Healing My Liver

This will likely be one of those "too much information" personal posts, so read it with that disclaimer, if you will. This morning, after an eziekiel english muffin with earth balance, I sat on the sofa with my husband, gulping my prescribed supplements, prednisone and clarythromycin with a glass of orange juice. I opted to forgo the recommended mucinex since the trouble no longer seems to be in my head, only in my lungs now.

You may remember I've had a marvelously healthy first vegan year, with no illnesses whatsoever until I let my system get off track with the stress of dealing with my son's migraines. Never underestimate the effect of stress on one's health. I've been ill for about a month, with one problem after another. Ironically, my son's problems have stabilized, but the damage from the stress to my immune system has been done.

After taking all my pills this morning, I began to have very painful stomach cramps and the urge to sleep, so I went back to bed. An hour or so later, I woke with the telltale flavor of bile in my mouth. My liver was in revolt. Looking at my calendar, I realized I'd been on antibiotics of different kinds for 25 days. Pneumonia is no joke, so I will finish my last four days of antibiotics, and my last two pills of prednisone, since going off that without weaning gradually is not worth it, but when I tasted that bile, thank goodness I knew what to do.

I went downstairs and pulled out my large pile of collard greens and began to wash and remove the stems from about ten giant leaves, then chopped them roughly. I heated a pan with olive oil and garlic, and lightly sauteed the leaves briefly until the color was bright. Then, listening to my cravings, I pulled out the miso -- dark barley miso and mellow white. I warmed some water and, with a whisk mixed two tablespoons of white miso and one tablespoon of barley until it was all diluted. then I added a couple more cups of water and stirred the broth into the greens, along with a couple of tablespoons of plain brown rice from our last order of chinese food. I immediately took the pan off the heat, not wanting to kill the beneficial enzymes of the miso or overcook the greens. I ate two bowlfuls of this healing "soup", invented on the fly from the body's signals and a little bit of intuition, and within five minutes the pain in my belly was gone and a peaceful sense of well-being was imparted.

While I'd love to fix all my health challenges naturally, sometimes mainstream medicine is necessary. In such cases it's helpful to be able to listen to our body's signals and react accordingly. I feel so much better now. No pain, no panic, no bile flavor. Four more days of babying my liver should be no trouble if I remember to listen to the body's signals.