Walter Trout with a New Liver

Honey, Liver, & Sleep

The amazing benefits of Honey! With one of the side effects of Hepatitis C treatment being sleeplessness, according to this website, you can change this side effect with just 1-2 tablespoons of honey before bedtime!
Wow!! I don't know about you, but I'm going to try this remedy!
You can read all about it at: http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-diet.html

Another Baby Boomer Effected with a Bad Liver - Walter Trout

This wonderful man and musician is waiting for a liver transplant with his wife (Marie) and many fans.

Marie Trout

My cell phone rang at 6AM this morning. A quick look confirmed it was from the hospital. I felt a careful sense of optimism as I grabbed for the phone and expected to hear: “We have a liver for Walter!” But my phone froze. I couldn’t pick up the call. The phone was unresponsive. So after a few fumbling and tired attempts to answer it, I realized I had missed the call. And then the voicemail came in: “This is Doctor K.J. We are having some trouble waking Walter up; he is unresponsive, so we thought we would let you know.”

No new liver call this time. The confused and tired state of mind that Walter had been in yesterday had worsened. Now he was unconscious.

I spent the day at his bedside without making contact with him. He is deep in a place and I couldn’t reach him. Today was the first day for tears for me in a long time. Seeing him there, but without being able to sense him, was painful.

The doctors are not too worried about it. They say that this is par for the course, and the good news is that Walter is now first on the list. They assured me that the encephalopathy will reverse once a new liver goes in. They tried various other approaches to see if we could get Walter conscious – but they were unsuccessful. His vital signs remain good; he moves and has good muscle strength. His brain has not been deprived of oxygen at any point. They did a CT scan to make sure that all looked good upstairs – and it did. One very experienced and trusted doctor said that he had seen patient reverse completely after months in this state once the liver transplant took place.

Because Walter is not conscious, I decided that I don’t want to leave him here without anyone to be his advocate this weekend. Since he cannot speak for himself, I cannot leave him alone. So I called our travel agent and cancelled my flight to go see our middle son play his final show at the High School music program. That hurt too.

I called both of our sons who I am now not going to see tomorrow, and had a good talk with them. They understood. I know they were disappointed too. This disease is making it impossible to plan anything. In February I had a trip planned to go see our oldest son in Denmark and be with my mom for her birthday. Had to cancel. We had to cancel the tour I had booked for Walter and the band for 2014. The ripple effects of this disease touch so many more people than just Walter and I. Our sons, my mom, the band, our crew, fans, friends, promoters, agents, record label, publicists, you reading this right now…

I feel the pain, the disappointment, and the sorrow. There is no way of sugarcoating that. I feel for the people who are affected by this. Most of all I feel for Walter who is struggling to stay alive in a body that is polluted.

And such is life sometimes, without any easy solutions; without any quick fixes. Life can be complex, full of riddles, full of heart ache, pain and incomprehensible twists and turns. Things don’t always go the way we want.

And then just writing all of this, I also know that because things are difficult now, they won’t always be. While Walter is unresponsive right now, he won’t always be. Because I feel sad now, I won’t always be. Because our kids are disappointed now, they won’t always be. This too shall pass.

I deliberately avoid the “what if” scenarios that could be constructed by an anxious mind. I go by what the most likely outcome of all of this is going to be: A new liver for Walter. It is not in the sadness, the disappointment, and the sorrow that I would lose my fighter spirit. However, I know that if I allowed my mind to go on unsolicited trips into worry-land, I would quickly drain every last bit of hope and strength out of my being. So every time I feel my mind wanting to spin its worst-case scenarios – I stop it. I only deal with the known – and leave the unknowns to the universe.

Who knows what happens next? I continue to do all I can. And I will deal with it as it comes. I remain at Walter’s side to help him in every way I can. I tell my sons that I love them… so very much. I stay on top of business decisions as needed. I send thankful thoughts of gratitude to all of you who care to read these words. I continue my walk whether it rains, pours or shines. One step at a time! Boldly and with determination!

Walk Your Walk & Talk Your Talk...Don't give up!

Hepatitis C Treatment News

Reversing Fatty Liver Disease

A very interesting video on Reversing Fatty Liver Disease with Dr. Sandra Cabot & Nutritionist Margaret Jasunska. They speak about the role that hormones play in telling ones brain whether you are hungry or not and about good saturated fat, insulin, and carbohydrates in people with Fatty Liver Disease. It is very important to mention that if you diet or take supplements:
Do It In Moderation! You can cause more very serious problems if you overdo any diet!

There Is Hope - Reuters

Reuters published an article recently that shows a 98% cure rate in previously untreated Hep C patients! There is hope! It seems that all of the major drug companies are competing to come up with the best cure rate, with little side effects, for Hepatitis C. Check out the article: Merck Hepatitis C Drugs Shine in Easier to Treat Patients: Study

Fatty Liver Disease

Fatty Liver Disease - According to WebMD some fat in the liver is normal, but if fat makes up more than 5%-10% of the weight of your liver, you may have alcoholic or nonalcoholic liver disease. In some cases, these diseases can lead to serious complications.

Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD) affects about 15 million American's due to the abuse of alcohol and almost all of these people develop fatty livers. This disease can occur after small or large amounts of alcohol and can be passed on through genetics or heredity.

Other factors that may influence your chances of developing alcoholic fatty liver disease include:
*Hepatitis C (which can lead to liver inflammation)
*An overload of iron
*Obesity
*Diet
*Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now the most common cause of chronic liver disease in the U.S. Some people with excess fat in the liver simply have what's called a fatty liver. Although this is not normal, it is not serious if it doesn't lead to inflammation or damage.

Others have what's called nonalcoholic steatohepatisis (NASH). Although it is similar to alcoholic liver disease, people with this type of fatty liver disease drink little or no alcohol. NASH can lead to permanent liver damage. The liver may enlarge and cirrhosis can occur. The liver can't work right and you may develop liver failure, liver cancer, and liver-related death. NASH is one of the leading causes of cirrhosis.

Both types of NAFLD are becoming more common. Up to 20% of adults may have either fatty liver or NASH. And more than 6 million children have one of these conditions, which are most common in Asian and Hispanic children. Recent evidence indicates that NAFLD increases the risk of heart disease in children who are overweight or obese.

Potential causes of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD):

The cause of NAFLD is not really clear, but it runs in families, middle aged people, overweight people, and people with high cholesterol or triglycerides, and diabetes.

Other potential causes of fatty liver disease include:
*Medications
*Viral hepatitis
*Autoimmune or inherited liver disease
*Rapid weight loss
*Malnutrition

Recent studies show that an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine and other changes in the intestine may be associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Some researchers now suspect this may play a role in the progression of NAFLD to NASH.

NASH or NAFLD can be treated with a good diet of low saturated fat and low fructose corn syrup. Some research says that drinking 2 cups of coffee per day can also help the disease. Other research shows that the disease is linked to low levels of Vitamin D, in those cases, a vitamin D supplement can help in the treatment of NAFLD.