Milk thistle

[Daddy's #1 girl]

Has anyone used Milk thistle as a treatment?? Need so info on this.  I do apologize if my questions seem silly to anyone.  I'm just trying to get as much information as possible.

[bob55]

dont wast your money honey...unless you want tomake some people richer then they already are.............not a cure for hepc.

there is no cure.it just hides in your body when they say svr..in years to come it will come back.

telll you daddy to live to the max qand not worry its in gods hands anyway
weather you know it or not.
im svr but one dayit will come back. thereis no cure.
just the treatment makes it dormant for awhile it hides in the body.
the pancreas is the deepest organ in body wouldnt be supised if the hcv is just laiung dorman behind pancaes.

Take care honey

[bob55]

yes just sit backand live!! you will see in yaers to me im right.
i am not biiter just right!!

[Catll]

Those are discussions where people gave a feed back.
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/hepatitis/messages/46699.html
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/hepatitis/messages/46643.html


In general you will see 3 groups of people:
1. People who believe that milk thistle on the same level as Interferon. ( I do not know how many telemarketers among them)
2. …who will argue with first group of people - I do belong to the second group. (This group of people might seem to be a little crazy… they do internet research and trying to find some positive results on Milk Thistle… no results!)
3. Third group do use milk thistle some of them say that they have positive results some of them do not use it anymore. This group will be the best group who will give you a comment on Milk Thistle. But before you accept this comment please go 1-2 years back and check if this person was on this forum back then, otherwise this person could be a telemarketer.

Regardless of your decision your last step would be a doctor, just bring your home work to doctors and ask the question you want.
Doctors do not care if you will ask this question or not, they will get paid regardless…

• Some doctors might get inpatient from Milk Thistle….
• Some doctors do understand that people on treatment do have depressions and they know that Milk Thistle will not do too much harm so they might answer – “What ever”

Good luck

[ladywhy]

may I ask what happened to your eye?...and how are you doing now?
Yvonne

[cruelworld]

milk thistle is not scientifically proven to help.
many people beleive it helps in spite of this, but they have no proof.
i think if you can be sure it wont hurt you, try it. but dont get your hopes up.
its never really been proven do anything significant to stop hep c.

[WildMotts]

I used milkthistle before and after Peg/Riba treatment and continue to use it. I finished treatment in Sept of 2005 and was told by my hep doctor in April of 2006 that I was undetectable for HCV RNA. Milkthistle cannot cure HCV, but I believe it has benefited my liver condition. Havent they been using milkthistle for centuries to treat liver disease? Whats up with that?

[JackABCD]

I am supposed to start tx during Aug this year. I am Stage 2-3, Grade: 2-3 after a biopsy I did just recently.
I am with HCV more then 20 years. Started with Milk Thistle about 6 weeks ago, It was somehow recommended to me by my doc ( a very good Liver Expert), In my previous  posts I was talking about severe sx I experience with the disease itself (not with tx), and I must say that since I am taking Milk Thistle they have all disappeared.
So, in my experience so far – Milk Thistle is good, even very good, I feel much better with that.
But I am going to do blood tests again within 1 month from now and then I will see if also ALT and VL had been improved.
Personally, I think that Milk Thistle is a good thing, But I don’t believe that it can clear the virus, I believe that for the virus I have to try the Interferon therapy.
Thanks.

[Catll]

1. Maximum milk thistle web site will tell you that milk thistle is not effective. Because it is not dissolvable in water I thought that flowers = 98% of water
2. You do not see research – results for Milk Thistle.
3. With Pegasys/Pegintron Milk Thistle industry might not be needed.
4. Why Milk Thistle is using PPC as a second component?(Is it because PPC has “research results” ?)
5. I will assume that Milk thistle is helping some how to some people and at the same time I believe that your body is a “small pharmaceutical plant” by itself ... meditations might help even better.

[pigeonca]

My doctor said, and research I did seems to confirm, that milk thistle can lower your ALT and AST, but it won't eliminate hcv.  It MAY be good for your liver, however.  Just don't take it during treatment, though there is some disagreement about that, with some saying it's okay.  "When in doubt, leave it out," I always say, so I did not take it while I treated.  Now that I'm done, I'm taking it again.

Regarding there being no cure, Bob is referring to a number of journal articles that report occult virus hiding in parts of your body other than the liver or blood long after SVR.  This may very well be true - those of us who had chicken pox as children still have the virus in our bodies, but so what.  When you SVR, your liver and other organs maintain their present condition or even, in many cases, improve, and to me that's what matters.  Even those who do not SVR sometimes report improvements in the architecture of their livers just from taking the Interrferon.  Don't get scared off by some people's negative experiences.  A good hepatologist will be on top of things and will pull your dad off meds if he has unsurmountable problems.

[Pdilly]

The only thing I can say is this.... Ask your doctor.   Remember none of us are doctors and you will be paying for your doctors  advice and care.  Do what he says.  If anything fails and you do not do what he says then you won't forgive yourself.

[Forseegood]

Pigeonica: Really good post...I read that one post and I thought, woe is me...geesh!

Milk thistle, you'll get as many views on this as Carter has pills...this is mostly a conventional treatment forum, and many of the people posting on this or other supplementation programs, have never even tried them for themselves.

No, it will not cure this disease, but it can "possibly" help with inflammation issues, which can, in turn, make one feel better in terms of symptoms, not for everybody, but many. I'm allergic to it myself (ragweed thing) but I do take a few other herbs and supplements...without them, I feel worse...dosn't matter to me if people think it's placebo effect, my labs have gone up without them, so if it is placebo effect, it's a pretty good placebo effect. If you want to cure the illness (cure being a relative term) you gotta bite the bullet and take conventional treatment...just my take...

Oh yeah, and the advice about talking to you doc re this and all these issues is pretty good advice...

[cliff1961]

It has been explained to me by my Hepatologist, it is safe to take Vitamins but avoid Vitamin A & B as far as Herbal remedies do not take them as they can damage your Liver, I started this Forum as some state Milk Thistle is Good for you some say No.
On the other hand it is a Herbal Remedy
Check out the forum below.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-C/Milk-Thistle/show/1107074