Silimarine as liver protector for Cholestorol pills

[olivier1964]

My cholesterol level is higher than max and I am starting to take Crestor since 2 months. As a consequence my level of SGPT (ALT) went up to 66 U/L (for a max of 35 U/L). I would like to know if taking Milke Thistle may improve the situation and protect my liver. Are there cases known of people taking anti cholesterol drugs and Milke Thistle as liver protector ?

Thanks to answer me.

Olivier1964

[Admin]

As you have found out first hand, anti-cholesterol drugs are hard on the liver.  One of the most common symptoms we see in our clinic (and in all of the modern research) is that these drugs raise liver enzyme levels.  We use milk thistle a lot in our clinic to help check these symptoms as Milk Thistle is one of the best herbs at lowering high liver enzyme levels.  Make sure to consult with your physician, however, before you begin taking Milk Thistle with these drugs.  We have seen no side effects from the combination, but it is always very important to track your liver enzyme levels and your cholesterol in an objective way.  From our experience, Milk Thistle also has a positive effect in Lowering Cholesterol, but most people we work with need to severely change their diet to use milk thistle alone.  Typically we use Chinese herbs, dietary fiber, and omega three oils to help balance cholesterol, both lowering LDL and raising HDL.  Most alternative health care physicians will use at least two of the three modalities not counting diet.  Best of luck and let us know if we can help in any way!

[glycemic1]

Have you heard anything definitive on the measured impact on HDL or triglycerides in particular from standard online diet plans (without Crestor or Lipitor) - plans like South Beach or low GI Diet plans?  We've seen some encouraging info. on cardiologist supported plans but looking thru glycemic index table details has a lot of conflicting info.;

Some decent resources:
http://www.glycemicindex.com
http://www.glycemicedge.com

We're giving this an extended try b4 considering meds.