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5ASA's bad for the liver?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 7/9/2010 6:19 PM (GMT 0)
wow i started a long thread here. How about Milk Thistle for the liver? anybody use that?
Posted 7/9/2010 6:25 PM (GMT 0)
I use milk thistle but don't list it in my signature because I am not so sure I should be.
Posted 7/9/2010 7:18 PM (GMT 0)
I still take milk thistle on and off especially when I was flaring. That's when I get arthritis, rashes, eye inflammation and I am sure it affects my liver. My inflammation markers and blood counts were so fouled up that my GI referred me to oncologist to check for lymphoma. But everything returned to normal immediately when the flare ended.
Posted 7/9/2010 11:16 PM (GMT 0)
Take pancreatin and other digestive enzymes, if things improve you have your answer. I thought it was my pancreas for a while but I'm not taking anything, doing great like I dont have UC so I dont really believe that in my case it was the pancreas any longer.
Posted 7/9/2010 11:45 PM (GMT 0)
I've been trying milk thistle, liver cleansing supplements, and digestive enzymes recently. I plan to go on a liver cleansing diet. It's not easy now that I'm not working from home.
Posted 7/9/2010 11:59 PM (GMT 0)
killcolitis:

 

I didn't mean to rub you the wrong way.  Yes, it's true that many GIs don't talk about a lot of aspects of UC, ie. probiotics, rectal drugs, etc...  I am just saying that using pancreatic enzymes as a basis for the understanding of UC sounds far fetched.  You mentioned in your post you may be wrong.  I believe you are.  I still love your posts.  I will ask my GI about it when I see him next.  The current one I work with is extremely bright and is on the cutting edge of UC/Chron's.  He is very open to non mainstream medicine.  Again no love lost here.  It was just my humble opinion.

 

MyUC

Posted 7/10/2010 12:21 AM (GMT 0)
I take milk thistle off and on. I'm taking more Tylenol than usual (Robaxacet), so more for that reason, actually.

I started using Hubner's milk thistle tonic with sea buckthorn...tastes ugh to me, but my husband likes that taste. Kind of pruney-ish and brown. I like prunes, but it's like a boring prune..lol. I put it in the fridge to make it more palatable.

q
Posted 7/10/2010 2:11 AM (GMT 0)
I have been taking 1200mgs of Asacol for about 13 years..Wow! I have been taking Aza for about 2 years. I was recently diagnosed with a fatty liver...I don't drink, I exercise and I'm sorta thin. Don't know what is causing fatty liver...it could be the Asacol, Aza or the disease itself. Very frustrating.
Posted 7/10/2010 3:35 AM (GMT 0)
5-ASAs are more likely to bother the kidneys. Gastros who do not keep up with professional lit can miss this info and fail to schedule complete urinalysis at least twice yearly for UCers on 5-ASAs. There was a member posting here some time back, Beth75, who described her problem with affected kidneys. Her urinalysis showed leakage of protein-- that's how her 5-ASA complication got diagnosed. Anyone wanting further details can probably still look up her posts. Especially when taking oral 5-ASAs be sure to drink plenty of water daily-- steady flow of water helps protect the kidneys from toxins in general. / Old Hat (30 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 7/10/2010 7:43 PM (GMT 0)
MyUC,
No worries. Interestingly, my daughter did have a metametrix stool test done last year and it showed low pancreatic function. She started enzymes and I didn't really think too much of it until coming across this theory. Anyway, I don't discount it. I don't know because I'm hardly a Dr. and the GIs hardly know either. Regardless, I'm glad you have a great doc and stay in remission for a very long time (we have yet to get there for any real length of time).
Posted 7/10/2010 8:18 PM (GMT 0)
killcolitis:

Good luck with your daughter and her UC.  I wish your family success in fighting this dreadful disease.  Keep the post coming.

MyUC

Posted 7/15/2010 4:36 AM (GMT 0)
I'm reading the Liver Cleansing Diet by Dr Sandra Cabot, and I thought one of the comments she made was interesting:

"Immune dysfunction is common in today's chemically overloaded environment and is exacerbated by nutritional imbalances inherent in processed and high fat diets. Unfortunately, symptoms of immune dysfunction often get treated by suppressive drugs, and rarely does anyone think about the liver. This seems an incredible oversight because it is obvious that the simplest and most efficient way to cleanse the blood stream and take the load off the immune system is by improving liver function."

Not to say that UC is caused by poor liver function or that UC can be cured by improving liver function, I just think that taking drugs that put added stress on the liver does not bode well for UC. There has to be a better way.
Posted 7/16/2010 1:46 PM (GMT 0)
I stopped taking Lialda 3 months ago because my creatinine levels were too high, which is indicative of poor kidney function.  We are going to test it again in September and hopefully they are back to normal.  If they aren't then I guess I have bigger problems and it wasn't the meds causing it.  My dr. and I decided that having proper kidney function was more important than keeping UC under control. 

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