Homeopathy For Liver Problems

Homeopathy for Liver problems 
 

The liver is the powerhouse of the body. Its primary role is the synthesis of fuel components for use by other organs. Its function is to control carbohydrate metabolism, lipid (fatty acid) metabolism, protein metabolism and bile secretions. One of its most important roles is carbohydrate storage/metabolism that is the monitoring and stabilising of blood glucose levels. The liver produces glucose both from its own (glycogen) stores and from muscle lactate, as well as from fatty tissue. It also responds to a high blood glucose by increasing its uptake of glucose and depositing it in its storage mechanism as glycogen. When you have eaten, the liver stores fuel derived from glucose. When you haven’t eaten for a while, the liver senses this and increases the synthesis and export of glucose when blood glucose levels are low. (The pancreas also senses the fed state adjusting its insulin output accordingly.) An important regulatory function of the liver in respect of digestion is the formation and secretion of bile. Wrong dietary intake over a prolonged period puts inordinate strain on liver function. The liver also regulates fatty acid synthesis, and contributes to steroid production.

Alcoholic cirrhosis and drug-induced damage are not uncommon ailments nowadays. Trauma causing rupture/haematoma can be helped with Arnica in conjunction with orthodox treatment. The homeopathic cure Orthodox medicine is very useful in giving an assessment of more advanced disease. Even here homeopathic prescribing can achieve stunning, unexpected results. This was so in a patient who had chronic viral hepatitis and was taking large doses of cortisone (40mg a day initially, lowered to 30mg a day ongoing), and was cured over a two-month period on Phosphorous 30c twice a day for three days initially. The patient felt somewhat better – less nauseous, less bloated. The Phosphorous was stopped for four days (allowing the body to respond). My rule to the patient is “when losing any good effect do it again but less often”. I therefore gave one Phosphorous 30c in the evening, morning and evening. Then I stopped and waited, this time for a further week. Damage to the liver can be due to inflammation due to infective agents causing, for example, hepatitis and liver abscess. This often responds rapidly to homeopathic Phosphorous (30c/1m) as well as Hepar sulph (200c). Medorrhinum (1m) – Hahnemann’s miasm – may be needed to finish the treatment.

An orthodox diagnosis is useful and often essential. It gives an indication of how advanced the disease is and of other organs likely to be affected. From the point of homeopathic prescribing, however, this is purely of academic interest as the homeopath relies on the signs and symptoms especially related to the required medicine and also the constitutional make-up of the patient and more importantly the change in that constitutional make-up. By constitution I mean, how his/her physiology works for him/her. Homeopathy recognises the ailment and chooses the required medicine but always (or should always) ask what was it in the constitution, which predisposed this person to get this ailment in the first place. Hahnemann stressed the predisposition (miasm) to illness as much as the illness itself. In practice I like to see where the person is coming from, where he is now and more importantly where he is going – health-wise. Thus the past history is very important. A good example of this is the gall bladder stone/colic of middle-aged women. It amazes me how many had nausea/morning sickness during pregnancy. I have also had many patients with various digestive/bowel problems which cleared up when an old hepatitis infection was treated (mostly with Phosphorous 30c). In general practice the commonest liver ailments for me have been gall bladder ailments, for example stones, spasm of biliary duct and also hormonal changes. Except in hepatitis, liver ailments are normally of slow onset. Even gall stones, which may seem of acute onset, may have been developing over quite some time.