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Liver / Gastro question!
Hi Docs,
Great work you do here. I have a question regarding someone i know - here are his lab work results on the liver. I wanted to ask if this is any indication of something serious? the doctor gave him liver cleansers - milk thistle and giseng something - instead of a liver medication.
The cleasers are working well and he is improving. These are the tests after one week of cleansing the system.
Total Protein - 79 g/l
Albumin - 39
Globulin - 40
A/G Ratio - 1.0
Bilrubin Total - 72 pmol/l
Bilrubin Direct - 54.0
Bilrubin Indirect - 18.0
Aspartare Aminotransferase - 692 lu/l
Alanine Aminotransferase - 1176
Alkaline Phosphatase - 259
Gamma - Gluamyl Transferase - 303
Creatine Kinase - 57
Prothrombin Time - 14 seconds
Hepatitis B - Negative
The doctor had suspected hepatis B and that came up negative.
whats your take with these results. He doesnot have a stomach problem or pain. He has jaundice which is clearing after he started taking the cleansers. The color in his feases is coming back to normal. He has regained his appetite since he started cleansing the leaver
- there tests were taken before the improvements.
Additionally, he took a sonogram which showed a normal stomach but they could not rule out hepatitis. The spleen was slighly enlarged.
whats your take?
I have taken Milk thistle in the past for so called liver cleansing. I had pain from gallbladder. I agree with the surgeon here on herbal remedies they simple don't work. I think alot of times people have the ability to trigger a medical improvement upon themselves by thinking a pill might have helped. The the reason when studies on medicine is done placebo is given. Sometimes even lab results get better. Usually if it is a ailment such as a organ failing it is no better. However the person may feel better this is due to over psychological response.
For instance if you have a person who is on home oxygen almost everyone of these patients if their oxgen get disrupted within seconds they are short of breath. I mean I have seen people within 30 seconds think without it in about 45 seconds to a minute they are going to die. Their respiratory rate increases, nervousness and anxiety shoots through the roof. Look at the O2 sat monitor and they have an excellent 02 sat. Now leave it off for a few minutes and they will really have problems. I have seen physicians put them on airflow but it was room air and they were back to normal within a few seconds. This was done in order to obtain a blood gas on room air but a patient claim they could not tolerate the loss of their oxygen. After 15 mins on Room Air and the blood gas was done. The physician would reconnect the tubing back to the oxygen and the patient never knew the difference, most did not, you would have a very few that would complain who indeed needed it.I witnessed this event everyweek on different patients. Patient knowledge of what he is taking, prescriber or adviser tells them what the outcome should be, and if their determination is to get better. With that combination your will see a mental improvement most of the time. Now whether the scientific test supports that is a different story. I read it's been proven that a person outlook can have an effect on his treatment. But it's usually his will to get better, it's not the herbal medicine or the placebo making him better. He did what he could have done all alone without any crutch he thought he needed to rely on.
For instance if you have a person who is on home oxygen almost everyone of these patients if their oxgen get disrupted within seconds they are short of breath. I mean I have seen people within 30 seconds think without it in about 45 seconds to a minute they are going to die. Their respiratory rate increases, nervousness and anxiety shoots through the roof. Look at the O2 sat monitor and they have an excellent 02 sat. Now leave it off for a few minutes and they will really have problems. I have seen physicians put them on airflow but it was room air and they were back to normal within a few seconds. This was done in order to obtain a blood gas on room air but a patient claim they could not tolerate the loss of their oxygen. After 15 mins on Room Air and the blood gas was done. The physician would reconnect the tubing back to the oxygen and the patient never knew the difference, most did not, you would have a very few that would complain who indeed needed it.I witnessed this event everyweek on different patients. Patient knowledge of what he is taking, prescriber or adviser tells them what the outcome should be, and if their determination is to get better. With that combination your will see a mental improvement most of the time. Now whether the scientific test supports that is a different story. I read it's been proven that a person outlook can have an effect on his treatment. But it's usually his will to get better, it's not the herbal medicine or the placebo making him better. He did what he could have done all alone without any crutch he thought he needed to rely on.
Hello Blessed NYC,
Look. Sniping aside, I think I've been fairly fair: I've said mainstream medicine doesn't have all the answers, and I've said no one can make perfect predictions of what will happen to all people under all circumstances. I admit to the imperfections of mainstream medicine. But look at the big picture, and see that in nearly all diseases, we have come a long way over time: and it's because of continual striving, questioning, a belief that we DON'T know everything, and we need to test new things. And we do. And by "test" I mean apply accepted scientific methods: research in labs. Double-blind prospective studies -- which means comparing various therapies in such a way that neither the patient nor the care-giver knows who's getting what therapy until data have been collected over time and analyzed; thereby eliminating bias and the placebo effect. When certain therapies --generally in the naturopathic or other categories -- are said to work, and when various explanations such as promoting production of certain enzymes are said to be in effect, but when there are no scientific studies to back it up, then we are in the realm of anecdotal medicine, of placebo effects (known to work in around 30% of cases in various instances). As a physician, I've never told my patients not to use whatever naturopathic or other therapy they want to try, as long as they simultaneously go with what has been studied and found -- within the parameters generally considered reproducible and effective -- to work in scientific terms. To say one "believes" is fine: as long as one recognizes that belief differs from proof. I don't practice based on belief. I do so based on reproducible, peer-reviewed, tested therapies. It's not about "belief."
I think the US is heading down a sad path: science is becoming replaced by all sorts of belief systems, and when facts interfere with beliefs, then facts are ignored. It's happening in our schools, in our legislatures, and in the White House. Other countries, with whom we are competing in the long run for innovation, for solutions to the problems of energy, pollution, job creation -- those countries must be laughing in delight as they see their former number one competitor turning away from knowledge and facts, and choosing instead to go the path of "belief." We -- the US for anyone reading who's not in the US -- are happily and willingly committing suicide.
I think the US is heading down a sad path: science is becoming replaced by all sorts of belief systems, and when facts interfere with beliefs, then facts are ignored. It's happening in our schools, in our legislatures, and in the White House. Other countries, with whom we are competing in the long run for innovation, for solutions to the problems of energy, pollution, job creation -- those countries must be laughing in delight as they see their former number one competitor turning away from knowledge and facts, and choosing instead to go the path of "belief." We -- the US for anyone reading who's not in the US -- are happily and willingly committing suicide.
That's fine. But in fairness to those who you respond to you should at least tell them that your opinions cannot be supported by facts so they can take your recommendations for what they're worth.
I choose not to. As I said to surgeon I was not going to be drawn into this debate anymore. You believe what you believe and I believe what I believe. Your sarcasm, name calling, and superior attitude are not beneficial to my health. I will continue to post to whomever I feel like, advocating what works for me. If they choose to listen, fine, if not, that's fine, too. It doesn't matter what I show you or prove or disprove. You simply do not have the open mind that can admit there may be something out there besides prescription drugs and surgery that may actually help. It makes you feel so much better about yourself to think me sinister or gullible or whatever else you and surgeon like to laugh about. I am living proof as are my husband and children that natural medicine and supplementing and supporting the body works.
I don't believe I was addressing you. I was providing Blessed NYC with some info he asked for. Obviously, his friends doctors must know what's best for him. I refuse to be drawn into a natural vs. allopathic medicine debate with you. I believe what I believe and you believe what you believe.
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