My mother has Hep c and latent TB

[smugglesworth]

Hello my mother has had hep c for around 30 years now (blood transfusion) and recently got the gold blood test for tb as she was told she had it at a nursing home when her leg got broke with the skin test. She took a chest x-ray and everything is fine. However I'm very worried how to even start with this duel diagnosis.

I read ethumbutol was a first line drug but her doctors are recommending InH and vit b6
and I'm concerned as she has the hep c and this drug can increase the risk of heptotoxity .as well as be a strain on the liver.
She has complained that her legs and arms are jelly like and its worrying her and me.
She also has osteo arthritus and is somewhat limited physically because of a car accident years ago and I'm wondering if this might be a natrual progession over time as well? She's 56

I would greatly appreciate any guidance, insight or feedback. Her viral load is at a million and she does not have cirrhosis, however she hasn't had a liver biopsy done only ultrasound.

How urgent is care? What are possible complications that are caused with treatment for tb and is there a way to avoid them?
Also does her hep c have a chance of strengthening if treatment for tb is carried out?

Do I have to seriously worry about a liver transplant being possible? if so that terrifies me.

[oscarguy]

    Well, it does not sound to me that the treatments your are taking are working very well for you from what you stated. With the BHT those viral load counts seem to go to undetectable within a matter of weeks for those willing to give it a try, The BHT surely does not cost very much. And there is that PHYSIOLOGICAL REVIEWS article along with Dr. Harman`s and other`s studies that show a definite average lifespan increase for mice and other mammals dosed for their entire lifetimes with BHT. This is compared to undosed mice. So their is substantial proof that BHT in theraputic doses is benificial to the average lifespan of mammals.
   So, it seems reasonable that some people may wish to give the BHT a try for a few weeks and see what happens like shakar`s father and the others I have posted about have done, as a treatment for hepatitis C. They can always stop taking it if they choose to. The BHT seems to work amazing well for some people including me and those others I listed. This BHT really does work and amazingly well for at least some people. Like shakar said: no one even gives it a try. His father did and the results are impressive. The same is true for me, Gina, January, fatcha brute, and Dr. W.
    The prescribed treatments do not work for everyone, far from it. Frankly they do not seem to work all that well for you from what you stated.   ...Oscar

[EyesofBlue55]

As far as viral load being lessened by 50%.I do not take BHT or intend on using it,My Viral laod fluctuates from 17,000,000 to 8,000,000 in a matter of weeks.Viral loads do this.Dont be fooled and dont use the poison that Oscarguy is talking about,There is no cure for hep C except the tx.Why would the pharmacy co's pay millions of dollars on research if this were true??? Buyer Beware !!!!!

[flcyclist]

We ask for references and you post an obsure reference to an article published in Science in 1975 with no link to read it?  At least you have a sense of humor.   If this is all you got, I'm done.  

[oscarguy]

   I made a mistake in my last posting. BHT and it`s metabolites have one not two tert-butyl groups on each side of the hydroxy or the carbonyl group. I needed to correct that statement. BHT and metabolites have two tert-butyl groups: One on each side of oxygen group = 2 tert-butyl groups. Sorry for that mistake.   ...Oscar

[oscarguy]

   Hi flclist, I think I am actually starting to like you a little bit and do not know why. Anyway, there are some important differences when it comes to BHT. All of those published articles beginning with: Snipe, Person, Keith, and Cupp`s:" Butylated Hydroxytoluene Inactivates Lipid-Containing Viruses " published in the journal SCIENCE, volume 188, pages 64-66 in the year 1975. These same scientists along with many others had follow up articles published in SCIENCE and other journals about the ability of BHT to effectively treat and prevent many viruses that have a coating that to some degree is made up of lipids. These studies proved BHT to be effective in treating many lipid coated viruses in many different species. Hepatitis C is very much such a virus. Exactly the type BHT was proven to be effective in treating. This is because of the nature of the HCV viruses. All are rather simple structures as far as viruses go, or are concerned. And all have a relatively high lipid content in their outer coatings or envelopes.
   Exactly the type of viruses BHT had proven to be effective in treating and preventing in the different animal studies that were done. So, that is the big difference as to BHT. It is not just another of the many plant extracts that have shown some anti-viral properties.
   In any serious discussion about BHT one has to include BHT`s metabolites of which there are many. The things they all have in common are: a 6 carbon ring with an oxygen atom or an O-H group with a tert-butyl group on both sides of the oxygen or O-H group. This is an unusual arrangement. The O-H group is called a hydroxy group. The single oxygen double bonded to a carbon is called a carbonyl group.
    Anyway, BHT and all of it`s metabolites have one or the other group with two tert-butyl groups on each side of it on that 6 carbon ring. With the O-H group that 6 carbon ring has what is called an aromatic electron structure. With the double bonded oxygen the ring loses it`s aromatic electron structure. It does get complex. BHT`s anti-viral properties may very well be nothing more than lipophilic nature of these molecules combined with their relatively bulky shape which would have a disruptive effect on or in those lipid coatings, the forces that hold those coatings together.
   Then there are those anti oxidant properties associated with BHT and it`s metabolites to take into account. I could write a small book about it but have no desire to at this time. There is nothing in it for me and never will be. So very many chemists and others have already discussed all of this and continue to. Anyway there is something very different about BHT and it`s metabolites.   ...Oscar

[flcyclist]

Suppose I came to a Hep C forum and started to make claims that I've elimated HCV by drinking 4 cups of chrysanthemum tea every day for a month, and know 5 other peope that claim the same results.  Oh, and I should also mention this was never tested on humans, only rats.  Do you think everyone would accept this new alternative treatment with open arms?   I would hope and expect to be challenged to provide information to forum members to support this claim.  Otherwise, it's just a claim the can't be backed up.   Hearsay is meaningless.

Somehow you think we should just believe your words.  You take this challenge by stating that I have a "neurotic obsession with BHT".  I'm not the least but concerned about BHT, but more about someone pushing an agenda that can't be supported with data and studies.  

I like to focus on what works, not hollow promises that you say cured 5 people and was never published.  This is not a personal attack on you, just an attempt to understand and read something other than hearsay.