Anyone with experience using Milk Thistle

[v eggie dip]

can you tell me the appropriate amount of milk thistle to use on a daily basis?

thanks

Beth

[jaroman]

My doc (in Costa Rica) said to go ahead and continue taking the milk thistle.  I quit though.  Partially due to reading the board, but also b/c I take enough pills a day w/o it.

[cuteus]

funny, since the "supplement" industry is a multimillion industry. I guess it is our choice who gets our money.

better numbers do not mean your liver is getting better, it still has a virus using it as a breeding ground.
as I said before, many of us have normal readings throughout the infection period, but still getting attacked by the virus. only a biopsy will tell.

The tx does not routinely fry the thyroid and I wish people would not generalize so widely based on a few experiences, it is misleading.

[Hawk370]

Thank you for your comment.  I keep finding more and more reasons why I might have been an non-responder.  Milk thistle, O'douls, reduced rbv due to < hemoglobin levels, using peg-intron instead of Pegasys.  I have been visiting with a friend in California who does liver transplants and he has been visiting with a Dr. Pockros and they are recommending I re-treat.   I like my dr but I don't think he is upto date on all the newest treatments.  My dr has agreed to work with Dr. Pockros and do whatever he can to help, so I am hoping this will be a good combination.  What do you think.

Freddie

[BIOPHIL]

900 mg a day?I think that that is the main problem. The Health food/ supplement purveyors recomend these low amounts because somehow they are afraid to recomend larger anounts.
I am not a doctor and am not dispensing any kind of medical "advice" It seems funny that people recomend $10 a month worth of milk thissle  when the stuff is considered very safe for 1000 years. on the other hand I hear the tx the doctors use routinely fries your thyroid. I personaly use 1800 mg of milk thissle but I also use Sam-e, colorius versicolor reishi and cordiceps mushrooms.(the mushrooms are considered very safe(but expensive), artichoke extract NAC, alpha lipoic acid, and I juice a lot. I am begining to feel Way better and I have Cirhosis. now if Your Blood numbers begin to get better, Is  it not a sign that your liver is improving? i dont know, but it seems reasonable to me. 2 months ago I had a major, major episode where I almost died. Now I am running after the bus on third ave (I caught it) the Bus.

I think that there is something to the herbal stuff, and my test results will tell jme something about this theory when i go to my next appointment. If Spleen is smaller, platelets are higher and asl etc look better, well what will that mean?  I know all that I am saying is anecdotal, but think about the money people are willing to spend on the doctor drugs versus herbal/ natural stuff.

[v eggie dip]

how many mg's per cap is that?

[artgal]

I had been using milk thistle prior to treatment. It was one of the supplements that my doctor, the nurse, all made a point to tell me not to use it during treatment. It interferes with the interferon and is definitely not to be used when doing tx. It is great to use to protect the liver when not on tx.