Liver Health for All!!

The post from Tazviolin about being diagnosed with hepatitis got me to thinking the other day and thought that I would do a little research for myself and share it with the crew here at CureZone. Found some interesting stuff in books that I had on the shelf but had neglected of late. Meant to get it up sooner but I've been swamped at the studio with retouching photos on the computer for some very long days. The last thing I wanted to do when I got home was stare at the glowing box some more, especially since I am a very slow typist. I hope that this information is useful.

There seems to be 5 types of hepatitis caused by viruses and another type with virtually identical symptoms. According to "The Medical Advisor" (TimeLife Books): "Alcoholic, toxic, and drug-related hepatitis can produce the same symptoms and liver inflammation that result from viral hepatitis. This form is caused by excessive and chronic consumption of alcohol, ingestion of environmental toxins, or misuse of certain prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications such as acetaminophen."

Also here under a big caution banner: "Because the liver plays a key role in processing drugs, alcohol and toxins in the bloodstream, a patient with hepatitis may find that some medications, alcoholic beverages and herbs that are normally tolerated can aggravate the condition. If you have hepatitis, do not attempt to treat the disease on your own; consult a physician or licensed practitioner. Avoid alcoholic beverages and ask your doctor if it is all right to use birth-control pills, Antibiotics or over-the-counter medicines. Be sure to tell your physician or practitioner all the medications that you are taking, including even seemingly innocuous over-the-counter drugs such as aspirin or acetaminophen."
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Follows an excerpt from "The Herbal Drugstore" by Linda B White, MD, Steven Foster and the staff of Herbs for Health:

We think of the liver as an organ of detoxification, but this is merely one of its more important functions. The liver also filters the blood, removing harmful bacteria and chemicals, breaks down excess hormones, and helps maintain water and body-fluid salt balances. The liver assists in the digestion and metabolism of fats, carbohydrates and proteins, the storage and production of some vitamins and minerals, and the manufacture of a wide variety of proteins and immune substances. The liver makes glycogen out of Sugar and then stores it. Glycogen can be converted to glucose, or blood sugar, when the body needs it. Because of its production of bile, the liver contributes not only to elimination of drugs and toxins but also to the absorption of fats and the fat-soluble vitamins.

But what's truly amazing about the liver is how quickly and efficiently it works. Every minute, over a liter of blood passes through it.

Much is known about the complex chemical events that occur when the liver does its work. The first phase involves the chemical alteration of certain substances into nontoxic forms. The second phase makes these compounds water soluble, enabling the body to excrete them via the kidneys.

Specific nutrients are required for each phase. When the body is subjected to higher-than-normal levels of contaminants, its entire supply of necessary nutrients could be depleted. When a deficiency of any one of the nutrients occurs, the chemical processes might slow or even stop.

During phase 1, the detoxification phase, your liver needs riboflavin, niacin, magnesium, iron, molybdenum and essential fatty acids. When phase 1 is very active, the body needs extra vitamins A, C and E. Phase 2 requires zinc, copper, molybdenum, thiamine, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6, folic acid, a host of amino acids and sulfur. You can see by this list the importance of a nutritious, varied diet that supplies a whole range of vitamins and minerals.

Many different factors and conditions affect liver function and lead to liver disease. These include viruses, metabolic disorders, hereditary conditions, cancers, exposure to toxins such as alcohol, and more. But someone not affected by these conditions might nevertheless develop subclinical liver disease, meaning that the disease isn't pronounced enough to show itself in symptoms but still negatively affects overall health.

The primary cause of this clinical condition is the profound effect pollutants have on the environment. No matter how careful you are, there's almost no escaping unhealthy chemical exposure. Your liver can easily be overwhelmed or subtly damaged.

One common subclinical liver problem is cholestasis, sometimes called sluggish or congested liver. It's caused by an impared flow of bile. The liver produces bile, stores it in the gallbladder and then, when fat is present in the digestive tract, releases it into the duodenum - the first section of the small intestine. A sluggish bile flow causes problems in digesting fats and detoxifying certain substances. Common symptoms of cholestasis include gas, bloating, constipation, fatigue, increased allergies, chemical sensitivities and premenstral syndrome.

If you have liver disease, you'll want to take herbs to support the liver. But amoung the organ's wonderful attributes is its good response to preventive therapy. So certain herbs can also help people who must take drugs that are potentially toxic to the liver. Such herbs can also provide relief to those with hormonal imbalances, headaches, chronic skin conditions, fatigue, digestive complaints, allergies and chemical sensitivities.

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Herbal remedies mentioned in The Herbal Drugstore for the liver are Milk Thistle, Dandelion Root and Tumeric. In the section on Gallstones also mentioned are Artichoke and Peppermint. "Learn to love Beets. Seriously. ... beets are a great food for cleaning the blood and liver. Try beet juice, or a carrot-apple-beet combo juice." Both books I looked at indicate that large doses of vitamin C, vitamin B12 and folic acid can aid in recovery from hepatitis.

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My reading of this information and that that I've gleaned from this forum and other sources leads me to some conclusions:

The liver is an amazingly complex organ, much more so than that piece of dried up organ meat at lunch in the school cafeteria when we were kids would let on. It performs so many functions necessary for our very survival that we need to be aware of, and take extremely good care of, it.

As we are cleaning our bodies on the inside (bowel cleansing, MC, etc) it is important to realize that a good part of the toxins released may go through the liver. If too much is released at one time without adequate support the liver may get overloaded. Be sure to drink plenty of water to keep things moving out and do what you can to supply those needed nurtients to the liver to keep it functioning. B&P is probably a good way to latch on to the toxins in the bowel to keep them from re-entering the bloodstream.

Personally I don't feel that Liver Flushing itself would cause hepatitis but it could place additional stress on the liver to either uncover it, if already present, or give a toehold if massive amounts of toxins are coming into it from other internal cleansing activities and/or ingestion of substances that are toxic to the liver. Reading a later reply to Tazviolin from Ptree it sounds as if she (?) may have been pretty aggressive with treatments in the desire to get healthy.

This information has caused me to rethink my own course of action some. I know that I am guilty of trying to go too fast. A month ago I did a Clarke parasite cleanse and an 8-day Master-Cleanse at the same time followed immediately with a liver flush. And before and after I was using antifungals with the B&P for possible candida overgrowth. The parasite cleanse and antifungals put stuff in the body to kill parasites all of which is processed by the liver and the Master-Cleanse is releasing toxins from throughout the body which also get processed by the liver. So already it is probably quite stressed and then I stress it further by doing a liver flush. What I know now I would wait at least a week to do the liver flush. I'm going to think more about supporting liver function nutritionally as well as flushing out the stones.

From "The Herbal Drugstore" in the Gallstone section: "But when bile becomes oversaturated with cholesterol or, more rarely, calcium, the extra compounds may crystalize, forming gallstones. Such stones can varyin size from smaller than a pea to as large as an egg." Could this preponderance of cholesterol-based stones when mainstream medicine only seems to recognize calcium-based stones be the cause of this gulf between us and our doctors? When I showed the Gallstones that I passed to my doctor she told me that it was impossible. According to her all Gallstones are made of calcium and show up in x-ray. No such thing as cholesterol stones. I've gotta get a new doctor! (This same doctor had me taking 4 times the maximum of Ibuprofen when I dislocated my shoulder. No wonder my liver readings were a bit off last year during my physical.)

For what it is worth my advice is to slow down and not try to do too much at once to minimize liver stress. Do add things to your diet and life that enhance liver function. Educate yourself and learn as much as you can about your body and treatments. Don't just start doing things willy-nilly just because someone said that it was good. Remember that all this cleansing we are doing is probably moving a lot of toxins (that have accumulated over many years) in a short period of time. Get them out but be kind to your liver. Liver Flushing is good (see above about cholestasis) but be aware of what else you are also doing at the same time. Listen to the experiences of others on this forum but most of all listen to your own body. It took years to get this way, be patient in your quest to get well. After all, we want to fix what ails us, not just mask the symptoms.

By the way I recommend both books for your home library. Both are alternative friendly even if they don't mention liver flushing.

"The Herbal Drugstore" Linda B White, MD, Steven Foster, et al.
"The Medical Advisor" TimeLife Books.

All the Best
Jay

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