Replied By Oscar (Syracuse, New York) on 05/05/2013

Replied By Venugopal (Durg, India) on 01/15/2015

Replied By Bill (San Fernando) on 01/15/2015

This plant commonly grows all over India so you should be able to purchase the Chanca piedra tea or powder from any Ayurvedic doctor. Chanca piedra(CP) is called bhumy-amalaki in India. This remedy is cheap and effective. See the research here:

Chanca Piedra Research

I also use CP tea to keep my blood sugar, blood fat and blood pressure at healthier lower levels. A simple CP tea(drunk 3 times a day) will also dissolve and eradicate any gallstones and kidney stones in your body and it will also act as a protective for the kidneys and liver.

Replied By Jingle (Us) on 02/10/2015

I have read a few posts from you about Chanca Piedra. Want to ask you a few questions:

My liver panel was abnormal about one year ago and had high DNA, but after 2~3 months, the liver panel(ALT, AST and etc) all changed to normal, and DNA decreased to <500; but I didn't monitor them for about year, so in this Jan, I had a test and ALT/AST are mild elevated, but DNA is about 10^7. Following my doctor's words, I just started to take baraclude a few days ago; and the doctor said I will be on the medication for the rest of life. kind of scared...

Say you and a few ppl here cleaned up the virus, so wonder if I can still take Chanca Piedra and Salvia Ligustrum, while I'm taking baraclude at the same time? or I have to stop baraclude?

Meanwhile I'm taking lots of Vitamin C, and some milk thistle and selenium and tumaric and Vitamin B. Are they safe to take? also is Vitamin E safe? Thanks a lot!

Replied By Bill (San Fernando) on 02/10/2015

"Two human studies reported chanca piedra's liver protective and detoxifying actions in children with hepatitis and jaundice. Indian researchers reported that chanca piedra was an effective single drug in the treatment of jaundice in children, and British researchers reported that children treated with a chanca piedra extract for acute hepatitis had liver function return to normal within five days. Researchers in China also reported liver protective actions when chanca piedra was given to adults with chronic hepatitis."

Source: Raintree Herbal Databse

Chanca piedra also appears to be effective against liver cancer:

"A 2000 study even documented that chanca piedra increased the life span of mice with liver cancer from thirty-tree weeks (control group without treatment) to fifty-two weeks. Another research group tried to induce liver cancer in mice that had been pre-treated with a water extract of chanca piedra. Their results indicated the chanca piedra extract dose-dependently lowered tumor incidence, levels of carcinogen-metabolizing enzymes, levels of liver cancer markers, and liver injury markers. Both studies indicate that the plant has a better ability to prevent and slow down the growth of tumors rather than a direct toxic effect or ability to kill cancer cells."

Source: Raintree Herbal Databse

Baraclude is commonly used as an anti-viral against Hep B. But this drug does have some significant side effects -- see here. I also think that going to your doctor and asking him or her about whether you should take chanca piedra would be a wasted and costly exercise. Why should a doctor -- who is completely untrained in the use of herbs -- know anything about chanca piedra? So I'm afraid the decision as to how to use the Chanca piedra lies with you alone. Perhaps you can find a knowledgeable naturopath who can help to monitor your progress. The other thing you could perhaps do is start taking the chanca piedra at low dose to see its effects. If these effects are positive, with a reduction in viral load, then you could start to lower the baraclude dosage while increasing the chanca piedra dosage at the same time.

The easiest way to take chanca piedra is as a tea or decoction. Take chanca piedra tea three or four times a day outside mealtimes. Lastly and most importantly, whenever you buy herbs you should always buy the highest quality organic herbs which have minimal have heat or chemical processing involvement. The raw powdered form of organic chanca piedra is best with the most efficacy.

Chanca piedra also has no known side-effects.

As a matter of fact, over the past week or so I've been drinking a strong chanca piedra decoction to help reduce high blood pressure, reduce blood fats, reduce blood sugar, reduce excess blood calcium and to also help reduce high blood pressure. I do this periodically because my diet is certainly not perfect. I simply refer to this as taking out the trash -- all about preventative maintenance.

Replied By Jingle (Us) on 02/11/2015

Thanks for the quick and thorough answers. That helps a lot!

So it is safe to take chanca piedra and baraclude at the same time? and will the two interfere with each other? If taking both, how can I tell which one is contributing the decrease of viral load - chanca piedra or baraclude?

Can the chanca piedra eventually clean up all the viral load and change HBsAg to negative?

Also you mentioned to take a low dose of chanca piedra, how many times should I take a day ? still 3 ~ 4 times a day, and one cup a time? how long should I take chanca piedra? Can I take the tea forever if there is no side-effect? I think you or somebody also took Salvia Ligustrum to change the HBsAg to negative? If so, should I introduce Salvia at some point?

In US, where can I get the high quality organic chanca piedra tea? Is Whole Foods a good place to go?

Thanks a lot for your help!

Replied By Bill (San Fernando) on 02/11/2015

Baraclude can cause serious side effects including:

• Lactic acidosis (buildup of acid in the blood). Some people who have taken BARACLUDE or medicines like BARACLUDE have developed a serious condition called lactic acidosis. Lactic acidosis is a serious medical emergency that can cause death and must be treated in the hospital. Reports of lactic acidosis with BARACLUDE generally involved patients who were seriously ill due to their liver disease or other medical condition.Call your healthcare provider right away if you: feel very weak or tired; have unusual (not normal) muscle pain; have trouble breathing; have stomach pain with nausea and vomiting; feel cold (especially in your arms and legs); feel dizzy or light-headed; have a fast or irregular heartbeat.

• Serious liver problems. Some people who have taken medicines like BARACLUDE have developed serious liver problems called hepatotoxicity, with liver enlargement (hepatomegaly) and fat in the liver (steatosis). Hepatomegaly with steatosis is a serious medical emergency that can cause death. Call your healthcare provider right away if: your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice); your urine turns dark; your bowel movements (stools) turn light in color; you don't feel like eating food for several days or longer; you feel sick to your stomach (nausea); you have lower stomach pain

• If you are female, very overweight, or have been taking nucleoside analogue medicines, like BARACLUDE for a long time, you may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or serious liver problems.

Source: http://www.baraclude.com/index.aspx#indication

I'm just hammering the point that I think Baraclude is a particularly dangerous medicine because it can cause body acidosis and is so obviously toxic for the liver and can even cause jaundice/cirrhosis over the longer term.

However, from the research, Chanca piedra has no known overdose limit and no known side-effects for the body over the short or longterm.

So it is safe to take chanca piedra and baraclude at the same time?

From the evidence above, common sense would seem to suggest that chanca piedra is the safer one to take for your condition. If you take baraclude at the same time as chanca piedra, then baraclude will act to weaken the body(acidosis) and weaken the liver(causing jaundice) while, at the same time, the chanca piedra(no side-effects) is trying to defeat the Hep B in order to heal the liver. Simply put, baraclude seems to work against the liver healing and Hep B killing effects of chanca piedra. So if it were me, I would just take only the chanca piedra every day and monitor my viral count and progress on a monthly or tri-monthly basis with the doctor as normal.

Can the chanca piedra eventually clean up all the viral load and change HBsAg to negative?

Yes, chanca piedra can cure Hep B. On the other hand, baraclude is only recommended to lower viral load. Modern medicine has no consistent cure for Hep B.

Also you mentioned to take a low dose of chanca piedra, how many times should I take a day ?

If you're start taking chanca piedra on its own everyday then you should work up to a maximum of four cups of tea a day taken outside mealtimes.

how long should I take chanca piedra?

You can take chanca piedra tea as long as you like. Until you are cured.

I think you or somebody also took Salvia Ligustrum to change the HBsAg to negative? If so, should I introduce Salvia at some point?

You can take Salvia ligustrum with chanca piedra if you wish. But a good organic form of chanca piedra powder should be able to kill off the Hep B virus on its own in my opinion.

You should be able to buy wildcrafted organic chanca piedra online at Amazon or Ebay. I get my own supply of organic chanca piedra from my garden in the Philippines and prepare the herb myself.

Replied By Jingle (Us) on 02/11/2015

Replied By Hbsagcuredd (Philippines) on 04/15/2015

Now, if How long and when will you be cured is a difficult question. It's only the Almighty who can answer this. If you want to start treatment, start the changes in your lifestyle. Self - discipline is very much needed and highly essential for the treatment. Next would be laboratory monitoring of Hbsag and Hbeag as well as Sgpt/Sgot. You can do it monthly for at least 3 months to check for the progress of the treatment and if there's a continuous positive result, do it every 2 or 3 months. Treatment is expensive but it is worth it. Good luck

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