THE
LIVER
CURE
THE
LIVER
CURE
DR. RUSSELL BLAYLOCK, MD
with Charlotte Libov
THE LIVER CURE
Copyright 2022 by Humanix Books
All rights reserved.
Humanix Books, P.O. Box 20989, West Palm Beach, FL 33416, USA
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Disclaimer: The information presented in this book is not specific medical advice for any individual and should not substitute medical advice from a health professional. If you have (or think you may have) a medical problem, speak to your doctor or a health professional immediately about your risk and possible treatments. Do not engage in any care or treatment without consulting a medical professional.
ISBN: 9-781-63006-135-7(Hardcover)
ISBN: 9-781-63006-137-1(E-book)
Printed in the United States of America
10987654321
This book is dedicated to my youngest grandson, Finn, who is with the Lord in Heaven. My familys grief at his loss knows no bounds. Only the Lord comforts us.
I also dedicate this book to my beautiful wife, Diane, and my two sons: my youngest son, Damien, a master professional videographer, and my oldest son, Ron, a master professional photographic artist.
A special dedication to my son Ron and his wife Lindsey, the parents of our precious Finn Blaylock.
Also, to my other grandchildren, Gabe, Declan, and Susanna.
And finally, to my parents, my wifes parents, and her dear brother, Ron, who was killed in Vietnam and is now with the Lord greeting Finn.
Contents
CHAPTER 1
Your Remarkable Liver
M ost medical discussions in the media are concerned with the more glamorous disorders of the body, those that affect the heart, the brain, the lungs, the GI tract, maybe even the kidneys. These rarely include the liver. When the liver is mentioned, it usually concerns a viral infection, such as hepatitis B or hepatitis C. As a result, most people know very little about their liver and just how important it really is. Without a liver, we would die very quickly.
One mistake people often make is to assume organs can operate, or do operate, in isolation. We often hear the questionWhat does the liver do, or the pancreas? We should always keep in mind that all our organs and tissues interact constantly and when one organ fails, many other organs and tissues are adversely affected. And they do communicate with each other. We still do not fully understand the entire extent of this intercommunication, but we know for certain that when one organ, such as the liver malfunctions, other organs will alter their function as well. Ironically, this also includes the brain.
A Quick Look at Your Liver
The liver is the largest organ in the body, weighing in at 1500 grams, or about three pounds, and has a reddish-brown color. For those who remember their geometry, the liver is in the shape of a scalene triangle with the hypotenuse at the bottom. For everyone else, it looks like a wedge, tucked under the ribs on the right side of our bodies. It is partially anchored to the underside of the diaphragm on the right side.
The liver is positioned beneath the rib cage to protect it from injury, which indicates its importance. Normally the lower edge of the liver does not extend below the lowest rib. You may recall that, during a physical examination, your doctor will start pushing on your abdomen just below the ribs on your right side. They do this to get an idea of where the livers edges are. If your liver is enlarged, its lower edge will be below the lowest rib on the right. The further down the liver protrudes, the greater the doctors concern, because this could indicate that your liver is enlarged and possibly diseased or malfunctioning.
Your liver is also unusual in that, in addition to the usual blood supply by an artery and a vein, it also has a special blood supply that carries blood from the intestines directly to the liver. This special set of veins is called the hepatic portal vein system. Interestingly, this special portal vein supplies 75% of all the blood supplied to the liver. The hepatic portal vein carries nutrients and toxic materials from the intestines, red blood cells and breakdown products of blood cells (old blood cells being removed by the spleen), endocrine secretions from the pancreas, and special endocrine secretions from the gastrointestinal tract to the liver.
Blood within the hepatic portal vein is very poorly oxygenated. The liver can operate with less oxygen than most other organs. Drainage of the liver is rather complex and involves the usual type of veins (hepatic veins) and special sinusoidal capillaries. This arrangement allows all the cells of the liver to come into direct contact with the blood supply, which is needed for all the intricate functions the liver performs. An additional drainage system is provided by the lymphatics. All these blood vessels make the liver a very vascular organ. Injuries to the liver can result in an extreme danger of bleeding to death.
Interestingly, the liver has one of the highest regeneration abilities of any organ. It can be regenerated if one leaves just one-third undamaged or intact, and it can do so very rapidly. In fact, when the liver re-grows, it grows faster than any cancer, but unlike the cancer, it forms a perfectly functioning new liver replacement, not a tumor.
Your Liver Under the Microscope
If you were to examine your liver under a microscope, you would discover it is composed of numerous lobules, which are tiny six-sided lobes (hexagrams), and within these subdivisions you would find blood vessels, canals (or ducts), and sinusoids, with these vascular spaces being interspersed with liver cells, called hepatocytes, which comprise about 5565% of the organs mass. While it is these cells that are involved in the livers main functions, other cells have specialized functions that are also critical. These lobules are designed to allow extensive exposure of the surface of liver cells to the circulating blood, which lets these cells extract nutrients, toxins, and hormones from the circulating blood and secrete all the various products manufactured by the liver cells back into the circulation.
Your liver resembles a massive factory that is constantly working to manufacture and/or store all the proteins, carbohydrates, fats, hormones, several vitamins, iron, and other components your body needs for good health, and especially to protect you from toxic compounds inside your body. The liver never rests. Because the liver plays such an important role in supplying all the nutrients, proteins, and structural components of all the cells in your body, and especially because it is your number-one protection against harmful substances entering your body (and even being produced by your body), it is continually at work. You should make it a point to better understand how the liver affects every other organ in your bodyespecially your brain. Why? Because your brain is extremely sensitive to toxic substances within the blood circulation, sometimes even when in low concentrations. When the liver fails, we see a progressive loss in function of other organs, such as the heart, the kidneys, the lungs, the pancreas, and the brain.
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