I Am Your Liver: The Most Faithful Servant - Help Me to Serve You Better

Look here! It is me, your liver. You can feel my presence by touching the right side of your abdominal region. You can feel your bony rib cage. I am safely placed on the right side of your rib cage, just beneath your diaphragm. Physicians always prefer to check my condition by palpation, in case if you suffer from chronic ailments like jaundice, hepatitis, inflammation etc. Physicians and nutritionists always keep warning you for the excess consumption of alcohol or steroid drugs. No doubt, I am one of your most important organs.

 

How I am Organized?

1) You may recognize me by looking my unequally shaped four lobes with varying sizes. Invariably my weight will be ranging between 1.4 and 1.6 kg. You may easily identify me since I am considered as the largest (glandular) organ in your body. You cannot miss my reddish brown color appearance.

2) I have been composed by thousands tissues called lobules. Each of my lobule is made up of hepatic cells. Through my hepatic cells I am able to perform your liver metabolism.

3) I am attached by your circulation system through your hepatic artery and the portal vein. These two blood vessels are terminated after passing through me as tiny capillaries and after undergoing repeated subdivisions each capillary leads to a lobule. I will be receiving the blood supply regularly through these capillaries.

4) You may be surprised to understand that your hepatic artery brings around 1.5 liters of oxygen-rich blood every minute and help me to function properly by purifying my internal organs. Your portal vein brings out the blood comprising digested food from your small intestine.

How do I Function?

1) Your physician shows lot of respect on me because my role as the powerhouse or energy bank of your body. I render vital help in digesting:

a) Carbohydrates. I am your energy savings bank. Some are equating me as your battery. Simply I convert excess sugar, i.e. excess starch substance you consumed, in the form of glycogen and deposit it in the energy bank. Once your blood glucose levels goes down I will come to your rescue and convert the glycogen into glucose.

b) Proteins. I also run another bank with your amino acids. You may call it as your current account, since you cannot store amino acids. I receive the protein substances consumed by you and I disintegrate the protein in to tiny energizing units called amino acids. These amino acids are responsible for your essential physiological functions. I am also responsible for flushing out the wastes in the form of urea and nitrogen.

c) Fats. I am held responsible for converting the fats you consume into simpler form and utilize the in the future when more energy is required by your body. I am held also responsible for producing cholesterol. I am only producing about 80% of the cholesterol in your body.

d) Vitamins and Minerals. I am also responsible in storing iron reserves, vitamins (vitamins A, D, K and B12) and minerals in your body.

2) I perform over 500 jobs, and produces over 1,000 essential enzymes. You may call me as your bio-chemical plant. I am responsible for the synthesis and secretion of so many chemical fluids. You call them as enzymes and hormones.

3) You might have heard of a yellow pigment called bile. It is synthesized and secreted from me. The bile does a major role and helps you to digest your fat consumed by you without minding my work load. Have a heart and think of my strain. The bile also provides normal color to your stool and urine.

4) Some of my blood clotting fluids rush to the bruised or injured site of your body and arrest bleeding immediately.

5) I am entrusted with the responsibility of securing you from harmful food substances, alcohol, medicines, steroids administered as injections etc. I am you security office and I carry out physical checking when these substances try to enter by mustering in. If I am not guarding you from these harmful substances they may be playing their purposeful role and damage your vital organs.

6) As told I am responsible in guarding your blood vessels, heart, kidneys and brain from the toxic substances i.e. alcohol and excess of steroidal drugs. Do you want to know how I am doing this? Simply I filter them and convert the toxic materials into less harmful chemicals and flush them out of your body.

My strengths

I must tell you about my ability to strengthen my self and I am entrusted with an extraordinary ability to maintain my health. Even if you strain my health with toxins through your food alcohol and drugs, I will constantly fight against all these toxins or those wastes produced in the body as a result of various chemical reactions.

My Weaknesses

1) Some times I am very much affected by genetic disorder called Wilson's disease or hepatolenticular degeneration. Due to this conditions copper gets accumulated in my tissues. This condition further damages with inflammation.

2) Your alcohol consumption over longer periods of time alters my metabolism and brings overall detrimental effects in my normal functions.

3) Hepatitis B infects me and inflates my size (liver inflammation) and hampers my functions. I develop scar easily, and your physicians call these scars, as "cirrhosis" and the scars are permanent. Cirrhosis (a chronic condition of developing scars) is an undesirable development that may damage myself and bring total failure in my functioning. 

4) As any other organ in your body, I may also get affected with cancer and suffer from normal functioning.

5) For this purposes I am well equipped with an extraordinary defense mechanism to recover. I am expected to perform all my charter of duties even if eighty per cent my cells are damaged. I am blessed with the ability to regenerate the cells damaged due to harmful substances or due to harmful virus infection.

Help Me to Serve you Better

Kindly think about my importance. Without me your health is under siege. No body metabolism; no secured living from harmful substances that is ingested in the form of drug or alcohol; no saving of glycogen or amino acids or fat. In the absence of proper care, I get affected badly. My size and shape will keep shrinking and I will appear pale and yellow to you. Over the period of time I will undergo slow death. Do you want this ill fate should take place in your life? Should you or I deserve such a pathetic situation?

I request you to keep me under periodical check up and review. As any other vital machinery and equipment, I must receive periodical check up and treatment. Check me out with your physician.

He will advice you to under go 'Blood screening tests' to identify my condition precisely. He may be satisfied with my stable conditions if I am soft and smooth. He will conclude some trouble within me and he will be worried if I look rough and inflated. He may recommend certain laboratory tests including ultra sound and CT scans to make precise diagnoses. He will make me alright and handover me back to continue my service.

I hope now you have understood my role and services. For want of modesty I have discussed few points only. I am your faithful servant. Your life partner. I am the one and only natural source created by God to render typical service. There is no substitute for me. My ensured service will be available to you. What I expect from you is tender loving care.

Thank you,
Regards,
Your Liver

Reference:
1) MamasHealth.com - Liver - http://www.mamashealth.com/organs/liver.asp
2) Mountain Herbz - Did you know who I am? -http://www.mountainherbz.com/esg_des.html
3) Health Properties of Chanca Piedra or Bhumyamalaki or Phyllanthus Amarus / Niruri by Muthusamy R http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/105764/health_properties_of_chanca_piedra.html?cat=5
4) Wikipedia - Liver - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver
5) Wikipedia - Wilson's Disease - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson's_disease

This article was published by Muthusamy.R in Associated Content in Oct 6, 2008. Now available at Yahoo Voices (http://voices.yahoo.com/i-am-liver-most-faithful-servant-2004163.html)