Regarding Milk Thistle and Same-E

[Magnum]

My Gsstro suggested I take both of these on a daily basis. Now you can read and decide for yourself...

Sam-E
Patients with with alcoholic cirrhosis, the overall mortality liver transplantation was 30% in the placebo group and 16% in the SAMe group. When patients with more advanced cirrhosis were excluded from the analysis, the overall mortality liver transplantation was significantly greater in the placebo group (29% vs 12%; P = .02). However, a subsequent review, including the earlier-described study, found no significant benefits with SAMe on all-cause or liver-related mortality. This underscores the need for more, high-quality RCTs of SAMe in ALD.

Milk Thistle (Silymarin)
Experiments have suggested that silymarin has antioxidant properties, and prevents glutathione depletion and liver injury and also is thought to be antifibrotic. In vitro, silymarin blocks the proliferation of stellate cells and down-regulates transforming growth factor. Studies suggests that silymarin may have anti-inflammatory properties by down-regulating the proinflammatory leukotriene B4 in Kupffer cells.
In a trial of acute viral hepatitis, repported a significantly shorter hospitalization (23 vs 30 days) and time to development of immunity to HBV in patients treated. However, the seroconversion rate in HBV-positive patients was not influenced by silymarin. There are currently no available data on the use of silymarin for acute hepatitis C. Based on the current evidence, the use of silymarin for the treatment of acute viral hepatitis (A, B, or C) cannot be recommended

Magnum

[tina1111]

I had my ex-husband on milk thistle for years b4 we divorced. His liver panel all came back in normal ranges last time labs done. Dr asked what he was doing different, I told him. He was amazed.

[mauilady]

My hepatologist said milk thistle is no problem while on tx; in fact, he recommends it....

[nygirl7]

But note: it should NOT be taken during treatment as it can affect the combo meds.

If I wasn't on treatment I would probably take it though.

But since all the docs tell us not to during tx - I thought I'd better mention it for newbies.

[Myown]

I'm a total believer in all this stuff. Just came back from my PCP who is holistic (internist) He was amazed at all my baseline blood work. he knows the amount of MT, Nac and all the other stuff I have been on. The MT i am not taking while on tx, but everything else I am, no herbs though. My ast and alt were in the 20's prior to tx. My vl was pretty high though 8.2 million, but as long as the ast and alt are low, I could care less about the vl prior to tx,,of course now I want it to go.