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Alternative Medicine—Heal Thyself—Living With Hepatitis C

By Jack Challem

In 2002, after a stressful time in her life, Mary Jo Bean, then 66, suddenly became “deathly ill” and was rushed to the emergency room. The doctors knew something was seriously wrong—her liver enzymes were abnormally high—but they had trouble pinpointing the problem. Follow-up exploratory surgery found it: Bean’s liver was hard as a rock.

Bean, who lives in a rural community south of Oklahoma City, had developed cirrhosis, a scarring of her liver, caused by a chronic hepatitis C infection. Yet she had led the “clean life.” The only explanation for the infection was a contaminated blood transfusion back in the 1960s. “Suddenly, I was given two months to live, maybe a year if I started interferon therapy,” she recalls. “But I talked with other patients, and the side effects [of the drugs] scared me.”

As Bean scrambled to read everything she could on the subject, she learned about Burt Berkson, MD, PhD, a nutritionally oriented physician and expert in liver diseases. By the time she got to Berkson’s clinic in Las Cruces, New Mexico, she couldn’t walk without another person holding her up. Her voice was so weak that she couldn’t speak above a whisper.

Berkson knew from experience exactly what to do. He put Bean on a liver-boosting, high-potency antioxidant regimen. He also coached Bean on how to improve her eating habits, with an emphasis on fresh and whole foods.

Two weeks later, the woman who had been near death was ready to take on the world. As soon as she returned home, she began cleaning the house, doing laundry, and tackling other chores, and a few months later she power-washed and painted her house. “I got my energy back,” she says in a clear, strong voice.

A stealthy virus
Hepatitis literally means “liver inflammation.” The hepatitis C virus infects 4 million Americans, which is four times the number of people with HIV. Once infected, a person has the virus for life—increasing the risk of liver failure, debilitating fatigue, and liver cancer.

Often called a “silent epidemic,” hepatitis C can wreak havoc and still leave a person without symptoms for years. According to the American Liver Foundation, more than two-thirds of people with hepatitis C don’t even know they’re infected. And when symptoms do finally appear, they may mimic the flu or cause fatigue, leading to misdiagnosis. Meanwhile, the virus continues to ravage the liver.

People contract hepatitis C primarily through the exchange of blood. Anyone who shares needles—drug users, those getting unsanitary tattoos or body-piercings—along with anyone who may handle contaminated needles—healthcare workers and police officers—are at risk for the disease. Additionally, anyone who received blood transfusions before routine screening of the blood supply began in 1990 is at risk. And even today’s blood-screening methods aren’t foolproof. A couple of years ago, 60 patients at an El Paso, Texas, hospital contracted hepatitis from contaminated blood transfusions. Though it happens rarely, hepatitis C can also be transmitted sexually.

“There’s a possibility that we don’t understand all of the ways hepatitis C is transmitted,” says Duffy MacKay, ND, of Dover, New Hampshire, and author of The User’s Guide to Treating Hepatitis Naturally (Basic Health Publications, 2005). “It may be easier to contract than we thought. We just don’t know.”

As the virus attacks the liver, it depletes glutathione, a potent antioxidant that protects liver cells and detoxifies harmful chemicals. As cells break down, they release abnormally high levels of enzymes into the bloodstream. If left untreated, hep C scars the liver, setting the stage for life-threatening liver disease.

Conventional treatments include interferon and the antiviral drug ribavirin, but both cause severe physical symptoms that feel like a constant flu. Advanced hepatitis C infection is the leading justification for liver transplant, but that doesn’t cure the disease—the virus immediately starts attacking the new liver. Faced with these options, many patients look for alternatives.

A healthy liver, naturally
After investigating other supplements that boost liver function, Berkson developed a “triple antioxidant cocktail” for treating hepatitis C that contains the following supplements and forms the cornerstone of his treatment program.
• Alpha-lipoic acid 200 to 300 mg, twice a day. This antioxidant boosts glutathione production and helps restore normal liver function.
• Silymarin 300 mg, three to six times daily. This extract of the herb milk thistle is known for its liver-
protecting benefits and may stimulate production of new liver cells.
• Selenium 200 mcg, twice a day. The body uses this essential mineral to make glutathione peroxidase, another powerful antioxidant and detoxifier.

While Berkson often treats critically ill hepatitis C patients, MacKay usually limits his practice to infected individuals who are still symptom-free. He says most were diagnosed during a routine exam or after providing a blood sample while applying for life insurance. MacKay uses Berkson’s antioxidant cocktail as the cornerstone of his treatment regimen as well, but he also follows his own program to preserve normal liver function.

He first gives his patients natural antiviral substances, including olive leaf extract (1,000 mg per day), colostrum (1,000 mg per day), and licorice extract (1,000 to 5,000 mg per day). These supplements help keep the virus in check. (Because of the seriousness of hepatitis C, both MacKay and Berkson urge patients to work with their doctors.)

Second, MacKay prescribes natural anti-inflammatory nutrients and herbs to reduce damage caused by the virus. These supplements include curcumin (600 mg per day), fish oils (3,000 to 5,000 mg per day), and the herb boswellia (Boswellia serrata) (400 mg per day).

Third, he teaches patients how to reduce the toxic load, or stress on their liver. Alcohol is one of the biggest stresses, because the liver must work extra hard to break it down. MacKay has found that patients who continue to drink a lot of alcohol develop severe liver disease faster than those who abstain. Similarly, exposure to toxic chemicals, such as paints and petrochemicals, also stresses the liver.

Nutrition is key
Both Berkson and MacKay underscore the importance of better eating habits. They tell patients to eat antioxidant-rich vegetables and quality proteins, such as fish, chicken, and legumes. Protein provides nutrients needed to make new liver cells, says MacKay. Both doctors also steer people away from processed and packaged foods, fried foods, and fast foods, which have poor nutritional value and make the liver work overtime.

That advice is sound even by conventional medical standards. Doctors at the Northwestern University medical school in Chicago recently reported that patients with chronic liver disease were frequently malnourished, the result of poor eating habits, an altered sense of taste, and poor nutrient absorption. They noted that malnutrition increases the risk of complications and death.

“I became absolutely religious about my eating habits,” says Bean, now a healthy and active 70-year-old. “And it’s paid off. Today I do anything I want to do. I’ve remodeled the house and started a support group. Just yesterday I put in my garden.”