Liver and bile flow

kettlewitch · January 2012

hi all

I have colon cancer which has spread to my liver and my biggest problem at the moment is repeated infections and blocking of the bile ducts. I keep going into hospital an alarming yellow colour and have had 2 stents fitted but they have said this can keep happening. I haven't been given any dietary advice and wondered if the are any people on here who may have an idea about what foods can keep the liver healthy and the bile flowing well, if indeed there are any! Obviously I dont expect advice specific to the cancer but more about general liver health and bile flow. All suggestions welcome as I need to at least be trying something to help myself rather than just sitting around waiting to go yellow again. I am 40lb from goal weight but am concentrating on keeping my weight stable as I have 4 more sessions of chemo coming up and losing at the moment just wipes me out.

vs1023 · January 2012

I'm so sorry! A coworker of mine is dealing with her husbands liver issues and I seem to remember her looking into holistic stuff and Tumeric was a big one.

kettlewitch · January 2012

No need to be sorry. Will look into the turmeric thing although that's quite a yellow spice! Not sure how much you could eat before you went yellow and went to hospital. Now that would be funny.

I_get_fit · January 2012

I'm so sorry to hear!

I drink a detox tea for healthy liver and kidney function - I'm wondering if this might work for you? Here's the link: http://www.yogiproducts.com/products/details/detox/

I usually find it at my local grocery store in the natural foods section - about $4-5 per box.

dobenjam · January 2012

Getting a juicer and having fresh Carrot, apple, and beet juice does wonders for the liver. It has enzymes you can't get by just eating the food.

There is something you may be interested in checking out. It is the Gerson Therapy. Buy the book or rent the dvd. I don't expect you to go to a Gerson clinic but there is a lot of advice for helping specific areas like that.

One thing (which will sound a little gross) is coffee enemas. The colon absorbs something (may be caffeine i can't remember) and it stimulates the gaul bladder to produce bile. Thats all I can remember of it but I would suggest reading up on it.

Best of luck to you!

edwardra3 · January 2012

I had my gallbladder removed last year. While my digestion has (mostly) returned to normal, one thing doctors recommend after surgery to to stick to a low-fat diet, as liver bile (which is what the gallbladder stores) is what the body uses to digest fats. So lower fat intake = lower need for bile.

jenna715 · January 2012

Try dandelion root tea. I just learned abt it through the jillian michaels lose water weight advice but in reading about it i saw it was good for liver function. Ive breen drinking it 4 days and i feel good. I only drink one cup. They recommend more.

kettlewitch · January 2012

Thanks for your suggestions, I will look into them. I'm not sure that I need to restrict bile flow but keep it thin so it doesn't block the ducts. I wish they were a bit more forthcoming with the info at the hospital but guess I need to ask the right questions. Desperate to avoid more stents as it's not a pleasant procedure and takes weeks to settle down.

Shanphichloe · January 2012

I have no suggestions for you but I am sending you positive vibes for your difficult times. Stay positive and take care :flowerforyou:

MaximalLife · January 2012

hi all

I have colon cancer which has spread to my liver and my biggest problem at the moment is repeated infections and blocking of the bile ducts. I keep going into hospital an alarming yellow colour and have had 2 stents fitted but they have said this can keep happening. I haven't been given any dietary advice and wondered if the are any people on here who may have an idea about what foods can keep the liver healthy and the bile flowing well, if indeed there are any! Obviously I dont expect advice specific to the cancer but more about general liver health and bile flow. All suggestions welcome as I need to at least be trying something to help myself rather than just sitting around waiting to go yellow again. I am 40lb from goal weight but am concentrating on keeping my weight stable as I have 4 more sessions of chemo coming up and losing at the moment just wipes me out.

I think now is not the time to focus on weight loss but health as it relates to your most current and most pressing matter. CANCER!

Forget weight loss. Who cares?

There are so many forums where cancer survivors can share info on juicing and other nutritional issues supplemental to their chemo and such. That needs to be your focus.

Nobody here has the slightest clue except that we've all lost friends and family to cancer.

Get well and God bless!

All we can do here is lend support and sympathy, but there are other arenas where actual cancer survivors can talk from experience about how they won this battle.

That's where you need to focus.

Keep us all posted on your recovery!

You can beat this!

Bentley2718 · January 2012

I think MaximalLife has the right of it here, most of us don't know much about cancer--there are probably better places online for you to get support and information on what you are going through. Also, I would recommend asking to see a nutritionist at the hospital, especially if they have one who is knowledgeable about cancer and/or liver issues. You might also ask if your hospital has a complementary medicine program--some hospitals will now recommend some forms of complementary medicine.

trud72 · January 2012

Hi honey, x
I will be having my gallbladder out this yr,and i know this makes alot of problems with the whole bile and ducts ect and"turning yellow" have you spoke to your dr about having it removed or is it not possible?
hope you are doing ok :flowerforyou: *kissess*

kettlewitch · January 2012

I did say in my post that I didn't expect advice on cancer specific diets but general liver health and I have come across a lot of people here in the past who know a lot about nutrition, or at least claim to. I am also not trying to lose more weight but maintain and as I am still in the obese range what I put in my mouth is important for all sorts of reasons. I am very aware that this is not the forum to discuss my illness ad nauseum but sometimes if I'm asking questions or talking to people about how I lost the weight it would be unfair of me not to explain that for the last few months any weight loss has not been achieved in the same way as the first 70lbs were. I did think long and hard about staying active on this site when I was diagnosed and chose to stay although I no longer log my food. I feel that I have a lot to offer people who are just starting out on this journey especially when they are morbidly obese like I was and I'm sorry if it appears to have caused offence to some people.

kettlewitch · January 2012

Hi honey, x
I will be having my gallbladder out this yr,and i know this makes alot of problems with the whole bile and ducts ect and"turning yellow" have you spoke to your dr about having it removed or is it not possible?
hope you are doing ok :flowerforyou: *kissess*

I've been referred to have that taken out but not sure how long it's likely to take. It's also hard to say if it is contributing to the problem but I have a stone which measures almost an inch across so I'm sure it can't be doing me much good! Do you get many symptoms from yours? I made the mistake of eating a sausage roll earlier, ouch, won't be doing that again.

LCHFway · July 2012

Hi, that does not sound good. Here is a "counter current" recommendation based on the way our livers are known to function:
Impurities and unwanted matters that the liver cleanses from the blood must pass out via our bile flow. If the bile flow is reduced too much it will be difficult or impossible for the liver to clean itself and it has no other way than through the bile or let the stuff in the blood or build up in the liver itself = reduced liver function. But bile flow is only triggered by consuming fats, so a too low fat diet is not compatible with a healthy liver! Too little fat and the small amounts of bile produced can even crystallize in the gall bladder. And a sudden large fat intake can then cause blockages resulting in gallstones - the stones formed by the crystals blocking bile ducts causing pressure to build up and cause pain - a good warning signal.
A "too high" fat diet would produce a lot of bile and improve the liver's purification system, but what is too high nobody has proven at this time. If we look to at fat intakes 100 years ago when heart disease was uncommon all we know is that today a lot less is being consumed and much saturated fats have been exchanged with new vegetable fats.
To keep a higher average bile flow and a well working liver and a higher fat intake is hence better than a lower fat intake. Yet starting such change from a too low fat diet a slow transition is required to avoid that gall stones formed during the low fat period are causing attacks through being "flushed out". by the higher bile flow . To slowly allow an increased bile flow is necessary to allow crystals earlier formed by too low fat intake to be dissolved. Personally I would eat saturated fat like butter and coconut fat as these fats have no tendency to oxidize in the body and are old proven fats essential for long term storage in the body.
The new polyunsaturated fats break down easy and it will probably take many years before the full extent of the damage these
new fats can cause. Omega-6 is one of these fats, usually found in margarin. In Sweden this has been discussed on blogs like Dietdoctor.se i n the past, an English version of the popular Swedish blog.

autotheist · January 2014

Absolutely do not eat more fat! That is absolutely terrible advice for someone whose liver is compromised. It is a strain on the liver to have to try to digest fat. Yes, if you are normal, bile will flow heavier if you eat more fat (stored in the gallbladder) but that may not be the best way to go about it. Bile flows from the liver all the time regardless of whether you consume fat or not. It's just when you eat a large quantity of fat, the gallbladder will release a flood of bile. But the ducts you're having problems with are above where the gallbladder connects to the main bile duct. Still you do not want to increase bile flowing through those ducts by eating a high fat diet.

You want to put as little strain on those ducts as possible since that's where the problem lies. That means eating LOW FAT.

I don't have a cure for cancer. I wish I did. Juicing is a bad idea in general because A) It contains too much sugar and

It contains higher concentration of the vitamins you need. Too many vitamins is bad. There's a reason why nature made fruits something you eat and not something you drink. If you were able to digest all the vitamins in a fruit or vegetable, it would make you sick. Carrot juice is a perfect example. You can destroy your liver drinking carrot juice.

The best "natural" cure for cancer is to stop consuming sugar.

As for cleaning out your liver, try dandelion root tea and milk thistle. But there may be a problem with the physical structures of your liver that is causing the problem which may be beyond the ability of a supplement to fix.

jessigoct17 · January 2014

COFFEE ENEMA!! and also chia seeds!! and aloe vera- natural, the gel straight from the plant

i reallly think you should read about "THE GERSON MIRACLE" ppl who used healthy eating and juicing to cure cancer...

please get better and eat well and be healhty <33 add me as a friend if u you need support or advice i would love to talk to you

Safiyandi · January 2014

Oh my goodness, I realize this thread is a necro and I apologize, but since several posters have brought it up, Gerson therapy is bad and wrong and should never be recommended for cancer patients in lieu of medical treatments, as it often is. Or even in addition to standard medical treatments. Several people have died under this diet, independent from other medical issues. It is pure, distilled quackery.

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-not-so-beautiful-untruth-about-the-gerson-therapy-and-cancer-quackery/

obligatory edit - Your MD is always a better resource than an internet forum for specific medical advice!

jayjrf · January 2014

My entire family has gal bladder, liver, and pancreas issues.

Problem starts with extra bile in the stools. Soon pain sets in, and either gal bladder or pancreas swells due to blockage.

Answer: Avoid animal fat foods and fried foods for a couple of weeks. Get your fat from olive/coconut oil and nuts if you can. Then introduce a small... SMALL... amount of cheese. Maybe 1/2 oz per day.

Test the waters from there on to know what your limits are.

crudd123 · January 2014

Prayers for you!

Liver and bile flow

Replies

Categories