My visit with Dr. Zhang

[Bali05]

I went to see Dr. Zhang after reading different posts in various forums
from people who claim to have lowered and even normalized their enzymes.
While we all know that this is not a "cure" , we still prefer normal enzymes
over elveated ones in any given situation.
Dr. Zhang explained to me how you can live an almost normal life span
with the virus by keeping inflammation and anything else that is bad to the
liver at bay.
He uses herbal formulas that have been applied for hundreds of years to
millions of chinese (China has very high rates of hepatitis)

Does Dr. Zhang pass the medhelp legitamacy test ?

[hopeful51]

I guess I am confused I thought you saw a Dr. Weeks in Washington St.
I called Dr. Weeks and it was going to cost me $600.00 for a two hour consult....needless to say I won't be seeing Dr Weeks.
I was very dissapointed that someone who says they can help would cost so much money....now if he came home with me and cooked and cleaned .....maybe.....just trying to keep it light.
So I am back to the waiting game.......come on new drugs.
Keeping my enzymes where they should be diet and the dreded exercise.
Hopeful51

[mhudnall]

Yes, I am doing both.

The autoimmune reactions came on with INF - in fact the extreme reactions led to my discontinuing INF.

When I first started LDN a year ago it brought my VL way down and my enzymes down to near normal. Over the last year the enzymes have crept back up and then the rashes came back. In my view, the autoimmune thing is working over the LDN. So I increased my LDN dose to 4.5 mg from 3 mg and started doing Dr. Zhang's herbs.

And Willy, I always do labs. Verification is important. Dr. Zhang says that 80% of his patients experience normalized enzymes with his herbs. He strongly advises lab tests to verify. When one of his patients achieves three consecutive labs (12 months) of normal enzymes, then he moves into the cellular repair herbs, with a maintenance dose of the anti-inflammatory herbs moving on.

Mike

[Bill1028]

mhudnall wrote:
“I've been doing Dr. Zhang's herbs for about a month and a half. I am doing it to lower enzymes. He also has a formula that addresses autoimmune skin rashes, and it was effective in stopping the rashes. Dr. Zhang told me to quit taking it when the rashes disappeared, which I did. Then later they started coming back, but were eliminated again by the formula.”


Mike, Are you not taking ldn now?  I thought the ldn cured your skin rashes.

[Willy50]

I don't want to be a cynic here but I pass on a word of warning.  In my limited experience w/ alternatives I did cross a person who experienced a bad rise in their LFT's while on Zhang's herbs (in 2005).  Both AST and ALT rose above 500 and both fell about 400+ after one month off the herbs.

You could decide that 1) all chinese herbs are bad,  2) this person got a bad batch, or 3) this person had some allergy or some other issue.
I've no opinion other that to say;  monitor your journey with blood tests.

I also know a person who claimed that they cleared using Chinese herbs.  I'm suspicious of that but cannot prove it either way.  I am less skeptical of the person w/ the elevated LFT's; they were FREAKING out.

Get those tests and make sure of what you are doing.

Willy

[mhudnall]

The expensive protocol that did more harm than good was INF. The harm was extreme and documented by labs.

LDN is inexpensive and has kept my VL in the very low range (300 K). That is documented by labs.

The Zhang herbs are somewhat expensive but If they control inflammation, then they are worth it. I'll find out if they are effective by doing my labs. If the enzymes are down or reduced then they are worth it.

There are many anti-fibrotics and liver regenerative substances available; these are documented with studies. In the absence of reliable lab tests to measure fibrosis (besides the biopsy), I guess the only way to establish this point will be to outlive the SVR people on this board. That being said, I'll miss you when you are gone copy.

By the way, we all know what you don't believe in; what, besides INF do you believe in?  Since I can't do INF again, what do you suggest I do? Save my money and say good-bye? Seriously, let's distill your advice down to a sentence or two. What's my prognosis without INF Dr. Doom?

[banarep]

I too have tried herbal remidies, all with keeping the enzymes down, but not the liver damage.  my question to anyone wanting to do herbal chinese medacine, is if it works, why does china have so many people with liver disease?  check the med facts about china, liver disease and the % of people with end stage liver damage.