WHO NEEDS A HEALTHY LIVER?

For the first few years that I worked as a general practitioner I had underestimated the liver's significant role in the general wellbeing of my patients. I had learnt that the liver was important from a physiological point of view and that it helped to keep us alive, but I hadn't fully considered how it keeps us feeling well on a day-to-day basis.

I had been taught how to detect liver-function abnormalities in blood testing and how to feel for an enlarged or tender liver – all signs of obvious and severe liver damage. But as for understanding liver damaged well before any obvious clinical signs begin to show, I was completely in the dark. I had seen severe liver damage from chronic alcoholism and from liver disease such as hepatitis, but the subtler symptoms and signs of liver impairment was something I was not adept at detecting. It wasn't until I started practising holistic medicine that I realised the big part the liver plays in a patient's ability to get well and stay well.

Many patients who present to my clinic are struggling to lose weight despite exercising regularly and eating relatively healthily. They often have fluid retention, hormone issues such as low libido, and generally feel tired and unwell. The answer for these patients is not to eat less and move more, as popular advice would suggest, but rather to investigate the deeper physiological issues in that patient's body. This physiological disturbance is often rooted in poor liver health, as a cause or consequence of the patient's lifestyle choices, genetics, infection and/or something known as environmental overload. These will be explained further in the section on 'Liver Haters' but for now let's look at who can benefit from having a healthy liver.

Who Benefits from a Healthy Liver?

This is really a rhetorical question because everyone can benefit from having a healthy liver! If you value your wellbeing and want to feel healthy and energetic then looking after your liver is key. In particular, the following issues may indicate compromised liver health:

[] Struggling to lose weight

[] Carrying weight around your mid-section

[] Feeling ti#c04a53 despite getting a good night's sleep (including those with chronic fatigue syndrome and/or fibromyalgia)

[] Feeling bloated

[] Unexplained itchy skin, especially at night

[] Dark circles under your eyes

[] Excess fluid, especially around your ankles

[] A coating on your tongue

[] Bruising easily

[] Having a poor immune system

[] Have blotchy skin

[] Frequent headaches

[] Gallbladder issues such as gallstones

[] High cholesterol levels or high blood pressure

[] Having been diagnosed with fatty liver

[] Having been diagnosed with metabolic syndrome

[] Liver function abnormalities detected in blood testing

[] Consistently drinking too much alcohol or binge drinking

[] Having taken regular pain-killer medications, anti-depressants or other mood stabilising medications, the oral contraceptive pill, hormone-replacement therapy, epilepsy medications, antibiotics, or cholesterol-lowering medications over a period of time

[] Having hepatitis or cirrhosis (infection-related or alcohol-related)

As you can see, many of us would fit into the category of needing a healthier liver based on some of the more common symptoms presented above. You may not even realise your liver is your key health issue as liver health can deteriorate gradually and almost unnoticeably at first. It is not until symptoms begin interfering with a person's quality of life that they seek help. Hopefully at this point liver deterioration can be addressed and health can return.

This was definitely my case in my mid-twenties when I found myself struggling with feeling constantly bloated and tired. Even though I was considered to have a normal body weight for my frame, I was struggling to lose a few extra kilograms around my mid-section. This was very frustrating as I was exercising five days a week and doing what I thought were 'all the right things'. I felt overwhelmed most of the time, irritated, and retained fluid, which I noticed particularly at the end of the day when my rings no longer seemed to fit on my fingers. I scratched my arms, palms and legs most nights with an unexplained itch that seemed to resolve in the daytime. I couldn't see any signs of eczema or dermatitis and moisturised regularly, just in case this itch was due to dry skin, but that did not seem to make any difference.

Despite having a relatively healthy diet and being a non-smoker and non-drinker, I had elevated cholesterol levels. I was referred by my local doctor to a heart specialist, who shrugged his shoulders and suggested that my cholesterol level was probably a result of genetics, rather than my lifestyle.

What I discovered, though, several years later, was that my liver was the issue. A combination of some poor lifestyle choices, a higher-dose oral contraceptive pill (that I had been on since I was 14, for acne), and some genetic susceptibilities, had overloaded my liver and elevated my bad cholesterol levels. Once these factors were addressed my cholesterol levels and my health returned to normal. I no longer felt tired or struggled to lose weight around my middle; I no longer felt irritated or scratched my skin at night (to my husband's relief!). I just wished I had realised that my liver health was my main issue beforehand – it would have saved me years of feeling terrible!

I'm sure my story is not unique – perhaps you are feeling exactly the same way. Tired, struggling with your weight and just simply not feeling great. The answer lies in addressing your liver health.

How Will This Book Help You?

What I learnt in my journey to improving my liver health, and ultimately my overall health and wellbeing, was that there are some key steps to follow in order to restore the liver to its original function. These steps are based on holistic health principles, with the best of both conventional and complementary wisdoms brought together. This book offers these steps in an easy-to-follow format so that each step is manageable and able to be implemented into busy lives. It is easy to feel overwhelmed in today's society with such an abundance of health information available at our fingertips and often we become paralysed, unable to act – not knowing which way to go. In this book I hope to help you on the path to gaining a healthy liver. The key to making change is one step at a time.

The first step is to understand where your health lies. This is sometimes difficult to quantify as the experience of health is relative for each person based on their previous experiences and expectations. This is also true of liver health, which is perhaps even more difficult to pinpoint given the liver is an organ often not immediately associated with the symptoms listed. To help you gauge where your liver health may stand, I have put together a questionnaire in the section, 'Know Your...