Acid Indigestion: Was Milk Thistle and Medical responsibilities...etc.

[Guest guest]

For those of you have problems with acid indigestion and heartburn, Garden

of Life has a great product called Acid Defense. It has some soothing

foodstuffs in it like barley, but it's primary acid-fighting ingredients are

enzymes. It is a safe and effective way to deal with acid indigestion and

heartburn.

You can find out more about it at:

www.gardenoflifeusa.com

Please note that there is a link called " view supplement facts " located

just underneath the picture of the product. This will give you the listing

of ingredients used in the product.

Speaking of products, not too long ago Anne Devereaux posted to the

Gallstone list about an enzyme product called Vitalzym. After reading her

email to the list, I did a Google search on this product, and after reading

about it, I decided to try it. (The testimonials on Dr. Wong's two websites

were of particular interest to me, btw. Especially the part about the

proteolytic enzyme serrapeptase (which is in Vitalzym) having the ability to

heal old scar tissue - even internal scar tissue.)

I purchased a bottle for myself and my family, and sent one to a friend in

Nebraska whose 60-year-old husband has been suffering from COPD for a year

now - to the point where a trip from the couch to the bathroom was a big

ordeal for him.

Within a couple of days, my friend's husband was out working in his garden

again for a couple of hours a day. His nebulizer treatments were down from

5 treatments per day to 2 treatments. He was sleeping through the night,

without coughing and wheezing episodes.

After four days of taking these enzymes (3 of them, 3 times per day, for a

total of 9 capsules per day), he was able to work out in his garden for four

or five hours per day, and a large varicose vein that he had had on the back

of his leg for years and years disappeared.

After a week of taking the enzymes, my friend was complaining that now her

husband had so much energy, that he was getting a bit bossy, giving her

chores to do while he was running around helping his friends with their

farms.

I was shocked by the rapidity of his improvement, and mentioned this in an

email to Dr. Wong. (I had written to Dr. Wong to ask him if the enzymes

would still be effective if I opened the capsule up and added it to my dog's

food. I didn't know if these enzymes would make it through the stomach acid

intact without their capsule.)

He wrote back and said that it was fine to open the capsule up and mix the

powder into my dog's food, that many vets had used it on their animal

patients in that very manner with good success. He also said that he was

not surprised by the quick improvement in Bob's COPD problem, as he had

gotten reports from many other doctors that they had the same kind of

results when using these enzymes to treat respiratory problems.

My friend also started giving her 14-1/2 year old German Shepherd guide dog

these enzymes, and there was a vast improvement in this dog's energy levels.

Hunter has long had a problem with arthritis in her hindquarters, and this

also has improved greatly. She sleeps contentedly (without pain) now, and

there is a happiness and vitality in her eyes and demeanor that has not been

there for a while now.

Will, if you're reading this, Hunter has also long suffered from

pancreatitis. At least this is the diagnosis given by a vet. One of the

symptoms is that her GI tract becomes inflamed, sometimes to the point of

her vomiting blood. Last year, she started doing this so much that she

became very weak, and the vet said that she would not live. Because we did

not know what else to do, I sent Susi some Acid Defense and Slippery Elm

Bark in an attempt to help soothe/heal the GI tract. This turned out to be

a pretty good bandaid on a big problem, but the problem might still be

there. (Though Hunter has not shown any more signs of having inflammation

in her GI tract since she started taking the Vitalzyms.)

Will, I noticed in one of your emails that you said that you had

gallstone-induced pancreatitis. I didn't know that there was such a thing.

Could you perhaps explain your thoughts on how a congested liver could cause

pancreatitis, and if you think that perhaps Chang's herbal concoctions

(The Bitters, Coptis, etc.) would be of help with this dog?

I would also like to understand how pancreatitis could cause such terrible

inflammation in the GI tract. If you have an understanding of this process,

and the time and inclination to explain it to me, I would be very grateful.

I've had similar successes in my family with the people and animals who have

tried the Vitalzym, and I would like to suggest to those of you in the list

that you do some reading regarding this product, and enzyme therapy in

general.

I would also like to remind everyone that having a healthy population of the

beneficial micro-organisms in your GI Tract plays a major role in your

health, and the functioning of your liver. It's just one piece of the

puzzle, but possibly a big one. Garden of Life's product " Primal Defense "

is the best product of this kind that I have found to date, and it's great

for animals too.

I would also like to remind everyone that my favorite vitamin supplement

netstore is www.iherb.com.

Those guys have great prices, and great service, and I like to promote them

whenever I can. If you decide to purchase anything from them, remember to

look for your additional discount at checkout (it's at the bottom of the

page). Just for being a new customer, you get 4% off. Returning customers

get 6% off, and depending on the amount of your purchase, you can get up to

20% off. And any order over $60 gets free UPS shipping.

I have more to say, but this email is already too long. Before I go,

though, I would really like to thank everyone who has shared their

experiences. I'm learning from them (your experiences), and I appreciate

your having taking the time to share them.

Best Regards,

Carol Lively

-----Original Message-----

From: Jay T [mailto:JaysTownsend@...]

Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 4:42 PM

gallstones

Subject: Re: Milk Thistle and Medical

responsibilities...etc.

<<Does anyone else have loose bm's from taking Milk Thistle?

I started it just a few days before starting tagamet for acid indigestion

and didn't know which was causing it. I stopped the MT long enough to

realize it wasn't from tagamet. I'm going to start that back up when my

intuition says too.>>

I have taken milk thistle in large quantities - triple what the container

suggests, for more than 2 weeks at a time prior to a flush and never had a

diarrhea problem.

From:

http://www.tagamethb.com/faqs.asp<http://www.tagamethb.com/faqs.asp>

" The incidence of side effects with Tagamet HB 200® is low and not much

different from that of antacids. In cases where adverse events have been

reported, the most common are headache, nausea and diarrhea. However, these

are rare and reversible upon discontinuation of the product. "

Jay