Liver / Gastro question!

[BlessedNYC]

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?

[JackieG]

I didn't think you could back your advice up with any facts.

[astros18]

Silymarin selectively acts as an antioxidant and protects from free radical damage specifically in the intestines and stomach. It also increases the liver's content of GSH(glutathione) which is a substance in detoxifying many potentially damaging hormones, chemicals and drugs(including acetominophen). It has demonstrated a membrane stabilizing action which inhibits or prevents lipid peroxidation. It seems to alter the structures of outer wall membranes of heptocytes, preventing penetration of liver poisons and stimulates the action of nuclear polymerase A. It may increase ribosomal protein synthesis and stimulate the formation of new hepatocytes. i hope this explains how milk thistle may be helping your friend. Despite previous comments, there are numerous studies done on natural remedies and most can be found on the web. I would think you could talk to your friends doctor and find out why and how the specific remedies he has prescribed work. If your friend has some form of hepatitis, he must learn to support his liver thru excellent nutrition and healthy living, along with supplementation. I hope this helps some and that your friend continues to get better.

[surgeon]

"It seems to alter the structures of outer wall membranes of heptocytes, preventing penetration of liver poisons and stimulates the action of nuclear polymerase A. It may increase ribosomal protein synthesis and stimulate the formation of new hepatocytes."

Fascinating. Please provide links to the tests which have shown this.

[BlessedNYC]

I think i have failed to understand why i paid $16 donation.  It seems my question was brushed off.  I provided test results but did not get a clear answer apart from herbal criticism.  
Surgeon tried to respond but was not clear.  Is there a doctor on this web who can help me out?

[JackieG]

Thanks, Surgeon, for putting things in their proper perspective.  There are some who advocate liver cleansing and other potions as a cure all for everything.  I am not sure that all of these people are blissfully ignorant. I think some have sinister motives. I am glad you put things in perspective in a very open and honest way for us.

Best regards,
Chicken Soup

[surgeon]

Try this little experiment: tomorrow, just before dawn, remove your clothes, stand in your yard, and chant to the moon-god. The sun will come up. It works every time.

Or this: wait til you get a cold. Take echinacea. The cold will be gone within a few days.

Or this: try liver cleansers. (the good news is you have lots of choices: search the term and you'll find all sorts of potions.) You will FEEL better (and, if you have a condition that doesn't require treatment, you may actually GET better.) The same is true of any placebo you can name, for a significant percentage of people.

As to the individual in question, it's impossible to say for sure what happened. I've mentioned some possibilities earlier. And if it does happen again, he ought to see a doctor who believes in actual diagnosis and treatment.

And, to be real: I'm sorry to be so cynical. As a surgeon with a few decades of experience, I've seen people truly and deeply harmed by relying on quackery. Which is not to say that no one has been harmed by mainstream medicine. But what we do is based on studies, testing, and scientific comparisons. Liver cleansing, and the like, is based on someone making a statement with no effort at proof. Humans are complex: no treatment is perfectly predictable for all people. No disease proceeds in exactly the same manner in all victims; nor does everyone respond to treatment in the same way. We fail to cure many things; but we continually strive to improve, and do so by adhering to principles of scientific testing -- while acknowledging that it's still imperfect. Such things as liver cleansing have NO basis in physiology (it has, in fact, no meaning at all: there's no such thing), have NEVER been tested in a meaninigful way, and are promoted by people who are either willfully deceitful or sadly gullible. Sorry. But that's the way it is.