Gentle liver flush - any benefits?

[clarityforest]

Hi All

I've been reading about the link between hypothyroid and liver. I have decided to do a gentle detox. This involves castor oil on a cloth and a hot water bottle and lying it on the liver region for about 45 minutes. I've do it two days in a row. I just wondered if anyone else has done this and if so, what were the effects?

Most sites are positive but there is one that is negative about flushes. This one doesn't seem as extreme as some, with enema's and drinking the oil! I haven't had any terribly strong effects from it, but I do feel dehydrated and that it is doing something, although, alas, sleep is still eluding me!

I am hoping it might balance me out a bit, but would love to hear if anyone else has tried this and if they have had any positive effects from it. I have also been cleaning up my diet and drinking dandelion tea.

Be good to hear what others might think about this?

Thanks

Clarity

[Lalatoot]

Personally I would leave well alone. The liver and kidneys are designed to detox the body and I wouldn't disrupt their workings with any detox programme.

[Regenallotment Ambassador in reply to Lalatoot]

I was about to say exactly the same. ‘Detox’ is a marketing ruse. You could just avoid processed foods, alcohol etc and let your organs get on with their jobs. 💚

[SecondAngel in reply to Regenallotment]

I came here to say this too. Detoxing the body is marketing BS. Your body will 'detox' all on its own as it is designed to do.

[tattybogle in reply to SecondAngel]

totally agree. Years ago when i was looking for an easy fix , i went on a residential detox week... basically carrot juice and colonic irrigation..... granted that was an extreme example , but i became VERY unwell with a few days . the people running it were totally out of their depth in dealing with someone who took thyroid hormone.

since then i've decided that the body itself is the 'professional' when it comes to detoxing ... us 'amateurs' should stick to putting less 'junk' in / giving it good quality food / enough water and exercise/ and letting it have a proper long rest every night without having to digest anything new , as this is when it does its detoxing .. having new stuff to digest at night will put the brakes on it's natural daily detox programme.

[clarityforest in reply to tattybogle]

I was interested to read your experience, although as your said, it does sound quite extreme. I am not giving my body anything extra to digest at night, I have just put castor oil on my tummy, doesn't sound quite as extreme to me.

[tattybogle in reply to clarityforest]

yes .. agreed ... yours will probably do no harm...,although as general principle i do always wonder just how much we really understood about what happens to this stuff we are detoxing ... the body stores some types of toxic stuff by 'wrapping it up' where it thinks it will do least harm ... if we go unwrapping it , do we really know we are mopping it all up /flushing it all out ?.. or is some of it just recirculating around the system again ..... i was very silly , but you live and learn... i learned how profitable it is to put people up in an out of season holiday complex and feed them just carrots.

[clarityforest in reply to tattybogle]

I'm sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with the holiday and carrots.. at least castor oil is relatively cheap and easy! We don't really know about the levothyroxine though do we either, unless we actually made it and know what is in it. I think we just all have to find our own way with things and listen to our intuition myself. Good luck with your healing.

[clarityforest in reply to Regenallotment]

Thank you. I am cleaning my diet up a bit more, not that it was that bad in the first place, just thought this might give it a boost.

[Simplethings1]

I have heard that Milk thistle is good I haven’t tried it but I’m curious if you do it let me know how you got on personally I believe in trying to help myself so good luck

[tattybogle in reply to Simplethings1]

milk thistle interferes with thyroid hormones .. can't remember exactly how ,off the top of my head .. but i remember it being discussed on a recent post.

[wellness1 in reply to tattybogle]

Tania Smith explains all.

thyroidpatients.ca/2022/01/...

[Andie in reply to wellness1]

Thanks for posting this, but just want to emphasise that milk thistle extract isn’t the same as natural milk thistle herb. My understanding is that an extract contains artificially raised levels of single constituents that are perceived to be the ‘most active’ principles. This is done to achieve stronger actions which it does indeed achieve, but along with that comes side effects, as the article outlines.

[Panda_26]

Castor oil packs are really gentle. You won't do any harm . There's also some great liver support you can take like milk thistle, artichoke or ashwagandha. The last one can also helps with sleep so may be a good option for you to consider!

[clarityforest in reply to Panda_26]

Have you tried them yourself? Any results? Yes, I think they are pretty gentle myself. We give our teeth a clean, we try to do our bit for body hygiene, for me it makes sense to help our organs if this is the case. My father is in hospital for a urine infection and they are flushing him out!

I'm a bit concerned about contraindicating the levothyroxine with the adaptogens, as I've read that they can contraindicate. If you are on levothyroxine yourself and have tried them I would like to hear about your experience though. I do wonder myself, had I not gone on levothyroxine 18 odd years ago whether I would have tried first the more natural route. I have heard of people who have done so and let's face it I'm on levothyroxine and still feel like crap!

[Regenallotment Ambassador in reply to clarityforest]

Ashwaganda is contraindicated with adrenal/fatigue conditions. Proceed with caution. I have a Pukka tea that has it in ‘Peace’ it’s lovely but need to be well rested to enjoy it.

[SmallBlueThing]

Well, you write that you've already decided to do it, so you may report back that you enjoyed the ritual. On the other hand, you could read about proponents of quackery, and reconsider.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulda...

[Simplethings1 in reply to SmallBlueThing]

I think that may be a little harsh since these things have been around for thousands of years what works for one might not work for someone else we are all trying to navigate our health

[clarityforest in reply to SmallBlueThing]

Thanks for the article. I'm not sure how this answers my question however. I've just written earlier that my father who is in hospital for a urine infection is being 'flushed' and that is in a conventional hospital. We clean our teeth, we practice body hygiene, I personally think there is room to see that we could help our inner organs and it might well have some benefit, given that I feel crap on the conventional medicine I have been given!

[SmallBlueThing in reply to clarityforest]

Medically, though, it's already been assessed to be of no benefit, along with other practices which may have been around for thousands of years. My sister's life has just been saved, thanks to plasmapheresis -- removing plasma and antibodies, to dampen down a Covid-related autoimmune attack. Quacks might've suggested she use horse wormer and shrugged when she would've been found dead in her bed. I dip into a forum, elsewhere, where quackery is the order of the day, and, having seen what real doctors can do, I'm heartily sick of it. That's not to say there aren't lazy pen-pushers and the downright dangerous who call themselves doctors.

[buddy99]

I have read through the responses and would like to add this article by "Healthline", which I generally do not associate with quackery and such. The article states that "Medical research shows that castor oil has some benefits. (medical research needed for liver and gallbladder support). Personally I have no experience, because I am not motivated enough. If it were easier to do, I would have tried it by now. What was recommended to me by an integrative doctor for liver support is NAC. He (and Izabella Wentz as well, by the way) stated that Hashimoto's can cause a sluggish liver and slow detoxification. If that is correct, then helping your body along is possibly a good idea unless there are any counterindications as mentioned in the article. healthline.com/health/casto... If nothing else you get 45 minutes of relax time, which in itself should be beneficial. I hope it will help you feel better.

[Regenallotment Ambassador in reply to buddy99]

I swear by NAC it smells rank but my goodness it’s helped my digestion 💚

[clarityforest in reply to Regenallotment]

Interesting, thanks for this.

[buddy99 in reply to Regenallotment]

Well, it is used to counteract the aftermath of Tylenol poisoning, which negatively affects the liver to the point of making a liver transplant necessary. I'm sure it helps with digestion as well. As far as I know, the body makes it into glutathione which heals the gut walls. Always good to hear that somebody has found something to help them in any way.

[clarityforest in reply to buddy99]

Thanks Buddy. I have been feeling more energy the past couple of days, so I will continue to do the cleanses from time to time and see what happens. I follow Magdelena Wyzelaki who has had her book written in the foreword by Dr Izabella Wentz and it was in here that I found her mention the packs. I was interested to hear about other hypothyroid people had to say about them if they had tried them, but it seems no one has endeavoured to try from the responses here. I will in future be more careful about writing about alternative approaches to healing as it seems there is a lot of prejudice to trying out other things apart from Levo and vitamins, which for me is just not cutting it! I appreciate that you put in a link to something that purports to show the benefits of castor oil and not that it is 'quackery'.

I have actually found it is pretty easy to do. I didn't get suckered into buying some expensive pack, but just used what I had around. It is very relaxing. It made me feel pretty sleepy which was nice.

[buddy99 in reply to clarityforest]

I've eyed it for a while (hence the link I posted). Your comment is pushing me to be more motivated. Thank you. Even if it does nothing but relax me, that would be a great bonus.

[lola1956 in reply to buddy99]

that’s very interesting as I was recently diagnosed with fatty liver and couldn’t understand how that happened, I’m vegetarian don’t smoke or drink and eat quite clean no processed foods! I have hashimotos