anyone else try milk thistle for liver mets and chemo

I have been taking milk thistle for over 3 years now. I started taking it after I was diagnosed with liver mets.





Laurie

It's hard to say. I take a lot of supplements. I have been Ned for 2 1/2 years and honestly, I am afraid to stop any of them just in case they are helping. I did take a break from herceptin this spring and summer for 5 months and wasn't on any treatment, other than my supplements. My tumor markers stayed the same and scans at the end of the 5 months were still clear. So, who knows, maybe they are helping.





Laurie

Debsing, I neither have formally dx'ed liver mets nor have used milk this supplement myself, but did have lots of research on it since I thought it could help my Dh in his health problems ( not cancer & not actively on any meds).

I do know it is processed in the liver. Well, if your current dx is probably activated in the liver ( as does some of the other newer drugs), you taking any supplement with it may interfere with the procedure. That's why grapefruit ( which has some ingredient activated in liver) is a no-no with many chemo. Btw I was told by a top notch oncology-nutritionist pomnigarade is a no for that reason as well. She also explained not to seek extras in my treatment & let the chemo do it's job properly, without any interferences...



Lauriesh, I am very happy for your ned, guess you are not actively on chemo??



Well the supplement in topic is some serious stuff, I suggest you consult with an oncology-nutritionist as well as your MO& maybe the drug company producing your chemo, if it's OK to take it along with your chemo that's fairly new in the cancer market.



Meanwhile I do suggest you include artichokes in your diet, eat it as much as you can, the heart of it, not throwing away the leaves. Boil them and suck the thick ends. You can drink the water you boil the stuff in. That, my friend, is a harmless supplement to your diet as this veggie is the liver's formal best friend.

Btw, I am not an alternative therapy type, but sadly have lots of cancer experience in the family which led to lots of info on best diet along with therapy.
Another btw, just one fact: this supplement is suggested widely to alchoholics to clean their liver of the harmful residue of their over consumption of alchohol. We would not want to clean the liver of the chemo we are depending our lives on, before it can finish it's job in there, would we??

Hugs,

Ebru

I did take my supplements during chemo, but did get them ok'd by the nutritionist at my oncology office. There were a couple that she reccomended I not take while I was doing chemo, but she was ok with the milk thistle.

I had excellent results while on chemo, 11 cm liver tumor shrunk down to 3 1/2 in in 5 months. and the smaller 3 cm was gone in 3 months.  If I have to go back on chemo, I would continue to take the supplements that the nutritionist lets me take.

Laurie

My oncologist told me no to the milk thistle for the same reason Ebru stated.  But seeing Laurie's great response, I wonder?

- Penny

Yes!  I have diffuse liver mets and associated cirrhosis.  I started taking Milk Thistle regularly about 2-3mos ago and maybe coincidental but my liver values are back to normal.  I used Milk Thistle in a lot of dogs with liver disease and saw tremendous results so I believe it has some value.  Oh, and I had several oncologists including 1 at mDA that said it was okay.  

Best wishes!  I've had diffuse mets now for about 4 yrs and still going strong.

katie

I don't wish to be a party pooper but my intention is to allay the anxieties of those ladies who feel overburdened with pill popping daily.  

I have liver met since 2008. Due to long-term Herceptin (year 6), I've been on a daily nail supplement since last year. It has milk thistle in it but that did not stop my liver enzymes from spiking up.  Doctor believes it's the on-going chemo and Traditional Chinese Medicine that I was taking simultaneously. 

At my doctor's advice, I stopped all supplements and TCM and my liver enzyme finally came down 3 months later naturally. I had a similar experience in 2009 and the liver enzymes also went back to normal after about 3 months. 

Just like chemo, it may be different for different folks but milk thistle certainly didn't work for me. 

Hope this helps. 

I think any supplement that doesn't interfere with the therapeutic effects of your treatment and helps in some way is worth doing. The difficulty is finding someone knowledgeable enough to figure out the chemistry and guide you.