Hi Scott.

 Congratulations on the 1 year not drinking. I can identify. I drank alcoholically for 37 years then quit 1-2014 after being admitted to the hospital to get the ascites fluid drained out of my abdomen and was told I had cirrhosis and would die if I didn't quit. Since then I have made it my top priority to take care of my body. I eat only low sodium foods and don't even own a salt shaker. In case you missed it we have a section on the forum that has diet information here:

Hep C and Nutrition

 Do you have the results for any recent blood work ordered by your liver doctor?

As Tig said, you should get seen by a doctor before your VA appt. if your hurting bad. If ascites fluid is the cause then waiting could be very harmful or possibly even fatal. And if it is, take my word for it - getting the fluid drained will be the biggest sense of relief you've ever felt.

I wish I could help with some information on dealing with the VA but I'm no vet and my insurance is Medicare. I hope you get on treatment soon. It's good to see you back on the forum. Keep coming back!

I'm glad to see you back on the forum and I hope you stick around. Please take care of yourself and keep us up to date on what's going on with you.

Thanks for the response.  I am feeling much better now after a few bananas and greens.  Yes the stomach was sticking way out.  But in my family, that isn't uncommon anyway.  But it did seem much larger than normal. 

I'll check out the link.  Looks like I will have to start eating healthier.  I love to cook when I have the energy.  Lately I haven't.   I need to research a healthy liver diet.  Maybe the VA can help me out with that.  

FYI, this is how they explained it:   I was in there in June and the VA was out of money.  They have a new program called Choice plus where they took something like 10B from the VA budget and put it aside for people that have had hard times getting seen.  This took out of the VA budget and left them with 700M for treating Hep C patients.  So they ran out in June.  I said, well send me to choice plus.  They said, we can but you will have to find a doctor that will be willing to treat you with Harvoni.  I am apparently allergic to Ribov. So any combo with that is out based on all my mouth sores I got.  They said Harvoni was only approved for type 1.  I have type 2a.  They said, at the VA, we will treat you with Harvoni or the new one coming out soon.  We are just out of money.  So I decided to wait until Nov.  They should have fresh money then and hopefully I can get in.  Otherwise, I am definitely going to attempt the choice plan or just ditch the VA all together and go through my personal insurance.  They did tell me that going through my personal insurance that the ins provider will only pay for something that has been approved so now I am back to the combo with Rib.  Maybe since June, Harvoni has been approved for other types.  Sifting through all the stuff online is a pain.

I think, how can they know my body can't handle the Rib.  Last 2 times, I was taking interferon and my white blood cell count was so low I had to take nupegon ((Spelling?))  I figure that is why I got the bad mouth sores.  I couldn't even talk.  The doctor said they were some of the worst he has ever seen.   Anyway, I'll keep you posted.  There is a lot of good information on here and I think I will be on it more often now.  Here is a link describing some of what I said but a little better than I put it.  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/21/va-outsource-care-vets-hepatitis/29059755/

Hey Scott,

I'm glad you checked in, I remember speaking with you last year. I'm sorry you're feeling so lousy. If you're experiencing some ascites, it can definitely make you feel some of the symptoms you're describing. I'm going to put a link at the bottom that will help explain it better, but I'm sure you've done some looking already. Ascites causes fluid buildup around the abdomen and will cause the bloating you speak of. If it can't be controlled with medication, like diuretics and diet, etc., they can draw fluid from the abdomen (paracentesis) which can provide instant relief. Your doctor will be able to determine that in a number of ways. May I ask if your belly is distended? If there is a lot of fluid build up, the abdomen can get quite bloated. 

They are starting to provide easier access to many Vets, so I hope you can get treatment started soon. Everything you can do to keep a healthy lifestyle, including diet, limiting sodium and getting the Hep C out of the picture, will improve these problems. Hang in there and if you experience continuing problems, don't hesitate to go in for care before your VA visit. If you're dealing with ascites, you may feel some additional (increasing) discomfort from it and you shouldn't put yourself through that. 

If you want to talk or have any questions I can help you with, don't hesitate to ask.

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000286.htm

 GO NAVY!

Just reading through these.  How do you know if you have ascites?  I have not had the new treatment yet, and I am not on any treatment now. But occasionally my liver acts up and I get nausea for a few days and what I think is bloating.  Then it goes away.  I had a CT scan not too long ago and they said that everything looked normal but it can't prove you don't have cirrhosis.  I have discovered this in my early 20's.  I was a very heavy drinker up to a year ago.

Anyway, this last week, I have been sick in morning and sick at night.  I couldn't eat anything for last few days.  But Saltine crackers went down great.  well, last night I had 2 sleeves of those.  Today, I am so bloated that it hurts to tie my shoes and it was very uncomfortable to take my dog for a walk.    So, eating  all the great tasting salt, wasn't the brightest Idea.  I finally went to the store and picked up some bananas, and some leafy greens with cranberry juice.

it is a little better now. I go through the VA for my HEP.  I have had 2 attempted treatments with interferon which I couldn't finish based on depression  and the last few years they keep running out of money to treat me with the new stuff.  My next appointment is November 5th which is right around the corner.  I will tell them all of this then. 

So, how can you tell if it is just gas and bloating or water retention?  I see some recipes and meals above.  Do you have any good links for eating with Hep C?

Hopefully the VA will have money this time around.  I have decided to seek medical treatment elsewhere if they pass me off again.  I have insurance but I am a vet and have been with the VA docs since day 1.  Just recently they have gotten really bad due to budget cuts.    I do not feel right.  I haven't for a couple years now.  It is so frustrating.  The anxiety I get at night keeps me awake all night.  All those commercials for side-effects for any drug ad get in my head. 

Hi all

Same deal here. I use the FODMAP diet from Monash University. They have an iphone app which really helps with shopping. As long as I'm good all is well.
Sadly, sometimes I am bad. (Oh halloween candy, I love you!)

At first I tried the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD) and had great luck initially, but found I couldn't tolerate honey and was very intolerant of dairy. I've learned that high fructose corn syrup is hidden in so many foods, and will cause me horrible belly pain. Organic foods cannot use this GMO ingredient. 

I also tested positive for SIBO and after trying all kinds of herbal antibiotics with only some relief, finally did the allopathic antibiotic treatment (NOT to be used during Hep C treatment!) which was effective.

I am hoping Hep C treatment will allow my belly to heal and help keep SIBO from returning.

Tummy troubles are truly debilitating! 

~ Rudi

Hey Peter

I'm with you with your approach and follow a similar path.

Being in touch with your body / gut and how, when, what we consume is part of the puzzle of having a good feeling in the old tummy.

matt   

I have issues with food and nausea plus the bloating, too. My daughter-in-law is studying to be a dietician and she introduced me to Bell Plantation's PB2 which is roasted peanuts with the fat squeezed out, then ground. I put some of the powder in a small bowl and dip my ripe banana in it. Heavenly and the lack of fat seems to agree with my 'innards'. I buy it at Fred Meyers.

Thank you for the protonics info as my Dr tells me I must take it. also found Zantec much more effective and there are some potentially serious effects from the Protonics. I don't think I will take them  any more and go back to zantec..

Peanut butter is probably keeping me alive right now, as it is one of the few things that Iknow well instantly  stop my stomach  and the Ulcers.

I also drink pomegranate asI read in many places that they are confident  that it is effective against  Hep C  .. little tart flavor, but it sooths my stomache and it may help

I had gas and bloating for years. There is a lot that can go wrong with guts, especially given how easy it is to eat an unhealthy diet these days. With my naturopath's blessing, I followed a diet called the GAP (gut and psychology) diet for a short while. It's kind of extreme, but people have had great success with it. It mostly worked for me. What it mainly did was to change my outlook on eating. It turned out that the culprit for me was carbs.

I eat a lot more of healthy fats and proteins now and hardly ever get bloated or have my stomach be upset. It seems counter intuitive that a meal heavy in meat and fat would be easy to digest, but for me it's true. Coconut oil, for example, is almost a miracle food for me. From what I read it's medium chain fatty acids are converted almost directly into energy and people claim it helps the immune system. Mono saturated oils (like Olive Oil) also seem to be good. I also cut way back on fruits, as healthy as they are supposed to be. If I eat a lot of fruits I can almost hear them fermenting in my gut. Pastas, cereals, grains, potatos, and of course sugar all were culprits. I also went gluten free.

What I do eat a lot of is real food (not packaged) and strive to eat as organic (no gmos or chemicals) as possible. I eat pastured organic meats, eggs, butter and lots of veggies, raw organic (and sprouted if I can get them) nuts, a glass of fresh squeezed veggie juice a day, and recently I've been trying raw organic cheeses from pasture-fed cows and goats. Living in Oregon helps as there are a lot of local farms and farmer's markets and natural food stores around.

I'm not extreme about it..I still eat some fruit and carbs here and there...but drill back when the bloating starts.

But there are so many things that will affect the gut that what works for one person may not work for another. And people tend to be rather fanatical about food so it's easy to get caught in debates. 

I also believe that antibiotic use is not healthy for the gut. It disturbs the gut flora and more and more we are discovering how important our gut flora is to overall health. 

Basically..search the web for bloating and research very carefully anything you try. I suffered for years and am doing much better now without the carbs and gluten.

Good luck! Almost nothing is worse than the dystopia caused by stomach issues..it's way more than pain...it's almost always accompanied by psychological malaise!

Cheers!

Peter

I've never been a big chocolate lover but for some reason that is the only one that I really do well with, it's just so much easier to go to work with a liquid breakfast in my stomach than solid foods....unless someone presents that custard filled bismark...then it's game on! Lol

The other thing that seems to sit fairly well is peanut butter and honey on toast, if you use a good whole grain bread.

Good idea, Duane.  It is almost always easy to get a shake type drink down the hatch.  And you could substitute soy milk for regular milk if you want.   

If your glucose levels are running high (like mine have even though I eat very minimal sugar and am not overweight!) then ATKINS makes a delicious shake/drink that has only 1 gram of sugar.  Most of the breakfast drinks have 10-20 grams of sugar!  The ATKINS brand is a bit pricier but it is very sound nutritionally and tastes yummy--especially the dark chocolate--but also comes in strawberry, vanilla, caramel, etc.  

This may not be for every one but I found out that starting each day with a carnation instant breakfast mixed in 8-12 oz of 2% milk really helped me, it has many essentials and is very easy on digestion.....if you don't have any lactose problems.

Plus it tastes good and a good way to chase down those pills we all have to take.

Like i said though it depends on the meds, and your ability to handle dairy products ok.

Duane

Hi again Fran:

Sorry to hear about your trip to the ER but hopefully it helped and you will be able to get this under control.  I forgot to mention grains and nuts.  Brown rice and oatmeal are also good and they don't have to be boring if you jazz them up with other healthy ingredients.  

Tig is right about the bananas and staying well hydrated.  Just in case you don't want the sugar contained in Gatorade (even the low sugar version has plenty) you can also get water that is infused with electrolytes if your electrolytes are not where they should be.  Here is a list of foods high in potassium:

Food, Standard Amount	Potassium (mg)	Calories
Sweetpotato, baked, 1 potato (146 g)	694	131
Tomato paste, ¼ cup	664	54
Beet greens, cooked, ½ cup	655	19
Potato, baked, flesh, 1 potato (156 g)	610	145
White beans, canned, ½ cup	595	153
Yogurt, plain, non-fat, z container	579	127
Tomato puree, ½ cup	549	48
Clams, canned, 3 oz	534	126
Yogurt, plain, low-fat, z container	531	143
Prune juice, ¾ cup	530	136
Carrot juice, ¾ cup	517	71
Blackstrap molasses, 1 Tbsp	498	47
Halibut, cooked, 3 oz	490	119
Soybeans, green, cooked, ½ cup	485	127
Tuna, yellowfin, cooked, 3 oz	484	118
Lima beans, cooked, ½ cup	484	104
Winter squash, cooked, ½ cup	448	40
Soybeans, mature, cooked, ½ cup	443	149
Rockfish, Pacific, cooked, 3 oz	442	103
Cod, Pacific, cooked, 3 oz	439	89
Bananas, 1 medium	422	105
Spinach, cooked, ½ cup	419	21
Tomato juice, ¾ cup	417	31
Tomato sauce, ½ cup	405	39
Peaches, dried, uncooked, ¼ cup	398	96
Prunes, stewed, ½ cup	398	133
Milk, non-fat, 1 cup	382	83
Pork chop, center loin, cooked, 3 oz	382	197
Apricots, dried, uncooked, ¼ cup	378	78
Rainbow trout, farmed, cooked, 3 oz	375	144
Pork loin, center rib (roasts), lean, roasted, 3 oz	371	190
Buttermilk, cultured, low-fat, 1 cup	370	98
Cantaloupe, ¼ medium	368	47
1%-2% milk, 1 cup	366	102-122
Honeydew melon, 1/8 medium	365	58
Lentils, cooked, ½ cup	365	115
Plantains, cooked, ½ cup slices	358	90
Kidney beans, cooked, ½ cup	358	112
Orange juice, ¾ cup	355	85
Split peas, cooked, ½ cup	355	116
Yogurt, plain, whole milk, 8 oz container	352	138

I lived on bananas when I was on Tx! Rich in potassium and nutrients and they go down easy Without any stomach upset. Be sure you hydrate well and drinking things like Gatoraid will keep you both hydrated and provide the electrolytes you've been missing. I'm glad you're feeling better and hope you're back on track! Good luck...

Tig

Isiscat,

thank you for answering. Im new to the forum format and I didnt see your reply until today.

Well, Friday morning at 3:30 I woke up feeling extemely sick. dizzy, heart palpitations, muscles twitching (especially in leg muscles) and weakness. I went to the ER. Found out my potassium was low low. 3.6 is normal mine was 2.4. Im pretty sure that the trial HepC drug is not the culprit. I hope. But right before I started tx, I had an extreme episode of Gastritis, I at that time, did not know or have even heard of Gastritis.

Well, since I was having so much gas and pain and bubbling and gnawing in my gut I just sort of stopped eating. Oh i had a half can of french style green beans, and some jasmine rice, or a steamed apple or a baked potatoe or a sweet potatoe but no substance actually because It caused so much discomfort. I beleive because i was in such distress  I guess I just stopped eating or eating too little food with potass in it. WEll, in the ER they had to give me an IV me with more potass. I am home now and I am doing potass rich foods but in a drink instead of food. Im eating jello today too. I want to give my belly a rest period for today. 

I called my HepC main investigator doctor and he actually called me back. He said to not take the protonex because it actually shuts off acid pumps and our treatment drugs need acid to dissolve them. So he told me to get Zantac which only reduces acid but not eliminate it. But tomorrow I will start eating small frequent meals without foods that are problems which cause gas. I want to eat again...and I will eat potassium rich foods now too...to keep it at normal levels. Thank you for the ideas about diary and meats. I usually only eat white fish and some chicken breast. I hope and pray this helps with the stomach and potass issues so I can eat again and not have problems. 

Thank you so much for your input. 

Fran Ford

Hi Frannie:

If you are only F-2 you don't have ascites.  Ascites is primarily limited to decompensated cirrhotics.  It is quite serious and your doc would know if you had it.  HCV can cause gastrointestinal problems as well as a host of other problems (even diabetes) but keep in mind that many people who do not have HCV have gastrointestinal problems too. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is an extremely common condition.  I have had a "sensitive" stomach most of my life so I'm not sure the HCV is to blame. 

If it improves once you SVR you will know that this was an extrahepatic condition caused by the HCV.   Also, cirrhosis can cause gastro problems that do not rise to the level of ascites.  

Some dietary changes may help.  I have stopped drinking milk and eat minimal dairy products.  That helps.  Also, eating small meals throughout the day, rather than "normal" portions, eating plenty of veggies, and drinking plenty of fluids (especially water) can help.  

I haven't eaten red meat in 35 years, so I don't know how that factors in, but I would think red meat can be difficult to digest.  I also have never eaten much deep fried or fast food, but if I do, I feel horrible pretty quickly. I don't take OTC or prescription products; they can cause their own set of problems especially with a bad liver.  I have taken probiotics, which may have helped, but I am not taking any now. 

So, eat fresh foods and avoid junk food as much as possible.  Organic is best if you can--lots of veggies and some fruit and fiber--some fish and chicken--limit the dairy.  That has helped me.  

you are correct. i just went over to my "patient portal" and saw exactly that...a CT resulted in no ascites...goodness...if Gastritis can cause this much distress then I wouldn't wish this on anyone...geesh...thank you. 

Pretty sure the only ways to detect acities is ultrasound, CT or MRI...... EGD is only looking for varicies in the esophagus, stomach, and very upper intestines......at least that's what I know.

HI...thanks for posting. Yes I had an EGD done in July. There were no ascites present at that time. One small area on the path report of a varices almost unable to see it. Boy oh boy it just rolls and bubbles and gas everywhere. 

Ascites does that,  have you been checked for it?are you on diuretics? Once i got rid of the ascites or most of it things improved somewhat,  but i still have problems because my liver is trashed so digestion is not good regardless. 

HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD TERRIBLE INTESTINAL ISSUES? I am so sick in my tummy all the time. I am on treatment but these things popped up before treatment. I have gas, bloating, rolling feelings, gnawing feelings. I did have my gal bladder checked. On a scale of expulsion with 30% being normal mine is at 24%. Nothing I do helps me to get relief. I am using Carafate to coat the stomach, as I have inflamed stomach lining also. I use a daily probiotic. I use gasx. And I can barely eat much. My treatment doc said they suggest I do not take pepcid etc. I can take something called Pepzin GI. Is all these stomach issues normal with HepC also?  Im wondering if anyone else feels this way and if you have ever had any relief? Thank you for your comments. >3