I have been drinking ayahuasca 6 years and some times I have heard people saying it can be "hard for the liver"
Most likely the liver has a lot more of work to do when ayahuasca is in the body.

From what was told its the caapi that stresses the liver and this happens more with strong concentrated ayahuasca.
I have also read and been told that people with liver problems are more likely to experience bodily problems when ingesting caapi.
Even to the point that they are recommended to stop drinking

I have even told people this story but cant fill in with facts.

What are the mechanics behind this ?
Is caapi demanding on the liver ?
Why ?

what do people with liver problems experience after drinking ayahuasca or just caapi ?

..diet..IMO..other substances being potentiated low level by the MAOIs..

everything you consume goes through liver or kidneys. It's their job to filter things that aren't food. Anything other than nutrients is going to make the liver or kidneys work. So yes, if you're already having organ problems, then consuming bark extract material that doesn't have normal nutrients will probably aggravate the problem. As far as I know, ayahuasca is not significantly bad for liver. Definitely not even comparable in the same world as alcohol.

well carrot juice is excellent for softening the liver, along with herbs like milk thistle one could include these into their diet on a daily basis to give the liver an extra boost.

OF course if one has issues with the liver already then it may be advisable to stay away from ayahuasca until the issues are resolved.

one could always do a liver detox so the liver gets a good clean out and can handle the aya no probs

The reputable herbalist Dr Richard Shultz recommends this 5 day liver detox. liver detox

I and several friends use his Super Food Plus product superfood which is excellent so I can vouch for him as knowing what he is talking about with regards to organ health.

Hope this helps

Peace

Demands are made on the liver simply by virtue of living, and the processes inherent in this.As others have mentioned, the liver (and kidneys) have essential roles in processing (ie metabolising) many exogenous and endogenous chemicals.Concoctions of caapi which we use primarily for their harmala alkaloids have effects on the CYP enzyme system which is present in the liver; inhibiting these enzymes, or acting as a substrate here, has effects 'further down the line' in processing other compounds which can lead to increased or decreased production of metabolites which can have negative effects or consequences.

If one has pre-existing liver disease (of various types), the net effect of these processional alterations can have metabolic consequences which can in and of themselves stress the liver further.

Would you advise a cleanse or herbal treatment before aya to give the liver a boost ?

I am interested to hear a md's opinion

peace

TBH, I dont like the terms such as liver cleansing because they are vague and kind of over-simplify what is really a pretty complicated business.Agents used to achieve a 'cleansing' can have effects on numerous and important functions and theres always some variability between individuals as a consequence of their genetics.

I would personally just use aya judiciously.The more 'stuff' you expose your liver to, the greater the risk of unforseen outcomes potentially.

Thanks for answering my previous question.

Ah ok, that is good advice.

As an MD whats your opinion on this:

A close friend of mine was diagnosed with gilberts syndrome, he was so effected by it that he slept 14 - 18 hours a day and woke up exhausted, they said there is no cure and he will just have to deal with it with some meds prescribed, he looked to alternative approaches and with lots of herbal treatments later and massive amounts of fresh organic carrot juice (which he has daily) , he now leads a normal life.

But it isn't without its consequences, he cannot tolerate alcohol, he is hyber sensitive to most compounds, he almost had a level 5 type trip on 1g of p.cubensis, 100mg of mdma put him on his ass for 2 hours...

Dr Dr N.W. Walker recommended carrot juice for the liver, he claims it softens it.

As an open minded MD, I would be very interested to know if support this carrot juice for the liver theory.

thanks again for entertaining my questions

Peace

Im glad your friends improved with carrot juice but I cannot work out a physiological reason as to why it would help with Gilberts.It tends to be a condition with few symptoms if any but some do get undue fatigue with it. Its one of the few conditions which a doctor can get away with prescribing the barbiturate phenobarbitone for as it can aid the diagnosis.

For some weird reasons having Gilberts is protective against circulatory disorders to some degree; also excessive B carotene (from carrot juice, amongst other sources) is carcinogenic in those who also smoke.

Baffling and intriguing stuff is physiology!

It is extremely cool to have an MD on board...Thanks for ALL your input Corpus...

For liver Milk thistle is your ally.

Wasn't it just beta-carotene that they used for the study? Maybe a full-spectrum food-based form might have different results?



Kidding, you are not!

Read the huasca study done by the Brazilian government. It concluded no negative health risks but in fact increased positive neurological activity lasting up to a year.

**SHIPIBOS THOUGHTS ON AYA AND YOUR LIVER**

Case of Hepatitis C

Aya is a liver cleanser. I pushes intense amounts of bile into the Duodenum and some of that gets vomitted into your bucket

Old Skool Herbalism says bitter stuff moves the liver. Has western medicine found something to that effect with aya specifically? I do not believe so, but the shipibo use it for people that have liver issues.

My basic story, had chronic pancreaitits, Cealiacs, elevated ALT/AST, and pooped white on the regular. This lasted for 3 years in the states seeing doctor after doctor. I went and was treated by a Shipibo from Pulcullpa* He was the most kind person I have met. Too heal me we drank Aya on the regular, and did plant poultices on my pancrease/liver that literally felt like you were being electrocuted for 12 hours....Toe(Tree Datura) is amazing, but strong

While there, a german man with Hepatitis C was there. He was cured while he was there. He had to stay indoors the entire time, apparently the sun on your skin stresses your liver out when you have hep C, the german told me this after Don Enrique told him about the indoor Dieta. The man had to consume almost 20 kilos of tumeric (eyeball guestimation, close though), they made a decotion that was super thick and he had to eat it/drink it/Full body bath every day for 2 weeks. He was orange the whole time, from the tumeric on his skin. He only drank ayahuasca the first night of dieta and the last night. He passed up 6 ceremonies in between. Enrique wanted him to participate in all of them, but there was some issue with emotional stuff coming up.


So in my experience, as long as your liver is keeping you standing, the Shipibo say drink.

DETOX SICKNESS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarisch-Herxheimer_reaction

"The Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction resembles bacterial sepsis and can occur after initiation of antibacterials, such as penicillin or tetracycline, for the treatment of louse-borne relapsing fever (80-90% of patients) and in tick-borne relapsing fever (30-40%). An association has been found between the release of heat-stable proteins from spirochetes and the reaction. Typically, the death of these bacteria and the associated release of endotoxins or lipoproteins occurs faster than the body can remove the substances. It usually manifests within a few hours of the first dose of antibiotic as fever, chills, rigor, hypotension, headache, tachycardia, hyperventilation, vasodilation with flushing, myalgia (muscle pain), exacerbation of skin lesions and anxiety."

Guess where it was first discovered. Syphillis, hahaha!!!! But anyways A herx or detox reaction occurs when you overload your liver and retoxify your blood. It was discovered in some pretty gnarly diseases long ago, but now we have pretty toxic bodies from our diets and enviroment. Harmine and Harmaline both are very effective at killing protozoa according to science, and ayahuasca can kill most bad things according to the shipibo. Other plants make her stronger, but she can fix you on her own. My theory is anyone experiencing liver issues has an underlying condition/other factor, or are cleansing themselves faster than they rebuild themselves and their liver shows the holes

much love to my peeps