Re: Re: SuziQ - Burt Berkson

[Guest guest]

The doctor's name is Burt Berkson and his specialty is people just like yourself who are told that they will die without a transplant:

http://www.ratemds.com/filecache/doctor-ratings.jsp?did=11298

Everyone is dealt a different hand with this disease and each must learn to play their hand in their own way. Alternative treatment is a safe effective treatment and should never be dismissed. Diet is a very important key as are nutritional supplements.

Good luck,

Chris

will check out Dr. Arthur Berkson and thanks for sharing what you know about him. My mind is pretty much closed to using alternatives as medicine until after my transplanGet the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker.com!

[Guest guest]

No - I live too far away........

My own PCP introduced me to the "Berkson Protocol" last October and I have been using the supplements that Dr. Berkson uses, particularly ALA, which he wrote a book about and several medical articles on.

I would love to meet him someday but am extremely fortunate that I have found a great doctor here in New Orleans, who tries to get to the root of someone's physical problems instead of treating the symptoms, as most doctors seem to do today.

She tested me for all viruses, immunoglobulins, vitamin d, calcium levels, cbc's, liver panel, adrenals, hormones, homocysteine levels, genetic mutation tests, cortisol, autoimmune disorders, food allergies and intolerances, cholesterol, glucose, electrolytes, growth hormones, strep, cea, mycoplasmas,ferritin, DHEA sulfate, yeast, thyroid, c-reactive protein and porphyrins.

My liver is in "great" shape with all good numbers except for the fluctuating ALT/AST but my doc thinks it's because of all of the changes going on in my body due to having all of my amalgam fillings removed earlier this year - the dentist said that it could take a year to detox all of the metals in my system. A genetic mutation was found that affects the methylation cycle - in my case, the part that detoxes metals from my liver and my doc thought that it was very important to get rid of the decades old, crumbling mercury fillings in my mouth. I was also found to be gluten sensitive/celiac and have been on a gluten (wheat) free diet for about 6 months or so.

I tested positive for exposure to 6 herpes viruses, HHV1; cold sores, HHV2, genital, HHV3, herpes zoster; shingles, HHV4; epstein barr, HHV5; cytomegalovirus and HHV6 - I take tons of l-lysine for that, as well as olive leaf extract and melissa. The Valtrex did nothing - at $306 a month!

I was also found to be IgA deficient which was what initially led to the confusion as to whether I was intolerant to wheat or not - as IgA is one of the tests that the docs use to come to a celiac diagnosis - and why it shouldn't be used.... 5-10% of celiacs are IgA deficient. I also had the HLA genetic test done and was DQ2 positive.

My ANA is high and I recently tested positive for sjogren's - though I don't have any symptoms....yet... According to the c-reactive protein test, I have zero inflammation in my body. It remains a mystery if I really do have any autoimmune disorders as both hep-c and celiac are known as "great mimics" of other diseases. Both my recent colonoscopy and endoscopy were thankfully normal mucosa.

So, I feel that I'm in pretty good hands with my great doctor - and my own research! After 5 years at a teaching hospital where I heard every kind of bs, misinformation, and plain out lies about hep c and "treatment" as well as my other disorders, I am much happier now. One doc told me that hep-c didn't have a viral load! I am so blessed to have found this doctor - who told me that we are all a team here and I am their star player!

I encourage everyone to have their own doctors or find a doctor to run many of the same tests that I have had done. In that one round of bloodwork, my new doctor found out more about me then any of the 100 doctors and health care workers put together in the previous 5 years. And I have found that my treating some of the "other disorders" that some of my tests revealed that I have has made my liver stronger and healthier than it was 6 months ago. My fibromyalgia is unbelievably better than it was too, as is my IBD - I have much more energy and go on 2-3 mile walks every other day. Gluten-free diet, fresh veggies, lean meat, yogurt, gallons of water, nothing processed, no soda's, and lots and lots of supplements!!!! Wasn't easy and took me years to get to where I am now.

It's your body and your health and doctors are simply people that you employ. Demand the best!

Sorry, did not mean to turn this into a self righteous rant, lol. I realize that everyone is different and has different perspectives on hep-c, for sure. I just wanted to share mine and some of the things that have helped me cope with our disease.

Cheers!

Chris

Did you go to New Mexico for him to treat you?

From: smalk50aol <smalk50aol>Subject: Re: Re: SuziQ - Burt BerksonTo: Hepatitis_C_Central Date: Monday, July 14, 2008, 1:26 PM

The doctor's name is Burt Berkson and his specialty is people just like yourself who are told that they will die without a transplant:

http://www.ratemds. com/filecache/ doctor-ratings. jsp?did=11298

Everyone is dealt a different hand with this disease and each must learn to play their hand in their own way. Alternative treatment is a safe effective treatment and should never be dismissed. Diet is a very important key as are nutritional supplements.

Good luck,

Chris

In a message dated 7/14/2008 3:16:54 P.M. Central Daylight Time, gremlin291989@ yahoo.com writes:

will check out Dr. Arthur Berkson and thanks for sharing what you know about him. My mind is pretty much closed to using alternatives as medicine until after my transplan

Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker. com! Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker.com!

[Guest guest]

Yes, she is. And for me, once you have been to a GOOD doctor, it's hard to take most of the others very seriously. I had seen 2 other doctors recently and shown them both my test results from my GOOD doctor and they both had totally different opinions on it - and both totally different from hers.

Hep-C is much more than a "liver disease" - it affects every organ and system in your body - it is a virus - and, scientifically, a very mysterious one at that. And is why I read so much about it - there is so much that is not known about it - even the so called specialists cannot claim that they know it all. My own gastro didn't even know what celiac was! I sent him a gift wrapped copy of "Dangerous Grains" and he sent me a Thank You note...........

Thanks!

Chris

sounds like you have an excellent doc,,JackieGet the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker.com!

[Guest guest]

Hi Steph,

I had a problem at first with it but now break it down to 200mg 3 times a day. I take it together with NAC and milk thistle and I always take it with food. I've heard that some folks are very sensitive to it and must take very small doses - maybe 50mg a few times a day? And try and make sure that it's an allergen free kind too - without any gluten, soy, food coloring or other bad stuff in it - sometimes, a person will react to the other ingredients in supplements.....

That's the problem with some supplements - it's kind of trial and error with them. But then again, it's pretty much the same with prescription drugs - sometimes you or your doc has to adjust the dosage to what's right for you. What's right for a 200 pound man might not be the same for a 100 pound woman, etc.

Good luck and just try to stick with it - I remember when I first started reading about nutritional healing many, many years ago, I saw what foods that you were supposed to avoid and I told myself no way would I ever eat that way. And I didn't until my dx in 2002 - that turned me around completely!, lol. Going gluten-free has definitely made the most difference in just 6 months. I had really never heard of celiac disease before and had always lumped it in with the other "c" diseases, like crohn's and colitis. Things that I did not have. I had IBD I said. Well, turns out that celiac causes IBD.

Anyway, take care,

Chris

thank you for that info...You are blessed to have found a doc like that!! I have been trying to take the ALA for years but have been unable to because it tears up my stomach even on a full stomach. I have tried many brands of capsules including one from Lessman that is ground up to a very fine powder.... For some reason it is ascetic

I am going to try again.

Thanks againGet the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker.com!

[Guest guest]

I have a friend who says the same thing - she can control her statins, blood sugar and blood pressure WHEN she sticks with what she knows she has to do..... I think we all do that to a certain degree, lol....

Please do not take Lyrica! I know folks who took it and did well with it for a few weeks and then it quit working. They'd increase the dose and the sides got so bad that they had to quit taking it. Or it just didn't work or it made them sick or gain a lot of weight. Just another pill to treat the symptoms. One of my doctors before I found my GOOD one wanted to put me on cymbalta for post traumatic stress from Katrina. Said that it would increase my serotonin levels. I refused as I knew that it was very bad for my liver and how did he know what my serotonin level was? Turns out that my tests (from GOOD doc) showed a high "normal" reading of it and taking that crap would have sent me through the roof. I hate the "shotgun" approach that most docs take - they prescribe a medicine for an imbalance but they don't test you first to make sure of what you're imbalanced in..

Good luck Jax!

Chris

I go on Statins for my cholesterol and she is bugging me to go on Lyrica for my fibro.. of course I refuse them both and Im working on alternative tx to reduce my chol and I KNOW it works because when Im faithful to take them, my chol is barely above normalGet the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker.com!

[Guest guest]

Did you go to New Mexico for him to treat you?

Subject: Re: Re: SuziQ - Burt BerksonTo: Hepatitis_C_Central Date: Monday, July 14, 2008, 1:26 PM

The doctor's name is Burt Berkson and his specialty is people just like yourself who are told that they will die without a transplant:

http://www.ratemds. com/filecache/ doctor-ratings. jsp?did=11298

Everyone is dealt a different hand with this disease and each must learn to play their hand in their own way. Alternative treatment is a safe effective treatment and should never be dismissed. Diet is a very important key as are nutritional supplements.

Good luck,

Chris

In a message dated 7/14/2008 3:16:54 P.M. Central Daylight Time, gremlin291989@ yahoo.com writes:

will check out Dr. Arthur Berkson and thanks for sharing what you know about him. My mind is pretty much closed to using alternatives as medicine until after my transplan

Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker. com!

[Guest guest]

thank you for that info...You are blessed to have found a doc like that!! I have been trying to take the ALA for years but have been unable to because it tears up my stomach even on a full stomach. I have tried many brands of capsules including one from Lessman that is ground up to a very fine powder.... For some reason it is ascetic

I am going to try again.

Thanks again

Steph

From: smalk50aol (DOT) com <smalk50aol (DOT) com>Subject: Re: [Hepatitis_C_ Central] Re: SuziQ - Burt BerksonTo: Hepatitis_C_ Central@yahoogro ups.comDate: Monday, July 14, 2008, 1:26 PM

The doctor's name is Burt Berkson and his specialty is people just like yourself who are told that they will die without a transplant:

http://www.ratemds. com/filecache/ doctor-ratings. jsp?did=11298

Everyone is dealt a different hand with this disease and each must learn to play their hand in their own way. Alternative treatment is a safe effective treatment and should never be dismissed. Diet is a very important key as are nutritional supplements.

Good luck,

Chris

In a message dated 7/14/2008 3:16:54 P.M. Central Daylight Time, gremlin291989@ yahoo.com writes:

will check out Dr. Arthur Berkson and thanks for sharing what you know about him. My mind is pretty much closed to using alternatives as medicine until after my transplan

Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker. com!

Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker. com!

[Guest guest]

sounds like you have an excellent doc,,Jackie

From: smalk50aol (DOT) com <smalk50aol (DOT) com>Subject: Re: [Hepatitis_C_ Central] Re: SuziQ - Burt BerksonTo: Hepatitis_C_ Central@yahoogro ups.comDate: Monday, July 14, 2008, 1:26 PM

The doctor's name is Burt Berkson and his specialty is people just like yourself who are told that they will die without a transplant:

http://www.ratemds. com/filecache/ doctor-ratings. jsp?did=11298

Everyone is dealt a different hand with this disease and each must learn to play their hand in their own way. Alternative treatment is a safe effective treatment and should never be dismissed. Diet is a very important key as are nutritional supplements.

Good luck,

Chris

In a message dated 7/14/2008 3:16:54 P.M. Central Daylight Time, gremlin291989@ yahoo.com writes:

will check out Dr. Arthur Berkson and thanks for sharing what you know about him. My mind is pretty much closed to using alternatives as medicine until after my transplan

Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker. com! Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker. com!

[Guest guest]

Oh I know,, I HAD an AWESOME Doc in Oregon but have yet to find even a good one here where I now live.. except for the eye doc at UC that I was sent to.. otherwise, most of the docs up here are lousey.. My doc, the one who writes my script for pain meds and is my PCP is a DO but she believes that ANY vitamin is a waste of money.. which of course is really distressing to me.. Most DO's are trained in some alternative therapies but she poo poos everything which drives me nuts.. Right now she is insisting that I go on Statins for my cholesterol and she is bugging me to go on Lyrica for my fibro.. of course I refuse them both and Im working on alternative tx to reduce my chol and I KNOW it works because when Im faithful to take them, my chol is barely above normal,, but it tastes awful and after awhile I typically stop taking it for a bit, then my chol goes

back up.. and the Lyrica, I've heard pro's and con's about it but it causes swelling in the feet and legs and since I was born with only one kidney I will refuse anything that might cause water retention and more work for my poor kidney.. So far, its done me good for 54 years and I'd like to keep it going well,, My father died from Kidney failure, was on dialysis for the last 2 years of his life and I dont want to go there for sure..There is ONE other DO that I might investigate because he really believes in incorporating both allopathic and alternative together to get the best possible outcomes.. plus he has a colon specialist in his office that is really into alternative health care,, so I dont know.. My fear is that he might not want to RX my pain meds because I really know that I cannot function without it.. Im totally unable to get out of bed.. so there are three meds that I need that are allopathic,, the oromorph and and the provigil to over

ride the sleepiness that the oromorph causes and protonix for my gerd,, the rest of the stuff I will handle with alternative stuff.. including my chol,, lol,, JackieSubject: Re: Re: SuziQ - Burt BerksonTo: Hepatitis_C_Central Date: Monday, July 14, 2008, 3:57 PM

Yes, she is. And for me, once you have been to a GOOD doctor, it's hard to take most of the others very seriously. I had seen 2 other doctors recently and shown them both my test results from my GOOD doctor and they both had totally different opinions on it - and both totally different from hers.

Hep-C is much more than a "liver disease" - it affects every organ and system in your body - it is a virus - and, scientifically, a very mysterious one at that. And is why I read so much about it - there is so much that is not known about it - even the so called specialists cannot claim that they know it all. My own gastro didn't even know what celiac was! I sent him a gift wrapped copy of "Dangerous Grains" and he sent me a Thank You note........ ...

Thanks!

Chris

In a message dated 7/14/2008 5:29:14 P.M. Central Daylight Time, redjaxjmyahoo (DOT) com writes:

sounds like you have an excellent doc,,JackieGet the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker. com!