I have some milk thistle in my cabinet right now. I took it when I was on a heavy dose of prednisone for quite a long period of time. I took around 250 mgs 3 times a day. There actually were no changes in my liver values for the duration of treatment, which my doctor was surprised by. I'm not sure if I was on correct dose.

I looked it up in Mosby's handbook and they're giving several different dosage ranges according to what you're using it for (alcoholism, hepatitis). It ranges from 70 mg to 210 mg tid.

What I used was a standardized whole seed extract (standardized to 80% silymarin). The kind that comes in capsule. But many herbalist say you have to use an alcohol tincture. Maybe trouble will have something on this. I guarantee you, most people use the capsules.

It's considered one of the safest herbs out there, but I always point out that you can be allergic to anything. So start out with one dose a day for a few days, then add a dose for a few days, etc. (I didn't though ).