You say that a "very successful ... treatment" is not a cure.
So what would you call a treatment that resulted in a cure? A very very very
successful treatment????

BTW, the "Alchemist Lab" article says that only about 20% of patients
respond to (conventional treatment) and fewer in "more virulent strains."
This is utter ignorance of medical science, or a deliberate lie. Author
Steven Finkbine also makes the wild and unsubstantiated claim that silymarin
(milk thistle) will increase production of new liver cells to replace
damaged ones and can prevent "liver destruction." I'm sure there's more, but
I didn't feel like wasting any more time reading.

Health Man, may I suggest that you change your pseudo to Snake Oil Man or,
giving you the benefit of the doubt, Blindly Optimistic Fool.

I looked into all this stuff. Before starting treatment I looked to
see if there was an alternative medicine treatment that was effective
in ridding one of the virus. There is not. Although I believe that
alternative medicine is effective with some conditions, they cannot at
the present time rid one of the virus. Conventional medicine has the
most effective treatment.

However, if one is a non-responder or cant afford treatment, I would
consider this approach if I couldnt get into a clinical trial

Hi gang.

Everyone who has spent ten looking minutes on the internet  knows that the
only way to eradicate hcv is conventional medical treatment.  Statistics
for genotype 1 put the first-time the cure rate at roughly 50%.  For G1
relapsers, re-treatment successes appear to fall in area of 20%, depending
on which study you look at.  

Because I am a genotype 1 relapser and may not have access to
re-treatment, I find it helpful and hopeful to remain open-minded (or at
least tolerant!) of others' ideas when it comes to retaining my liver
health.

Although not specific to HCV, pasted below is part of a new and noteworthy
blurb about milk thistle from the pubmed.gov medical database.   The bottom
line is that so far there is no conclusive evidence that milk thistle does
anything for heppers except lower liver enzyme levels.  It is exciting
that it is getting some serious attention though. There are even a few
clinically controlled government studies in process.   See
clinicaltrials.gov.  There has been no substantial research into whether
combining milk thistle with conventional treatment is beneficial or
detrimental.  We just don't know.  

One of the reasons milk thistle and its component molecules are the
subject of scrutiny is that its history in folk medicine dates back
hundreds of years.  That is a starting point for medical  researchers who
systematically scan plant materials for novel molecules.  For those who
doubt the potential medicinal value of herbal remedies, remember the
origins of  penicillin (fungus), taxol (plant), cyclosporin (fungus),
aspirin (plant), digitalis (plant)...the list is long.

kj

Silybin and silymarin--new and emerging applications in medicine.
Curr Med Chem. 2007;14(3):315-38

"Significance of silymarin and its components in medicine is clearly
indicated by an exponential growth of publications on this topic--over 800
papers in the last 5 years."

"This review critically surveys the literature published mainly within
this millennium on the new and emerging applications of silybin (pure,
chemically defined substance) and silymarin (flavonoid complex from
Silybum marianum - milk thistle seeds). These compounds used so far mostly
as hepatoprotectants were shown to have other interesting activities, e.g.
anticancer and canceroprotective and also hypocholesterolemic activity.
These effects were demonstrated in a large variety of illnesses of
different organs, e.g. prostate, lungs, CNS, kidneys, pancreas and also in
the skin protection. Besides the cytoprotective activity of silybin
mediated by its antioxidative and radical-scavenging properties also new
functions based on the specific receptor interaction were discovered. ...
Significance of silymarin and its components in the medicine is clearly
indicated by an exponential growth of publications on this topic--over 800
papers in the last 5 years blah blah."

Having actually spent 2 years of my life studying Chinese Medicine (in the
Boston area) I found the article very interesting. While it was almost 20
years ago that I studied it, I did think the article was true to the
principles of the practice.

And during the time I studied TCM I had witnessed many remarkable successes
both on myself and on others. I do think it takes many years thouhg to be a
really good TCM practitioner and there are not a lot of them out there.

Chinese Medicine looks to build on the natural energies of the body and in
some respects works to assist the body to do what it should be doing under
normal or optimal conditions. I also believe that the developers of TCM were
very in tune with making keen observations of the relationships of the
different organs.

In fact for anyone who has ever studied Yoga, Tai Chi, or Chi Gung you will
know that the exercises are not even designed to build strong muscles. They
are specifically designed to increase energy or blood flow to the different
organs. They knew that this was the true way to obtain better health. And if
you've ever met a Tai Chi or Chi Gung master the proof of concept would be
readily apparent.

So I would not be too quick to discredit this information. It may seem
strange to many but there is a lot more to it then meets the eye, so to
speak.

..just my 2 cents

tx
Jeff