The liver is the body’s largest internal organ and is responsible for hundreds of different functions including nutrient metabolism, hormone balance, detoxification of harmful substances, regulating factors in the blood, as well as immune activities.
The liver acts like a giant filter in the body: receiving venous blood from other organs and the periphery, detoxifying and rebalancing it, recirculating purified blood to the heart for reoxygenation, and processing byproducts and waste for removal. A healthy liver protects the heart tissue and the whole body.
Accumulating congestion in this filtration process can occur gradually over time, so symptoms can sneak up slowly. And with ever-increasing toxic burdens as we move through life and our environment, optimizing this process can affect our overall health and resiliency. I would love for everyone to develop a more complete understanding of this part of their body and to learn ways to support their long-term health.
Liver Anatomy
The liver is a giant triangular-shaped organ that lives in the right-side rib basket. It sits below the lungs and respiratory diaphragm and above other abdominal organs.
Imagine a giant sea sponge with various smaller segments in it: the liver is made up of thousands of smaller units specially suited for filtration (these subunits are called lobules and contain arteries, veins, sinusoids, bile ducts, and liver cells).
Embedded in the liver tissue is an extensive duct system for the careful disposal of waste-products for removal either by the digestive tract or the kidneys. Some of these ducts converge in the gallbladder to concentrate bile. The gallbladder carefully synchronizes the release of bile in the digestive process for emulsification of fat from our meals.
Liver Function — What Does It Do?
The liver performs more than 500 vital functions, such as:
Clearing the blood of medications and poisonous substances.
Resisting infections by making immune factors and removing bacteria from the bloodstream.
Recycling byproducts of red blood cells, such as bilirubin. If there is an accumulation of bilirubin, the skin and eyes turn yellow.
Providing a reservoir for iron and processing hemoglobin.
Breaking down steroid hormones.
Regulating blood levels of amino acids, which form the building blocks of proteins.
Producing bile, which helps carry away waste and break down fats in digestion.
Producing certain proteins for blood plasma.
Producing cholesterol and managing lipid transport.
Regulating energy stores: interconverting excess glucose into glycogen storage and vice versa, which influences blood sugar stability and hunger cues.
Converting protein end products (poisonous ammonia) into urea for excretion.
Regulating blood clotting and clotting factors.
Signs of Liver Congestion
The liver can be out of balance in many ways. However, in general, when the filtration process of the liver/gallbladder starts to become congested and under-functioning, we tend to see a coherent set of signs and symptoms.
Here are some signs that may indicate that your liver/gallbladder filtration process may need more support:
Musculoskeletal System: The liver is on the right side of the body, so if you have more pain, heaviness, tightness, or gripping spasms especially on the right side of the neck/shoulders, right ribcage/upper back, or right side body consider you may need liver/gallbladder support.
Emotional body: In East Asian medicine, the Liver manages the emotions, so difficulty regulating emotions, tendency towards irritability or a short-temper may be subtle signs of liver imbalances. When repressed or turned inwards, this same energy may show up as depression, getting stuck by minor setbacks, a sense of resignation, or despair.
Head: Migraines or headaches especially along the sides of the head (temples/jaws/TMJ) or the very top (vertex).
Skin: Congestion in the pores along the jawline, temples, back, or chest.
Digestion: Fullness in the upper abdomen/upper body, frequent indigestion, burping/belching. Tendency towards nausea after eating.
Environment: Highly sensitive to and/or history of excess exposures to toxins, alcohol, or chemicals. (This is a tough one, since many of us are exposed to an ever-increasing amount of environmental burdens on our systems, but some people may find they are suddenly intolerant of certain substances or fragrances and this may be an important sign for needed support.)
Respiration: The lungs expand down onto the top of the liver during our exhalation, so a congested liver may make certain parts of the breath cycle feel more heavy or dense. From the East Asian medicine perspective, frequent audible sighing or surprisingly loud sneezes are signs of congestion and stagnation.
Rest: A tendency to awaken from 1-3 AM in the morning. Body pain that is worse at night during sleep or when still.
Cognition: Difficulty concentrating; an inability to plan or strategize.
Women’s Health: Dysregulated menstrual cycles and symptoms such as pain, heavy cramps, cycle length irregularity, inconsistent flow: starting and stopping or bleeding/spotting between cycles, heavy flow. The liver not only plays an important role in hormonal balance but also acts as venous filtration of the uterus, so if there is stagnation or obstructed circulation in the hepatic veins, uterine symptoms may have a hard time clearing even after surgery, procedures, or efforts to balance hormones (HRT/herbs).
Symptoms worsen when you lose weight: Some excess toxic burden is stored in adipose (our fat tissue) to protect other vital systems in the body, so suddenly feeling worse when you start to lose weight may mean your body needs more liver detoxification support.
If some of these signs feel like they resonate with you, in my next share, we’ll talk about some of the ways to support this organ system in ways that are effective and balanced.
While we often focus so much of our attention on what we put in our bodies, it’s also important to focus on our systems of elimination including the liver (blood purification, detox through digestion), the kidneys (urinary excretion), the skin (sweat and respiration), and lymphatics (movement).