Gentian, a Bitter Way to Treat Your Liver

An extremely bitter herb known as gentian (Gentiana lutea) has been used to support the liver, stomach, blood, spleen, and entire circulatory system. Gentian reduces liver congestion, promotes bile flow, and stimulates digestion. It is helpful for those in a weakened condition because it helps to strengthen the entire body and stimulates the appetite. Veterinarians have been known to administer gentian to their four-legged patients who have lost their appetite. Gentian is high in iron; the liver is considered an iron organ, and this may be why gentian has been helpful for liver conditions. A small amount of gentian taken before every meal will assist your body in breaking down fats. Take gentian in a combination of herbs because it is extremely bitter and may also have a strong laxative effect on you. It also has properties that serve as a cholagogue, meaning that it stimulates bile secretions. If its laxative effects aren’t working for you, make sure you are keeping the bowel clean with other fibers, such as psyllium hulls, or a bowel stimulant, such as cascara sagrada. Gentian is not recommended if you have ulcers.
Other herbs in a combination that will support the liver include: Oregon grape, red beet, dandelion, parsley, horsetail, liverwort, black cohosh, birch, blessed thistle, angelica, chamomile, and golden rod.

Accused of Obstruction of Jaundice

Find out from your doctor which type of jaundice you have. If it is obstructive jaundice, you probably will want to know if it is a reaction to a drug that may have caused damage to your liver, or if a stone in the bile ducts caused the obstruction. All this information will empower you to take better care of yourself once you recover so that you might never have to suffer the same ailment or related disease in the future.
If you have had jaundice because of gallstones, you can do a gallbladder flush on a quarterly basis to help your body break down stones before they get a chance to lodge somewhere again. However, in cases where there is an obstruction to bile flow, NEVER use herbs to try and stimulate the flow. This will only make matters worse. Also be sure to reduce the amount of fatty foods in your diet, especially fried foods. This will keep cholesterol from clogging up your system. Eat more red beets, which are stimulating to your liver. Also drink fresh carrot juice daily, with a small amount of beet added for a wonderful liver, gallbladder, and bowel tonic drink. Keeping the liver and bowel cleansed is imperative to your preventative measures. Use herbs as a fiber supplement to keep things moving along if you tend to get constipated. A colonic irrigation program will also help you stay on track. Add vitamin E with selenium to your daily program, as it is a nutrient that aids the circulatory system. Also add vitamin A or beta carotene (which will feed the liver) and a B-complex vitamin (which contains niacin to help keep the circulatory system clean).

Cure for Jaundice

If you have yellowish skin and eyes, and if it’s not Halloween and you’re not an alien, you may have jaundice. The yellow color indicates that excess bilirubin, a by-product of old blood cells, is floating around your blood stream (as you learned earlier, the skin reflects the condition of the blood).
Three classified types of jaundice exist:

1. Obstructive jaundice: Caused by obstruction of the small ducts that allow bile to flow into the intestine. Often, gallstones are a cause of this problem. Symptoms include dark urine, pale feces, and itchy skin.
2. Hepatocellular jaundice: Occurs because of a disease of the liver cells, which makes them unable to utilize the bilirubin. (Remember, the liver is a filter.) You may experience hepatocellular jaundice when and if you have hepatitis. Symptoms include dark urine, but the feces remains the same in color.
3. Hemolytic jaundice: Occurs when a destruction of red cells occurs in the blood, such as in the disease hemolysis. With this type of jaundice, the color of the urine and feces remains the same, but the problem usually leads to anemia.

Hemolytic disease—and thus, jaundice—can happen to a newborn child because of the incompatibility of the mother’s blood and her baby’s blood. A blood test taken by your doctor early in your pregnancy can detect the possible problem, and it can be handled at that time. Now that you understand the three types of jaundice a little better, you can see that the first type is caused by problems in or of the gallbladder causing an obstruction of bile flow, the second is related more closely to the liver, and the last is a rare problem associated more closely with the blood. We will primarily discuss how to prevent gallstones that can cause a problem in the first place. Let’s take a look.