Mark writes:

> Richard Gambrell wrote:
>   > The bad news is that he will need a liver transplant to really recover.
>   > The good news is it looks like he will be able to get strong enough to
be
>   > able to receive a transplant.
>
> Hopefully he will continue to improve, and hopefully he won't have to wait
> too long for a transplant to become available.

This note is directed primarily to Richard Gambrell, but I'll publish it
publicly anyway.

If at all possible, the last procedure in the world you want undergo is an
organ transplant. While they are miraculous in their life-saving efficacies
nowadays, you will also be put on a remainder-of-your-life antirejection drug
therapy. The mantra to remember is always "First do no harm." There is a much
less invasive therapy available that should be tried first -- and if the
worst should come to pass and it fails, then the transplant option is still
open. However, a great many people who have undergone this therapy have found
the transplant unnecessary.

Of all of the organs in the body, the liver is the most regenerative. Because
of this, if the etiological cause of the current damage can be reversed, the
liver can often be made to heal itself.

Burt Berkson, an acquaintance who works only a few blocks from us, has been
successfully advocating a therapy regimen centered around massive doses of
alpha lipoic acid, a near vitamin. [Technically, vitamins are critically
necessary metabolic cofactors which are not synthesized by the body; the
general reasoning is that over evolutionary time, these substances were found
to be so common in the diet of a species that they no longer needed to be
produced through internal metabolism, thus that particular metabolic pathway
atrophies. Different substances are different "vitamins" to various mammal
species. Not all mammals have given up all metabolic synthesis of the
material that are vitamins to humans.] In the case of alpha lipoic acid, it
seems to be a material in transition, partially synthesized and partially
obtained through diet.

A brief description of Berkson's work is the following, where the word
"hepatic" = liver:

Symptomatic hepatitis C patients with elevated transaminases were placed on a
triple antioxidant therapy comprising alpha lipoic acid, selenium and Silybum
marianum (milk thistle) and all were spared hepatic transplantation, showed
improved laboratory indices, and returned to normal working life.  (Berkson
BM. Med Klin. 1999 Oct 15;94 Suppl 3:84-89.)

...and some web pages addressing Berkson's work are:

    http://www.bioprobe.com/ReadNews.asp?article=20

    http://www.vegsource.com/klaper/qa04.htm


http://home.caregroup.org/clinical/altmed/interactions/Nutrients/Alpha_Lipoic_

Ac.htm

    http://www.sdearthtimes.com/et0398/et0398s11.html

I'm actually going to lay the burden of trying to expose Jeff's current
doctors to this work on you, Richard. Let me warn you at the outset that
there is going to be a significant political problem with this. I grew up in
a medical family. My mother was Chief of Surgical Nurses at our local
hospital for almost all of my life at home and I spent a great deal of time
with surgeons. As a class, they're arrogant, greedy, and stubborn -- and very
reticent to try anything new. Moreover, there's not much money involved in
this kind of treatment, thus hospitals are very slow to take it up.

But the most important item in all of this is that Berkson's treatment is
that it is the least invasive therapy possible, and it has shown remarkable
results so far. But, as I say, if it doesn't work, transplanation remains an
option.

I will be willing to do whatever it takes to get people in Jeff's care to pay
some attention to this alternative, including paying for Berkson to visit
Jeff and doctors.

You're more than welcome to show this note to Jeff's mother, his doctors or
to anyone who you think might make a difference.

Wirt Atmar

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