Poor liver function and liver detox symptoms can seriously impact your overall health and wellbeing. The liver is the largest organ in the body, weighing 3.5 lbs on average in adults. It accomplishes a large and varied number of bodily functions. These include making and storing glucose for energy, detoxifying the blood, storing and producing several important vitamins, and storing excess blood for emergency situations. It is no wonder that when you improve liver function, you improve your health on many levels. This is even more true if you have Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS) because an unhealthy liver will seriously impact this condition.
The modern world is full of toxins, and your liver is responsible for deactivating and expelling these toxins. When your liver is unhealthy, this toxic stew can build-up in your body, causing a whole range of health problems.
Additionally, the liver plays a central role in both metabolic and hormonal processes. Liver dysfunction is also implicated in many medical problems, which is why improving liver function is a logical place to start when seeking to improve adrenal and overall health. The liver is also greatly affected by the excess cortisol produced in adrenal dysfunction, so improving liver function is an essential part of AFS recovery.
Signs that your liver isn’t functioning at an optimal level include:
The idea of doing a liver detox is a little misleading because you can’t actually detoxify one organ. Instead, to detoxify your liver, you need to do an entire body detox. Doing this will help to:
There is no one right way to detoxify your liver or your body. Your goals for a liver detox will be different from anyone else’s and will depend on your lifestyle and your symptoms. In fact, the best way to do a liver detox is to adopt a healthy lifestyle, with lots of good nutrition. One-off, strict, and limited detoxes usually don’t work, and they may cause additional stress. Instead, you should try making small changes that will support your liver health overall.
These healthy changes can include:
Try incorporating more liver-friendly foods into your diet such as cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli. Other helpful foods and drinks include:
There are lots of toxins in the modern world and avoiding them must be part of any liver detox. Some of the biggest problems for your liver include alcohol, caffeine, refined sugar, and processed foods.
It’s important when you’re doing a detox that you don’t cause additional stress for your body. Focus on gentle exercises like walking or yoga instead.
Get plenty of sleep and rest to encourage your body to rest and heal.
It’s vital that you drink lots of water to try and minimize liver detox symptoms and improve the detox itself. This will help your body flush toxins faster.
You will need to be careful about taking supplements, particularly if you have AFS. It’s always better to get all the nutrition you need from your food. Supplementing can cause adverse reactions or additional stress, but if you’re really struggling to get all the nutrition that your liver needs, then you can talk to your doctor about supplements like:
Some of these changes are easy and some are more difficult. Reducing your sugar intake for example can be very difficult, but it’s essential if you want to improve your health, your liver function, and perhaps even your weight. When you make these changes, you may experience liver detox symptoms. Some of these can be mild, but sometimes they can get quite serious.
The intensity of your liver detox symptoms will often depend on your body. If your body is trying to process out many years of toxic-buildup, then your symptoms are likely to be more severe. This also applies to people who have AFS and are already stressed and have a high body toxicity. That’s why it’s vital that you work with a medical professional who’s aware of AFS when you try a liver detox.
Typically liver detox symptoms involve a worsening of the symptoms you’re already experiencing. This is normal and is usually a sign that your body is clearing out the toxins. However, if your symptoms get too severe, stop immediately and see your doctor for help.
Common liver detox symptoms are often associated with withdrawal from stimulants such as sugar or caffeine or because your new diet contains lots of nutrients that your body isn’t used to and so it’s rebelling. These symptoms often include:
Your symptoms may be mild or severe. It all depends on your body and your condition. If you have any concerns, talk to your doctor.
The adrenal glands are the center for production of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol production has an effect on liver function and was linked to fatty liver disease in a study published in the scientific journal Clinical Endocrinology.
In this study, researchers found non-alcohol related fatty liver disease in study participants who also had high cortisol levels from chronically over-stimulated adrenal glands and stress response systems. The conclusion of this study was that chronically high levels of cortisol are directly connected to development of a sub-clinical form of fatty liver disease and decreased liver function.
Not only can elevated cortisol levels decrease liver function, lowered cortisol levels can do so too. In those suffering from Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS), the body’s energy and cortisol levels are both lowered due to a stressed out liver. As a result, the liver slows down to conserve energy and becomes sluggish in the process.
When the liver is sluggish, toxins can build up in the body as a result. This can slow down intracellular and extracellular processes throughout the body. It is therefore important to help the liver strengthen and detoxify.
However, overuse and improper implementation of detoxification products, herbal remedies, and glandular compounds that are meant to help the liver can sometimes aggravate the situation by causing liver detox symptoms and additional stress. This is especially true in the setting of adrenal fatigue when the body is already low on energy and sensitive to any changes. Healing must be accomplished through gentle, appropriate, and on-going support of the liver, adrenals, and other organs.
While a poorly functioning liver is responsible for many liver detox symptoms, it is rarely the root cause of adrenal fatigue. Conventional medicine usually considers the liver as an isolated organ. Naturally oriented physicians tend to look at the liver as part of the body’s overall stress response system, called the NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) Stress Response. Understanding the NEM Stress Response will provide a fresh perspective for addressing the complex and dynamic interrelationship between many organs and systems in the body, especially in the context of adrenal fatigue. It is the interplay between these various organs and systems that forms the overall stress response of the body.
During times of stress, the adrenal glands release cortisol and other hormones that stimulate the liver to produce more glucose, release or store vitamins or blood, and to generally work harder. While this may make you feel better in the short term, over time and with continued stress, this leads to congestion and lowered efficiency in liver function.
When the body is in a state of chronic stress, as occurs in AFS, other metabolic processes can become dysregulated as well. The liver plays an important part in regulating inflammation, which can run rampant once the liver slows down and succumbs to liver detox symptoms. When inflammation increases, the adrenals are further stressed by a demand for more cortisol, an anti-inflammatory hormone. This is a damaging cycle in which, as the stress continues to mount on your adrenals, your energy levels continue to drop and affect your liver function.
When liver function is suboptimal, as in those with AFS, the liver does not regulate these energy sources in a timely way, leading to feelings of physical fatigue, especially in the muscles. When glucose production is affected by liver congestion, thinking is harder and mental fatigue comes on more quickly as well. When you improve liver function, your metabolic response delivers the glucose when and where it is needed, improving energy in both the muscles and the brain.
Liver function is essential for your overall health and your adrenal health. That’s why many people with AFS try liver detoxes. And as long as they’re done safely, carefully, and with the help and supervision of a doctor who’s aware of AFS, they can have many benefits for the body.
Improving your liver function will not only reduce symptoms of liver problems, but it is also essential for healing adrenal fatigue. However, it’s important that you’re aware of the possibility of experiencing liver detox symptoms, which could worsen adrenal fatigue and your overall condition. Here’s what to do to avoid this situation:
If you need help with a liver detox or want more personalized info on how to do it safely, the team at Dr. Lam can help. Call +1 (626) 571-1234 for a free consultation or click here for our Ask the Doctor system.
© Copyright 2016-2020 Michael Lam, M.D. All Rights Reserved.
Due to the toxins, removal properties of activated charcoal can help improve the instances of acne and other skin impurities. Mix one teaspoon of each of activated charcoal, water, and aloe vera. Apply to face until dry.
Oil Pulling has been practiced in India for 5000 years. It may remove only toxins localize in the mouth area.
