Frequently Asked Questions
4.
I was told that the liver is the only organ that regenerates. Is this true and how does it do it?
I was told that the liver is the only organ that regenerates. Is this true and how does it do it? 5.Besides drugs and herbs, are there any other ways of fighting liver disease that are currently being tested?
Besides drugs and herbs, are there any other ways of fighting liver disease that are currently being tested?6.I am taking the combination interferon and ribaviron therapy but I am now told that I have anemia from the drugs. Is there any natural product that
I am taking the combination interferon and ribaviron therapy but I am now told that I have anemia from the drugs. Is there any natural product that 14.What is the difference between Conventional (Western) medicine, and Alternative Medicine, and why should I consider using Alternative Medicine for my health?
What is the difference between Conventional (Western) medicine, and Alternative Medicine, and why should I consider using Alternative Medicine for my health?Q: What is a liver biopsy, and is it safe?
A: A liver biopsy is a procedure that removes a small sample of liver tissue,usually with the use of a needle. The tissue is then examined under a microscope. For many years, this method has been considered by hepatologists as the gold standard for gauging the extent of liver damage in people with chronic hepatitis. The primary risk of liver biopsy is bleeding from the site of needle entry into the liver. Other possible complications include the puncture of other organs, such as the kidney, lung, colon, or gallbladder.
Q: Is there an Alternative to Liver Biopsy?
A: Yes, there are several as explained below:
1.Fibrosure Test:
Fibrosure Test:Laboratory Corporation of America is presently using the FIBROSURE, a non-invasive blood test for assessing liver status in hepatitis C virus patients. Developed in France, HCV Fibrosure is only available in the United States through LabCorp.
The test (Fibrotest) provides an easily accessible alternative to liver biopsy, both as a baseline determination of liver status before initiating HCV therapy, as post-treatment assessment of liver status six months after therapy completion, and for non-invasive assessment of liver status in patients at risk of complications from a liver biopsy.
The blood sample can be collected in minutes and results can be returned to the physician within days. The test uses six biochemical markers that are routine and considered standard of care in the United States.
Although it is the first step in non-invasive testing for liver fibrosis, the Fibrotest (Fibrosure) blood test is not without its shortcomings. The test appears to be very reliable in detecting absence of fibrosis, early stage fibrosis, late stage fibrosis, and cirrhosis. Where it falls short is in diagnosing those people who fall in-between. (moderate stage fibrosis). Since the test actually measures changes in liver function associated with advancing disease and not fibrosis per se, other biological markers are being developed which actually have been found to be good predictors of fibrosis on their own.
The Fibrotest (Fibrosure) is also being combined with another test, the ALT (liver enzyme blood test). Known as the ‘ActiTest’, this new test allows for the prediction of inflammatory activity along with fibrosis. For more information about the FibroTest and ActiTest, see: www.biopredictive.com and www.LabCorp.com.
2.Caffeine Breath Test
Caffeine Breath Test The Journal of Hepatology has reported that doctors in Australia are testing a new breath test to detect liver damage using none other than the major ingredient in coffee: ‘caffeine’. “The new breath test to detect liver damage could spare patients the risks of a liver biopsy,” say researchers at Concord Hospital in Sidney, Australia. "Liver biopsy is painful in a significant proportion of people and there are also risks involved such as bleeding and damage to other organs,” says Dr. Gordon Park, the test’s inventor.
"Essentially when we do a liver biopsy one of the main questions is to work out whether they have developed cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis, and the only way we can do that at the moment is through a biopsy," Park said. "We've found that our breath test, which is a noninvasive method of looking at the liver, can detect the amount of scarring or fibrosis in the liver quite sensitively."
Fibrosis, or scarring, is a common complication of many liver diseases, including hepatitis B and C and fatty liver disease. Extensive liver scarring can lead to liver failure and, ultimately, death.
The new test takes about an hour. After fasting overnight, a patient is given a highly-caffeinated drink, then asked to blow into a tube. The caffeine contains a chemical carbon "tag". A healthy liver would quickly break down the caffeine, and that tag would be released into the body, incorporated into carbon dioxide and exhaled. But scarred livers are slower at breaking down all drugs - including caffeine. By measuring how much of the carbon tag is present in the breath of the patient, doctors can work out to what extent their liver is damaged.
The test can be conducted in an outpatient setting, so patients don't need to take time off work for a long procedure.
Dr. Gordon Park, a gastroenterologist at Concord Hospital in Sydney, said the test is "a promising method of assessing the severity of liver disease and monitoring a patient's response to treatment".
Caffeine was selected for the test because it is metabolized exclusively through the liver, he said. "An enzyme in the liver breaks it down, and the ability of that enzyme to break it down is intimately related to overall liver function." The carbon isotope incorporated into the caffeine is eventually expelled in the breath as carbon dioxide. Because the isotope is slightly radioactive, the amount of it can be easily measured.
Park said the test -- now under review at Sydney hospitals -- costs about $50 (US$37), and the doctor hopes it will be more widely available by next year.
Hepatology. 2003;38:1227-1236
3.Magnetic Resonance Elastography
Magnetic Resonance ElastographyA new non-invasive alternative to liver biopsy has been invented at the Mayo Clinic. Consisting of magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), this new imaging technique is an accurate tool for non-invasive diagnosis of liver diseases.Here’s how MRE works. The liver responds to many diseases that damage its cells by developing scar tissue or fibrosis. MRE uses a modified form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to accurately measure the hardness or elasticity of the liver. By applying vibrations to the liver, MRE obtains pictures of the mechanical waves passing through the organ. The wave pictures are then processed to generate a quantitative image of tissue stiffness. "Healthy liver tissue is very soft, while a liver with fibrosis is firmer, and a liver with cirrhosis is almost rock-hard," says Richard Ehman, M.D., lead researcher on the MRE project. "If detected early, fibrosis of the liver can be treated, but once the disease has progressed to cirrhosis, the condition is irreversible."
In one study involving MRE examinations of 57 individuals with chronic liver disease and 20 healthy volunteers, the researchers confirmed that MRE accurately detects fibrosis with high sensitivity and specificity.
A second study looked at whether MRE can accurately measure portal hypertension, or high blood pressure in the portal vein that carries blood from the digestive track to the liver, usually as a result of cirrhosis of the liver. This study involved 35 individuals with varying degrees of chronic liver disease and 12 healthy volunteers. Researchers studied MRE examinations of liver and spleen stiffness and found that a highly significant correlation exists between liver and spleen stiffness in patients with portal hypertension. However, the validity of spleen stiffness as a noninvasive measure of portal venous pressure requires further study.
This research was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health. Co-authors of these studies include Meng Yin; Roger Grimm; Phillip Rossman; Armando Manduca, Ph.D.; Patrick Kamath, M.D. and Dr. Ehman; all from Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester; and Anthony Romano, Ph.D., of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.
Q: Does My Liver Need to be De-Toxified?
A: Your liver is the organ that picks up the breakdown products of your own metabolism and removes them from your body. The promoters of liver-detoxifying supplements tell you that their products "support healthy liver function" and help it do its job better. These products contain amino acids, which help the liver reduce levels of acetaldehyde from drinking alcohol; but you get the same amino acids from the protein in your food.
They may also contain antioxidant vitamins, B12 and niacin, that have been shown to protect the liver from damage from certain poisons, but these vitamins are also found in your food. So you gain nothing from liver-detoxifying supplements that is not found in an ordinary, reasonably varied diet. Food is cheaper than supplements and provides other nutrients also.
If we had anything that would truly detoxify the liver, people would not die from hepatitis C and B and other liver diseases.
Again, it is not that the liver needs to be detoxified; it is that the liver needs to adequately do its job of detoxifying everything that goes through it. So the answer is to keep your liver as healthy as possible by feeding it natural products that strengthen it.
Q: I was told that the liver is the only organ that regenerates. Is this true and how does it do it?
A: The way the liver renews itself may be simpler than what scientists had been assuming. The Journal of Biological Chemistry provides new information on the inner workings of cells from regenerating livers that could significantly affect the way physicians make livers regrow in patients with liver diseases such as cirrhosis, hepatitis, or cancer.
"The human liver is one of the few organs in the body that can regenerate from as little as 25 percent of its tissue," says Seth Karp, assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, Boston, and main author of the study. "It is not known how the liver does it, but our results provide some details of what makes the liver so unique."
To investigate how the liver regenerates, Karp and his colleagues set out to determine which proteins are involved in the regenerating cells. The scientists were also interested in testing whether regenerating cells behave like embryonic ones, as is commonly assumed for other organs.
The findings indicated that there were different proteins that helped liver cells regenerate, and these proteins were different from the proteins present during the embryonic development of the liver.
“We think that the liver regrows through a relatively simple process of hyperplasia (regular cell division), which could explain its prodigious ability to repair itself," Karp says. If regrowing livers are simply a matter of stimulating a few proteins, then regrowing livers this way would be especially useful for patients whose livers have been damaged by tumors or viruses (i.e. hepatitis c virus)
THE NEXT STEP:
The next step will be for scientists to understand whether the regenerating cells are stem cells. Studies have shown that adult stem cells are involved in the repair of many organs, but in the case of the liver, the cells repairing it through regeneration may simply be regular cells, not stem cells.
Adapted from: Article: "Restoration of Liver Mass after Injury Requires Proliferative and Not Embryonic Transcriptional Patterns" by Hasan H. Otu, Kamila Naxerova, Karen Ho, Handan Can, Nicole Nesbitt, Towia A. Libermann, and Seth J. Karp, 2007
Q: Besides drugs and herbs, are there any other ways of fighting liver disease that are currently being tested?
A: Yes. They are explained below:
Ultraviolet Light
This alternative form of healing was recently brought back due to the prevalence of new viral diseases without a cure or vaccine (i.e. Hepatitis C and AIDS). In 2005, Energex Systems performed a successful trial of ultraviolet blood irradiation (UBI) on several patients. Energex extracted 3 to 4 percent of the patient’s blood, exposed it to exact amounts of UV light for 20 to 30 minutes, and then returned the irradiated blood to the patient. This was repeated 5 times over a 16 day period. Eleven of 13 subjects sustained greater than 50 percent reductions in viral loads after the treatments.
Visible Light
With UBI, critics say, it is possible to cause genetic mutations of the virus that render it even more resistant to therapies currently in development. Hence the development of pulsed visible light.
In July 2007, scientists from Arizona State University and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine used a low quantity of pulsed visible light to vibrate the virus shell (capsid) causing irreversible damage to its reproduction and ending in the virus disintegrating. The density of this pulsed light is low enough to protect surrounding human cells from being damaged, but is high enough to kill the virus.
It is also too low to cause genetic mutations of the virus.Kong-Thon Tsen of Arizona State University, along withcolleagues at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and the Uniformed Services University of The Health Sciences found that visible light can be used to disinfect blood or other biological samples in hospitals.
The team now plans to test the efficacy of its technique in killing a wide range of deadly viruses, including HIV and hepatitis C. "We also plan to conduct further tests on the effects of the low-power visible laser on mammalian cells to determine any potential side effects and confirm that it selectively kills viruses," said Tsen.
Journal reference: Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter (19 322102)
Q: I am taking the combination interferon and ribaviron therapy but I am now
told that I have anemia from the drugs. Is there any natural product that will help me?
A: One of the major adverse effects of the combination therapy of pegylated interferon (PEG IFN) α plus ribavirin (RBV) on chronic hepatitis C (HCV) is hemolytic anemia. The hemolytic anemia frequently occurs during the first 4-8 weeks. It is thought that Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) protect erythrocytes from destruction during the combination therapy, since EPA increase erythrocyte deformability. In a study led by S. Takaki; Y. Kawakami,et al, patients with Hepatitis C, genotype 1b who received oral EPA 900mg/day twice daily through the treatment were able to complete the first 12 weeks of treatment without a reduction in ribavirin due to anemia. EPA is an omega-3 fatty acid obtained by eating oily fish, fish oil, or krill oil.
Q: Why does Egypt have the highest rate of Hepatitis C infection in the world?
A: At least five million people in Egypt are infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV. "The annual infection rate is more than 70,000 new cases, of which at least 35,000 would have chronic hepatitis C," said Dr Manal el-Sayed, Professor of Paediatrics at Cairo's Ain Shams University and member of the National Hepatitis Committee which is currently formulating an action plan to fight the disease.
Egypt's very high prevalence of HCV is largely the legacy of government campaigns prior to 1980 to treat rural populations for schistosomiasis (or bilharzia), a water-borne disease which at one time was endemic in Egypt. The treatment campaigns, which involved repeated injections, did not follow rigorous hygiene standards, and as such spread blood-borne HCV throughout the population. "At that time, the Ministry treated people in the villages without using disposable syringes," he added.
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
NEWS
February 7, 2007
Posted to the web February 7, 2007
Cairo
Q: I am currently taking Milk Thistle for my Hepatitis, but it does not seem to be helping much. Why is this?
A: Several recent studies have called into question the value of milk thistle, especially in altering the mortality rates in Hepatitis C or Hepatitis B.
Appearing in two recent 2005 journals, The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research, and in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, researchers appear to discount the effectiveness of milk thistle to alter the mortality rates in Hepatitis C or Hepatitis B individuals.
Dr. Andrea Rambaldi, visiting researcher at the Center for Clinical Intervention Research at Copenhagen University Hospital, led a team that reviewed 13 randomized clinical trials involving 915 patients who were treated with milk thistle or its extracts. Participants had acute or chronic alcoholic liver cirrhosis, liver fibrosis, hepatitis and/or steatosis, and viral-induced liver disease (hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C). The primary outcome measure was ‘mortality.’
All the trials compared the efficacy of milk thistle or any milk thistle constituent versus placebo or no intervention in patients with liver disease. “There is no evidence supporting or refuting milk thistle for alcoholic and/or hepatitis B or C virus liver diseases,” the authors found.
The market for milk thistle is enormous, Dr. Christian Gluud, one of the researchers noted, given that as many as 1 billion people around the world have liver disease due to alcoholism or hepatitis B or C. “It could even be larger,” he added, “because some people may decide to take milk thistle for prevention.”
While some studies found that liver-related mortality may be reduced in patients treated with milk thistle, these findings were not duplicated in the higher quality clinical trials. However, milk thistle was found safe to use with no serious side effects and with participants perceiving improvement in symptoms — although no more than with placebo.
The current gold standard treatment, which combines injections of interferon and ribavirin, has serious side effects and is hard for patients to tolerate. With lack of effective treatment for liver disease, researchers have been looking for alternative therapies that curb symptoms with minimum adverse effects on patients.
According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, studies in laboratory animals suggest that silymarin may benefit the liver by promoting the growth of certain types of liver cells, demonstrating a protective effect, fighting oxidation (a chemical process that damages cells) and inhibiting inflammation.
But in the researcher’s review, milk thistle was not proven effective in lowering mortality in alcoholic or hepatitis B or C liver disease. Dr. Rambaldi and colleagues conclude, “Milk thistle could potentially affect alcoholic and/or hepatitis B or C virus liver diseases. But large-scale randomized clinical trials on milk thistle for alcoholic and/or hepatitis B or C liver diseases versus placebo may be needed.”
Sources:
Rambaldi A, Jacobs BP, Iaquinto G, Gluud C. Milk thistle for alcoholic and/or hepatitis B or C virus liver diseases. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2005, Issue 2. Am J Gastroenterol 2005;100:1–9
Q: I smoke cigarettes and have Hepatitis C. Are the cigarettes damaging my liver?
A: In a word….Yes. According to a study performed by FABIENNE PESSIONE, MARIE-JOS´E RAMOND, et.al, there is a significant relationship between cigarette smoking and hepatic lesions in patients with chronic hepatitis C. This relation was independent of the other factors known to affect the course of the disease, such as age, gender, and alcohol intake.
From: HEPATOLOGY Vol. 34, No. 1, 2001
Q: If you have liver disease, is an occasional alcoholic drink OK ?
A: In a study in the Journal: Hepatology, April 14, 2004 issue, researchers found that alcohol promotes the spread of the Hepatitis C virus in human liver cells. If you have liver disease and take an occasional alcoholic drink, consider this perspective: Being infected with a virus like Hepatitis C is like harboring smoldering coals in your liver. A sip of alcohol is like putting a drop of lighter fluid on those coals. The more lighter fluid you use, the greater the fire, and even a small amount of alcohol can fan the fire. So drinking just a little bit of alcohol can worsen liver damage. The researchers found that there was no “safe” level of alcohol in liver disease sufferers.
Q: For a person with Hepatitis C, what are the risks of having Sexual Relations?
A: In a study published by the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Milano, Roma, Italy on April 19, 2004, findings indicated that there is an extremely low possibility, if at all, of transmission of hepatitis c through heterosexual monogamous relationships. A summary of the study appears below:
Lack of evidence of sexual transmission of Hepatitis C among monogamous couples
Monday, 19-Apr-2004, by News-Medical Italian researchers have evaluated the risk of sexual transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among 895 monogamous heterosexual partners of HCV chronically infected individuals in a long-term prospective study.
The follow up period was 8060 person-years; 776 (86.7%) spouses were followed up for ten years. corresponding to 7760 person-years of observation and 119(13.3%) spouses (69 whose infected partners cleared the virus following treatment and 50 who ended their relationship or were lost at follow- up) contributed for additional 300 person-years.
During the follow-up three HCV infections were observed corresponding to an incidence rate of 0.37 per 1,000 person-years. However, in one case the infecting HCV genotype in a spouse was different from that of the partner ((2a, 1b), likely excluding a sexual route of transmission. Despite the remaining two couples had concordant genotypes, sequence analysis of the NS5b region of the HCV genome, coupled with a phylogenetic analysis showed that the corresponding partners carried different viral isolates, again excluding the possibility of intraspousal transmission of HCV.
These findings indicate an extremely low or even null risk of HCV transmission within heterosexual monogamous couples.
Department of Internal Medicine, Policiinico of Modena, University of Milano, S. Giacomo Hospital, Roma, Italy
Q: Has any work been done with Stem Cell Therapy to regenerate damaged livers?
A: The team from Imperial College London and Hammersmith Hospital believe that by injecting patients with their own stem cells their liver function may improve.
By injecting the patient's own stem cells, or blood derived stem cells, directly into the bloodstream, the researchers hope they may be able to improve the function of the liver by getting the stem cells to repopulate the liver. In patients with chronic liver failure, the liver has lost cells reducing the effectiveness of the liver, and leading to disease and ill health.
Professor Nagy Habib, from Imperial College London and Hammersmith Hospital, and trial leader comments: "Although this is still very early days for the trial, it could be a first step to providing a new treatment option for those suffering from chronic liver failure."
The researchers are currently looking for patients suffering from chronic liver failure to take part in the trial. This will involve 13 hospital visits over a period of two months for various procedures, including scans and a procedure called leukapheris.
Leukapheris is a procedure in which blood is taken from the patient, and separated into its component parts. The white blood cells are taken and the stem cells separated from them. The red blood cells are then returned to the body through the arm, while the stem cells are injected into the hepatic artery, an artery in the liver.
Patients will have to visit the hospital every two weeks to test the function of their liver, kidneys and how well the blood is clotting.
Q: Why Can’t the Drug Companies be Trusted?
A: The drug companies are driven by profits and have used their power to influence many areas of medicine. What is most unfortunate is that this has resulted in many biased studies, which ultimately lead to misleading information to the public. The drug companies’ intentions are evident in the $5 billion that was spent in 2006 for advertising costs and the vast amounts of money they donate toward grants and scholarships used to fund the costs of medical schools.
Their motives don’t stop there as they are also spending about $15 billion a year on physician marketing. Most physicians have no clue that the drug companies are spending (on average) $10,000 per doctor to influence their behavior. The doctors, of course, do not receive a check, but the perks are quite significant.
They also don't realize that they actually lose that much income and more if they factor in the time they lose by sitting with the drug company reps and going to their "free" meals and lectures. Doctors also often overlook what a fiduciary responsibility is and therefore don't realize that they need to carefully analyze the costs involved in recommending expensive drugs.
Though drugs are sometimes appropriate and at times can save a person’s life, most of the time they are unnecessary, harmful and expensive. They cause patients to divert much of their hard-earned income to the drug companies, which further perpetuates this indirect physician subsidy.
If you are a consumer, it is up to you to arm yourself with facts about prescription drugs prior to making your decision to take them.
After resigning from her position as interim editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in June 2000, Dr. Marcia Angell decided it was time to write a book on the stronghold drug companies have over clinical trials and the way medicine is practiced today.
Throughout her 20 years at the NEJM, Angell witnessed the drug companies increased interactions and influence over top players in the medical field. This prompted her to write a book detailing the accounts of the drug companies and their close ties with some of the leading medical journals, doctors and government agencies.
The book, titled “The Truth about Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It,” is now available in bookstores.
Finally, if you want to further understand how corporations and government manipulate science and the media by preying upon the public trust--and you want to know how to protect yourself--I highly recommend the book Trust Us, We're Experts. It is truly one of those books that all Americans should read, and would make an important gift for any young adult who wants to maintain control over him or herself as they enter “the real world.”
In ‘Trust Us, We’re Experts’, the authors relate the following:
We count on the experts. They tell us whom to vote for, what to eat, how to raise our children. We watch them on TV, listen to them on the radio, read their opinions in magazine and newspaper articles and letters to the editor. We trust them to tell us what to think, because there’s too much information to sort it all out ourselves.
We should stop trusting them right this second.
In “Trust Us, We’re Experts!, journalists Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber unmask the sneaky and widespread methods industry uses to influence opinion through bogus experts, doctored data, and manufactured facts. Rampton and Stauber show how corporations and public relations firms have seized upon remarkable new ways of exploiting your trust to get you to buy what they have to sell: letting you hear their pitch from a neutral third party, such as a professor or a pediatrician or a soccer mom or a watchdog group.
The problem is these third parties are usually anything but neutral. They have been handpicked, cultivated, and meticulously packaged in order to make you believe what they say. In many cases, they have been paid handsomely for their “opinions.”
You think that nonprofit organizations just give away their stamps of approval on products? Bristol-Myers Squibb paid $600,000 to the American Heart Association for the right to display the AHA name and logo in ads for its cholesterol-lowering drug Pravachol. SmithKline Beecham paid the American Cancer Society $1 million for the right to use its logo in ads for Beechan’s NicoDerm CQ and Nicorette antismoking aids.
You think that if a scientist says so, it must be true? In the early 1990s, tobacco companies secretly paid thirteen scientists to write a few letters to influential medical journals. One bio-statistician received $10,000 for writing a single eight-paragraph letter that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and a cancer researcher received $20,137 for writing four letters and an opinion piece to The Lancet, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and the Wall Street Journal.
Q: What is the difference between Conventional (Western) medicine, and Alternative Medicine, and why should I consider using Alternative Medicine for my health?
A. Alternative Vs. Conventional: Why Doctors Don't Get It
By Dr. Joseph Mercola
with Laina Krisik
If you live in the United States and need medical care or treatment for a disease you can follow one of two paths to better health--conventional or alternative. In making this decision it is important to know the differences between the two practices.
A Comparison of Conventional to Alternative Medicine
Conventional (Disease-based Model)
•Offers the best medicine in surgeries or trauma care
Offers the best medicine in surgeries or trauma care•Treatment of immune health-related conditions routinely consists of prescribing drugs or recommending medical procedures, which are often invasive
Treatment of immune health-related conditions routinely consists of prescribing drugs or recommending medical procedures, which are often invasive•Targets treating symptoms, not the underlying causes
Targets treating symptoms, not the underlying causes •Treats the human body in parts, not as a whole
Treats the human body in parts, not as a whole•Medical schools are set up by organ specific departments that don't share any kind of relationship with one another
Medical schools are set up by organ specific departments that don't share any kind of relationship with one another•The shaping of conventional medical doctors is based upon using "rescue medicine," not finding treatment and prevention alternatives for illnesses
The shaping of conventional medical doctors is based upon using "rescue medicine," not finding treatment and prevention alternatives for illnessesAlternative Medicine (Prevention-based Model)
•Approaches medical treatment by placing its focus primarily on proactive measures
Approaches medical treatment by placing its focus primarily on proactive measures •Treats the condition, not the symptoms
Treats the condition, not the symptoms •More cost effective
More cost effective •Treatment targets the whole body
Treatment targets the whole body The growing number of people turning to alternative therapies is growing stronger and is becoming more and more the chosen form of medical treatment among Americans.
Just consider these statistics:
•One out of every three Americans uses some kind of alternative medicine
One out of every three Americans uses some kind of alternative medicine •Between 1990 and 1997 there was a 47 percent increase in visits to alternative practitioners, from 427 million to 629 million, bypassing the estimated total number of visits made to all conventional primary care doctors in 1997
Between 1990 and 1997 there was a 47 percent increase in visits to alternative practitioners, from 427 million to 629 million, bypassing the estimated total number of visits made to all conventional primary care doctors in 1997As these statistics reveal the rapidly increasing number of people choosing alternative therapies as a form of treatment, the debated question among the health care industry is, "Why don't more conventional doctors recommend alternative medicine?"
Pharmaceutical Ties
The driving force behind the continuing growth of conventional medicine has been the pharmaceutical industry, embraced by both doctors and pharmacists, who calculate their worth through treating disease by prescribing medications. For example, if a patient is diagnosed with breast cancer, the protocol for the doctor is to prescribe tamoxifen. If a patient is diagnosed with schizophrenia, clozaril is prescribed.
Medical Schools Receive Funding From Drug Companies
Most medical schools receive a huge chunk of funding from the pharmaceutical industry that has a vested interest in marketing their medicines. Evidence of this could be seen in Pfizer Inc, a company that develops produces and markets the leading prescription medications for humans and offers several scholarships and grants to American Medical Schools.
The Mass Media Favors Drug Advertising
Just as pharmaceutical companies are all about making profits, so is the mass media and this is clearly exposed in the high numbers of drug commercials consumers are exposed to every day. Drug ads equal profits for the media.
The number of mass media commercials has exploded over the past few years. In 1999, drug companies spent $1.8 billion on direct-to-consumer advertisements for prescription drugs. Even more disturbing, it was discovered that around 10 percent of the people who watched the commercials inquired to their doctor about the specific drugs.
Even the American Medical Association maintains a relationship with the pharmaceutical industry. If you go to their homepage you will find a sizable advertisement for the statin, Crestor.
Research Discrepancies
The scale for funding of medical research is disproportionately tipped to favor conventional medicine over alternative medicine. An example of this could be seen in the 0.08 percent of the British National Health Service research budget set aside for alternative research. Also, out of $12 billion allocated every year by Congress to the National Institutes of Health, a mere $5.4 million goes to the Office of Alternative Medicine to investigate the claims of approximately 50 therapies.
The lack of alternative medicine research funding results in three critical consequences:
•The prevention of relevant research projects
The prevention of relevant research projects•It negatively affects the creation of a research infrastructure similar to the one of conventional medicine
It negatively affects the creation of a research infrastructure similar to the one of conventional medicine •Deters well-trained career scientists from entering into the field
Deters well-trained career scientists from entering into the fieldQuestionable Research
One of the biggest complaints the conventional medical industry has against alternative medicine is the lack of scientific research to support their practices.
Ironically, much of the research on conventional medicine has raised many speculations over validity issues. An example of this is the hundreds of articles published in top medical journals claimed to be written by academic researchers that are actually written by ghostwriters working for agencies, which receive large amounts of money from pharmaceutical companies to market their products. These are the very journals medical professionals rely on when determining treatment options.
Over 60 percent of clinical studies that involve human participants get financial backing from drug companies, not from the federal government. Studies also show that it is often common for companies to hold off on the publication of data that reveal their drugs are ineffective.
The conventional medical model is fatally flawed and is largely profit-driven by the pharmaceutical industry that influences the media through drug advertisements. Evidence that the American public is becoming discouraged with conventional medicine has become obvious in the growing numbers turning to alternative treatments for answers.
On the other hand, convincing doctors and the media the value of alternative medicine might be a long way off considering their tight ties with drug companies. Profit-hungry drug companies won't be making the shift to change the attitude of conventional doctors any time soon. There is too much money at stake for them to lose. That leaves it up to us to take control over our own health and make the changes.
Q: What is the rationale for using Herbal Remedies to treat liver disease and Hepatitis C?
A: Traditional western allopathic medicine (i.e. MDs and DOs) generally views hepatitis C as a single disease entity in which viral elimination is the sole objective. Drugs are employed in an attempt to satisfy this goal. The drugs used to treat hepatitis C carry serious side-effects, and unfortunately elimination of the virus from the body in many individuals is not accomplished.
From an eastern or ‘holistic’ perspective (i.e. Chinese medicine, Indian medicine, herbology, naturopathy etc), hepatitis C really exists as two separate diseases. The first is viral infection, while the second is the progressive damage or scarring (i.e. fibrosis) of the liver that may eventually lead to cirrhosis.
It is interesting to note that, although severe fibrosis and cirrhosis can substantially damage the liver, one does not have to have hepatitis C to get them. (i.e. chronic alcohol abuse, autoimmune liver disease, other viruses). By the same token, one can have hepatitis C without having significant fibrosis of the liver.
If this is indeed the case, then one must ask the question: What causes one person with hepatitis C to develop cirrhosis, while another person with the same disease does not develop it?
Perhaps eastern medicine may hold one of the answers to this question. As a natural ‘holistic’ form of medicine, Chinese medicine, for example, attempts to look, not just at the disease, but at the person as a whole. This focus is aimed at helping the individual to: 1) optimize his immune system so as to better fight the virus, 2) protect the liver from developing fibrosis by reducing oxidative damage and inflammation in the liver, 3) by alleviating and eliminating symptoms of hepatitis C by taking the load off the liver, and 4) by increasing the person’s overall state of health.
Measuring results
As with traditional western doctors, natural medicine practitioners using herbal treatments would also expect to see positive changes in: 1) blood results (i.e. normalization of liver enzyme levels, platelets, iron levels), and 2) urine values that show how well the liver is breaking down toxins and alleviating oxidative stress. The same laboratory tests used by western medicine are appropriate here.
But, very importantly, as treatment progresses, natural medicine practitioners will examine and assess the alleviation of the patient’s symptoms as an indicator of how well the liver is functioning. For example, Chinese medicine doctors and herbalists will monitor the patient’s pulse and tongue as a reflection of what is going on inside the body. With herbal remedies, we can bring liver enzymes into normal range, relieve symptoms, and protect the liver cells against damage, thereby protecting the liver and the patient from the consequences of hepatitis C.
The bottom line is this. It is very reasonable to believe that, with herbal remedies, a person can live an otherwise healthy and full life with hepatitis C infection as long as he keeps his liver and the rest of his body healthy.
Q: Why is laughter so helpful for people who suffer with Liver Damage?
A: Having liver disease is no laughing matter, but did you know that laughter boosts the immune system by raising levels of infection-fighting T-cells called Gamma-interferon, and B-cells, which produce disease-destroying antibodies?
Dr. Lee Berk and fellow researcher Dr. Stanley Tan of Loma Linda University in California have been studying the effects of laughter on the immune system. Their published studies have shown a positive effect of laughter on the entire immune system. Below are the results of their studies:
Laughter Activates the Immune System
In Berk's study, the physiological response produced by belly laughter was opposite of what is seen in classical stress, supporting the conclusion that mirthful laughter is a eustress state -- a state that produces healthy or positive emotions.
Research results indicate that, after exposure to humor, there is a general increase in activity within the immune system, including:
An increase in the number and activity level of natural killer cells that attack viral infected cells and some types of cancer and tumor cells.
- An increase in activated T cells (T lymphocytes). There are many T cells that await activation. Laughter appears to tell the immune system to "turn it up a notch."
- An increase in the antibody IgA (immunoglobulin A), which fights upper respiratory tract insults and infections.
- An increase in gamma interferon, which tells various components of the immune system to "turn on."
- An increase in IgB, the immunoglobulin produced in the greatest quantity in the body, as well as an increase in Complement 3, which helps antibodies to pierce dysfunctional or infected cells. The increase in both substances was not only present while subjects watched a humor video; there also was a lingering effect that continued to show increased levels the next day.
Laughter Decreases "Stress" Hormones
The results of the study also supported research indicating a general decrease in stress hormones that constrict blood vessels and suppress immune activity. These were shown to decrease in the study group exposed to humor.
For example, levels of epinephrine were lower in the group both in anticipation of humor and after exposure to humor. Epinephrine levels remained down throughout the experiment. In addition, dopamine levels were also decreased. Dopamine is involved in the "fight or flight response" and is associated with elevated blood pressure. Laughing is aerobic, providing a workout for the diaphragm and increasing the body's ability to use oxygen.
Laughter brings in positive emotions that can enhance, not replace, conventional treatments. Hence it is another tool available to help fight the disease. Experts believe that, when used as an adjunct to conventional care, laughter can reduce pain and aid the healing process. For one thing, laughter offers a powerful distraction from pain.
In a study published in the Journal of Holistic Nursing, patients were told one-liners after surgery and before painful medication was administered. Those exposed to humor perceived less pain when compared to patients who didn't get a dose of humor as part of their therapy. Perhaps, the biggest benefit of laughter is that it is free and has no known negative side effects.
So, here is a summary of how humor contributes to physical health.
Muscle Relaxation - Belly laugh results in muscle relaxation. While you laugh, the muscles that do not participate in the belly laugh, relaxes. After you finish laughing those muscles involved in the laughter start to relax. So, the action takes place in two stages.
Reduction of Stress Hormones - Laughter reduces at least four of neuroendocrine hormones associated with stress response. These are epinephrine, cortisol, dopac, and growth hormone.
Immune System Enhancement - Clinical studies have shown that humor strengthens the immune system.
Pain Reduction - Humor allows a person to "forget" about pains such as aches, arthritis, etc.
Cardiac Exercise - A belly laugh is equivalent to "an internal jogging." Laughter can provide good cardiac conditioning especially for those who are unable to perform physical exercises.
Blood Pressure - Women seem to benefit more than men in preventing hypertension.
Respiration - Frequent belly laughter empties your lungs of more air than it takes in resulting in a cleansing effect - similar to deep breathing. Especially beneficial for patients who are suffering from emphysema and other respiratory ailments.
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