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Hepatic encephalopathy treatment

Adsorb! Adsorb!
 
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Just when everyone was having fun talking about the booze buster pills, along came buzzkill IVnick8or with the gloom and doom of hepatic encephalopathy. Those folks are in a bad way. There is no good dialysis equivalent for livers, so if you have used yours up, you can't just hook on to the machine like the renal failure folks do. Even if you quit the booze, if your liver is shot you could still get hepatic encephalopathy from time to time. The only cure is a liver transplants, but folks seem to want to save the available livers for kids and those who came by liver failure by accident, rather than prolonged effort.

What to do for the folks with hepatic encephalopathy? As Nick8's link describes, the reason for this trouble is thought to be accumulation of ammonia, which normally the liver can get rid of. When this stuff builds up it stuns the brain. Zeolite is a natural mineral widely used to adsorb ammonia in applications such as wastewater treatment and aquarium maintenance. I propose that a slurry be devised for the liver impaired, consisting of zeolite slurry. This stuff will adsorb ammonia on the way thru the gut and eventually be pooped out. Possibly, if has not been exhausted, it will go on to aid with municipal wastewater treatment. The "Z-slurry" will buttress what is left of the liver, allowing the person to cloud his mind only with the chemicals of his choosing.

bungston, Jan 11 2003

Zeolites for ammonia http://www.naturalzeolites.com/apps.htm
[bungston, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

Lemming, Lemming, Lemming of the BZA. http://www.bza.org/
[bungston, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

Gloom and doom, courtesy of IVNick8or. http://health.yahoo...pedia/000302/0.html
[bungston, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

Cleanse yourself internally! http://curezone.org...bowel/bentonite.asp
It seems folks are already eating clay, without ill effects. [bungston, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

the very merry IVNick8or and I can discuss this sort of stuff for hours http://www3.mdander...S/liver/anatomy.htm
[po, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

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       (sp.absorb). it is my understanding that the liver is the only organ in the body (except the skin possibly) that will regenerate itself if given half a chance.
po, Jan 11 2003
  

       I think _adsorb_ is correct for this use. The difference between adsorption and absorbtion has always been tough for me to wrap my head around.
bungston, Jan 12 2003
  

       adsorb (v) (of a gas or vapour) condense and form a thin film on a surface. //This stuff will adsorb ammonia on the way thru the gut // nah - absorb.
po, Jan 12 2003
  

       Dammit! Why can't I kill myself without killing myself?
snarfyguy, Jan 12 2003
  
      
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