So while I was in India, a complete obsession with ancient healing techniques was sparked. I spent many hours with the Ayurvedic doctors at Samata retreat in Goa, soaking up as much knowledge as I could. The two things I took home personally though, were that I had to continue to learn Ayurvedic medicine AND that I needed a liver cleanse. Apparently working 30 hour shifts on caffeine only for three years in residency isn't conducive to liver health? Hmm interesting. Maybe that's why I had a spastic dyskinetic gallbladder in med school? (in fact, it is) Then odd questions that a western doc would never ask their patients came,
"Do you have mini episodes of dizziness?"
"Do you have eye floaters?"
"Do you have headaches?"
WHAT? I was flabbergasted. How did they know? Honestly, once one realizes that every organ is intimately connected and works in harmony and gentle support with one another, the whole notion of a toxic liver affecting distant organs, makes sense.
A healthy liver, of course, is becoming harder to attain in modern society. Unfortunately, especially in the west, we are busy from sun up to sundown with little time to process our reactions, feelings or stresses. We grab a chemical laden fast food sandwich in between meetings we care little about, while spending precious hours of our day slaving for a corporation that we often don't believe in. Then we are expected to raise obedient, mindful children, be an understanding spouse and organize our life, house or taxes. No wonder we are sick! They have us convinced that we need that all that nonsense and money that comes with undue stress. It is no wonder that our brains can't slow down at night. If you have not slowed down for a week, or a month, or longer, your brain is only trying to process subtle emotions or situations that are still stuck in your subconscious. If not properly regulated, these can become toxic memories or pain held within the liver. Anger, frustration and envy are common emotions that damage the liver and create toxic load.
What is the liver's role? It's the master chemical detoxifier, and is linked to immunity and metabolism. The liver also aids in breaking down hemoglobin and other proteins, stores glucose as glycogen until needed, makes bile salts and detoxifies the blood. The liver is transformative and renews old blood to make a fresh batch. It reliefs toxins to make room for healthy flow of prana or chi, the energy that flows freely in a healthy person. Because of these characteristics, it is said to be the seat of the pitta (fire characteristic responsible for change and transformation). If you don't know about Ayurveda, read my post here: http://mdkygirl.weebly.com/my-blog/distinguishing-the-doshas. The constitution of pitta (what kind mind body type you were innately born with) concerns intelligence, motivation, earnest work and success. If imbalanced and too high, it can lead to:
Anger
Hostility
Envy
Fear
Hepatitis
gallbladder disease
headaches
eye floaters
blood deficiency
eczema
acid reflux
acne
inflammation
allergies
Eye floaters
Dizziness
Those are all so common in the USA. Moreover, if your liver is overloaded or congested, then bet your sweet touché that the bowels, gallbladder, spleen, heart and kidneys are likely involved, depending on your toxin load. Dizziness is often caused by low blood sugar episodes which occur because of the toxic overload of the liver, whose job it is to store and regulate blood sugar stores. They are often not released properly due to overworking the liver. Dizziness is also often caused by a congested liver that is overworking to attempt to clear blood toxins, which create a thick vicious blood that prevent the heart from pumping it adequately to the brain. Eye floaters are similarly caused by excess heat in the liver that disrupts the blood purity. This all describes a blood-liver deficiency. The blood then does not nourish the optic nerve and vision is hindered. The flow of the vitreous humor from the anterior and posterior chambers in the eye is subsequently hampered, leading to breakdown and coagulation of the vitreous. You can see these black spots that resemble lines or spiderwebs easily viewed against a blue sky. When you try to directly visualize these floaters, they "run" from your vision.
Add a vata (wind and space characteristic) imbalance on top of the rising heat in the liver, and you have a recipe for a hot, windy liver and possibly heart disease, atrial fibrillation and anxiety/reactivity! This is extremely common in the United States. Although I only met mild criteria, I still qualified for a liver detox (as would most Americans).
As previously mentioned, diet also plays a large role in proper liver function. Remember the movie, Supersize Me by Morgan Spurlock? He made a deal to eat nothing but McDonald's for 30 days to see the affects on his body. Anytime they asked if he wanted it "supersized" he had to say yes. It was disgusting. He actually barfed in a parking lot after consuming a belt busting meal. After 30 days, he followed up with a handful of docs. He was diagnosed with NASH, or non alcoholic steatohepatitis, which is a fatty liver caused by obesity and DIET. The doctors in the documentary recommended he stop fast food immediately and begin exercise and a plant based diet regimen. It took him nearly 6 months to get all the weight off. However, this is how many of us live to a lesser degree. We may not eat Mcdonalds everyday, but most of us definitely don't eat raw, wholesome foods that provide all the necessary minerals and building blocks for healthy and efficient liver support. Especially in western countries, we are bombarded with chemicals, gmo, food like substances, pesticides, herbicides, drugs, and alcohol. The food is jam packed with refined sugar, which promotes liver disease, cancer and is a parasite's dream food. In fact, candida lives off sugar and has been linked to eye floaters and liver overload. Yet modern medicine only addresses part of this puzzle.
In western medicine, we have labs that we use to provide objective parameters for health vs disease. Unfortunately, most of these labs don't accurately show toxin buildup until disease has set in. By the time the liver enzymes, AST or ALT are elevated, then it is already some form of liver failure. By then, the body has such disease built up, that purification must be accomplished with strict adherence to food, herbs and abstinence from any exacerbating factors. It can take months, because at this point, it's a catch up game.
If you have some of the above symptoms or live in the good ole USA, you likely need to purge that liver. The liver can have too little or too much heat. In these examples we are speaking of too much heat, or pitta. Another imbalanced dosha (like too much vata) can always be superimposed on the imbalanced original constitutional dosha or mind body type.
Lifestyle changes can improve your health. Try cooling or bitter herbs, meditation or achieving a quiet mind, regular exercise or yoga, and going to bed at a decent time. The liver functions in unison with the gallbladder from 11pm to 3am. Be in bed before this time and don't eat after hours so that the liver has time to efficiently cleanse the body. This will bring the pitta dosha back into balance.
Certain foods can also exacerbate the imbalance just as others correct it. I always crave spicy food! It's the worst thing I could be eating along with processed or heavy, oily food. You don't want to add more chemicals or heat to the hot liver!
Bitter Herbs: (more passification)
They are not only antibacterial, but they're cooling to a hot liver as well. They help the liver process and eliminate incoming impurities. Think fenugreek, turmeric, dandelion, billberry, or neem. Other Indian specific herbs for liver passification include amalaki and guduchi. Kutki is also extremely helpful and has been said to completely fix the liver terrain in Hepatitis.
Purgative herbs: (more purification):
Needs to be supervised by ND or ayurvedic doc-more aggressive treatment-so what happens to the liver'stoxins if they aren't broken down and released? They get absorbed into the bloodstream or backed up in the bowels. This is why it's necessary to clean out toxin and emotional load from them as well. Think castor oil, senna, buckthorn, flaxseed, rhubarb root, soluble fiber like psyllium husk or the ayurvedic preparation called bowel triphala (contains Harada, Bihari and Amla, which has the highest vitamin C On the planet) for purgative release.
Tonics: Milk thistle is the perfect tonic! Drink detox tea with milk thistle everyday to see the results. It can even help liver toxicity during chemotherapy. Dandelion root, burdock and wild yam are also great detoxifiers that can be made into a tonic.
Fasting or juice cleansing is also a great way to give your liver a much needed break. If the liver is full of toxins, gmo, sugar or stress, we are backed up and have to work overtime. You can now see how a break with fasting or easily digestible juices might proved the liver with enough time to catch up and reset. Some of the best fruits to juice fast with include carrots, beets, & apples.
High sulfur foods as well as taurine, cysteine, glycine and glutamine are all important amino acids that should be sought after and are necessary in liver detoxification. Garlic is one example! Avoid any processed, frozen foods as well as animal meat and fat which can cause a hot temper by ingesting animal hormones. Avoid dairy which is very inflammatory!
Above all, remember that the liver is life. It plays an enormous role in our daily lives despite how many pollutants it's exposed to along the way. Be kind to your liver! Relax, don't increase stress by overworking or becoming insatiable with money (you can't take it with you and you won't die if you don't have it I promise), do yoga, meditate, forgive your enemies, don't hold grudges, resist the urge to be a perfectionist or self criticize and avoid being competitive. Your liver will thank you!
STAY ENLIGHTENED,
DR J