Ask The Experts

Your Health Questions Answered by the Leaders in Natural Medicine

Seriousness of Hepatitis C

How serious is hepatitis C? My friend has been diagnosed with it and thinks it could be fatal. What does he need to do?

Dr. Andrew Weft: Hepatitis C is a potentially serious viral infection of the liver transmitted mainly by contact with infected blood but also by infected instruments and needles and sexual contact. Typically, the hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes no symptoms either when it infects a person or for many years thereafter. In fact, many people who have it only find out when routine blood tests show abnormal liver function and a subsequent antibody test shows the presence of HCV.

About 85 percent of people who contract HCV develop a chronic infection, a smoldering inflammation of the liver that continues for more than six months. Damage to the liver from chronic HCV varies, but approximately 20 percent of cases result in a condition known as cirrhosis in which normal liver tissue is replaced by useless fibrous tissue. You can get by with a relatively small amount of liver tissue (even as little as 10 percent), but if cirrhosis progresses it will eventually result in liver failure, treatable only by the drastic measure of a liver transplant. Another possible complication of cirrhosis is liver cancer, which is always fatal.

Your friend can reduce the probability of these calamities by taking good care of his liver. The following guidelines should help: Drink no alcohol and take no drugs of any kind, including prescription and over-the-counter; limit protein to one serving or less per meal; take antioxidant vitamins every day, including beta carotene (25,000 IU), vitamin E as a mixed natural tocopherol (400 to 800 IU), vitamin C (1,000 mg two times a day), and selenium (1,000 mcg); drink plenty of water, at least eight glasses a day; and sweat regularly--two to three times a week--in a steam bath or sauna. Additionally, he should take milk thistle (Silybum marianum), a liver-protective herb, two capsules (50 mg each) twice a day of a standardized extract. He should also take other liver-protective and antiviral herbs, such as schisandra (Schisandra chinensis). Because schisandra is not a standardized herb, the best way to determine dosage is to consult a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine who is experienced in the treatment of chronic HCV. (One I recommend is Qingcai Zhang, M.D., 420 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10170, who can supply a set of printed instructions about an effective herbal protocol.)

Conventional medicine offers treatment with alpha-interferon and other antiviral drugs that are neither outstandingly effective nor free of side effects. The initial positive response rate to alpha-interferon is about 35 to 40 percent, but even these people can suffer a relapse. Side effects include flu-like symptoms, depression, headache, and decreased appetite. Whether or not your friend should try these drugs depends on the strain of HCV he's contracted and how much damage his liver has suffered, so he'll need to consult a liver specialist. He should definitely be immunized against hepatitis B, because a concurrent infection with that preventable illness would be very serious. Keep in mind that conventional medicine tends to be alarmist, telling all patients that they are headed for liver transplants, when in fact many cases of hepatitis C can be contained by the methods mentioned above.

Stress Aches and Pains

For the past six to 10 years I've had terrible stress in my back and neck, which has resulted in headaches. But worse than the headaches is flint twice in the past year I've had muscle spasms in my back. Are there dietary supplements or exercises that might help?

Dr. Carolyn Dean: It seems everybody's stress buttons are different. Yours are muscular, and prevention is your best bet. Stretching exercises can help relieve tight neck and back muscles. I suggest trying yoga; several sessions a week will help you stretch out those tense muscles so that they don't go into spasms. Yoga will also help you develop good posture and better breathing habits. To maintain a healthy back you must also work on the abdomen. Pilates, which incorporates hundreds of repetitive movements to strengthen the torso, is an excellent exercise for this.

If exercise doesn't work, you can choose from several other options. Asa Hershoff, N.D., D.C., outlines homeopathic remedies in his book Homeopathy for Musculoskeletal Healing (North Atlantic Books, 1996). His recommendations for neck pain are Cimicifuga racemosa for pain shooting down the left arm, Chelidonium majus for pain down the right arm, Bryonia alba for stiffness and pain in the neck and trapezius muscles, and Nux vomica for neck pain from the occiput (back part of the head or skull) to the shoulder. For your physical conditions, a potency of 6X would be appropriate; take it in frequent doses (every few hours). If these remedies don't work within a few days, stop using them and check with a qualified homeopath.