Body Cleansing and Detoxifying

[voyager71]

Hello everyone. I am new to this site and have tosay that there is a wealth of information on here. I just started meds 3 weeks ago, I am taking Atripla and so far things are "starting" to settle down. I was put on meds when my T-Cells were at 583 and my Viral load was ay 202,000. I go back to my Doc on1/16/07 to get my resuytls to see if the meds are working.
What my question is, if anyone can help me out. Has anyone ever used a body detoxifying system? I bought an over the counter one from Walmart called Whole Body Cleanse by Enzymatic Therapy. It is a 2 week prgram that I have not started as of yet, not sure if it will interefere with my Meds or if it will help the absorbption. I have a few friends that are poz and they detoxify 1 a month -  does anyone know the benefits of this?

[411]

Your question could generate more responses if it was in the "living with" or "Nutrition & HIV" forum. Having said that, some of the body cleansing kits are based on herbal laxative concepts like milk thistle and there is supporting evidence that some herbal remedies may interfere with HIV medication.

Since you are checking in with your doctor in early January a better suggestion would be to discuss this issue during your appointment, paticularly since things are just starting to settle down on your first combo.

Good luck.

[poet]

I agree.  From my own mental health medication training, any supplement, over-the-counter, prescription or other substance needs a doctor's order, in our case, or at least a doctor's awareness in case it is counter indicative with the hiv meds or could increase or decrease their effects.  Even if this were not the case, I wouldn't try purging/cleaning the internal system without allowing time for the absorbtion of medications which again leads back to your hcp.  Win

[blondbeauty]

Meds should remain in your body 24 hours a day to stop HIV virus from replicating or creating resistance so they shouldn't be cleaned or washed away. Remember HIV meds block certain enzymes from the HIV virus. Maybe that supplement can interfere with them.
Atripla is very well tolerated and I don't think is going to damage your body, so I wouldn't recommend you taking that strange supplement.
Juan

[Cliff]

I would find out what's in the product and know exactly how it will "detoxify" your body before using it.  Maybe I'm a cynic, but I usually don't believe in these detox gimmicks. I think most are usually harmless, but a waste a money cause they don't do anything for you.

I searched the internet and it looks like the product you mention is mainly fiber, milk thistle and a laxative.  I can't see how that will detox your body anymore than simply consuming vegetables and a higher fiber content diet.  The laxative bit may not be beneficial if it dehydrates you.