10 Warnings Signs Your Liver Is Stressed And Needs A Detox

To be healthy, we need all our organs to be healthy, working together in tandem like a well-oiled machine. The liver is no different. The liver is a regulatory organ, keeping command over the entire digestive, absorptive and gastro-intestinal tract. A sluggish liver can slow down the entire digestive system, leaving you with poor nutrition, chronic fatigue and other health problems. Here are ten signs pointing to a stressed liver in need of a detox that you may not have known about.

1. A distended abdomen, with discomfort

Being gassier than usual, having abdominal discomfort, and bloating can all be signs to liver damage. The bloating and discomfort usually comes from developing ascites – accumulation of fluid between the abdominal wall and other organs – and can even cause you to be chronically short of breath.2. Chronic fatigue and tiredness

If even the best of diets and supplements are not making you feel like your usual perky self, then this perpetual tiredness may be a sign that your liver is stressed. The tiredness that you feel is basically a result of your body overworking to remove those toxins from your body, since your liver isn’t doing it that well.^[1]

3. Sleep apnea or sudden snoring

Snoring and apnea can be a sign of many things. But if you seem to have developed this problem overnight, then it may point to the fact that your liver is stressed. If the snoring or the apnea disturbs your sleep, it then puts even more stress on an already overworked liver.^[2]

4. One too many colds and cough

If you seem to be a magnet for every kind of flu doing rounds and no amount of vitamin C seems to help, then a sluggish liver that’s unable to remove toxins effectively might be to blame. The liver is also part of our body’s defense mechanism, and can fight off infections only if it’s healthy in the first place.

5. Sugar rush, and crash

Sometimes, meals do leave us feeling sluggish and sleepy. However, if this becomes a regular feature for you, then your liver isn’t managing sugars right, meaning your liver is stressed.

6. Far too many digestive issues

Cramps, constipation, the loosies, acid reflux or heartburn – if any or many of these are part and parcel of your daily litany of woes, your liver is stressed and probably not producing the right amount of bile needed for healthy digestion.^[3]

7. Nutrient deficiencies, despite a healthy diet

Got your blood work back and it keeps pointing to one or the other nutritional deficiency; the problem is that your liver is not doing its job of optimum absorption of nutrition. Meaning your liver is in stress and in need of a detox, A.S.A.P.

8. A plateau weight, plus or minus

Overweight and just cannot lose those layers despite exercise and diet? Or are you suddenly putting on weight for no rhyme or reason? Remember that an unhealthy liver loses its ability to process fat and lipids properly – so you end up weighing more than usual, or unable to lose any weight. ^[4]

9. Absent-minded, or just plain confused

One important role of the liver is to process and eliminate toxins from the body. However when your liver is stressed and unable to do so effectively, the toxins find their way into your brain, causing memory loss, confusion, and a brain fog.^[5]

10. Mood swings and the blues

Obviously, the treatment for depression or mood swings is not one-dimensional, and there are a myriad of reasons for such emotional and mental problems. However, a sluggish liver can worsen any pre-existing conditions like these, or possibly cause them, due to toxins in your brain that your liver failed to eliminate.

Your liver is stressed. Why?

A bad lifestyle that includes too much alcohol, sugar, tobacco, or caffeine and too little exercise, along with poor nutrition are the more generic causes that cause a stressed liver. Certain autoimmune disorders, genetic defects, hepatitis strains, and harmful overmedication of paracetamol are some of the other possible causes.

Featured photo credit: IrishMirror via irishmirror.ie