Health and Healing

Liver Disorders

From bird complaints on this list I am noticing a good number of bird disorders in which their liver is not working at optimum. The liver in addition to storing glycogen and vitamins; and metabolizing fats proteins and carbohydrates is a great filter. Most drugs are pulled out of circulation by the liver. Unusual synthetic molecules will be separated out by a well functioning liver. It is a great filter trying to clean the system but it has it's limit. 

Once over a certain threshold it can't do the job. If one is studying health, it is appropriate to take steps toward supporting and easing the burden to the liver BEFORE a threshold limit is reached. For that reason dandelion and milk thistle are invaluable to aid in assisting good health. Unlike other organs the liver can renew itself if the damage is not too extensive. 

Traditionally spring time is a good time to clean up the liver. After the sluggish months of winter and with the lengthening days of spring people used liver tonics. BTW from Chinese perspective the liver is closely associated with eye disorders such as cataracts. 

Just last week I had a patient with severe difficulty in breathing. Her case history indicated she had to use inhalers for the last 5 months. I discovered as I talked to her that she drank several glasses of milk and she loved ice cream. I explained that 90% of Asians are lactose intolerant and that here in the Philippines milk is a problem. She agreed to eliminate it from her diet. 

Two days later she called and said she was having an attack and had to resort to the inhaler again. I could hear her labored breathing as I asked her what she had been eating. "Fish, just some fish" she replied. "That's all just fish? You haven't had any vegetables?" "Well I had avocado." she said. "Did you put sugar with it?" Filipinos are fond of putting sugar on their avocado and I was just sort of fishing. "Yes, I put on sweetened condensed milk" she finally admitted.   

The point here is that a CLEAN DIET has to be just that, clean! Antibodies are established and waiting to create an anaphylactic response. The stronger the immune system the greater the response. 

By clean I mean no artificial coloring, flavoring, preservatives, pesticides, anti fungals, processed oils, processed flours, no additives at all. 

Charles 

Hi All, On the Parrotlet list there is a woman that has a Spectacle Parrotlet which weighs appx.25grams, the bird is in liver failure and I would like the dose of milk thistle for that kind of bird, the vet has given this bird about every thing injectable imaginable so it has been through the ringer, any help would be kindly appreciated. Thank you, April Winger Catfood Aviaries 

Hi You really need to be careful with milk thistle because it contains simalyrin , a very potent alkaloid. I truly suggest that you give the birdie, something like peppermint which is indicated when conditions of dyspepsia and sluggish bile flow are encountered. Also a herb which is safe and recognized as a table food is artichoke and tumeric. These are great supportive nutrients. 

In some of my medical training in Asia, I learned that gentian will help to increase the appetite. Note, this is not the same thing as ginseng. this herbal supplement is bitter in nature and naturally stimulates the liver enzymes aiding in digestive activity. I would suggest you do this in either a very low homeopathic dose or extremely low herbal dose mixed with food. 

When using Tumeric, use it in small amounts and be sure it has been processed and cooked. Turmeric in the spice racks of the grocery store has been processed. 
Dr. Sheila 

I found this quote, while looking up something else, and thought it was
interesting.
 Curcumin, a natural derivative of the spice turmeric, induces glutathione
S-transferase activity and reverses aflatoxin induced liver damage (produced
by aspergillus). A paste made with this is an effective therapy for scabies.
A limitation may be poor absorption. Nonetheless, in Indian Ayurvedic
medicine, it has been used for millennia.

I also found another interesting sight on natural products.
http://www.uomhs.edu/pharmacology/npdrug/DRUGTABLE.htm
Linda

Hi April, Here are a couple of thoughts. 

As the birds get smaller, it gets harder to dose them. Many factors are involved in an illness. No one, not even a holistic vet can determine a treatment protocol simply on a diagnosis like: 'the bird has liver failure'. There is much more to the story than that. It would be irresponsible of any of us to tell her: give x amount of milk thistle x times a day. 

We need to ask some questions first: Why does the bird have liver failure? What is the diet? Is the bird on antibiotics or antifungals. Has the bird been on these drugs? How old is the bird? Who determinedd that the bird has liver failure? Was a liver enzyme test done? How much liver function does the bird have? etc 

Often times when treating an illness, there is a many-pronged approach. It may be a simple as adding milk thistle to the food, but there are the other issues that need to be looked at too. 

Another thing to consider is this: If you were to base dosage on my 'standard' method of dosing the herbs I'm familiar with, which is one capsule per 50cc of hand rearing formula, you can see what a small amount of milk thistle a parrotlet would be getting. Such a small bird would probably take about 2 or 3 cc of formula (just guessing since I have never handfed one of these guys). Then the dose would be 2/50th or 3/50th of a capsule....The dosage may not be  accurate sized down in this way. Perhaps the bird would require more...perhaps less. 

As Dr. Sheila stated, there is very little in the literature for dosing birds with herbs. All we are doing is giving our best guess and this is only if milk thistle is the only herb required, which I doubt. 

If the bird has been on antibiotcs and antifungals, you may have to consider a blood detox. Maybe aloe detox would be useful...but there are a couple of ingredients (like blue cohosh) that I have never been comfortable with. In this case, if you used aloe detox, you would not add more milk thistle, since milk thistle is already an ingredient. Again, we come to the question of why the bird is in liver failure? What causes liver failure? Was the bird fed something toxic? Pesticides, poison mushrooms, an individual allergy to certain foods, antibiotics/antifungals, etc. All of these factors need to be taken into consideration

 gloria