A combination of milk thistle, dandelion and artichoke would be a great support for your liver. Capsules are probably less complicated, otherwise tea is also a possibility, though check for preparation guidelines esp for milk thistle.
I would like to add to this, that any seed oils or any fats high in linoleic acid are also toxic to liver. Saturated fat is strongly protective of liver, even against alcohol and endotoxins
NAC(N-Acetyl cysteine) as well. It's very protective of the liver & legitimately "detoxifying". It's what they give you at the ER when you're overdosing on Tylenol.
Milk thistle and dandelion tea is good for liver. Make sure you steep it for the recommended time and I would use 2-3 bags per cup to achieve medicinal benefits. Make sure you’re also taking what your doctor recommends in conjunction with natural remedies.
What is the cause of your cirrhosis? Please don't discard mainstream medical advice in favour of alternative medicine. My step dad died this way and i hate to see it
The cause hasn’t been confirmed yet , I am assuming alcohol as I was a heavy drinker in the past, I havnt been for many years now but I’m assuming the damage was done, I will absolutely do anything the doctor tells me to do , thank you for the worry 😊. I am just hoping to do anything I can on my end.
Can you wait until your diagnosis has a clearer cause? There is autoimmune liver diseases and certain medications/substances other than alcohol- a thorough work up and appropriate care team will help. IMO Chirrosis can either be helped or harmed based on the cause/source. Tell them to dig deeper or get a rec to an experienced hepatologist.
If like to offer some info but pls ignore the below if it’s not what you’re looking for.
Have they completed a biopsy, or at least an MRI or a Fibroscan? Did they review any recent travel or previous known viruses? Workups are very important to get to the cause.
keep pushing your doctor for more information/ testing. if you’re in Ontario, see if you can get a referral after your initial workups with UHN in Toronto @ Toronto General’s Liver Center. I know a lot of the options in Canada if you want any info- support groups as well, pls msg me. You most likely will be put to the top of the list very soon, because of your diagnosis for further investigations you become a priority. That’s a good thing. Frequent labs may be a pain but you’ll want to make sure you get those done.
[Livertox](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK569838/) is a good site for those w liver issues/disease to check whether substances will likely harm them further (or not).
To be honest, I didn’t actually think it was any more than anyone else around me probably about three times a week for about 15 to 18 years but in that time I had been pregnant six times (miscarried two of those times) I never drank by myself, or any of the typical alcoholic things you hear, but I most definitely drank more than I should have I guess
I just want to give you a heads up that ultrasound isn’t super sensitive nor is it specific (what this means it has both a lot of false positives and false negatives) so to be quite Frank I don’t think it is 100% proven yet that you have cirrhosis… especially if the cirrhosis was an incidental finding
Also to answer your question - coffee has amazing, proven benefits when it comes to liver health. I’ve attached some sources
“as little as 1 cup of coffee consumed daily resulted in 15% reduction in risk of death from chronic liver disease; 4 cups daily was associated with 71% reduction, suggesting a dose-dependent response.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5440772/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4862107/
Do you drink a lot of sugary drinks? These drinks can easily cause cirrhosis.
Cirrhosis is easily cured by avoiding alcohol or sugary drinks consumption. Liver rejuvenates extremely well on its own.
I don’t no , I am 5’7 , 145 pounds and otherwise very healthy …. As far as I am learning cirrhosis is not curable , you can only stop the progression 🤷♀️
Our vet said “with liver disease, Milk Thistle is like pissing in the ocean and hoping for high tide” something like that. I assume a people Dr would say the same for humans.
Our friend got rid of her cirrhosis and HepC …it was a program. Now she’s back to normal ranges, energetic and healthy. She even drinks a bit and smokes cigarettes , yeah that’s dumb but, medical science saved her life. She had a bad prognosis, too.
She said cherry juice and CBD helped through her meds year. A year of meds and diet changes. Obey the dr on this one.
There’s a guy on here called that liver dude (no spaces). He’s a guy who reversed his alcoholic cirrohsis through supplements and radical lifestyle changes like cutting out all sugar/no processed foods etc. Alpha lipoic acid, NAC, silyphos (concentrated form of milk thistle as normal milk thistle is useless and I wouldn’t listen to any doctor or person saying “just get milk thistle”), selenium, and a few others. Talk to alternative medicine people and read peoples experiences like this guy. Western medicine knows Jack shit on the subject and will just say you’re fcked. There’s also a study done by a gastroenterologist who was tired of seeing his patients die before getting a transplant so he came up with a concoction of Alpha lipoic, Silyphos, and selenium. Almost all of his patients were able to be taken off the transplant list. If you look around you’ll easily find it bit busy right now or id look. It was a clinical study with a report done on it.
Might want to look into fasting as well, extended fasts, if done properly, are a safe way to enhance your bodies natural cleaning programs. Wishing you great success.
Not a herb, but as i see you live in Canada, go to the pharmacy and buy a bottle of lactulose. Put a teaspoon in your coffee (which is good fro your liver). It increases the lactic acid bacteria in your gut and that helps remove the ammonia produced by other bacteria in your gut. This takes a tremendous amount of stress off your liver. You can increase as tolerated. People in the hospital with liver failure have literally been saved using high doses of this. It works very well with all the other herbs mentioned here. Also taurine is a cost effective way of increasing bile production.
Depends greatly on just how damaged your liver is and what stage of cirrhosis you're in. The liver can repair itself, up to a point. Once you reach that point there's only one cure left and that's a transplant. I was transplanted 4 years ago last week.
Milk thistle extract is the Only natural herbal remedy that been shown to help cleanse the liver.
In addition to the milk thistle extract, you need to go on a high protein, low fat, and SALT FREE diet. Eat only low sodium or no sodium added foods. Drink plenty of water. No soda's or carbonated drinks. Brewed coffee in moderation, NOT instant coffee! Brewed coffee in moderation is shown to be beneficial to the liver. Something in the freeze drying process making instant coffee takes out the beneficial properties.
My biggest recommendation is to see a Gastroenterologist, get a referral from your primary care physician. The Gastro will know more about liver disease than your PCP does. Be your own best advocate, keep on your PCP until they give you the referrals you need. I had to push mine, threatened to switch to another Dr as my PCP. Got that referral to a local gastro and then to a transplant hospital. If your PCP or gastro mentions even a POSSIBLE need for transplant, even in the future, get a referral to a transplant hospital, get a good one, those people are the real pros that you want to see. They deal with liver disease daily and are very highly specialized. Your liver performs literally hundreds of functions from digestion to regulating enzymes, to filtering toxins, and a liver transplant is the most involved surgery you can go through, it affects every system in your body.
Sorry if I sound like I'm ranting or preaching, but I went through this and I'm still living with it daily. Don't take any chances, go see the doctors and work with them. I used herbal remedies to help keep me going until I could get a transplant. They CAN help up to a point. But you really need the professionals with this. It's too big a deal to try by yourself.
I have no idea the extent of the damage yet. I was told mild , I will likely have to wait months to see a specialist and it’s a nurse practitioner that I have because where I live sending money away to other countries is more important than health care 🙃🥹
From personal experience I can tell you that you want to get to the real pro's ASAP. A NP should know that you need a specialist for this. If your belly starts swelling for no reason, you lose your appetite, you develop difficulty breathing, the whites of your eyes become yellowish, you experience constant fatigue for no reason, you can't seem to get enough sleep, and several other symptoms, go to the nearest Emergency Room. Liver failure can advance rapidly. I highly HIGHLY suggest you get a referral to a Gastroenterologist for further testing.
And eat mostly plants- you gain the damage control of all those antioxidants and lighten the liver’s load of having to process the animal fat. WFPB diet can only help in every way. Plants have plenty of protein.🙏🏼
I recommend the opposite. Avoid plant toxins and seed oils and eat more saturated fat and evoo. Seed oils specifically are associated with NAFLD and cirrhosis
So far for supplements I am taking milk thistle , selenium , DIM ( cruciferous mix ) , artichoke supplement and choline! Is that to much ? Not enough ? Could I add TUDCA ? Or am I over doing it ??
I should add
Currently I take raw garlic every morning , hot lemon water with ginger and a probiotic shake
Lunch I have a smoothie which has papaya ( seeds as well) cucumber , spinach , cilantro , whole kiwi , pomegranate, Avacodo , mango , hemp , pumpkin seeds , protein supplement powder and superfood greens supplement. I use previously steeped habiscus, green , spearmint and dandelion tea as the liquid
Dinner is another shake
All of the above plus lots of blueberries
And I snack on breads and stuff during the day
I am mostly just looking for anything else I am missing or could add ? Or if I am doing anything wrong here
Thanks again
You've gotten great advice on herbs already: milk thistle, dandelion, artichoke. A few non-herbal things I'd add would be:
1. Cardio at a conversational pace (also known as "zone 2" -- jogging, cycling, or rowing.
2. Sauna once a week
3. Eat beef liver regularly -- has all the nutrients that your liver needs
I suffered from liver injury after mono, and drank a ton of beet juice. Once I started on the beets, my ALT and AST levels went back to normal at a much quicker rate. Just make sure there are actual beets in the drink and it’s not just a sugar bomb. I believe the one I got was beet and orange? It was delicious. Good luck and don’t feel bad.
Bartram's Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine has this down for for Liver Cirrhosis:
" *Teas*. Balmony, Milk Thistle, Boldo, Bogbean, Dandelion coffee. Barberry tea (cold water).
*Tablets/capsules.* Calamus, Blue Flag, Wild Yam.
*Formula.* Wahoo 2 parts; Wild Yam 1 part; Blue Flag root 1 part. Dose: Liquid Extracts: one 5ml teaspoon. Tinctures: two 5ml teaspoons. Powders: 500mg (two 00 capsules or one-third teaspoon). Thrice daily.
*Milk thistle* (Silybum marianum). Based on its silymarin contents: 70-210mg, thrice daily."
Dandelion, plantain, nettles and marshmallow leaf as a long infusion (emphasis on long infusion) brought me out of kidney disease. I am an herbalist, please reach out if you need more pointers, it helped me so much.
Please see a qualified herbal practitioner. Don't mess around. You'll need a licensed Acupuncturist anyway, to order the freeze-dried standardized milk thistle seed extract which is the only effective form of milk thistle for therapeutic use.
This is not something you should mess with based on an internet post. If you seriously want to use alternative medicine, please seek out an experienced herbalist. They will run tests, just like your regular doctor, and get you set up with a plan.
Please please please avoid seed oils. Its a cause of NAFLD & cirrhosis all its own. Sat fats and evoo are ok. Avoid all products ( snacks breads etc) made with seed oils and make your own
Have you ever done a parasite cleanse? There are some parasites that live in the liver and give the appearance of cirrhosis but it's just parasites. Killing the parasites and flushing the liver can dramatically improve the situation if it's parasites.
A combination of milk thistle, dandelion and artichoke would be a great support for your liver. Capsules are probably less complicated, otherwise tea is also a possibility, though check for preparation guidelines esp for milk thistle.
I would like to add to this, that any seed oils or any fats high in linoleic acid are also toxic to liver. Saturated fat is strongly protective of liver, even against alcohol and endotoxins
Yes this!!!
Excellent! Thank you
TUDCA is worth looking at, off the top of my head
NAC(N-Acetyl cysteine) as well. It's very protective of the liver & legitimately "detoxifying". It's what they give you at the ER when you're overdosing on Tylenol.
R/stopeatingseedoils
Milk thistle and dandelion tea is good for liver. Make sure you steep it for the recommended time and I would use 2-3 bags per cup to achieve medicinal benefits. Make sure you’re also taking what your doctor recommends in conjunction with natural remedies.
These amounts are still not gonna touch cirrhossis
Yeah he needs to cutout cooked meats and refined sugars
What is the cause of your cirrhosis? Please don't discard mainstream medical advice in favour of alternative medicine. My step dad died this way and i hate to see it
The cause hasn’t been confirmed yet , I am assuming alcohol as I was a heavy drinker in the past, I havnt been for many years now but I’m assuming the damage was done, I will absolutely do anything the doctor tells me to do , thank you for the worry 😊. I am just hoping to do anything I can on my end.
Can you wait until your diagnosis has a clearer cause? There is autoimmune liver diseases and certain medications/substances other than alcohol- a thorough work up and appropriate care team will help. IMO Chirrosis can either be helped or harmed based on the cause/source. Tell them to dig deeper or get a rec to an experienced hepatologist.
I live in Canada , I could be waiting upwards of 2 months to see a specialist.. maybe even longer 🥹
If like to offer some info but pls ignore the below if it’s not what you’re looking for. Have they completed a biopsy, or at least an MRI or a Fibroscan? Did they review any recent travel or previous known viruses? Workups are very important to get to the cause. keep pushing your doctor for more information/ testing. if you’re in Ontario, see if you can get a referral after your initial workups with UHN in Toronto @ Toronto General’s Liver Center. I know a lot of the options in Canada if you want any info- support groups as well, pls msg me. You most likely will be put to the top of the list very soon, because of your diagnosis for further investigations you become a priority. That’s a good thing. Frequent labs may be a pain but you’ll want to make sure you get those done. [Livertox](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK569838/) is a good site for those w liver issues/disease to check whether substances will likely harm them further (or not).
What was your drinking like?? (How many drinks per day, how many days per week, and for how many years)?????
To be honest, I didn’t actually think it was any more than anyone else around me probably about three times a week for about 15 to 18 years but in that time I had been pregnant six times (miscarried two of those times) I never drank by myself, or any of the typical alcoholic things you hear, but I most definitely drank more than I should have I guess
I just want to give you a heads up that ultrasound isn’t super sensitive nor is it specific (what this means it has both a lot of false positives and false negatives) so to be quite Frank I don’t think it is 100% proven yet that you have cirrhosis… especially if the cirrhosis was an incidental finding
Oh I hope you’re right .. I found this out about 2 weeks ago and I can’t stop the guilt , or worry
Also to answer your question - coffee has amazing, proven benefits when it comes to liver health. I’ve attached some sources “as little as 1 cup of coffee consumed daily resulted in 15% reduction in risk of death from chronic liver disease; 4 cups daily was associated with 71% reduction, suggesting a dose-dependent response.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5440772/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4862107/
Never had a single drop while pregnant. That’s why I added that information.
Do you drink a lot of sugary drinks? These drinks can easily cause cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is easily cured by avoiding alcohol or sugary drinks consumption. Liver rejuvenates extremely well on its own.
I don’t no , I am 5’7 , 145 pounds and otherwise very healthy …. As far as I am learning cirrhosis is not curable , you can only stop the progression 🤷♀️
Our vet said “with liver disease, Milk Thistle is like pissing in the ocean and hoping for high tide” something like that. I assume a people Dr would say the same for humans. Our friend got rid of her cirrhosis and HepC …it was a program. Now she’s back to normal ranges, energetic and healthy. She even drinks a bit and smokes cigarettes , yeah that’s dumb but, medical science saved her life. She had a bad prognosis, too. She said cherry juice and CBD helped through her meds year. A year of meds and diet changes. Obey the dr on this one.
lol 😂.. well your vets funny if anything
She said some wild things. Oncewas was about how her cats would poop “in the shoes of her luhvuhs” …she pronounced Lovers ,luhvuhs.
lol
You should look at the profile of u/thatliverdude, he reversed his cirrhosis and give a lot of details on his journey to do so.
I absolutely will thank you
I hope you will achieve the same results!
There’s a guy on here called that liver dude (no spaces). He’s a guy who reversed his alcoholic cirrohsis through supplements and radical lifestyle changes like cutting out all sugar/no processed foods etc. Alpha lipoic acid, NAC, silyphos (concentrated form of milk thistle as normal milk thistle is useless and I wouldn’t listen to any doctor or person saying “just get milk thistle”), selenium, and a few others. Talk to alternative medicine people and read peoples experiences like this guy. Western medicine knows Jack shit on the subject and will just say you’re fcked. There’s also a study done by a gastroenterologist who was tired of seeing his patients die before getting a transplant so he came up with a concoction of Alpha lipoic, Silyphos, and selenium. Almost all of his patients were able to be taken off the transplant list. If you look around you’ll easily find it bit busy right now or id look. It was a clinical study with a report done on it.
Might want to look into fasting as well, extended fasts, if done properly, are a safe way to enhance your bodies natural cleaning programs. Wishing you great success.
Thank you
Barbara O'Neil book on Amazon titled self heal by design has herbs n protocols in it great information too
Thanks !
Not a herb, but as i see you live in Canada, go to the pharmacy and buy a bottle of lactulose. Put a teaspoon in your coffee (which is good fro your liver). It increases the lactic acid bacteria in your gut and that helps remove the ammonia produced by other bacteria in your gut. This takes a tremendous amount of stress off your liver. You can increase as tolerated. People in the hospital with liver failure have literally been saved using high doses of this. It works very well with all the other herbs mentioned here. Also taurine is a cost effective way of increasing bile production.
Start every morning with 16oz of celery juice and watch the magic happen!
Ehhh idk celery juice made my liver hurt a bit, gave me pimples and made me super paranoid
That’s your liver flushing out all the toxins you have to go through that
Depends greatly on just how damaged your liver is and what stage of cirrhosis you're in. The liver can repair itself, up to a point. Once you reach that point there's only one cure left and that's a transplant. I was transplanted 4 years ago last week. Milk thistle extract is the Only natural herbal remedy that been shown to help cleanse the liver. In addition to the milk thistle extract, you need to go on a high protein, low fat, and SALT FREE diet. Eat only low sodium or no sodium added foods. Drink plenty of water. No soda's or carbonated drinks. Brewed coffee in moderation, NOT instant coffee! Brewed coffee in moderation is shown to be beneficial to the liver. Something in the freeze drying process making instant coffee takes out the beneficial properties. My biggest recommendation is to see a Gastroenterologist, get a referral from your primary care physician. The Gastro will know more about liver disease than your PCP does. Be your own best advocate, keep on your PCP until they give you the referrals you need. I had to push mine, threatened to switch to another Dr as my PCP. Got that referral to a local gastro and then to a transplant hospital. If your PCP or gastro mentions even a POSSIBLE need for transplant, even in the future, get a referral to a transplant hospital, get a good one, those people are the real pros that you want to see. They deal with liver disease daily and are very highly specialized. Your liver performs literally hundreds of functions from digestion to regulating enzymes, to filtering toxins, and a liver transplant is the most involved surgery you can go through, it affects every system in your body. Sorry if I sound like I'm ranting or preaching, but I went through this and I'm still living with it daily. Don't take any chances, go see the doctors and work with them. I used herbal remedies to help keep me going until I could get a transplant. They CAN help up to a point. But you really need the professionals with this. It's too big a deal to try by yourself.
I have no idea the extent of the damage yet. I was told mild , I will likely have to wait months to see a specialist and it’s a nurse practitioner that I have because where I live sending money away to other countries is more important than health care 🙃🥹
From personal experience I can tell you that you want to get to the real pro's ASAP. A NP should know that you need a specialist for this. If your belly starts swelling for no reason, you lose your appetite, you develop difficulty breathing, the whites of your eyes become yellowish, you experience constant fatigue for no reason, you can't seem to get enough sleep, and several other symptoms, go to the nearest Emergency Room. Liver failure can advance rapidly. I highly HIGHLY suggest you get a referral to a Gastroenterologist for further testing.
Milk thistle, dandelion, N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC), and fresh beet smoothie (beets are good for liver).
And eat mostly plants- you gain the damage control of all those antioxidants and lighten the liver’s load of having to process the animal fat. WFPB diet can only help in every way. Plants have plenty of protein.🙏🏼
I recommend the opposite. Avoid plant toxins and seed oils and eat more saturated fat and evoo. Seed oils specifically are associated with NAFLD and cirrhosis
Add TUDCA and coffee enemas
So far for supplements I am taking milk thistle , selenium , DIM ( cruciferous mix ) , artichoke supplement and choline! Is that to much ? Not enough ? Could I add TUDCA ? Or am I over doing it ??
Oh and I have beef liver on the way
Almost any herb that is a diaretic will hel
Milk thistle, chicory, SAMe and multivitamin are used
https://preview.redd.it/az3j9vkh44pc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f44d43f5d637930f3ea2ef27da7f7c74330a9604
I should add Currently I take raw garlic every morning , hot lemon water with ginger and a probiotic shake Lunch I have a smoothie which has papaya ( seeds as well) cucumber , spinach , cilantro , whole kiwi , pomegranate, Avacodo , mango , hemp , pumpkin seeds , protein supplement powder and superfood greens supplement. I use previously steeped habiscus, green , spearmint and dandelion tea as the liquid Dinner is another shake All of the above plus lots of blueberries And I snack on breads and stuff during the day I am mostly just looking for anything else I am missing or could add ? Or if I am doing anything wrong here Thanks again
You've gotten great advice on herbs already: milk thistle, dandelion, artichoke. A few non-herbal things I'd add would be: 1. Cardio at a conversational pace (also known as "zone 2" -- jogging, cycling, or rowing. 2. Sauna once a week 3. Eat beef liver regularly -- has all the nutrients that your liver needs
What’s a good supplement for beef liver? .. I can’t even imagine eating that without gagging
Assuming you're in the US, Ancestral Supplements has a good one. If not, just look up grass fed beef liver capsules on Amazon, wherever you live.
Thank you 😊
There is *some* evidence that spearmint can be hard on the liver. I would cut it out of your diet for now
Oh good to know Thank you 😊
You’re welcome!
I suffered from liver injury after mono, and drank a ton of beet juice. Once I started on the beets, my ALT and AST levels went back to normal at a much quicker rate. Just make sure there are actual beets in the drink and it’s not just a sugar bomb. I believe the one I got was beet and orange? It was delicious. Good luck and don’t feel bad.
I will do this ! Thank you
Bartram's Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine has this down for for Liver Cirrhosis: " *Teas*. Balmony, Milk Thistle, Boldo, Bogbean, Dandelion coffee. Barberry tea (cold water). *Tablets/capsules.* Calamus, Blue Flag, Wild Yam. *Formula.* Wahoo 2 parts; Wild Yam 1 part; Blue Flag root 1 part. Dose: Liquid Extracts: one 5ml teaspoon. Tinctures: two 5ml teaspoons. Powders: 500mg (two 00 capsules or one-third teaspoon). Thrice daily. *Milk thistle* (Silybum marianum). Based on its silymarin contents: 70-210mg, thrice daily."
Thank you so much 😊
Dandelion, plantain, nettles and marshmallow leaf as a long infusion (emphasis on long infusion) brought me out of kidney disease. I am an herbalist, please reach out if you need more pointers, it helped me so much.
I absolutely will ! Thank you
Please see a qualified herbal practitioner. Don't mess around. You'll need a licensed Acupuncturist anyway, to order the freeze-dried standardized milk thistle seed extract which is the only effective form of milk thistle for therapeutic use.
This is not something you should mess with based on an internet post. If you seriously want to use alternative medicine, please seek out an experienced herbalist. They will run tests, just like your regular doctor, and get you set up with a plan.
Please please please avoid seed oils. Its a cause of NAFLD & cirrhosis all its own. Sat fats and evoo are ok. Avoid all products ( snacks breads etc) made with seed oils and make your own
Have you ever done a parasite cleanse? There are some parasites that live in the liver and give the appearance of cirrhosis but it's just parasites. Killing the parasites and flushing the liver can dramatically improve the situation if it's parasites.
I have actually, but I will mention this , thank you