The liver is the central organ of human metabolism. It plays a crucial role in the utilization, storage and breakdown of nutrients and produces numerous important substances such as coagulation proteins and defense substances. As an important detoxification organ, it is exposed to a variety of damaging influences and has an enormous regenerative capacity. Since it also sends out hardly any pain signals, damage to the liver often becomes noticeable only at a late stage. Vinzenz Mansmann, MD, answers the most frequently asked questions about preventing liver disease:
Thinking about your everyday practice – how much do patients know about their liver?
VM: Unfortunately, many people don’t know their liver at all and only a portion know that it is located right below the ribs. It has over 370 compartments, 500 billion cells and is the great chemical factory of the body. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, it has no pain nerves, otherwise every sip of alcohol would hurt. However, as the saying goes, “The pain of the liver is fatigue.” Significantly, a deceptive certainty often arises when the family doctor does the 3 known liver values GOT, GPT and GGT. If they are normal, it does not mean that all 370 departments of the company liver are in order. The gallbladder, on the other hand, which is the reservoir of the liver, has a lot of pain nerves and a lodged gallstone can cause terrible colic that drives you to the doctor very quickly. Understanding lab values: A check of the most important abbreviations
How can you tell for yourself if your liver is okay?
VM: As mentioned, a weak or sick liver makes you tired, especially after lunch – then you almost need a nap. In the evening, many then have to sleep in front of the TV. At night, on the other hand, according to the 2,000-year-old acupuncture teachings, the main working time of the liver is from 1 to 3 o’clock, and from a certain degree of damage, one has sleep-through problems exactly during this time. It can also be 4 o’clock if the liver has not kept up with the daylight saving time changeover. However, many liver signs can already be read from the face:
- Brownish rims around the eyes as after a night of drinking.
- Small yellowish fat growths around the eyes (xanthelasma).
- Yellowish-brown discoloration around the mouth
- Punctate hemorrhages on the cheeks (petechiae).
- Yellowish discoloration of the whites of the eyes (“jaundice“).
Sometimes spider web-like vascular dilatations (spider naevi) are found on the body, which may also indicate liver disease. Liver disorders can also cause itching on the skin and tingling, even without the presence of allergy. “Nettle rashes” (urticaria) also have something to do with the liver and can be cured with liver treatment.
How else do liver complaints manifest themselves?
VM: But the most common sign is flatulence, bloating, constipation or diarrhea – sometimes alternating, fat intolerance, alcohol intolerance. Relatively rarely only is there a feeling of pressure under the right costal arch, especially when lying down or bending over, if there is a biliary congestion or gallbladder inflammation at the same time. Since the liver is responsible for hormone breakdown, there are also often unrecognized liver diseases such as decreased libido or potency disorders, breast attachment in men and especially migraine.
What are first aid measures for liver protection?
VM: The best plant for liver regeneration is milk thistle (Carduus marianus) and artichoke (Cynaria scolymus). Milk thistle as a tea is very bitter and patients do not keep it up for long, so capsules should be preferred, as it should usually be taken for a whole year.
What can you do to keep your liver healthy preventively and permanently?
VM: Eliminate alcohol, of course, eat a low-fat diet and, above all, reduce stress and overwork. Most of today’s liver diseases are stress-related and the result of swallowed anger. “That’s where the bile comes up” or “It’s a louse running down your liver” is what the vernacular says.
Who needs to take special care of their liver?
VM: Alcoholics, of course, but that’s obvious. What is not so well known is that often stress and anger do much more damage to the liver than alcohol, and that vegetarians cause fermentation processes in the intestines by eating large quantities of raw vegetables in the evening for many years.So after 7 p.m. eat as little raw food as possible, such as salads and raw vegetables. Anyone who has had jaundice, i.e. hepatitis A, B or C, can usually only tolerate a third as much alcohol as a healthy person. However, this so-called “jaundice” may have passed undetected, because young and healthy people do not turn yellow with hepatitis, but are only tired for 3 months. There are also other viruses, for example the Ebstein-Barr virus, Pfeiffer’s disease, which very often causes undetected liver inflammation and can leave lifelong damage there. However, this can be accurately examined in the blood at the doctor’s office if specifically pointed out. Beware, these are expensive tests that are not included in the normal GP budget.
