It’s been a long time since I’ve added any posts…I apologize for being gone from this blog for over a year and I am embarrassed. I’ve let the responsibilities of life distract me from helping others for too long. I finally got a comment pleading for help from someone who is concerned that his/her father will not be able to function while on treatment.
Thank you for your question, not only for trusting me to help, but inspiring me to get back into the swing of things.
Let’s Start Here!
First things first…let me assure you that your father does not have to suffer through treatment and does not have to as long as he is willing to put in a little extra effort.
It is so easy to find stories of person after person having a terrible time dealing with the medication. I can tell you from personal experience that not everyone has a bad experience for the drugs. There are things you can do to counteract, even eliminate the debilitating side effects talked about on almost every website.
In Chapters 7-11, I cover a full list of things your father can use to keep from feeling fatigued, nauseated, irritated, sore joints, headaches, itchy, anxious, and/or depressed. There is too much to list in one post, but I will cover the top 5 simple no-cost things he can do before and during treatment.
Don’t Be Fat
In my opinion, the best thing he can do before treatment is make sure he is close to a healthy weight at least three months prior to starting treatment. If I was him and was overweight, I would not attempt treatment…obesity raises the chances of Hep C treatment failure exponentially.
Get the Blood Pumping
The second suggestion I have, is that he needs to begin exercising his body somehow. Easy exercise like the habit of walking or jogging a few miles a day will give you a great natural boost of depression fighting chemicals and hormones. Lift a few weights every day and he will feel even better. Exercise helps pump massive amounts of blood (blood carrying the Hep C killing interferon) into ALL parts of the body where the virus can hide. Unfortunately, being overweight can many times cause certain parts of the body to react with inflammation. When body parts are inflamed, the blood supply is cut off and the Hep C drugs will not penetrate properly. The virus can also become trapped in the inflamed tissue and re-infect you once the treatment is finished.
Take Up Drinking As A Daily Pastime
The third thing I would do is start getting used to drinking a lot of water. That means drinking 12-16 ounces of water every hour for at least 10 hours a day. The treatment can be tough on the kidneys and the brain…constant hydration at this level will eliminate just about all side effects. Your body will be doing a lot of filtering and if you don’t add extra clean water to the system, the body will automatically steal it from your tissues like muscles, joints, organs, and brain. The side effects like severe aches, itching and headaches are all caused because there isn’t enough clean water in the system to process the drugs and filter out the infection. It also helps reduce inflammation.
Knock Yourself Out
The fourth thing he can do is get his sleep. If your father is accustomed to going to bed at 11 and waking up at 6, then going to bed at least one to two hours earlier is going to make a huge difference. Every 15 minutes earlier you go to sleep the more effective the body is at fighting infection…it all has to do with hormones. Sleep keeps the mind in tip top shape.
When In Rome, Eat As The Romans Do
Finally, make a diet change for at least 2-3 months. Switch to a Mediterranean diet or partial vegetarian diet just before starting treatment. Iron intake is tough on the liver. Beef, lamb, and pork supply a lot of hemoglobin based iron into your body which is very easy to absorb. You don’t want this. You want to make it easy for your liver to function as possible. The biggest benefit you’ll find when you’re on this new diet is that you will feel like you have so much more energy. You will discover that fatigue is not much of a problem.
As stated earlier, I go into more detail in my book which also covers several nutritional supplements and herbal supplements you can use to keep you body in balance. This is the real key and your goal when doing treatment – Balance. You have to realize that these drugs do help you fight the infection, but they are such high dosages that your body “freaks out” trying desperately to regain its balance.
Clean Your Filters
Think of your body like a car, but one that can automatically diagnose and fix itself. Before you start treatment, you need to make sure all the pumps work properly (heart and glands), all your filtering systems are clean (liver, kidneys, pancreas, lungs and lymph nodes), and that you are putting enough of the right kind of lubricants (water and nutrients) and fuel (proteins and sugars) into the engine.
Successful treatment is directly related to keeping a healthy and balanced lifestyle even if you only do it for a year to year and a few months. So to finally answer the original question from our recent commenter, yes, your father will be fine and have a successful and bearable treatment if he is willing to make some easy temporary life changes. If you have more questions…I will make an effort to be here so keep em’ coming.
