Can anyone recommend good brands, doses and forms (that is, tablets, or capsules, or drops) of Milk Thistle? Also is it best to ...

[GrittyReads]

take it constantly or to have breaks?

I was taking it for years, as a precaution, after I'd first been scared about my PBC (mis?)-diagnosis, then I stopped a few months ago when a friend said you are not supposed to take it for too long. She's since admitted that she just said that because her homeopath had given her a one-off dose as a liver cleanse. Anyway, I'm sure my digestion was better when taking it, but I can't remember what type I had.

I also thought I'd use this opportunity of asking all you experts which you find to be the best type. I'm not amazingly into alternative medicines, but this seemed to work, and I swear by Echinacea.

[h66black]

Hi don't know about milk thistle my brother swears by that after drinking, not that any of us dare do that anymore! But I am sure I read that with pbc you should avoid Echinacea can't remember where I read it but I had always taken it as used to get terrible flu like colds every Christmas but as I said before I am new to this so picking up any tips.

[Hidden]

Hello GrittyReads.

I did some reading up about milk thistle back in 2012 and after a couple of slight ups on my LFTs over a 6 month period I decided to experiment. I did use a mail order company called Nature's Best (if you are in the UK) and bought some from there. Back then herbal supplements weren't regulated as they are now (think that came into force a year ago now) and the strength of the milk thistle I bought was in a much higher dose than it is now. I took it for several wks prior to my next repeat blood and I did get a much better result.

The one thing milk thistle can do is actually cause temporary stomach upset but generally there are no side-effects apparently. Nature's Best were hard bullet shaped tablets and quite large in comparison to the urso I take. I then bought some from Holland & Barratt, they came in a green bottle and were capsules. You could pull the capsules apart and make a tea with them which I did do (thus to avoid the plasticky capsule shell).

Last year I did take them continuously for awhile but by then they were much much less in strength and a lot lot dearer due to licensing of herbal supplements now, milk thistle being one. I didn't get any improvements with the LFTs and GGT and I thought they were making no difference really. I quit taking them prior to the festive season 2013.

My theory was that perhaps you do need to take them in a much higher dosage than they currently are. I noticed the packaging had changed for the milk thistle and from both Holland & Barratt they now seem to be selling milk thistle in blister packs in cardboard boxes with a leaflet enclosed like we get when we receive the urso (though sometimes you can receive urso loose in bottles these days again). Noticed that they are now being marketed as h66black states, for anyone who has had a heavy drinking session (something I've never really ever done and after my first abnormal LFTs 4yrs ago I haven't bothered with alcohol as never drank much prior) or anyone wanting to sort of cleanse their system after a food indulgence too.

I think opinions vary between doctor and doctor here, some are for alternative medicines, others are hell bent on the conventional. Personally milk thistle is deemed safe but I sometimes think there is that thinking it is working involved slightly perhaps. I stopped as I started having certain doubts and the new legislation in the UK simply seemed to have a lot to do with it.