Read Craig last posts below, one of them has a link to his site wiht great infon o vitamins and stuff.

Perhaps not good enough?

I don't know....
I'll refer her to the site again, thanks
I haven't been on your site lately Craig, nice new background.

Thanks chinup,
I run around every so often with a roller and a brush just to try some new color schemes out.

Hi, all the evidence on milk thistle I have seen seems pretty inconclusive, people seem to take it with the idea It might help and probably won't hurt.
If you think this is a good enough reason to take something /
Looking in the health food shop all kinds of stuff seems to fall into this category.
Most of the positive spin I have seen on Milk thistle is made by people selling the it.
My doctors opinion is there is not good evidence to recommend it.

Another was a Waste of Money.

I suppose if I had lots of spare cash I might use it just for the psychological boost in taking a pill

Personally I've never taken it, nor was it recommended to me. However, Milk Thistle contains Silymarin which does have beneficial effects on liver function.

I posted this (on my web site) a few days a go. This portion is not pretty reading, but the whole article is a MUST read for those that use my site, and even for those who don't!!

Silymarin. A standardized plant extract from milk thistle, silymarin contains about 60 percent silibinin (Boigk G et al 1997). Silymarin appears to inhibit the formation of mediators of inflammation, such as leukotrienes (Dehmlow C et al 1996). In animal studies, silymarin protected the liver from carbon tetrachloride damage and slowed the accumulation of scar tissue in the biliary tract (Kravchenko LV et al 2000; Batakov EA 2001; Boigk G et al 1997). In baboons, silymarin slowed the progression of alcohol-induced liver fibrosis (Lieber CS et al 2003b).

Some placebo-controlled human trials have shown promising results. For example, in one study of patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, mortality was 39 percent among the patients treated with Legalon, a proprietary standardized product containing 70 percent to 80 percent silymarin, after 24 to 41 months of treatment. Mortality in placebo-treated patients was significantly higher, 58 percent (Ferenci P et al 1989). In another clinical study, this same silymarin preparation normalized blood levels of bilirubin and other markers of liver disease after six months (Feher J et al 1989). Favorable changes in blood chemistry were noticed in as little as four weeks (Salmi HA et al 1982).
Improvements were also observed with a silymarin-phospholipid complex in patients with chronic active hepatitis (Buzzelli G et al 1993). Recently, an Italian firm has developed a proprietary preparation of silibinin complexed with both vitamin E and phospholipids. The complex successfully protected rat livers against necrosis and inhibited collagen formation in rats after bile duct obstruction (Di Sario A et al 2005).

Yet another article (on my site) included this piece on silymarin:

Silymarin.
A 2001 review analyzed studies on 10 herbal remedies used for liver disease. None showed any benefits except silymarin. Furthermore, an analysis of five studies on cirrhosis patients reported an association between silymarin and a 7% reduced mortality rates from liver-related diseases. Known side effects from silymarin include rare reports of gastrointestinal problems and allergic skin rashes.

In addition, a simple google on silymarin yields the following from Wikipedia:

Toxin-induced liver damage
Research suggests that milk thistle extracts both prevent and repair damage to the liver from toxic chemicals and medications. Workers who had been exposed to vapors from toxic chemicals (toluene and/or xylene) for 5-20 years were given either a standardized milk thistle extract (80% silymarin) or placebo for 30 days.[22] The workers taking the milk thistle extract showed significant improvement in liver function tests (ALT and AST) and platelet counts vs. the placebo group.
The efficacy of silymarin in preventing drug-induced liver damage in patients taking psychotropic drugs long-term has been investigated .[23] This class of drugs is known to cause liver damage from oxidation of lipids. Patients taking silymarin in the study had less hepatic damage from the oxidation of lipids than patients taking the placebo.
In a 2009 study published in the journal Cancer, milk thistle showed promise in reducing the liver damaging effects of chemotherapy in a study of 50 children.[1]

Therefore, while I cling to my belief that Milk Thistle is a triumph of marketing over common sense it appears I am proved wrong yet again! Had I found this info when I was still ill, I'm sure I would have started taking it.

Craig

Prior to the Holidays I posted some info about supplements that was being recommended to my daughter. She has now begun taking them. Craig's article about Milk Thistle is very encouraging. The supplements she is now on are the following:

Full Specturm Milk Thistle 500 mg 2xs a day AM PM
Albion Complexed Selenium 200mcg 2xs a day AM PM
Alpha Lipoic Acid 300mg 2xs a day AM PM
(The above is what is called triple therapy for liver disease)
I have been told of at least five people with some kind of liver
disease is on this triple therapy and are doing quite well. My sister-in-law who was diagnosed with Hepatitis C and was near death began this three years ago and is also doing quite well.

The additional supplements below is also what my daughter is taking along with Vitamin E that her doctor advised her to take.

She has advised her doctors of what she is taking as well.

I will keep everyone up to date on how she progresses.

Courtney
High Potency Vit. D-3 2,000 IU Once a day
Super Stress B-Complex with Vit C Once a day

I took it pretty diligently for about nine months, didn't make the slightest difference in my blood tests.

Read post #5 up above by lostonrye, matches my opinion exactly.