How to sleep better

Sleep is the most important thing for me. When I don't sleep properly at night my day is absolutely ruined, I feel tired, can't concentrate, can't function in the same way as I do normally.
My brain needs a very good rest at night, my body needs to restore itself. It's not secret that our cells restore themself during the night, so make sure you sleep well every night.
TEN SLEEPING RULES :
1. The best time to go to bed is between 9.30 -10.00 p.m. That's when our cells start to renew themselves. Apparantly, Hollywood stars know it so well that they even go to bed as early as 9.00 p.m. Now you know why they look so radiant and healthy!
2. Your bedrood is your sanctuary! Make you sure it's tidy, clean and simple. Open the window to let some fresh air in ( I always sleep better with the window open).
3. At 9.00 p.m. switch off TV and computer. You can listen to some relaxing music or read a pleasant book in bed, it will help you to unwind and relax your brain.
4. If you can't sleep at night, try to excercise during the day, you need to get tired so you body will demand some sleep at night. But don't exercise late in the evening as you will be too energised to sleep later.
5. Don't eat late at night, your dinner should be served not later than 6.00 p.m.
6. If you wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall asleep again, try eating a medium banana or have a glass of warm milk ( goats milk in my case). It works for me every time.
7. Invest into a pair of ear-plugs and a sleep mask if you are easily disturbed by noise and light. I was shocked how many people use them every night, some even can't sleep without them at all.
8. Don't wear tight uncomfortable underwear in bed, stick with loose and comfy undergarments. You body will appreciate it, you partner might not :-)
9. Always keep a glass of mineral water by your bed (I keep a bottle). Sometimes you can't sleep because your body is dehydrated. But don't drink too much water before you go to sleep either because you will spend your night going to the toilet instead of recharging your batteries.
10. If you do wake up during night to go to the toilet, my advice to you is not to switch main lights on. I always do it in the dark so I can easily fall asleep again. Bright lights make me fully awake and it's very hard to fall asleep after. Now you know why managers of chicken factories always keep bright lights on so caged chickens don't sleep, eat more and grow faster. Imagine if you were that poor chicken stuck in the cage???

Rest when you can.

I try to preserve my energy as much as I can. It's just something I can't afford to waste while on treatment. Try to have power naps if you can, they make big difference, trust me.

It's not always possible to get some rest during lunch time especially if you work, but there are some ways. You can just close your eyes for 10-15 minutes or even lie down if you have a sofa in your office. Many people work from home these days and they have no excuse not to have an hour sleep during the day. I urge you to do so if you can. Write your comments later.

Find some inspiration.

This is Chrissy, she inspires me everyday of my therapy. She finished her tx not so long ago, 48 long weeks of medication, fighting exactly the same type of virus, the same genotype. Chrissy didn't get any of the nasty side effects of treatment and luck was nothing to do with it. She is a very active person, always on the move, always doing something - cooking, cleaning, helping people etc. Before she started treatment Chrissy was training to run a marathon and had to put it on hold because of the virus. Just like me, Chrissy is a vegetarian, she loves porridge, fish and cherry scones! Her attitude to life is something to be admired, she loves life and people and that's what makes her very special.
It's so important to have an inspiration while you are on treatment, somebody to look up to, a person that achieved what you want to achieve, someone who was in a similar position some time ago.
Chrissy completed her 48 weeks of therapy, she found new friends, a new partner, turned her life around and currently is awaiting that magical SVR. My fingers crossed for you, Pixie!

Week 10

I'm tired of taking medication, that's the most difficult part of therapy for me. I keep bottles of Ribavarin in my kitchen, bedroom and living room so they are always at hand not to forget to take it with my food. But believe it or not I still forget sometimes LOL

Life seems to be fine at the moment, nothing's bothering me, I live in harmony with myself and outside world, I think Im happy but I don't realise it. I need to remind myself, Im happy and lucky, I have friends, Im fighting the virus, I give love and it comes back to me, life is wonderful!

I nearly died first week.

It was pure hell! I need to be honest with you, although I was warned by many people including my nurse about possible side effects of first injection, I wasn't prepared for what happened to me. I thought I was going to die, my body started to shake uncontrollably, I felt so cold as if I was in a freezer, my bones were aching, heart racing and my brain nearly exploded.
I made it worse myself by refusing to take Paracetamol LOL I don't like taking pills, I try to avoid them as much as possible, but that night I should have taken them and now looking back I do regret being so stubborn.
I had a sleepless night, couldn't close my eyes until early morning, I had to put my jumper on as I was freezing all night in my bed under the super warm duvet LOL
My advice to all of you who is planning to start treatment - take Paracetamol!
The other advice - make sure you fridge is full of your favourite foods, I lost my appetite after the first injection and could only eat grapes, bananas and apples and drink fruit juice. I had to ask my friend to go to the shops and buy some for me as I physically couldn't go out, couldn't drive, couldn't even walk far... I was SO tired and not myself all week.
As I lost my appetite I lost some weight too, be prepared for that.

Sense of Humour!

Laugh every day, every hour, as often as you can! You are allowed to! Don't be ashamed, don't worry about what people might think of you!!!
10 minutes of genuine laughter have the same effect on your immune system as working out in the gym for 30 minutes. Do you maths LOL
I try to surround myself with humorous people who have positive attitude to life because I only have one life and want it to be a happy one! LOL
Life is too short to waste it on regrets and tears. It's ok to be upset about something, it's ok to cry about it and let your pain go, but it's not ok and not good for you to be upset about something for weeks or months.
I have large collection of DVDs at home and most of them are comedies, so when I feel low and miserable Im not afraid to use a bit of help from Hollywood LOL
My favourite comedies are Scary Movies, 40 Year old virgin, The Producers, Happy Feet, Death Becomes Her, Meet the Fockers, Bruce Almighty and many more.

MAINTAIN POSITIVE ATTITUDE !

It's just as important to be happy and optimistic as leading a healthy lifestyle and watching your diet and exercising regularly. Our attitude to life is EVERYTHING! It certainly helps me! I stopped thinking about the future and making plans, we can't predict the future and can't prepare for it ( well, we can but only in financial terms if we are lucky). But nothing can prepare you for major life disasters like - a loss of health, job, family members, relationships, friendships etc... It took me some time to realise that and after I lost all of those things at different points of my life I stopped worrying about things. All you need to do is live now and here, enjoy every day as it comes. forget about the future, learn lessons from the past and enjoy your present!
As one door closes - another one opens, new relationships and friendships will be formed, new careers might start, new beginnings are just around the corner!

Get active!

You need to exercise at least 3-4 time a week. It will boost your immune system and help your body fight the virus. I try to go the gym nearly every day. It's not easy when you are on therapy and I wasn't able to go to the gym as often as I used to but still I try to go as much as I can. If I don't exercise I turn into a vegetable. Working out helped me eliminate some of the symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, mild depression etc. When we sweat some of the toxins and hormones are being released through your skin, helping your tired liver to do it's job.

Always remember that and get sweating in the gym or at home.

Join your local gym as soon as possible and start helping your liver now!

BECOME A VEGETARIAN

I never liked red meat and hardly ever touched chicken or turkey, so it was quite easy for me to stop eating animal protein and become a vegetarian. There were many reasons why I did that, one them was the fact that I had Hep C virus. Apparently animal protein is harmful, it causes a complication known as encephalopathy (altered mental status). The exact cause is not fully understood but it has been shown that restriction of the diet of animal protein and maintaining a total vegetarian diet, helps reverse this condition and improve mental capacity. I used to suffer a lot from brain fog, loss of memory, confusion etc. I noticed big difference ever since I stoped including animal protein into my diet. Try it yourself and let me know if you felt any different.

P.S. Alison is my new friend who just happened to be a vegetarian too :-) She stopped eating meat at the early age of 10 and doesn't touch fish either. One of her favourite things is chocolate :-)

DRINK PLENTY OF H2O

Human body is mostly made up of water, our cells contain 65-90% of H2O, so it makes sense to drink plenty of clear spring or mineral still water every day. I usually drink between 1.5 and 2 litres a day. Water helps to eliminate toxins from your body especially when you are on medication. Me and JOHNBOY had plenty of H2O at the Hep C conference in Derby and we have a picture to prove it LOL.

SAY NO TO FIZZY DRINKS

Fizzy drinks are pure poison for your liver as they contain phosphates and many other chemicals. It is believed that excessive use of fizzy drinks cause baldness, pancreatic cancer and bad teeth. Stay away from fizzy drinks to prolong life of your liver.

FRESHLY MADE JUICES

I stopped buying juices from the shops ages ago when I found out that they were boiled or pausterised to extend their shelf life. And of course once you boil fresh juice it loses it's goodness, vitamins and enzymes. So why pay money for boiled juice?? Are you made of it??? Make your own at home! All you need is a modern juicer and 15 mins of your time every day. I invested £80 into a juicer that keeps me healthy and shiny, it is a life saver before, during and after treatment.
Make sure that you get one that is easy to clean, otherwise you will spend one hour of your time instead of 15 minutes.

BE KIND TO YOUR DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

Liver is a major part of our digestive system, so it makes sense to be kind to it. I try to eat less but often, usually I have six meals a day. The first time I heard about it was when JLo was eating six meals a day and all the papers wrote about it as some kind of diva nonsense. I did my own research and was surprised how clever JLo and her eating plan was. And you don't have to be extremely rich to eat six small meals a day, it's easy once you get used to it.
You will feel more energetic, you will never want to have a lie down after a meal as you probably used to before and your liver won't feel the pressure as before when you had big dinners with ice cream on top and teas.

BASIC RULES

I NEVER BUY: processed meals/foods, anything that contains E numbers, preservatives and other chemicals, chocolate, cakes, biscuits, anything that was made in the food factories.

I NEVER TOUCH: alcohol, coffee, salt, fried foods, fatty foods, excess sugar, dairy foods, pepper, wheat, any meat, orange juice, peanuts, spicy foods, margarine and butter, drugs and sigarettes.

I EAT PLENTY OF: fruits and vegetables, marrow, grapes, plums, pumpkin, aduki beans, water melon, apples, pineapple, lemons, carrots, beetroot, sweet potatoes, onions, tomatoes, garlic.

I DRINK plenty of mineral or spring bottled water, freshly made juices, herbal teas ONLY, smoothies (even from supermarkets - my favourite brands are PJ and Innocent for example)

I SWEAR BY: Goats milk and Cheese, Feta cheese made of sheep's and goat's milk only, Manuka Honey and Avocadoes.

INTRODUCTION

My name is Yuri, Im 29 y.o. and Im currently undergoing combinational therapy for Hep C.
I started my treatment on 23.02.07 and so far experienced only very mild side effects if none at all. I have no physical side effects, no headaches, no fatigue etc. I thought I was very lucky, thought it was something to do with my relatively young age, I thought so untill I met an extraordinary lady who went through 48 weeks of treatment without any side effects. Chrissy became an instant inspiration for me, Im not going to tell you her real age as you won't believe me anyway, she looks amazing, I can give you a clue - think about Madonna or Cher, but without wigs, hair extentions, clever lighting and make up artists.
When I met Chrissy for the first time, I was amazed by her attitude towards life, love, Hep C... She refused to let virus dominate her life and continued to be herself - happy, carefree, hypoactive, flirtatious, life-loving individual.
We met at the NHCN conference in Derby and I think I know now why Chrissy and me are resistant to side-effects of combinational therapy.
Reason 1 - we both have the most positive attitude towards life and we give love unconditionally.
Reason 2 - we lead a very active lifestyle, always on the move, always on the go ( im the gym nearly every day)
Reason 3 - very similar eating habits, both of us are vegetarians, both of us swear by oat porridge on water.
And now I will tell you about the reasons behind this blog, which I didn't plan to start due to a natural laziness of mine and lack of desire to spend hours in front of my laptop. But I promised to my fellow Hep C patients who I met at the conference to share my "secret" online.
I always try to keep my promises so from now on you will have an opportunity to make up your own mind if I WAS TRULY LUCKY TO HAVE NO SIDE EFFECTS OR WAS IT DUE TO MY LIFESTYLE AND STRICT DIET.