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Cirrhosis & Hepatitis
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There must be FIFTEEN
WAYS TO LOVE YOUR LIVER
by Andrew W. Saul
1. Put the
six-pack back, Jack
Half of all the
alcohol consumed in America
is consumed by only ten percent of the population. One in three adult
Americans is a heavy drinker, with a sufficient liquor habit to be
indistinguishable from an alcoholic. Such behavior wrecks livers.
Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis of the
liver is a rather rare disease, except among alcoholics... who make it the
seventh leading cause of death in the U.S.! And it is 4th or 5th,
in large cities among adult men. It usually takes a half quart of whiskey
daily for ten years to abuse the liver to the point of cirrhosis.
The fibrous tissue
that replaces normal liver in cirrhosis causes decreased liver function. Of
course this leads to fluid buildup, jaundice and perhaps cancer of the liver.
Cirrhosis is fairly easy to arrest by stopping alcohol. But cure is difficult
and generally considered impossible. Well, as they say in the Marines,
the difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer.
Reversing cirrhosis is
reduced to being merely very difficult if you employ the Gerson program
(referenced below) and very high doses of vitamin C and B-complex vitamins. Corticosteroids
(such as Prednisone) are commonly tried but the side effects are undesirable,
and the drug is probably ineffective.
Prevention is the way to
go: stop drinking. Sure, as W. C. Fields said, "It's easy to give
up drinking; I've done it a thousand times.' But consider this: Fields,
the highest paid comic of his time, who drank over a quart of hard liquor a
day, was dead at age 66. That's not so funny.
2. Avoid the
virus, Iris
Hepatitis
Acute viral
hepatitis, or "infectious hepatitis" is now called hepatitis
A. "Chronic," "long incubation," "serum,"
and "posttransfusion" are now called type B. Non-A non-B may be
more than one agent. All respond remarkably well to very large doses of
vitamin C, the B-complex vitamins and the Gerson therapy, described below.
3. Take a lot
more "C," Lee
Vincent Zannoni at
the University of Michigan Medical School has shown that vitamin C protects
the liver. Even doses as low as 500 milligrams daily helps prevent
fatty buildup and cirrhosis. 5,000 mg of vitamin C per day appears to
actually flush fats from the liver. (Ritter, M. "Study Says Vitamin
C Could Cut Liver Damage," Associated Press, October 11, 1986) And
vitamin C over 50,000 mg/day (not a misprint) results in patients feeling
better in just a few days, and actually eliminates jaundice in under a
week. (Cathcart, Robert F. III (1981) The method of determining proper doses
of vitamin C for the treatment of disease by titrating to bowel tolerance.
Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry. 10:125-132.) Frederick Klenner,
MD, found that such huge doses of vitamin C had his patients recovered and
back to work in under a week. (Klenner, Frederick R. (1971) Observations
on the dose of administration of ascorbic acid when employed beyond the range
of a vitamin in human pathology. Journal of Applied Nutrition. 23(3 and 4),
pp 61-68, Winter.) These and additional references are found in the
highly-recommended book by Melvyn Werbach, M.D. (1988) Nutritional
Influences on Illness. New
Canaan, CT: Keats
Publishing.
Immediate and detailed
information on vitamin C dosage and administration, written by medical
doctors, will be found at
http://www.doctoryourself.com/titration.html
http://www.doctoryourself.com/ortho_c.html
http://www.doctoryourself.com/klenner_table.html
http://www.doctoryourself.com/klennerpaper.html
4. Don't
trust in a shot, Dot
Even if you choose to
vaccinate, it is immeasurably reassuring to remember this: Dr. Klenner showed
that very large doses of vitamin C (between 500 to 900 mg per kilogram body
weight per day) can cure hepatitis in as little as two to four days (Smith,
L. H., ed. Clinical Guide to the Use of Vitamin C, Life Science Press,
Tacoma Washington, 1988, pp 22-23).
5. Take
vitamin B, Dee
Especially vitamin
B-12, which significantly reduces jaundice, anorexia, serum bilirubin, and
recovery time. (Jain, A.S.C., Mukerji, D. P (1960) Observations on the
therapeutic value of intravenous B-12 in infective hepatitis. Journal of the
Indian Medical Association. 35:502-5; also Campbell, R. E. and Pruitt,
F.W. (1952) Vitamin B-12 in the treatment of viral hepatitis.
American Journal of Medical Science, 224:252) B-12 is most effective if
administered by injection, which your doctor can easily arrange. If
injection is not an option, there is an intra-nasal gel that improves
absorption. B-12 is non-prescription, utterly non-toxic, and has
no contraindications and no negative side effects.
6. Eat
veggies and greens, Gene
The fiber and
abundant nutrients in vegetables are a sure way to improve the health of
practically any organ you can name, especially the liver. Vegetables are
esentially fat-free. And, they are rich in the B-vitamin folic
acid. (Folic, like in foliage. Neat, huh?) Folate has been shown
to help shorten the recovery time for viral hepatitis. (Campbell, R. E. and
Pruitt, F. W. (1955) The effect of vitamin B-12 and folic acid in the
treatment of viral hepatitis. American Journal of Medical Science, 229:8)
7. Eat your
food raw, Paw
Or at least as much
of it as you can. Max Gerson, M.D. believed that cancer in general is a
disease of the liver even if occurring elsewhere in the body. Gerson's
nutritional therapy is a raw-foods protocol that is often very effective
against cancer, as well as lesser diseases. Cancer in the liver itself
is often due to environmental toxins, such as dry-cleaning fluids. I
have personally seen a terminal liver cancer case (and the patient had indeed
been a dry cleaner for many years) vastly improved with the Gerson program.
Full dietary details are provided in his book A Cancer Therapy: Results of
50 Cases.
8. Get off
the drugs, Doug
Illegal drugs of all
sorts (and not a few prescription drugs as well) are rough on the
liver. This includes anabolic steroids. The liver is the main
chemical detoxification center for your entire body. Don't push it;
quit now before your liver quits on you.
9. Eat less
fat, Matt
The liver is the
largest gland in the body, weighing in at about 4 pounds. Diseases of the
liver may result in diminished ability to emulsify fats. Your liver normally
makes 250 to 1,000 ml (over a quart!) of bile DAILY. Most (about 80%) of your
bile salts are reabsorbed by the intestinal tract and returned to and
recycled by the liver. This is how your body, with about 3.6 grams of total
bile salts in it, can secrete 4 to 8 g of bile salts per single fatty
meal. Gross, huh?
Fatty liver is much more
common than you would expect. 25% of people have this condition,
according to the Merck Manual, 14th ed. Fatty liver is the most common
response of the liver to injury. It typifies the alcoholic's liver upon
admission to the hospital. The Merck Manual indicates "no
specific treatment" (p. 830) and says it likely indicates other
problems, such as alcohol, drugs or malnutrition (oh, my!) Treatment
certainly includes cessation of alcohol intake. Therapeutic juice
fasting gives the liver an opportunity to use all those extra built-up fats.
10. Use safe
sex, Tex
If you are not in a
monogamous relationship, you are at increased risk for hepatitis.
11. Wash your
hands, Stan
Good grief, is that
so hard to do? After a bowel movement, that paper you use to clean up with is
thinner than a politician's election promise. Do you really think the
tissue keeps you hands squeaky clean? To put it another way, do you
think it keeps someone else's hands clean enough for you? No? Then
wash your hands with soap and hot water! I read once that over half
of all physicians don't wash their mitts after using the toilet. I hope
this is not true. My supposition is that it is, however. When heads of
state, billionaires, or doctors use the john, they are about as likely as you
to do what you do. Think about that in your spare time today. And
wash.
12. Prevent
that stone, Joan
Now here's an obvious
argument for vegetarian diet, as only animal foods contain cholesterol,
and cholesterol forms gallstones. Some people manufacture excessive
cholesterol, and this can be controlled through intelligent use of therapeutic
vegetable juice fasting and large doses of vitamin C, both of which significantly
reduce cholesterol production.
13. Spare the
bile, Kyle
About 33 ml of bile
is stored in the average gallbladder. Many animals (rats, for instance)
do not even have one. In addition to bile salts for emulsification, bile
contains the pigment bilirubin, neutral fat, phospholipid, assorted mineral
salts... and high concentrations of cholesterol.
The gallbladder is more
than a storage receptacle. Bile is concentrated in the gallbladder. Also,
water is removed, and resulting concentrated cholesterol level may be too
much to remain in solution and cholesterol gallstones may precipitate
out. In addition to hurting, gallstones obstruct the bile duct and
thereby interfere with fat digestion. One indicator: light-colored
stools. Why? Bilirubin, the bile pigment, darkens them to brown-green.
Otherwise, stools would be manila to grayish-white in color. Ugh. Low-fat
meals probably help prevent future gallbladder problems.
14. Eat
lecithin, Tim
Phospholipids in bile
help emulsify cholesterol. Lecithin therapy is therefore almost certainly
worth trying for threatened gallstones. Three to five tablespoons daily
is more likely to be effective than a few capsules. Even a large 1,200
mg capsule contains only about 1/8 tablespoon lecithin because of size limits
and added carrier oils. Lecithin is harmless and without side
effects. Bulk granules run between $8 and $15 per pound. Lecithin
is non-prescription, and available at any health food store.
15. Be sure
to read, Steed
References and
Sources Cited:
Gerson,
Max A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases, Totality Books,
Del Mar,
CA
Ray, O. and Ksir, C.
Drugs, Society and Human Behavior, Mosby, 1990, chapter 9
Vander, Sherman and
Luciano Human Physiology
Werbach, M. (1988) Nutritional
Influences on Illness. New
Canaan, CT: Keats
Publishing.
Williams, Sue R. (1993) Nutrition
and Diet Therapy, seventh edition. St.
Louis: Mosby.
Copyright 2022, 2003 and prior
years by Andrew W. Saul.
Andrew Saul is the author of the books FIRE
YOUR DOCTOR! How to be Independently Healthy (reader reviews at
http://www.doctoryourself.com/review.html
) and DOCTOR YOURSELF: Natural Healing that Works. (reviewed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/saulbooks.html
)
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