alternative treatments, combinations warnings?

[piezo]

Hi All,

I said in my last post that I would post this one.

I have read quite a bit about alternative treatments. I am thinking of my wife going along with whatever the doctor finally comes up with and supporting that with added suppliments. I have found lot's about various herbal treatments and very little on how it can interact with peg interferon or ribo?

Does anyone have any info?

She is now taking milk thistle and dandelion, we haven't gone and made the purchase of the other necessary stuff since this is all new to us. I have read about chinese herbal remedies that have different names whether named in chinese, japanese or otherwise ie:  Minor Bupleurum Decoction aka:  xiao-chai-hu-tang in China or sho-saiko-to in Japan.This is said to aid interferon.

I'd love to find a resource that entails all of this and the interactions to beware of. I also have found lists of bad things to take ie:
1. COMFREY [Bush tea]
2. GERMANDER
3. CHAPARRAL
4. JIN BU HUAN
5. NUTMEG
6. PENNYROYAL OIL
7. MISTLETOE
8. TANSY RAGWORT
9. SENNA
10. SASSAFRAS
11. VALERIAN

Seems that the best website found so far (and I have over a hundred bookmarks already after a week) is:
http://www.hepcchallenge.org/manual/

I have read this one most thoroughly.

Please advise if you have answers or resources that may be benificial.

Thank you in advance,

Jon

[tigerdream]

What Galen said (and pasted) kind of goes back to some of the things I've heard about Milk Thistle, one of which is that it is possible that people have assumed it worked simply because it seemed to make ast & alt level drop. But this could be in a bad way as these enzymes are working to reduce bad toxins in our livers, and the milk thistle may actually be reducing them when they should not be, in a sense leaving our liver defenseless. I hope I am explaining this so you can understand it, its kind of like if your enzymes are up fighting, its for a reason, and it would be better to get rid of the reason they are up, than the enzymes themselves without taking care of the reason. Anyhow... I'm babbling again. But I suggest looking at some of the posts below about the immune boosting properties of yogurt, also, look into shiitake mushrooms, garlic etc. I personally am a much bigger believer in healing foods than in herbs. Just remember that almost every medicine thats out there is derived from plants and herbs, you may be dealing with more potent stuff than you think you are when you are taking those herbs...

[MichaelT]

Sho-saiko-to has been demonstrated to reduce inflammation, but it doesn't affect viral load. If you are interested in helping out your liver some this might be helpful, but don't think it is combating the source of your disease.

-Michael

[pat57]

dandilion is a diruetic, you don't want that during treatment.

[Galen]

Milk thistle can interact with antidepressents, sleeping pills, and many other drugs causing them to stay in your system longer than they should.  I am copying from the Hep Advocate site again because the list has been extended.
http://www.hcvadvocate.org/hepatitis/hepC/mthistle.html

"Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have suspected that milk thistle can slow down or reduce the activity of enzymes in the liver. What does this have to do with HIV? you might ask. Well, enzymes in the liver break down many of the substances that we eat and drink, including medications. If the activity of these enzymes are reduced, then drugs remain in the blood longer than they otherwise might. This could lead to having higher-than-expected levels of drugs in the body, causing side effects or intensifying already-existing side effects. Indeed, in recent experiments using milk thistle and human liver cells, the researchers found that relatively small concentrations of milk thistle did significantly slow down the activity of the liver enzyme CYP3A4 by 50% to 100%.

Many medications taken by people with HIV/AIDS (PHAs)

[jonihs]

I can add 1 to your list, Amanita mushrooms should be avoided.janis7hepc.com has some more good links to check for alternatives.

[britgirl]

I had to stop taking milk thistle when I was doing treatment. The hospital said there had not been enough studies about possible interactions for them to feel it was safe. Quite honestly, I think the herbal stuff is probably a waste of money. Just stick to a healthy diet.

[nurse12hr]

I can't comment over anything other than the Milk Thistle and the Dandelion.  My husbs. doc said both were ok.  He has been taking them for several years.  I can't say that they really have done anything.  He is a type 3a--relapsed after first year long treatment, we are soon to find out if he has relapsed again one year post PegIntron treatment.  

His liver enzymes have climbed unabated since ending his last treatment.

Personally, I wouldn't go nuts over alternative treatments.  They can affect more than just the liver, aren't well studied, and quality control is another issue.