Milk Thistle

deb1h32

Is it okay to take milk thistle while being treated w/ herceptin?

Deb

Jaybird627

I took most of my supplements, not all every day, during chemo but I had A/C & Taxol, not Herceptin. I take it daily now, though. Good luck.

Jaybird

LizM

Jaybird, how much do you take? I am taking a low dose (140 mg) and taking it for a short period of time before my next blood tests since my liver enzymes were slightly elevated. I am hoping due to meds. I am taking Milk Thistle seed since it is not suppose to be estrogenic but the flower of milk thistle may have estrogenic properties. I am also hoping it does not interfere with Arimidex.

Jaybird627

Liz, I take 1-100mg/day. I currently have the Whole Foods brand as the capsule is vegetarian. I know I did take it during chemo but with my stomach being out of sorts the entire time I only took my supplements sporatically.

I figure anything to help the liver, as its function is to help filter impurities. Im not sure what, if any, effect it has on liver enzymes.

Jaybird

mags

Hi Liz, I've been taking milk thistle too now for quite a while to try and lower my liver enzymes. I have a fatty liver because of the tamoxifen. Well my liver enzymes are even more elevated so it looks like it's not working. Then again, maybe they would be even higher if I wasn't taking it. I do regular ultra sounds to keep an eye on my liver and I'm due one now. I'll let you know what happens.
Hugs
Mags

rrs

Is fatty liver a common SE with tamoxifen? Mags, if you don't mind my asking, what made them test you for a fatty liver? Was it because your enzymes were elevated? I took tamoxifen and milk thistle. But I also drank wine during that time too. I had elevated enzymes once or twice but no further tests were done.

LizM

rrs, you mention that you had elevated liver enzymes once or twice but no further tests were done. That would imply that your oncologist was not too worried about them, correct? My liver enzymes were mildly elevated when I had my bloodwork for pre-op for implant exchange. I called for the bloodwork or otherwise my plastic surgeon told me they probably would not have even told me they were elevated. When I found out they were elevated I contacted my oncologist who did not seem too concerned but told me to have them retested. My plastic surgeon told me that if I told my oncologist he would probably tell me to have them retested but otherwise probably would not have been too concerned. I had my bloodwork taken last Monday for my annual physical with pcp on Wednesday. I am trying not to worry too much about it as I have read that it is quite common for LFT's to be elevated. I took the milk thistle for about two weeks before I had the bloodwork last Monday so we will see if it made any difference.

rrs

He didn't seem too worried. That was when I was on tamoxifen. There are a lot of things that can cause them to be elevated. Hopefully they will be in the normal range on your next report.

LizM

Just got my results from my pcp today. They are better but ALT is still 3 pts above normal. AST was normal at 31 and ALT was slightly elevated at 43 (normal is 40). I am happy with the results since they went down. Last test in January, AST was 54 and ALT was 37. My pcp did not seem too concerned. She wasn't even going to mention it till I asked her about them. She was more concerned with my WBC being at 3300 but my oncologist had already told me he was not too concerned that my WBC has not returned to normal. I am a year out from chemo. I guess the milk thistle worked. I also quit taking Ibuprofen during the period before my restest so that could have been the culprit as well. I will show the results to my oncologist at my next appt in July. I don't think he will probably be too concerned with the very slightly elevated AST since both numbers went down. I hope not anyway.

mags

Hi rrs, I have a weird feeling under my ribs - not so much a pain but uncomfortable so I did the ultra sound off my own bat. That's when I found out I had the fatty liver. Now I do the ultra sound every three months but it's just the same even though my levels are slightly more elevated. I suggested doing an ooph to my doctor and going on an AI but he was really against it. I might ask him about doing a menopause test and see if I can get on the AI but then there's the bone thing to worry about. Don't think my tests are going to be in the normal range till I get off the tamoxifen.
Hugs
Mags