Intravenous ALA

How does a person find a Doctor in their area who will administor Intravenous Alpha Lipoic Acid. Is the only option going to Dr. Berkson's office? I have a friend who was just diagnosed with liver cancer, and I'm trying to get him some information on his alternatives.

[Bali05]

Is your friend in NYC ?

[SteveHepC]

No. He is in North Louisiana.

[FlGuy]

I think it was MHudnall that was posting about Dr. Berkson.  I didn't really focus on the discrussion since it's not in my realm of interest or expertise.  May be you can find the LDN thread somewhere.

I think somewhere in that thread there was a suggestion that said something like "Go find a CAM practictioner ".  So, If "CAM" is an association or a description of people maybe a google search will get you some results to weed through.

[SteveHepC]

Thanks - I'll give that a try. If all else fails, maybe a call to Dr. Berkson' office would help.

[Upbeat]

I have an appointment with Dr berkson om Monday.  I will ask if there is anyone in your area that follows his protocol.

[tashka]

What do the doctors recommend to your friend? Alpha lipoic acid is good for the liver, but we are talking about cancer. With this kind of diagnosis, he should not lose precious time with alternative methods. Every day is important.

What stage is his cancer? Can he be transplanted? Can he combine alternative therapies with conventional treatment?

[SteveHepC]

Thanks Upbeat! I look forward to his answer.

tashka: He's already getting Chemotherapy. He feels terrible. He's very private about his stage....he's only shared that he has liver cancer. Dr. Berkson has had tremendous success with all types of liver disease. This quote is from the transcript of an interview.

"And the National Institutes of Health started supporting my work. I think because of that, the people at the hospital I was at had to go along with what I was doing, and eventually Dr. Bartter and I published a paper on 79 people with so-called terminal liver disease, and 75 of them regenerated their livers, with just intravenous lipoic acid."

[nygirl7]

Wow I"m sorry liver cancer is certainly not a good thing (I have a friend who got it and died leaving behind a husband and two beautiful girls).

[tashka]

Well, if your friend is getting chemo, he is in advanced stage.

I would highly recommend for him to get to large research university. Amazingly, today at my college class we had a patient with hepatitis C/liver cancer come talk to us. When he was diagnosed, three tumors were found in his liver, and he was given 2 months to live. He got into a research trial in UNC oncology center, gets different chemos. It has been 2 years, he is still around and feels very well. Didn't even lose his hair. Two tumors are completely gone. Right now they plan to install a special implant into the biggest tumor to shrink it.

I understand that this is terrible situation. But sometimes at the large research centers they can come up with things that are just not available in the office of regular oncologist.
He can try this approach along with alpha lipoic acid.

[eureka254]

Don't know much about ALA personally, but I have to echo tashka's sentiments: with non-operable hcc (which is most likely if he's doing any chemo), time is precious.  Unfortunately, many oncologists know little about hcc-- is your friend seeing a hepatologist as well?  His best course would be to seek a large university/research center.  Is there any possibility of transplant for him, or has he progressed beyond the Milan criteria?
There are treatments available for unresectable hcc:  ethanol injection, chemo-embolisation, radiofrequency ablation -- hopefully all of of these methods been discussed with your friend -- if not, he needs to be aware that there are various options of treatment. Depending on his stage of liver disease and stage of cancer, all of those might be possibilities. There is also a fairly new oral treatment for HCC that has had encouraging results, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor known as sorafenib (Nexavar) -- perhaps that's the "chemo" your friend is taking?
I know it must be a difficult time for you -- best wishes to you and your friend.
~eureka

[smaug48]

MHudnall previously posted this site for finding a functional medicine practitoner:

functionalmedicine.org/

(add the www. in front0