberries and sometimes even Kale, apples, spinach, almonds.
It is pretty good most days 🙂
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/136/1/295S.full
Dee Ernst recently posted…Coming Home After My Liver Transplant
What is the recipe for the avocado cacao? My husband and I are trying to eat health and it is really hard. He is a heart patient with asthma, high blood pressure and thyroid issues. I have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sugar issues and allergy issues that include bouts with bronchitis & asthma.
Hello! This is Dee, helping Karen while she recovers from her liver transplant. I found this site that gave an avocado cacao mouse. It sounds pretty good. I found another place with 10 recipes but it wanted me to set up an account. I figured you would not want to deal with it. So…here is one that looks really good. I so am glad you asked this question. I must have over looked this information. Thank you for bringing it to my attention 🙂 Dee
http://www.thekitchn.com/sweet-easy-raw-recipe-avocado-146032
I lean so much about cirrhosis liver from your blog .
I have cirrhosis liver stage 4 just finish treatment from heppetitis C
Thank you so much with appreciate
Atchara
Atchara,
I am glad that you have been able to find some information that helps you! Stage 4 is tricky, but we can live a long life with good food and medication. All my best heart to your in your journey to health!
Thank you so much and love to you also
xo Karen:)
they say a man who can lift 150 kilos is strong. he may well be but you are stronger.with best wishes from the land down under.
Haha! You just won my first big smile of the day award! Love that visual sweet friend. I’m getting ready for my shake and workout now. Protein shake that is. lol.
Many many thanks and have a good day Mate,
xo Karen:)
Products like this is great since most of the food or supplements that we take is filtered by the liver.
Hi found ur blog. Thank-you I have 4 stage liver Hepatitis. I have had Hep c for approx. 25 years. my HCV/RNA count was
21100000. Alpha-Fetoprotein 32.2 norm is 0.5-8.0 as I am sure you no. I have a 1″ tumor or cyst in my liver. No Mass. Also have SLE Lupus.
The doctor told me could be cancer later if not now.can’t do a biopsy now. to much infection. I take DoTerra essential oils I don’t think I would be alive with out them. several people I now take them world wide. whenmy lymph glands swell I put lemon grass and lavender on them and within 15 to 20 min. the gland is down. I am debating on starting the Harvon treatment?. should arrive at my door within 2 wks.
I’m glad you found the Best Friend’s site. You’ve got a lot going on, which is typical of ESLD but dang girl – the tumor is scary. I’m glad the doctor is watching it. Are they thinking about ablation to get rid or just watching it? Where is your infection going on? I’m nosey. But I have a tumor now also. We can “watch” them together. haha.
I use essential oils also. My sis gave me Young Living brand or something like that. I only have a couple of bottles, but love them! I love lemongrass for a lot of reasons and lavendar also. I’m using a couple of combinations like “Peace” and also “Calm” that I really like. They’re safe!
When I first started reading I thought you were going to use only oils to get rid of HCV. Some people do that. I’m happy to see that you are taking the treatment. Drugs are never the best option, but they work! The new ones are milder than what I took. Get rid of the virus. That will take a HUGE load off of your liver. You can begin to heal.
All my best to you and thanks for stopping by! xoxo Karen:)
Hi I don’t no what ablation is? I have the infection in my liver and Spleen. The cyst or tumor is also in my liver. they will not do anything until my treatment is over. Then we will preside with treatment for my Lupus etc. So glad you got back to me. nice to have someone to talk with.
xoxoxo Kelly
Kelly,
I’m glad we met too. Ablation is when they go into the tumor with a needle. Then they use radiofrequency to destroy it! I have not had it done. It is for smaller tumors. I’m glad they’re waiting til after treatment. Once you are rid of the virus, you can take care of your liver. It will not have any more inflammation!! Yay!
Anytime you need to talk, hit me up. OK? xoxo Karen:)
While taking liver supplements is commendable, one must also adjust lifestyle choices to make results permanent. I have a friend that drink and smoke on a regular basis and yet he takes vitamins or liver supplements on a daily basis. Better to consume less toxic substances than to seek the supplements to flush them out.
Hello, your thoughts are very true. If one doesn’t eat healthy then they can’t expect vitamins to help them. Here is a link for more information on the diet that may help. Drinking water is very important. That is all I drink now in an effort to help my liver work better. Good luck 🙂 Dee
https://www.ihelpc.com/liver-loving-recipes/
Hello
Just find your blog, searching for vitamin complex for my Mum with cirrhosis. I look this green vibrance and saw some reviews about too high amount of arsenic. What can you say about it? If it’s true it is very bad for liver, and i afraid about cancer…
Hi is “Green Vibrance” the name of supplement? I don’t know, I have never heard of it. I will check it out. Karen would not recommend anything that would harm the liver or body, she has been through it all. Dee
Does anyone know if Glucosamine /Chondroitin supplements are safe to take if you have Cirrhosis of the liver?
Hi there, I wasn’t sure of the answer so I went looking, hunting pecking so to speak 🙂 I found an article from NIH that I thought might help you. I also found a study was done for this purpose and 15% of the people showed temporary increase in the liver enzymes. This is a good question. I am sure it will help others. Thank you so much for asking, Dee
http://livertox.nih.gov/Glucosamine.htm
Thank you for your research on the effects of Glucosamine / chondroitin. Have a blessed day!
Hey you are very welcome! I hope you have a wonderful day as well
What about n-a-cystiene,every study i have read is positive it is an essential precurser of glutathi
To continue,glutathione also, i would be interested in your thoughts on circuman
I know I have read that you have to take the precursor to glutathione, not glutathione, something about it not absorbing well and the body can make its own with help from the NAC and some other supplements, I will look it up. I have read that curcurmin is very good for inflammation.
Taking NAC with folic acid will increase your body’s level of glutathione dramatically. NAC can cause kidney stones if you don’t supplement with vitamin C. Don’t forget to drink plenty of fluids to help reduce the strain on your liver.
Really good information!! I take vitamin C as I take other vitamins that need the C to work along with it.
Thank you for taking the time to share! Dee
Curcurmin is also a blood thinner, so if you have varicies, you should consult your doctor before using. I am on my second week of Harvoni treatment, and I take:
Natural vit. E with selenium 800 mg.
600 mg NAC
1 gram vit. C
1 talbespoon of lecithin as a fat emulsifier (for years now, to fight fatty liver).
B complex, plus 400 mcg. extra folic acid
And drink plenty of V8 juice and water. I occasionally throw in an alpha lipoic acid to help protect the mitochondria. But everyone’s regimen should take into account their particular medical circumstances. My only side effects have been exhaustion and difficulty sleeping (I lie in bed for hours but can’t sleep). My doctor advised the vitamin E and folic acid, but did not discourage other supplements. But she was unfamiliar with NAC and other things I brought up. But I have done a lot of studying online on the subject. Be careful, there can be too much of a good thing.
Hi there, again, thanks for sharing, when I treated I was told to take nothing with the treatment. Back than Incivek was so new they did not know how it would react and it was a horrible medication along with interferon and ribavirin but it did work. Harvoni hasn’t been out very long either, a year? maybe less?
I guess a daily vitamin without iron was ok but I could barely keep food down so did not add any supplements that might interfere with treatment.
I appreciate you sharing and I have heard of all of these supplements but only after treatment.
There is a group called MedHelp, you could write there to get a general consensus on supplements with treatment. I am only one person helping another person out. There are hundreds of people treating there
I wish you only the best
Dee
B vitamins, vitamin D3 and iodine/kelp are supplements to consider. Obviously, be extra careful with the dosages as people with liver disease or cirrhosis can overdose much easier than healthy people. Try to get most nutrients from food. Some green drinks have added vitamins and minerals, so be careful. Try to get tested for deficiencies before taking certain vitamins and minerals, so you don’t take things you don’t need. Taking excess vitamins and minerals is bad for the liver. Vitamin D tests, zinc tests, etc. Don’t eat grapefruit, seville oranges, and limes which apparently can cause less detoxification of nutrients or drugs. These fruits can cause elevated levels of things causing overdose. I don’t use sublingual B-12. Capsules of B-12 work good for me.
Hello there! Thanks so much for sharing this information. It is always better to get our nutrition from whole foods but sometimes that is not possible for some so Karen is sharing what she knows. I take sublingual B12 because I have read that as we age it is harder for us to absorb. I have to say the B12 shots over several months helped me with leg pain quite a bit. Thanks again! Please keep sharing 🙂
My liver cronic sirosis my hcv RNA 500000.five lakh emld 15.so my solusion
I hope you will be able to get the treatment for this very soon. Eat good food with plant protein. Drink a lot of water. No salt in your cooking. Please stay strong until you can get the medicine for HCV virus.
No matter how high the number is, you can kill the virus. Mine was millions also. You are going to be ok when you get treatment.
xo Karen:)
My girlfriend’s numbers were 7,500,000 when she started treatment. She is hep c free now. And she had had a drinking problem. Now she doesn’t drink. Try to find something useful to do with your life. Helping others is the best way to help yourself.
Hey there! This is great news! You are so right, the best way to help yourself is to help others. It brings me a lot of joy to help others.
Thanks again
I forgot to say Congratulations to your girlfriend and what a great guy you are to help her, stand by her during treatment. It was awful when I did it, I had a great guy too. I would have starved without him
Just a little extra thank you for caring so much.
Dee
Dee Ernst recently posted…Feelings About Dying with Hepatitis C and Cancer [1 Video]
My sister have 3rd stage liver cirrhosis and im trying to get as much information as i could to fight the desease
Hello!! Karen has written a lot of invaluable information on this blog. So much so that even I have not read them all yet. I am Dee, a friend of Karen’s. I have been helping her since April. The first thing your sister could do is to drink water, lots of water to help her liver flush the toxins from her body. Do you know how she got to this stage? What ever is attacking her liver needs to be taken care of, if alcohol, she needs to quit, or if Hepatitis she needs to know which one. Could she have fatty liver? I have the same thing and have cut out all fried foods, processed foods including lunch meats. I only eat chicken or fish, no red meat or pork. I did have some ham as Christmas because I had no choice. It was served, I ate a small bit so I would not be rude and I didn’t want to call attention to myself.
Do you know what has caused this? You are such a good sister to try to find information to help your sister. Please ask any questions you may have. I know of other sites where there are kind caring people who could help you as well. If you are interested, please let me know or ask anything you like of me, if I don’t have the answer I will find it. We are all in this together 🙂 Warmest regards, Dee
You are such a sweet sister to help like that. My own baby sis brought me healthy food when I was diagnosed. She still cooks for me and made yummy hot rolls for Thanksgiving with no salt. You can be a great encouragement to her. Thank you, Karen xoxo
I have non alcoholic liver disease…what supplements can I take.. My doctor just wants to give tons of Lasix pills, vitamin e capsules..I want to take less medication not more…
I hear you.. It’s hard to take all those pills when you know that it’s not always good for your liver. The lasix will help remove water. If you get your sodium intake under control, you may be able to drop some of those slowly over time. That is with a doctor’s approval. Be patient. Healing takes time and it sounds like your doctor is offering you vitamins that are helpful! Take him the list of what you would like to take. Or call the nurse and tell her that you would like to take a multi vitamin. Many doctors say medication only, so if your doctor will work with you – that’s great.
If you feel like your doctor is not listening, ask more questions or get a second opinion.
xo Karen
I hope that you are doing well.Just wanted to shout out what a God given blessing your blogs have been to me.Thank you for your help during my time of despair.God Bless.
Thank you! How nice of you to say! Please let Karen and I know if you have any questions. We will try to answer or find one. Dee
I am trying to help my brother that has cirrhosis, congestive heart failure & type II diabetes. I’ve tried to find what essential oils and how to take them would be best for him. Have you had any experience with frankincense? What are the best supplements, vitamins or things that have worked for others?
You really can’t beat a good multi vitamin that has a low dose of iron and low dose of B12. It’s hard to get a good diet with liver disease because your body doesn’t do a good job of metabolizing the food. Herb supplements are off limits with most doctors because there is no quality control. Some doctors will advise you to use a multi vitamin though!
I’ve got some frankincense and other oils too. I have not really studied about any effects they have on the body for healing. I most use them for aromatic healing rather than put them on the skin.
The Joy and Calm ones seem to help me relax and I do put them on my wrist. I keep it by my desk and near my bedside. All my best to your family and I hope your brother gets stronger every day!
Bless you for researching for him. xoxo Karen
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