Safe Hepatitis C Vitamins and Supplements

Safe Hepatitis C Vitamins and Supplements – I’ve always been a vitamin taker. I used them as a way to boost my body while it battled the hep c virus for 20 years. The day I left the hospital after I crashed and discovered I had Hepatitis C, there were many instructions given. I was so surprised to hear that NO Vitamins was on the top of the list. Weren’t they good for you? I was totally baffled. I knew that there were limits to what dosages were safe. I understood that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) was outdated. Of course supplements are considered homeopathy and don’t have regulation.

I’ve taken good quality herbs that helped me a lot. But sometimes I wondered if it was mixed with weeds from Bubba Don’s Herb and Supplement Farm…. Really. Once again I was back to researching and trying to get the truth about the subject as it related to liver disease. My doctor was not taking any chances at my stage of decompensation. We slowly talked about Safe Hepatitis C vitamins and supplements. I met with a nutritionist. I discovered the gravity of his edict. For the first time, what I consumed became a life or death matter.

My research on the wide wide web was a little scattered. Okay, now is the time to say to my hep c best friends that I’m a little scattered all the time. I’ll start researching one thing and end up going down that proverbial rabbit trail. So this legal pad of mine had pages of vitamin and nutritional information regarding to all things hep c and liver disease. What I found, as I’m sure you have discovered, is that the way a body tolerates and uses vitamins and supplements greatly vary. In addition, the method of harvesting, manufacturing, and packaging can affect the strength and purity. So my doctor said NO to everything. He was thinking of Bubba Don’s Farm too. Meanwhile I’m 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 made my list of what vitamins and supplements I felt were absolutely necessary for liver health and function. I dug deep in research and then I cross referenced. That death sentence was like getting on a roller coaster that had steep drops, neck breaking curves, and no restraining bar. I grabbed at everything. I took the list to my gastroenterologist.  He was not impressed, telling me that I could take a low iron children’s multi-vitamin and a Milk Thistle brand that he approved of. I could take vitamin K 2 or 3 times a week when bruising was extreme.

I’m going to refer you to my personal bio at this time. I was at the far extreme of liver disease. The advice I was given, and the vitamins and supplements that I took were for acute liver failure. Please discuss your liver disease and your nutritional needs with a doctor before, during, and after treatment.

Let me add that I am careful where I shop. There is a medium sized chain of stores with staff that are well educated regarding anatomy and physiology. I suggest you look carefully before you begin supplementation.

Now to the list that I started on safely while decompensated – BEFORE  treatment:

½ Children’s Vitamin daily, Milk Thistle daily, B Complex 3 times a week, and Vitamin K 3 times a week.

After 9 months of staying on medications and getting my Meld Score down, I was referred to the Transplant Hospital. Upon learning that the FDA were going to release the protease inhibitor, I began taking the B Complex daily. I had to take it early or it interrupted my sleep. B12 became my best friend for fatigue.

While ON treatment:

Multi Vitamin without iron, Vitamin D3, Green supplement, Sublingual B 12

My transplant Doc advised me to drop the Milk Thistle while on treatment. It seems the lab results he would be looking at could be skewed by the herb. Knowing that the treatment itself is known to decrease bone density, I inquired about a D supplement. He gave me the go ahead and I added 2,000 mg. of Vitamin D daily to my current vitamins for the duration of triple therapy. I read later about a study that cited increased sustained viral response (SVR) to interferon treatment with Vitamin D. Some studies show a correlation between reducing liver fibrosis and Vitamin D. Read my article on hepcsupport for more on Vitamin D.

About this time, my best friend found an iron free multi vitamin. It is a rare thing!! It’s made by Bluebonnet and my Doc approved. By taking a multi-vitamin, I was confident that my body was getting a full dose of RDA of all the vitamins I felt were necessary. I eat enough cereals, grains, greens, raisins, and other food to get my needed iron in my diet. For that reason, I love the multiple. There’s not a lot to remember or purchase AND you know you’re getting what you need without overdosing. A decompensated liver cannot handle too many vitamins. It can actually cause more harm than good.

I also use a green supplement powder. I’m into living, and living to the fullest. Malnutrition and absorption are side effects of liver disease. Personally, it gives me energy and the brand I use was Doc approved. It has a lot of green vegetables that I don’t always get every day. It’s full of plant based phytonutrients such as isoflavones, flavonoids, and carotenoids to help the immune system, which is weakened even further by treatment. Grasses, enzymes, probiotics – I’m sounding like a commercial. Haha! I’m convinced that this is what helped take me from a Meld score of 16 to a 6. It aids in heart and digestive health. Cholorphylls help to prevent cancer, another thing liver disease is a precursor for. They are nutrient dense superfoods that help the body process vitamins and protect the liver.

A caution about greens or any other powder mixes and superfoods: READ the label carefully and watch for any “proprietary blends” that they contain. A proprietary blend is a manufacturer’s own special blend of herbs, amino acids, vitamins, or whatever. They do not always publish what is contained in them. I want to see everything it contains.

I expected to feel low on energy while on treatment. The truth is that I had been low on energy for years as my liver silently became more inflamed and fibrous. I knew that good nutrition was vital for me to get out of bed. Once my liver decompensated, the bed was my friend, and still is. We all know that too much inactivity is not helping us get better physically or mentally. From that point forward, I became very judicious in choosing what went past these lips. Every vitamin and supplement bottle has been to the transplant hospital with me and gotten full approval.

Post Treatment:

Multi Vitamin without iron, protein shake, Green Supplement.

I’m down to a protein shake and my multi-vitamin again. I drink greens a few times a week when eating well is not easy. It’s a minimal that I feed myself daily. My weight is up almost 20 pounds since my original hospitalization. For those of us who are trying to keep weight and muscle mass while dealing with hep c and it’s aftermath, it’s tough. Everything that we consume has the potential to help our body remain strong and our liver to regenerate. It also has the ability to overtax our liver and supporting organs. I’ve found my happy place where vitamins and supplements are concerned. I sure hope you do too.

This little post contains about 2 years worth of personal research on safe Hepatitis C vitamins and supplements. You can talk it over with your Doc and see if it’s the right thing for you. Please do not ignore the importance of safe Hepatitis C vitamins and supplements. They are a vital link to your wellness.

My best to you in your nutritional health, Karen 🙂

What vitamins do you think help you the most?

P.S. Check out my protein link regarding liver health.