Hepatitis – A Modern Day Epidemic

Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver and this can be caused by several factors such as- •    Excess fat building up in the liver from being overweight or diabetic •    Excess alcohol •    Overload with toxic chemicals from the environment •    Overload from prescription drugs or pain killers •    Viral infections There are hundreds of millions of people living with the hepatitis B and C viruses in their body and trying to exist with a reasonable quality of life. They often have debilitating symptoms that could be helped using nutritional medicine. Anti-viral drugs can bring an eradication of the hepatitis B and C viruses; however the success rate of this depends upon many factors and for many people results in failure and a host of nasty side effects. Even if an eradication of the virus can be achieved with anti-viral drugs, the virus can hide in the body to attack its host another day when their immune system is weakened. Eradication of the virus is called “a sustained viral response” to treatment, which means that the virus can no longer be detected in the blood; however the virus could still be hiding in other parts of the body such as the liver, cerebrospinal fluid or lymphatic system. We are dealing with stealth viruses that are hardy and clever at evading the body’s immune system. So our response must be to become clever and hardy ourselves so that we can win out over these viruses and prevent them from ruining our liver structure and function.

Why do we need nutritional medicine to fight Hepatitis?

1.     More than 50% of all patients infected with the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) do not get good long term results from standard treatment which consists of interferon with anti-viral drugs. Although we now have a genetic test to see if your chances of cure will be higher than this, we still cannot guarantee a long term cure. Treatment with these drugs generally lasts only 48 weeks; so you must ask yourself, what are you going to do after this time? 2.     The HCV can hide in various parts of the body, such as the liver, even when you cannot detect the virus in the bloodstream; thus a blood test will show the viral load is zero, which may give you a sense of false cure. If the HCV reappears in the bloodstream after “anti-viral drug cure” then nutritional medicine is essential for a good outcome. According to two recent Spanish studies the HCV can remain in the liver even when a patient has an undetectable viral level in their bloodstream. In one of these studies reported in The Journal of Infectious Diseases July 2006, liver biopsies and blood specimens were taken from 12 patients who had HCV antibodies but had been negative for the HCV RNA (undetectable viral load) for 12 months. Despite their negative blood tests the HCV was found to be present in the liver in 10 of these patients. The other study reported in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases in November 2006, looked at 20 patients who tested negative for the HCV in their blood after interferon/ribavirin treatment. In 19 of these 20 patients, the HCV was still present in the liver tissue, as determined from a liver biopsy in these 20 patients. Thus you can see that even in the vast majority of “successfully drug treated patients” the HCV survives in the liver cells and waits for another time to attack you, especially when you let your immune system become weak and run down. 3.     The HCV and the HBV can become resistant to the anti-viral drugs which then become useless. 4.     Research into vaccines against the HCV is still in its early stages and more funding is needed. According to the experts an effective preventative vaccine against the HCV is not likely to become available until around the year 2018. 5.     Fatigue is a common symptom of infection with the HCV and the HBV. The liver provides the body with energy and if it is damaged, the liver cannot store glucose or make proteins effectively – thus the muscles become weak. Treatment with anti-viral drugs causes worsening of the fatigue, depression and insomnia. This is where nutritional medicine can really make a huge difference. 6.     Thyroid problems often co-exist with HCV infection and nutritional medicine can support thyroid function. The most important nutrients to support healthy thyroid tissue and thyroid function are selenium, zinc, iodine and vitamin D. Appropriate doses of these nutrients are found in Thyroid Health Capsules. Anti-viral drugs can induce thyroid disease, which then needs long term treatment in itself. 7.     Infection with the HCV and/or the HBV is a chronic disease that must be managed with nutritional medicine for life; otherwise it can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer. There is a shortage of liver donors for liver transplants. 8.     Excess weight often results in fatty liver, which greatly reduces liver function and immune health. Fatty liver can co-exist with HCV and HBV infection and will worsen the liver damage caused by these viruses. Indeed if you have a very fatty liver, the unhealthy fat inside the liver can cause more destructive inflammation than these viruses. Thankfully it is easy to reverse a fatty liver and lose weight with my program – see my book Fatty Liver – You Can Reverse It. The diet is found on page 73 of this book. You can also read the testimonial by Dr. Eanelli who reversed his fatty liver. 9. Diabetes speeds up progression of liver inflammation which increases the risk of cirrhosis. Overweight diabetics or poorly controlled diabetics often have a fatty liver and if they have infection with the HCV as well, they can work wonders by reducing their blood sugar levels and losing weight. This is best done by following a grain free, gluten free and sugar free diet. For in-depth information see my book Diabetes Type 2: You Can Reverse It Naturally. To overcome all of these problems, anti-viral drugs can only play a limited role. To treat the underlying causes we need to turn to the power of nutritional medicine. In many cases it is impossible to eradicate the Hepatitis C or B Viruses from the body and patients find it difficult to tolerate drug side effects. It is therefore not surprising that sufferers are turning towards naturopathic therapies to fight these viruses. Natural therapies will not usually be able to eradicate these viruses from the body; however they will help to reduce viral loads. You can read the testimonial by Tammie who had amazing success with nutritional medicine for hepatitis C. This approach is very successful and can keep these viruses in a dormant or less harmful state so that they do not severely damage liver cells. Although nutritional medicine cannot promise to ‘cure’ HCV or HBV infection, by using my program for viral hepatitis, many people have experienced a great improvement in their liver function and have reduced the risk of associated conditions such as cancer, cirrhosis and liver failure. The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.