A Blog for the Faint of Liver

By Maggie McCarey

From Yang Jizhou, The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (Zhenjiu Dacheng), ca. 1590:
The eyes represent the orifices of the liver. When a person closes his/her eyes and falls asleep, the blood returns to the liver. From there it is transmitted to the eyes, and the ability to see results from this. When a person sleeps, now, the nameless fire within grows dim in order to revitalize. Although it may be impossible to refrain from sleeping altogether, it is advisable not to just let this energy dissipate for the mere sake of falling into a slumber. www.itmonline.org

In 1994, I had my second complete physical collapse with the following triggers within one year: 1) gall bladder surgery: 2) a 3-week pharmaceutical cocktail aimed at healing ulcers but really an A-bomb of destruction, that killed parasites as stomach ulcers are now know to be; and, 3) a fender bender which triggered within me a full-blown cortisol/inflammatory episode, so intense that I lost 60 pounds in as many days. I was so debilitated that my Baptist father offered healing prayer over me for a week, and then his prayers became little messages for me to submit to my impending death.

My daughter, Stefanie, was more proactive. She went to an Amish healer in Jamesport, MO and asked the woman to see me. This healer read eyes to diagnose weaknesses of the body. She looked at my eyes and suggested that we work on cleansing the liver. That was a fascinating diagnosis for me because my eyes in my youth were sea-foam green, gold-flecked, and black-rimmed, set against jet-black hair, and commented on daily, especially by strangers. In my adult life they had faded to a quiet unnoticeable teal-grey and I started dying my graying hair at menopause just so my eyes would reappear in the mirror. What did my eyes have to do with my liver???

That the liver is such an important organ, especially for a lipese working towards health, is key to self-empowerment. One Chinese proverb says : The doctor who heals the liver heals a hundred diseases. So, really, WHAT DOES the liver do? According to Jessica Bates in Ehow Fun Facts About the Liver:

Food enters your body through your mouth and throat, then travels to your stomach and intestines for digestion. The broken-down food materials find their way to your liver by way of the bloodstream. Once these materials break down further, they are used to make bile, a necessary digestion liquid, and other substances.

Your liver also aids your immune system in battling infection. It stores vitamins, nutrients, minerals and sugar, and it is also responsible for production. Whenever your body needs these nutrients or hormones, your liver releases them to do their jobs. Your liver is in direct control of the chemical balance in your blood.

http://www.ehow.com/way_5662043_fun-human-liver.html#ixzz2rRDt9u34

Bates also says if the liver stops functioning a person dies within a day, not exactly the immediate death of a stopped heart, to which all romantic poetry, love songs, Hugh Grant movies, and biblical references, are made but still important. In fact, the liver seems to ignored by all of humanity’s curious interest in body parts, including The Wizard Of Oz: a heart, a brain, the “noive.” No, if I only had a liver. In fact, if the word liver is mentioned in our conversations at all it is liver-lilied, a negative reflection of a person’s lack of courage, but which began as an affirmation that the liver is the seat of courage (1600’s England), and, when blood is flowing properly, the liver is the color of a lily so named after the pleasing color of the liver. Yes, call me liver-lilied! Let’s not even discuss how many times and in how many ways many of us have expressed how we HATE liver, even the thought of liver, and how excitedly we proclaim our hatred for liver in culinary conversations. Oh be careful little lips what you say.

Further, Bates says, “the liver also stores fat, and if too much fat is stored there you can develop fatty liver disease. Alcohol, toxins and bacteria are isolated in your liver and flushed out of your body. Like a filter, the liver works as the body's detoxification factory.

Detoxification of the body as performed by our toxified livers is the only game in Healthville these days. Even so, a lot of us don’t even know where the liver is located and we don’t care to. Look how the liver lays over the stomach in this illustration and how often when we feel pain in that area we think we have a stomach ache. Also, look how the liver sits on the colon where so many people have said to me: “I got a sharp pain right here.” Energy workers reading this might well consider an entire session on liver detoxing. For some of us, the liver to the right and under the breast is the exact spot we instinctively rub when we eat foods our body won’t metabolize. We call them belly, tummy, and stomach aches but they are really our poor, ignored, and abused liver’s ache.

According to Chinese medicine, the liver is always where anger is held and released from.

Certain emotional states can result from, or cause, liver qi disorders. For example, a state of depression brought on by an unexpected event can eventually cause physical symptoms attributed to liver qi stagnation; liver qi stagnation, in turn, can cause mental depression. An intense outbreak of anger can induce sudden headaches, dizziness, chest pain, and other signs of -qi flare up (as the Neijing points out: "When a person is angry, the qi moves up); liver qi flaring up can cause one to feel anger. Sometimes a person will suffer a stroke ("qi and blood rushing to the brain") during or shortly after an outburst of anger. Anger is a physiologically normal emotion and will usually not cause disease. The constant suppression of anger or putting oneself always in a situation that generates anger, on the other hand, can be the cause of long ranging problems, since it promotes a chronic state of internal qi stagnation. www.itmonline.org

So we aren’t really pissed off at all. We are livered off. Its the spot where we feel a nudgy little pain when we cough hard or in our youth where pain stabs when we played too hard, and important to this blog, it’s the spot where many of us feel chronic tenderness and low-level pain. It’s the pain I blamed on my gallbladder before it was removed, and since it was removed, mythical gallbladder scar tissue. It’s also the spot that collects and maintains fat-soluble and B vitamins for you women who have had vitamin deficiencies after gastric by-pass surgery because you no longer produce or your liver no longer stores them.

*******************************************************************

So where were we? Oh, yes. My eyes. The eyes are windows to the soul. No that’s not it. The eyes are portholes to the liver. We brought a friend to see the Amish healer once. She looked into the friend’s eyes and said “Oh, dear you have not had a bowel movement for six days (“Exactly six days,” our wide-eyed friend confessed in the car.)

* Iridology an alternative medicine technique whose proponents claim that patterns, colors, and other characteristics of the iris can be examined to determine information about a patient's systemic health. Practitioners match their observations to iris charts, which divide the iris into zones that correspond to specific parts of the human body. Iridologists see the eyes as "windows" into the body's state of health. Iridologists believe they can use the charts to distinguish between healthy systems and organs in the body and those that are overactive, inflamed, or distressed. Iridologists believe this information demonstrates a patient's susceptibility towards certain illnesses, reflects past medical problems, or predicts later health problems. (Wikipedia)

It became increasing clear to me over the last few months that my liver has been working too hard as the “spot” has become more of a “hot spot.” I began a regiment of dandelion but still my liver grumbled too much over okay foods. I was talking to Catia, another daughter about this issue as I rubbed my liver, and she reminded me of an herb tea that I engineer with remarkable results with AIDS patients, cures for HepC and a nurse’s incurable liver condition because, my friends, the liver constantly regrows itself, and if you nourish it, it should grow faster than it is damaged if it isn’t too damaged. I purchased the herb and began using it. One day last week, I looked in the mirror and saw my old crazy green eyes peeping back. I noted I was wearing teal, okay. The day after, green. Okay, but even so, every time I went to the bathroom I looked in the mirror at a familiar friend I have missed for awhile. Then on the third day, I wore red and they were still sea-foam green. I told Stef and she said, “I noticed your eyes were back a few days ago. “ I thought and then I remembered. I looked at my nails, which have been ridging for a few years, despite my best efforts to nourish them, and they were smoothing out too. “It’s the liver cleanse, Stef.”
I will write more about liver cleanses in the near future, I promise, but in the meantime see if this description of blood and liver has anything in common with you.

LIVER BLOOD DEFICIENCY (gan xue xu): primary symptoms are pale face color; dizziness; dry eyes or, at a more advanced stage, blurry vision (especially at night); numbness in the extremities (including arms easily "falling asleep" while sleeping); limited flexibility of tendons and muscles. Secondary symptoms include pale lips and nails; dry, split, atrophied, or malformed nails; muscle twitching; spasms or cramping in the extremities; trembling hands or feet; occasional intercostal pain; ringing in the ears; in females: decreased and pale menstrual flow. The tongue is typically pale or pink; the pulse tends to be fine, or wiry and forceless.

Representative Herbs: tang-kuei (danggui), peony (baishao), gelatin (ejiao), ligustrum (nuzhenzi), cornus (shanzhuyu), cnidium (chuanxiong), zizyphus (suanzaoren), millettia (jixueteng).

Representative Formulas: Tang-kuei Four Combination (Siwu Tang); Tonify the Liver Decoction (Bugan Tang); Linking Decoction (Yiguan Jian) minus melia (chuanlianzi) plus peony (baishao).
www.itmonline.org

A Liver Song Dedicated to the Sisters I Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGboNqFgBvw

LIVER LONG AND PROSPER!

Cortisol and Estrogen Connection in Lipedema Recovery - Part II

by Maggie McCarey

Sorry, for taking so much time to write part 2 of cortisol and estrogen connection.  Studying it was like learning a new language (which is ironic since my life depends on knowing speaking it to my primary). After reading about cortisol and estrogen until my eyes crossed, I came across one doctor, Alfred J. Plechner, who brings the adrenal gland into our estrogen discussion and oddly makes the discussion understandable.  He writes:

I have long regarded adrenal dysfunction as a well-spring of excess estrogen which may contribute to hormonal imbalances, immune destabilization, and increased vulnerability to disease. As a practicing clinician, I have consistently found elevated total estrogen as part of an endocrine-immune derangement present in many common diseases of dogs and cats.

     

Wait.  What?  Dogs and Cats?  Yes, Alfred J. Plechner is a veterinarian, but before I discuss Dr Plechner’s findings, I want to share why I am so interested in this topic.

      

I am looking for 1) why lipedema spikes during female reproductive stages;  2) how to stop lipedema in its tracks during these reproductive events; and 3) how to stop my ever-present hormonal surges, sore breasts, occasional bleeding, premenstrual crampiness, and peaking emotions since post-menopause 8 years ago.  (Yes, I have had the traditional medical tests designed to detect cancer but otherwise do not address serious medical issues)

Like many of you, one or more hormonal events triggered a lipedema spike in my body. Mine: huge weight gain at menses and at the birth of my first child, a boy.  Then weight loss when my daughter was born and during peri-menopause.  A weight gain, all-time high at menopause with a new addition of much immovable weight gain in my stomach which had been no more than a pouch.  And now, post-menopause, no more weight gain, as I have lost slowly and steadily for the last three years but with much unexpected hormonal activity even though my reproductive stages have supposedly ended.

     

Because women are finally sharing their collective history of post-menopause with such consistency, a new understanding of menopause is being forged and a new phase, perhaps, will be named.  Oh wait, in my research, I discovered there is such a name. Are you properly strapped into your ruby red slippers?

After menopause, every woman will be affected differently and they will be at higher risk for breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, fibroids, post-menopause weight gain, urinary incontinence, a thin, watery vaginal discharge tinged with blood signaling vaginal wall atrophy, hair loss, and  osteoporosis.  At the same time ovulation ceases, progesterone drops to zero while estrogen drops 40 - 60% from its pre-menopause level.  In order for the body to be healthy, estrogen and progesterone need to be in balance, and when they are, women are disease-free. This is called post-menopause syndrome.                                   

I just want to repeat the salient sentence in the above paraphrase: 

In order for the body to be healthy, estrogen and progesterone need to be in balance, and when they are, women are disease-free. When the estrogen and progesterone are not in balance, a woman sufferers from post-menopause syndrome. 

Is it possible to ascertain cortisol level in the human body? Yes, with a non-invasive, inexpensive, simple 24-hour urine test and now with hair analysis which tells the history of cortisol in your body.  Is it possible to test one’s progesterone and estrogen levels? Through blood tests, yes, and more accurately, saliva testing is the most accurate test to determine steroid hormones (i.e. progesterone, estrogen, DHEA, cortisol, and testosterone) levels. Saliva testing is much more accurate and useful than any blood test when attempting to determine who needs hormone replacement. (http://www.bhrtdoctors.com/menopause2.htm)  

Why then are the mammogram and pap smear the only yearly tests offered to determining women’s health when inflammation, estrogen, progesterone, cortisol, and testosterone levels can easily and cheaply be measured? And let’s not forget DHEA, a naturally occurring hormone secreted from the adrenal gland to help with weight loss and muscle strengthening.

   

It is important at this point to understand the adrenal gland.  Its purpose is to secrete hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, steroids, cortisol, and cortisone, and chemicals such as adrenalin (epinephrine), norepinephrine, and dopamine. I have often heard that a weak adrenal gland is the root cause of most disease and the good news is that you can test your adrenal function at home.  It is called the paradoxical papillary reflex test.

To take the test:

Standing in front of a mirror in a dark room, take a flashlight and shine the light into one eye at a 45-degree angle from the side. Watch your pupil. When in the dark, your pupil should be dilated (open). When you shine the light it should constrict.  The duration of constriction can indicate adrenal function, though there are other causes for a positive finding on this test. Wait 30 seconds in the dark before repeating with the other eye.

PUPIL CONSTRICTION                                           POSSIBLE FINDING

Stays constricted for at least 20 seconds                    Healthy adrenal function

Fasciculates (pulses) after 10 seconds                        Fair adrenal function

Fasciculates (pulses) in 5-10 seconds                         Poor adrenal function

Immediate pulsation and dilation                               Adrenal exhaustion

www.precisionnutrition.com/what-do-theadrenal-glands-do

And now finally back to Dr. Alfred J. Pletchner who is accredited with applying his research with dogs and cats to something that applies to humans as well: Pletchner’s syndrome.  He explains his findings as follows:

Q. HOW DOES EXCESS ESTROGEN AFFECT MY IMMUNE SYSTEM?

A. Imbalanced CORTISOL allows for the pituitary gland to over-stimulate the production of excess ESTROGEN. This excess estrogen not only causes an inflammation of the lining cells of all arteries in the body, including those arteries to the intestines, but causes the B and T immune cells to become deregulated. It also causes the B cell to reduce its production of antibodies. This in turn causes further turmoil in the gut. When regulated, the B cell protects the body against bacteria and makes protective antibodies to vaccines and other intruders. When the T cell is regulated it protects the body against viruses and plant invaders like yeast and fungi. The hormonal antibody deregulation is why all of these intruders can cause medical effects (illnesses and diseases). Many substances are used to combat these EFFECTS, but while this is being done, the CAUSE must also be corrected, otherwise the EFFECTS will continue. The continuous use of antibiotics and anti-yeast and fungal medications alone will not correct the problem since they can only be managed effectively through replacement and correction of the hormonal antibody imbalance.

(http://drplechner.com/learn/plechner-syndrome/)

So, first things first.  Take your home test or go to your doctor and ask for all of the tests that are available to you so you can know exactly what your adrenal gland needs.  It’s a very important thing to do because before considering any medication aimed at hormone replacement you should know adrenal function, blood sugar balance, and gastrointestinal function.  Understanding the state of your adrenal gland seems to be one of the most important pieces of information you and your primary can have, especially if you are about to enter a hormonal reproductive event that can be monitored via hormone balance.

Relationship between cortisol and estrogen, part I
Relationship between cortisol and estrogen, part III

Relationship Between Cortisol and Estrogen - Part 1

By Maggie McCarey

 Last Saturday, I watched Les Miserables. I enjoyed the movie, felt the characters’ pain, grieved their deaths, but I wasn't a wet mess of tears at the satisfying shmultzy end of the movie.  Just a few days earlier, I was so emotional, I blubbered over a Carnival Cruise Triumph news report. At that time, my left ankle had begun to swell and fill with inflammation, a sure sign that my body was on the verge of a “lipedema break out.”  But why? I had not been sleeping well and I was experiencing a lot of intense emotions. I needed to find out fast.

 
For some time, two question marks have been bobbing up and down in my brain:  cortisol and estrogen.  I know that cortisol is triggered by stress, one of the major causes of our lipedema inflammation.  And, anyone who has ever had pre-menstrual “blues” knows that overflowing emotion—stress-- is estrogen driven.  But do cortisol and  estrogen work together?  Are they related to each other?  These questions are the subjects of my research and now this blog.  Were cortisol and stress causing me to be a blubbering diva?

Cortisol, Stress, and Inflammation


Under stressful conditions, cortisol provides the body with glucose by tapping into protein stores via gluconeogenesis in the liver. This energy can help an individual fight or flee a stressor. However, elevated cortisol over the long term consistently produces glucose, leading to increased blood sugar levels. Cortisol functions to reduce inflammation in the body, which is good, but over time, these efforts to reduce inflammation also suppress the immune system. Chronic inflammation, caused by lifestyle factors such as poor diet and stress, helps to keep cortisol levels soaring, wreaking havoc on the immune system in the process. (www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/111609p38.shtml)

Translated:  Your adrenal glands are the conveyor belt in the famous I Love Lucy chocolate factory skit, but, rather than chocolates, your factory functions to produce what you need to keep you healthy through both urgent, but momentary, and chronic life-sapping external events. One of its favorite defenses is cortisol, which is produced via cholestrol in the adrenal glands located above your kidneys.  As your body goes through anything from a missed appointment to the death of a loved ones, it calls for cortisol (literally little protein bars stored in the liver).  Obviously, the more chronic your life, the more cortisol you have unleashed until, like Lucy and Ethel shoving chocolates in their mouth, under their hats, and down their fronts, as the conveyor belt speeds faster and faster. Eventually, your adrenal glands burn out but not without a fight. 

Watch Lucy at the Chocolate Factory:  

Our bodies try to store the extra cortisol first. How?

One way to store the extra cortisol is via visceral fat storage. Cortisol can mobilize triglycerides from storage and relocate them to visceral fat cells (those under the muscle, deep in the abdomen). Cortisol also aids adipocytes’ development into mature fat cells. The biochemical process at the cellular level has to do with enzyme control (11-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase), which converts cortisone to cortisol in the adipose tissue. More of these enzymes in the visceral fat cells may mean greater amounts of cortisol produced at the tissue level, adding insult to injury (since the adrenals are already pumping out cortisol). (www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/111609p38.shtml)

Researchers have discovered that cortisol eventually overloads the adrenal glands which work so hard for so long, they eventually produce less active cortisol, and  thus leave the body vulnerable to other hormones like over abundance of estrogen, whose excess is stored forever in the liver.

YIKES, SO WHAT IS ESTROGEN?

What is estrogen? It is primarily a combination of three chemical messengers who travel by body fluid to affect all stages of reproduction, sexual behavior, and female characteristics in both men and women.

Estrogen is an entire class of related hormones that includes estriol, estradiol, and estrone. Estriol is made from the placenta. It’s produced during pregnancy. Estradiol is the primary sex hormone of childbearing women. It is formed from developing ovarian follicles. Estradiol is responsible for female characteristics and sexual functioning. Also, estradiol is important to women's bone health. Estradiol contributes to most gynecologic problems, including endometriosis and fibroids and even female cancers. Estrone is widespread throughout the body. It is the only estrogen present after menopause. (http://women.webmd.com/guide/normal-testosterone-and-estrogen-levels-in-women).

                  THE NEW BUZZ PHRASE:  ESTROGEN DOMINANCE

Dr. Christine Northrup, arguably the world’s leading women’s health advocates, explains estrogen balance and dominance so well, I am just crediting it to her and adding it to this blog.  She explains:

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The conventional medical mindset is that menopause is an estrogen deficiency disease resulting from ovarian failure. Women have been led to believe that at the slightest symptoms, they should run out and get estrogen replacement. While estrogen levels will decrease during menopause, the truth is, estrogen levels do not fall appreciably until after a woman’s last period. In fact, far more women suffer from the effects of "estrogen dominance" during the transition—that is, they have too much estrogen relative to progesterone. And some women can suffer from the symptoms of estrogen dominance for 10 to 15 years, beginning as early as age 35.

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

The symptoms listed below, as well as many others, often arise when estrogen over stimulates both the brain and body. All of these symptoms are exacerbated by stress of all kinds. Many women in their thirties and early forties find that they experience moderate to severe symptoms of estrogen dominance as they approach perimenopause.

                            Decreased sex drive

                            Irregular or otherwise abnormal menstrual periods

                            Bloating (water retention)

                            Breast swelling and tenderness

                            Fibrocystic breasts

                            Headaches (especially premenstrually)

                            Mood swings (most often irritability and depression)

                            Weight and/or fat gain (particularly around the abdomen and hips)

                            Cold hands and feet (a symptom of thyroid dysfunction)

                            Hair loss

                            Thyroid dysfunction

                            Sluggish metabolism

                            Foggy thinking, memory loss

                            Fatigue

                            Trouble sleeping/insomnia

                            PMS

Estrogen dominance has also been linked to allergies, autoimmune disorders, breast cancer, uterine cancer, infertility, ovarian cysts, and increased blood clotting, and is also associated with acceleration of the aging process.

WHAT CAUSES THIS

When a woman’s menstrual cycle is normal, estrogen is the dominant hormone for the first two weeks leading up to ovulation. Estrogen is balanced by progesterone during the last two weeks. As a woman enters peri-menopause and begins to experience an ovulatory cycles (that is, cycles where no ovulation occurs), estrogen can often go unopposed, causing symptoms. Skipping ovulation is, however, only one potential factor in estrogen dominance. In industrialized countries such as the United States, there can be many other causes, including:

                            Excess body fat (greater than 28%)

                            Too much stress, resulting in excess amounts of cortisol, insulin, and norepinephrine, which can lead to adrenal exhaustion and can also adversely affect overall hormonal balance

                            A low-fiber diet with excess refined carbohydrates and deficient in nutrients and high quality fats

                            Impaired immune function

                            Environmental agents 

http://www.drnorthrup.com/womenshealth/healthcenter/topic_details.php?topic_id=118

Next: Surprising Research on Estrogen Dominance. Tests at home to determine if your adrenal glands are too fast or to slow.  How I  tested my hypothesis and stopped my estrogen overload with herbs and watched Les Miserables without tears.

Relationship between cortisol and estrogen, part II
Relationship between cortisol and estrogen, part III