Organic herbal tea and Harvoni?

[mobennie]

I know that we are supposed to be careful with herbs while on Harvoni.  I have been drinking green tea for energy levels, but it has a lot of different herbs in it as well.  Called Gilead (per my doctor's assistant) to see if they could provide an answer as to whether I should drink it or not while on treatment, and they could not provide an answer.   Anyone know about this?  I would really love to continue drinking my green tea to give me a bit of energy, but do not want to jeopardize my treatment.

Thanks in advance!

[Bituman]

I can't give you a definitive answer.  However, I drink a couple cups Bigelow green tea in the evening, about 1-2 hours before taking Harvoni.  My VL has gone from 3.6 million to <15 while doing this.  YMMV. 

Somebody told me green tea reduces inflammation, so I regularly drink it to help recovery from hard workouts. 

Bob

[Lynn K]

Just my personal opinion but I wouldn't worry about it

[mobennie]

Thanks Bob and Lynn.  I think I will keep on because I sure need the energy.  I get so fatigued and can't afford that

[bridget]

In general, the reason why caution is advised with herbal teas or supplements is because sometimes the listed ingredients are not accurate. There might be something in the tea/supplement to give energy that is not listed & could be harmful. This is more likely with smaller tea providers.
I think you would be fine with a big name brand of tea, where there would be more consistency in the supply chain. I drink a lot of black tea, and a little coffee.
Why not drink coffee for energy? It has been shown to be good for your liver. Here is one article from the NIH: "Coffee intake is associated with lower rates of liver disease progression in chronic hepatitis C."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19676128
Gilead has said not to take St. John's Wort, but Harvoni is so new, there has not been time to test every herbal & every otc medicine for interactions yet.  I had an awful head cold while on Harvoni & called SupportPath to see if I could take any otc cold meds. They said they did not have any "known" interactions listed, but that there is no list of "known" safe otc cold meds yet, they just don't have that data yet.  I decided not to risk it. I was very lucky to get treated and didn't want to take a chance.
Good luck!

[mobennie]

I'm with you, Bridget, don't want to take risks.  I love coffee too, but tea seems to give a little "cleaner" jolt of energy.  These aren't specialty teas - the green tea I have now is from Yogi (grocery store) and the other is Traditional Medicinals.  I haven't done tea since asking about it because I don't want to jeopardize this treatment.  Ready for the prize   Thanks for all the responses!

[atomic dog]

As an editor, I always say, "When in doubt, cut it out." If Gilead can't confirm the effect of the herbs you're taking, why risk your treatment? Many Hep C sufferers turned to herbs due to the lack of suitable pharmaceutical options. Now that we have Harvoni, a miracle drug, really, why not shake off the herbs at least for the duration of the treatment?

[mobennie]

Agreed, Atomic Dog - Bow wow wow yippee oh, yippee ay

[atomic dog]

Word.