Natural Medicine—A Success Story

I'm glad this stuff doesn't work on skeptics. What a shame it'd be for them to have egg on their face.

44 yom at the beginning of this case study; 47 yo today. History of elevated liver enzymes of 20 years' duration, epilepsy of 25 years' duration (grand mal seizures currently well controlled with lacosamide, 200 mg bid), seborrheic dermatitis of 30 years' duration. Diagnosis of NASH with a fibrosis score of 1a established in 2015 after a liver biopsy. Height 71". Weight 285 lbs.

11/11/19

• AST: 75 - elevated (normal = 0-40)
• ALT: 108 - elevated (normal = (0-44)
• Plan: Liver tincture consisting of the following: 2 oz milk thistle seed, 2 oz dandelion root, 1 oz each grapefruit rind, lemon rind, rosemary leaf, and garlic bulb. Dose: 1 tsp qd.

5/21/20

• AST: 43 - slightly elevated
• ALT: 75 - elevated
• Plan: continue liver tincture.

11/10/20

• AST: 42 - slightly elevated
• ALT: 82 - elevated
• Plan: add vitamin E, 400 IU bid. Continue liver tincture.

5/20/21

• AST: 36 - WNL
• ALT: 63 - elevated
• Plan: Continue as before. Maybe consider pioglitazone to further decrease liver enzymes.

Sometime in November, I decided to try cell salts. Started with Natrum sulphuricum 6X, 4 tabs tid. Resulted in a bilious headache and mild RUQ pain, but seemed to resolve with decreased doses. A week or so later, I added Kali muriaticum 6X, 4 tabs tid. Resulted in increased energy and improved sleep.

11/19/21

• AST: 21 - WNL
• ALT: 37 - WNL
• Plan: Continue tincture and vitamin E as before. Continue cell salts PRN. Consider decreasing or discontinuing Natrum sulphuricum as it seems to aggravate.

Sometime after these lab results, I read about Kali sulphuricum cell salts and their effect on skin conditions, including dandruff/seborrheic dermatitis. Having discontinued Natrum sulphuricum, I chose to try taking Kali sulphuricum 6X, 4 tabs tid. Within 2 days, facial seborrheic flakiness had decreased significantly. Scalp and beard flakiness and itchiness persisted.

Comments:

Fuck yeah. Conventional medicine would have offered me, a big guy happy to be a big guy, some hackneyed "lose weight, change your diet, exercise more and if that fails, let's consider pioglitazone for you" advice. Google some of the comments on pioglitazone to see what patients say about it. That's some fairly concerning stuff there.

I should say that I recognize the benefits of a good diet and exercise. I lift weights, ski, bike, and do some HIIT work regularly. I feel the benefits of eating well, and recognize how awful I feel when I eat like crap. And I adjust my habits accordingly. In this regard, I'd say I'm more on top of things than the average American. I just don't like having a doctor breathing down my neck when I know what to do myself.

Further comments:

My homemade tincture, formulated thanks to some great knowledge of botanical medicine (thank you NCNM and Dr. Jill Stansbury!), certainly was a great start, if not quite a 100% effective treatment. Vitamin E was a great help too, thanks to a study I read that compared its effects with the effects of pioglitazone on fatty liver. Both helped, but vitamin E seemed to help with actual histology as well as decreasing liver enzyme levels. But surprisingly, cell salts seemed to really push things back to normal. I say surprisingly because this was a branch of nutrition/homeopathy I had not paid much attention to; it was not taught in school, and I had concluded that cell salts were not a strong therapy, given their low potency.

Seb derm? Eh...I'm seeing improvement. It's not resolved, but really, should it be after being around for well over half my life? That's not a reasonable expectation. I'll keep chiseling at it. I'm happy with the progress made so far.

Next up:

Let's check out not just liver enzymes, but a lipid panel to see where my cholesterol and triglycerides are at. I seem to remember some significant improvement in TGs especially after starting a garlic tincture, and since I've been taking garlic for quite a while, I'd expect to see them still WNL. Let's see if we can avoid popping a statin.