Potentiate benzos with milk thistle?

[Anon54]

I take milk thistle because i often do cwe & wanna protect my liver & kidneys from the apap.
http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/herbsvitaminsad/a/Milk_Thistle.htm

Protection From Liver Damage

Milk thistle may protect the liver against toxicity from acetaminophen (Tylenol), alcohol and other drugs. In Europe, milk thistle is reportedly administered to patients when they are given medications known to cause liver problems.

I found an interesting website about drugs interactions with milk thistle & benzos:
http://www.pointofreturn.com/drug_interactions.html

Milk Thistle
Milk thistle may interfere with many medications and increase them to dangerous levels because the same liver enzymes break down the herb. Milk thistle should not be combined with allergy medications, drugs for high cholesterol, anti-anxiety agents (alprazolam, diazepam, lorazepam, clonazepam, Temazepam), antiplatelet and anticoagulant drugs (blood thinners), anti-seizure medications, anti-psychotics, antidepressants, hormones and others.

 

[allegator]

source. It seems the mechanism of action is not well known though P450 can't be fully ignored.


source. This makes it seem more likely inhibition of phaseII glucuronidation or out-competing drugs with high levels of protein binding could be causing the effects.

 

[onlyone3232]

http://www.livestrong.com/article/115526-milk-thistle-drug-interactions/

Moderate Risk for Medications Changed By The Liver

There appears to be a moderate risk for drug interaction with the following medications: amitriptyline (Elavil), diazepam (Valium), zileuton (Zyflo), celecoxib (Celebrex), diclofenac (Voltaren), fluvastatin (Lescol), glipizide (Glucotrol), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), irbesartan (Avapro), losartan (Cozaar), phenytoin (Dilantin), piroxicam (Feldene), tamoxifen (Nolvadex), tolbutamide (Tolinase), torsemide (Demadex), warfarin (Coumadin), and others. Milk thistle can increase the effects and side effects of these medications by interfering with the way the liver needs to change them to make them work properly.
Moderate Risk for Medications Broken Down By The Liver

Milk thistle might interfere with the way the liver breaks down the following medications: acetaminophen, atorvastatin (Lipitor), diazepam (Valium), digoxin, entacapone (Comtan), estrogen, irinotecan (Camptosar), lamotrigine (Lamictal), lorazepam (Ativan), lovastatin (Mevacor), meprobamate, morphine, oxazepam (Serax), and others. Interfering in this way can increase or decrease the effectiveness of the medication.
Minor Risk Medications

For individuals taking estrogen, there may by a minor risk for interference. This results in decreased strength or effectiveness of some estrogen pills including conjugated equine estrogens such as (Premarin), ethinyl estradiol, estradiol and others.

Im assuming it decreases the effects of apap.
heres another link saying though saying that milk thistle may stop apap toxicity
http://www.livestrong.com/article/455065-does-milk-thistle-help-with-tylenol-toxicity/

If you want to take milk thistle as general protection against the harmful effects of Tylenol, consult your doctor first to make sure it won't interfere with other medication that you're taking.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/455065-does-milk-thistle-help-with-tylenol-toxicity/#ixzz1l1k20TFL


so there's some conflicting information there unless in the first quote it meant it decreases the effect of apap which would be a good thing
im taking milk thistle daily i dont want it to increase the amount of apap in my body the whole idea was to protect it from apap 8(
im trying to find out info now
heres another sites info:

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/milk-thistle-000266.htm

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) has been used for 2,000 years as an herbal remedy for a variety of ailments, particularly liver, kidney, and gall bladder problems. Several scientific studies suggest that substances in milk thistle (especially a flavonoid called silymarin) protect the liver from toxins, including certain drugs such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), which can cause liver damage in high doses. Silymarin has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and it may help the liver repair itself by growing new cells.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/34821-continuous-daily-intake-milk-thistle/

Silymarin may prevent liver damage in people who take certain medications including acetaminophen, acetaminophen with codeine, hydrocodone with acetaminophen, certain chemotherapy drugs, clofibrate, haloperidol, lovastatin, metronidazole and pravastatin

Im still unsure whether taking apap with milk thistle at the same time is a good idea.
obviously it's a good idea to help ya liver while ya not taking apap

heres a good website explaining how to protect yaself from damage if ya using apap
http://www.peacehealth.org/xhtml/content/cam/hn-1072008.html
it says that taking milk thistle is a good idea.

Help protect your liver with milk thistle, when using long-term Some doctors recommend 200 mg of milk thistle (Silybum marianum) extract containing 70 to 80% of the flavonoid silymarin, three times per day, for people taking acetaminophen in large amounts for more than one year and/or with other risk factors for liver problems

helps with apap & alcohol toxicity & helps potentiate benzos. sounds good to me

 

[nsauce]

nice find

 

[Tomer]

This would explain a lot, actually. I have been taking milk thistle regularly, as of late. I also take benzos from time to time, and whenever I have combined the two, I have felt extreme sedation, as opposed to the anti-anxiolytic effects I am use to. Very interesting. I had thought my tolerance had completely gone back to nil, but this would explain a lot. Nice find.

Cheers

 

[Anon54]

yeah its good for when ya do cwe & get that little bit of apap ya dont want. ive been taking milk thistle high strength tablets every day I have 35g tablets. very cheap. u may have heard of liva tone shots on tv in australia for ppl who drink to muc or whatever but they only contain half the amount of milk thistle & are like twice the cost. so take ya time looking at the pharmacy. Ive recently read on the internet that it helps repair kidneys to as well as the liver& it it reduces inflammation. it also helps with other orgrans i cant remember now.
everyone doing cwe should take milk thistle. it may even potentiate codeine theres is a dispute whether codeine is potentiated buy GFJ which would act the same way. Ive made a thread about wheather GFJ potentiates codeine of not:
http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/threads/608383-What-drugs-does-grapefruit-juice-potentiate
as u can see by my post above most website say its a good idea to take codeine with GFJ even though the wikipedia says otherwise

In a mouse study, blood concentrations of acetaminophen/paracetamol (Tylenol) were found to be increased by white and pink grapefruit juice, with the white juice acting faster

its probably safe with cwe but wouldnt be a good idea if ya just popping tylonal #3 or #4 to relax.
theres so much conlicting info. like there was before saying ppl taking large doses of apap a day should take milk thistle yet others like wikipedia says it increases the apap in ya body.
anyways should be safe with cwe becaus at 80mL of cold water at most 700mg of apap would be soluble. cool it down to almost freezeing & u could get it to 500mg

 

[Thomas29]

Hm INTERESTING I had always thought Milk thistle was A Scam And That It Doesn't Help Protect your Liver Or anything else much Really I Just Dismissed Or that it possibly could be
Possibly GOOD For Me And in Order For Me to be able to Protect Your/My Liver. Now I will might Start Using it even if just to For At First To Potentiate The Effect Of My Prescription Benzodiazepines at the VERY LEAST!!

 

[Thomas29]

Can Anyone Cite Sources About Milk Thistle PROVING To Help the Liver Or Vice Versa Sources Proving that it does Not Support A Healthy Liver.

 

[sekio]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=milk+thistle