Herbal Treatments

[owen333]

I was diagnosed with Hepatitis C back in 2005.  I spent about 3 years driving around the country to many doctors who promised to cure this illness with different alternative medicine ie herbal medications and many other things. Although in some cases these treatments and/or herbal medicine did lower the ALT liver levels it was only temporarily and definitely did not cure it. I ended up doing the Interferon/Riboviron treatment in the end and was thankfully cured.
For those thinking which path to take please do not waste your time and money with herbal treatments and give yourself the best chance there is.  I only had side effects the first day and was absolutely fine after.  Good luck and God Bless!!!

[copyman]

Glad to hear your were cured.

Good to hear good news once in awhile.

Also great advice about seeking conventional treatment for HCV instead of alternatives. Some heated discussions have taken place in this forum regarding "snake oil" cures.

No reason not to treat now with the new drugs. The odds are better with shorter durations. Should be a no brainer......

[Idyllic]

Three years? What a road trip. Glad you cleared the virus!

[Dannyboi7]

Good for you Owen,Congrats on your cure.

On your journey did you try the heptech products?

[BoceprevirGal]

   This is a great message, which I whole-heartedly agree with

[nonsensical]

Your story is a familiar one.  I have seen this same scenario many times and in the end the pocket book of the infected person is a whole lot lighter, their liver damage worse and the alternative medicine bank accounts keep growing by leaps and bounds.  Big pharma is rich too but they do cure us.

Very happy you are SVR.  

[vinci7777]

I am non responsive after Interferon/Riba and currently looking for information related to supplements helping reverse fibrosis as mine is at 3on4 in 4 scale. My strategy it to buy time waiting for better medical cures. Therefore Heptech products are interesting but I am still looking for more information from those who took Heptech supplements.

Certainly there are many "snake oil" cures and clever guys getting much money on it. But common people, making equation between guys offering herbal treatments and big pharma is totally wrong, lightly saying. This is to compare ants to elephants. If someone is doing such comparisons is either naive in reality perception, ignorant or is an associate of big pharma. Big pharma take billions of dollars on interferon/riba and wishes to earn more on newer cures. I know many people working for big pharma in sales and you have no idea what corrupting, lobbying, influencing practices some of them have in their agenda to get things done, I mean to sale more.

The thing is that everyone sick should take its own health in his own hands. It doesn't mean forget about doctors, rather use different sources of information which can help you be cured or maintaine better live since awaiting for appropriate cures.  Read everything possible from different sources and take your own informed conclusions. Check solutions which may help lower side effects from Interferon/riba or lower ALT/ASP levels to normal through some herbals. I was trying many different herbals and for me Eurocell is the one which lowered mine ALT to normal. ASP was also lowered but still elevated. I tried also specifics from Dr Zhang from NewYork which for me worked in a similar way improving ALT/ASP. Both formulas have Schisandra herb which is probably the best in lowering ALT. Every person is different so always observe yourself

Probably there are no herbals which can clear virus at least known to me and I studied many different sources of information including chinese natural medicine.
But from my experience what everyone can implement is to change your lifestyle by minimising your stress level, get organic food (very important) exercise daily, think positive and meditate as we as individuals can help ourselves a lot!
I speak mostly to those who were non responsive, because telling us take Interferon/Riba again with only 5% or maybe 10% success rate is not a good advice understanding how deadly these chemicals are. There are better cures up there with much larger success rate but still in clinical trials.

In health

[slowlygettingby]

Agree entirely - the damage is too serious to try herbals instead of interferon. A study on milk thistle showed no effect in viral load or quality of life. Thanks for your post!

[susan400]

There are 2 ways to clear the virus:  1: Your body immune system is blessed as one of the 15% who actually clear the virus on your own and never become chronic.   2:  You do a (medical doctor's) sanctioned treatment and obtain viral clearance through that method.     There is NO Herbal TREATMENT that will clear your body of Hepatitis C.  It does not exist no matter what snake oil salesperson may try and tell you.  All herbal treatments can do is help you to mentally think that you're cured when in fact if a viral load is checked (when only using herbal treatment and never having used a MD sanctioned medical treatment), you will always still be positive on your viral load count. Please don't be lured into the false sense of security and belief that you can get a cure using herbal supplements.  It is not possible.  I am sorry if that sounds harsh but it is the truth.  

[rambleon40]

The vast majority of people who do not treat with interferon will never have any significant problems anyway.  

[can-do-man]

End-stage liver disease (cirrhosis) due to chronic hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection has become the leading indication for liver transplantation (LTx) in the United States.
http://www.hcvadvocate.org/hcsp/articles/shaw-stiffel-1.html

You have made it known how you feel about those people though..

[can-do-man]

Hi susan, always nice to see you around here... and as always your post is spot on............. Hope you have a great xmas.

[orphanedhawk]

And, hep C is now responsible for more deaths than HIV/AIDs in the US.

I wanted desperately to go the herbal route rather than do interferon treatment.
Instead I landed up almost dying, getting a transplant and finally getting rid of the virus thanks to interferon.
There is no known herb that will kill the virus. None.

[Dannyboi7]

I guess  OP was a hit and run poster.the pharma corps. have us to promote their wares,Though there is no known cure for hep c with the use of alternative means.Lets not all through the baby out with the bath water.It's not a us against them rivalry.There are some natural products/herbs/supplements/diet ect someone with chronic hep c can take to help stop progression of liver damage and even regress it.

[orphanedhawk]

Good point.
I saw an hebalist, who is an  MD, along with my hepatologist. She prescribed various herbs and supplements. Though I can't say for certain how much they helped or didn't help I do know that despite my condition I did not suffer many of the symptoms that others with ESLD ( end stage liver disease) go through. Between eating well, exercise and the supplements, I may indeed have had an easier time of it than if I'd not used them at all.

[Dannyboi7]

I'm sure it helped OH,you're living proof.But once you are at end stage/decompensated liver it's another ball game.

Cancer is finally cured in Canada but Big Pharma has no interest. The fact that the international drug & medical industry have no interest is because the cure is really cheaper than a chocolate bar and it won't get them to gain any profits at all. Besides, if people had the cure so easily, how will these medical companies make money out of that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LXH-TJYS5w

[orphanedhawk]

I heard a program on the radio years ago about how they weren't even trying to find a cure for cancer. There's too much money to be made treating it.

[rambleon40]

Hep c is certainly the leading cause of liver transplant.  Nevertheless, the VAST majority of folks w/ hep c will never need one.  

http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/HCV/HCVfaq.htm

Hep C Advocate provides a wealth of good info on hep c and treatments.  It fails, however, to meaningful address or discuss the very substantial risks of permanent life-altering injuries caused by the drugs.  Its website states:


"Programs at the Hepatitis C Support Project are made possible through generous grants from the following Corporate and Foundation benefactors:

Boehringer Ingelheim USA
Genentech, Inc., a Member of the Roche Group
Gilead Sciences
Merck & Co.
Vertex"

at the bottom of this page  

http://www.hcvadvocate.org/community/donation.htm

[hrsepwrguy]

"Hep c is certainly the leading cause of liver transplant.  Nevertheless, the VAST majority of folks w/ hep c will never need one."

That's all fine and good IF your 1 of those people, however there is NO WAY TO PREDICT who will progress that far and who won't. I'm 47 and already at stage 3, I think my chances of not progressing that far were pretty slim so I chose to treat, UND at 3 months and NO LINGERING SIDE EFFECT after 48 wks with incivek

[rivll]

It is a calculated risk either way.
It seems that more people than not will clear the virus from TX w/o lingering effects.
Hopefully the new orals will soon make this a non issue.

[rambleon40]

I do not put much stock in "herbs."  

Having watched my liver enzymes bounce in and out of normal range for the first time in 20 years once I started juicing (emphasis on organic kales / spinaches / greens) to treat my interferon-induced psoriasis / arthritis / myalgia, I put a lot of stock in the principles enunciated in Pollan's "In Defense of Food."  

Whatever substances are contained in juiced organic greens and other vegetables are utterly magical.  That medical science has not yet discovered the "what and why" of them does not take away from their magic.

Kind of off-point, but I think it should be malpractice for a rheumatologist to prescribe Enbrel etc for arthritis without first demanding that their patients attempt alterations in diet.  The expensive immunosuppressives are very dangerous and diet often works.

Maybn on-point, because the same principle might apply to hep c.  And yes, I know it won't clear the virus, but it also won't cause brain fog, fry your thyroid, give you arthritis, or induce severe depression.

It is my fantasy that some Hep-C positive folks who read this will try a rigorous course of juicing and report back on their enzyme levels, prior to undertaking INF therapy.  

[rambleon40]

Congratulations!  That's wonderful.

[susan400]

I'm glad you think so, more power to you.  I however, personally, think it's a bunch of malaky, poppycock, snake oil, whatever.  I have had friends who sweared by only doing the vegan organic lifestyle and exercised like crazy and then, wham, they up and died of cancer.  Nobody can say that living the vegan, organic, juicing lifestyle is going to prevent diseases, or cancer, all the time.  Just as nobody can claim the all medicines work for every disease.  Personally, after having tried some of herbal so-called 'cures' for Hep C and feeling worse afterwords, I'm going to pass on that-thank you very much.  Somebody claimed to me that this nasty tasting organic herbal tea would 'cure' me of my Hep C and that I needed to drink it several times a day.  Boy I tell you, I've never felt so sick, sick to my stomach in my entire life. No thank-you.  Did the organic juicing thing for awhile-bought the juicer, the whole nine yards - made a huge mess in my kitchen all the time-which was extra work for me and also-gave me a bad stomachache.  So, I'll still with my normal reasonable diet (not organic/not vegan) and just do my daily exercise regimen, because you know what-it works for me.  I don't have to feel sick to my stomach from some kind of crazy herbal organic 'cure' that doesn't cure me, just makes me feel sick.  I, BTW have tried 10-11 medically approved HEP C treatments and I did not feel as sick on them as I did on the herbal natural stuff.  Unfortunately, I was unable to clear the virus, but I will give it another whirl when the all oral FDA approved treatments become available.  For now, my liver is doing great on my normal regimen. NO herb, just normal diet, exercise, do drink 1 mug of green tea every day and drink my caffeinated coffee every morning.  Abstain from all alcohol, illegal drugs and that's about all I do.

[susan400]

Hi, Can-do-man         Merry Christmas/Happy New Year to you, too!

Susan400

[rambleon40]

Hi!  Merry Christmas.  

I was speaking more of kale, spinach, beet greens, red lettuce, cucumbers, stuff like that.  Juicing a head of red lettuce is refreshing, tastes pretty good, and real anti-inflammatory.

You are right, sometimes the super greens (ie - kale juice) will upset your stomach.  A small bit of ginger and an apple or some carrots cut that chlorophyl taste.

Here's my favorite, but I can't drink it anymore from psoriasis, and its actually not a juice.  In summertime, a tomato, a lime, a half a jalapeño, two or three garlic cloves, water all in a magic bullet or a blender.  

blend it drink it.  15 minutes later you are absolutely buzzed with energy in your blood.  I mean, high.

The greens do the same thing, but with a little less rush and not such a peak.