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Health

Drugs to cleanse the liver

, medical expert
Last reviewed: 05.07.2025
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Liver cleansing drugs perform two main functions and are divided into two groups:

  1. The function of protecting and restoring liver cells.
  2. Function of activating bile excretion.

Both hepatoprotectors and choleretic agents are able to accelerate the process of liver detoxification, while improving all metabolic functions, accelerating cell regeneration, and have a good antioxidant effect. In addition, taking such drugs restores the acid-base balance, promotes liquefaction and rapid excretion of bile, and prevents the formation of new stones.

Many experts quite rightly believe that liver cleansing must be combined with simultaneous treatment, as well as with normalization of the digestive tract.

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Mechanism of action

Hepatoprotectors are a group of drugs that have the same property - protecting liver cells. Hepatoprotectors also increase the organ's ability to deactivate toxins without causing damage and loss of hepatocytes, that is, they create stability in the liver by protecting cell membranes. The list of tasks that hepatoprotectors are aimed at includes the following:

  • Activation of intracellular metabolism.
  • Improving and restoring the fermentation process.
  • Antioxidant action, binding and removal of free radicals.
  • Neutralization, suppression of fat (lipid) peroxidation.
  • Protection of liver cell membranes.
  • Activation of the synthesis of structural protein compounds in liver cells.
  • Regeneration, restoration of liver tissue.
  • Neutralization, binding, removal of toxins.

Hepatoprotectors - preparations for cleansing and restoring the liver, as a rule, are made from plant materials - artichoke, milk thistle, turmeric, fumitory, soy, and also contain phospholipids. Many of them have a complex effect - hepatoprotective and choleretic at the same time, these are Gepabene, Darsil, Galstena, Gepacept and others.

Choleretic drugs help to activate bile excretion, but as monodrugs without combination with means of treatment, restoration and protection of the liver they are ineffective. Choleretic drugs can increase the production of bile and promote filling the duodenum with bile, which significantly improves digestion, but does not cleanse the liver.

There are also pharmaceutical detoxification products that are used as drugs that expand the bile and liver ducts and soften the process of removing stones; these include sorbitol, magnesium, and sodium thiosulfate.

Liver cleanse with sorbitol

Liver detoxification with sorbitol is essentially a traditional tubage. The method is practically safe, gentle, requiring only preliminary preparation of the body, as in all cases of cleansing.

Liver cleansing with sorbitol consists of the following:

  • For 3-4 days, or better yet, a week, you should follow a dietary regimen, excluding all fried, fatty, smoked, spicy dishes, and potatoes. The most useful will be fractional vegetarian meals every 1.5-2 hours in small portions, food should be steamed, boiled. All this time you need to drink freshly squeezed apple juice or eat apples, which promote bile excretion.
  • For several days, you should avoid any physical or emotional stress.
  • In the morning of the day on which the cleansing is scheduled, you should do a cleansing enema.
  • Closer to evening, you need to put a warm heating pad on your right side (hypochondrium), go to bed, having first prepared the medicinal composition.
  • Dissolve 2 tablespoons of sorbitol in boiled water (100 ml) and drink it at 7-8 pm in small sips, alternating with a decoction of choleretic herbs.
  • The choleretic drink should also be prepared in advance: pour a handful of corn silk and a tablespoon of chamomile with two glasses of boiling water, leave for 40 minutes, strain and leave 50 milliliters.
  • The heating pad should remain on the right side all this time; if it cools down, you need to replace it with a warmer one or use an electric heating pad.
  • Special diaphragmatic breathing (breathing from the abdomen) activates the cleansing process.
  • The first signs of cleansing should appear 2-3 hours after taking sorbitol. It is quite possible that the release of stones and toxins will not be so intense the first time, in which case, after a while, liver cleansing should be repeated.
  • The body does not always react to the drug; liver cleansing with sorbitol can be replaced with detoxification using egg yolks (three raw yolks).
  • In the morning, it is advisable to do a cleansing enema if the removal of gallstones was not abundant.
  • Sorbitol detoxification can be repeated no earlier than after 2 or 3 weeks. Up to 6 liver cleansing procedures with sorbitol can be performed per year.

Liver cleansing with sorbitol can also be done in another way:

  • On the day of the cleansing you should stay at home, so it is better to plan it for the weekend.
  • 3-4 tablespoons of rose hips are poured with a liter of boiling water and infused in a thermos overnight.
  • In the morning, add sorbitol to a glass of rosehip infusion - 3 tablespoons, drink in small sips over 10-15 minutes.
  • After 30-40 minutes, you need to drink the rosehip decoction remaining in the thermos, without adding sorbitol. The decoction will act as a choleretic agent.
  • During the day, it is better to lie on your right side with a heating pad.
  • You can eat food all day long, but always in small portions, without adding oil, fat, and preferably without salt. Vegetarian dishes are ideal for this method.
  • You can repeat the daytime cleansing procedure every other day for a week and a half (6-7 times). This method is considered the most gentle, since the removal of toxins occurs gradually.

After a successful process of removing toxins, a person may feel some weakness, this condition passes literally in 2-3 days, after which the state of health improves significantly: skin, digestion, kidney function, gall bladder, brain activity - all these organs, systems begin to function much better, the body feels lighter.

Liver Cleanse with Sodium Thiosulfate

Sodium thiosulfate was previously used by all photographers in the world, before the digital era, and this substance is still used in textile production and in the chemical industry. In medicine, sodium thiosulfate is used as an effective desensitizing component that has a high detoxifying and anti-inflammatory capacity. Sulfites, which the drug forms inside the body, bind and remove almost all salts of heavy metals - copper, arsenic, lead, thallium, mercury, phenols, hydrocyanic acid. The drug is often prescribed for the treatment of arthritis, dermatitis (externally) and intoxication (internal use).

Liver cleansing with sodium thiosulfate is a very effective procedure that can restore liver function even in cases of serious, chronic diseases.

Sodium thiosulfate treatment plan:

  • You need to get ready for the course, which will last 10 days.
  • It is necessary to purchase a 30% solution of thiosulfate in injection form (10 ampoules) from a pharmacy.
  • For cleaning, a solution of 10-15 ml of the product per 100 ml of boiled water is required.
  • Every evening, for 10 days before going to bed, you need to drink a thiosulfate solution in a volume of 100 milliliters. Another option is to dilute the ampoule in a glass of boiled water, drink half at night, the second in the morning on an empty stomach 30 minutes before breakfast.
  • If the product is unpleasant to use, you can slightly neutralize its specific taste with a piece of lemon or lemon juice.
  • Cleansing bowel movements occur early in the morning and should last for an hour and a half.

Liver cleansing with sodium thiosulfate has virtually no contraindications, the only downside is the rather unpleasant taste of the drug, the procedure can very rarely cause an allergic reaction, but, as a rule, cleansing takes place without complications. Another important point is to follow a diet during the entire cleansing period. Consumption of dairy and meat dishes is limited, smoked foods, spicy, fatty foods and alcohol should be excluded. Drinking plenty of fluids helps to activate the removal of toxins - apple juice, rosehip decoction, mineral water without gas.

Liver Cleanse with Magnesia

Liver cleansing with magnesia is more of a preventive tubage than actual cleansing, although if the course is repeated for six months, the effect will be noticeable and obvious. Preparation for taking magnesia should be the same as in other cases involving the liver and gallbladder - a week-long vegetarian diet, plenty of alkaline drinks, exclusion of fatty, fried, spicy foods, alcohol. Magnesia has a strong choleretic property, so the digestive tract and bile ducts should be prepared to remove stones and toxins. It should be noted that liver cleansing with magnesia is a rather "insidious" method that can lead to an exacerbation of cholecystitis, gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer, since it significantly increases acidity. If a person has contraindications, it is better to use more gentle methods, of which there are a great many today.

  • Before cleaning, you need to lie down for 1-2 hours with a heating pad on your right side.
  • At least an hour after warming up the liver, it is necessary to dissolve 2 tablespoons of the preparation in a glass of warm boiled water.
  • Within 20-30 minutes you need to drink half a glass of the solution in two doses.
  • For an hour, the heating pad should remain warm in the area of the right hypochondrium (it is better to use an electric heating pad).

There is another option for cleansing the liver with magnesium, when after preparatory diet days and warming up, a solution of magnesium in mineral water is prepared: a tablespoon of magnesium is stirred in a glass of hot water. The result from combining the mineral liquid and the substance that expands the bile ducts is much better and faster. Such procedures should be done once a quarter to prevent liver slagging. Please note that before using detoxification with magnesium sulfate, it is necessary to examine the gallbladder and liver, do an ultrasound and consult with your doctor to avoid exacerbation of chronic diseases.

Liver cleansing with Holosas

Liver detoxification can be done with the help of a unique plant - rose hips, which is used both in the form of a decoction and in the form of syrup. Liver cleansing with holosas is a gentle and effective method that not only helps to remove toxins, but also improves the general condition of the body by replenishing vitamin C reserves. The choleretic drug Rosae pingue fructuum extract or holosas is a sweet, thick syrup made from an extract of fresh rose hips. The product has a mild choleretic effect, using it you should not be afraid of complications and exacerbations of chronic diseases.

Method of liver cleansing with Holosas:

  • Separately prepare 2 infusions: 200 grams of senna are steamed in two glasses of boiling water, you also need to brew 200 grams of raisins in half a liter of boiling water. Infuse the drinks for at least 2 hours, then strain and mix to get about one liter of liquid.
  • Add 300 milliliters of holosas to the resulting infusion and place in a cold place, since the course of treatment will last one month.
  • Liver cleansing with Holosas should be done while following a diet that excludes fatty, spicy, smoked foods. It is better to steam, bake, or boil all food. A menu that includes buckwheat porridge and boiled beets will speed up the process of removing toxins.
  • Every day, 1.5 hours after dinner, you need to take 100 milliliters of infusion.
  • The cleansing course lasts 30 days, if the infusion runs out, I make it again, about three liters of the healing agent are required per month.

Liver detoxification with Holosas can be carried out every six months.

Liver Cleanse Essentiale

If the liver function is impaired, but the organ itself has not yet undergone pathological changes (fatty degeneration), it is best to use therapeutic and preventive methods of detoxification. These include a special diet - diet No. 5 according to Pevzner to reduce the food load on damaged cells - hepatocytes, as well as a course of hepatoprotector, for example, Essentiale Forte.

Liver cleansing with Essentiale is more of a preventative measure than a cleansing. The preparation contains essential components – phospholipids, hence the name of the preparation. Phospholipids promote regeneration of the organ parenchyma, hepatocyte function, and prevent their fatty degeneration. In addition, taking Essentiale helps prevent fibrosis – the formation of scar tissue in the liver. Thus, liver cleansing with Essentiale essentially solves the problem of protecting and restoring the organ, and also effectively copes with the neutralization of toxins and fat deposits.

There are no contraindications to the use of the drug, and no side effects were noted. Indications for a course of treatment with Essentiale are as follows:

  • Prevention of liver diseases.
  • All types of chronic hepatitis.
  • Detoxification of an organ after poisoning with heavy metal salts, drug intoxication.
  • Detoxification for all types of alcohol addiction.
  • Fatty degeneration of the liver, cirrhosis.
  • Dermatological diseases, including psoriasis.
  • Antioxidant therapy in radiation exposure.

The drug can be taken for up to 3 months; the dosage is determined by the doctor depending on the diagnosis, age and health condition of the patient.

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Liver Cleanse with Activated Charcoal

Activated carbon is deservedly popular as an inexpensive, effective adsorbent for food poisoning, allergic intoxications and other unpleasant conditions. Liver cleansing with activated carbon is one of the safest and most accessible methods for normalizing bilirubin levels, bile acids, and lipoproteins in the blood.

Liver Detoxification Options with Activated Charcoal:

  1. The course lasts from two weeks to a month, depending on the severity of intoxication. The use of coal is preceded by a control weighing, during which the daily norm is calculated - every ten kilograms of weight suggests taking one tablet. Example - all 60 kilograms, therefore you need to take 6 tablets at a time. For effective cleansing, you need to drink activated carbon twice a day for at least 14 days.
  2. Gentle liver cleansing with activated carbon involves taking one tablet on the first day, two on the second, and so on up to the standard dose (one tablet for every ten kilograms of weight). Then the dosage is reduced according to a similar scheme. This cycle should be repeated twice.

The adsorbent must be taken in a certain way:

  • The tablet should be taken one hour before meals, or 1-1.5 hours after.
  • The entire cleansing period should be accompanied by a dietary diet, excluding fatty, spicy, smoked, and fried foods.
  • Throughout the entire detoxification period, it is necessary to drink plenty of fluids – up to 2 liters of liquid, it is better to drink mineral alkaline water without gas.
  • After cleansing with activated charcoal, a fermented milk diet, probiotics, and multivitamins are recommended.
  • If a person has a chronic disease in their medical history, the course of treatment should not be interrupted, but the interval between taking basic therapy and activated carbon should be at least one and a half to two hours.

The activated carbon cleansing method has contraindications:

  • Exacerbation of gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer.
  • UC - nonspecific ulcerative colitis.
  • Systemic use of radioprotectors, antitumor and antitoxic drugs.

It should also be noted that activated carbon is a powerful adsorbent and is capable of removing not only toxins, but also substances important for the body - vitamins, minerals. Therefore, the first course of treatment with carbon should not exceed 14 days, after which the deficiency of the removed useful microelements should be replenished.

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Liver cleansing with oats

Ovesol is a biologically active food supplement, which includes an extract of oats of a certain variety and ripening period, mint, volopus grass, immortelle, enzymes, amino acids, flavonoids, turmeric, essential oils and vitamins. Thanks to this complex of useful substances, Ovesol copes with bile stasis, acts very gently on the liver, sparing as a detoxifying, anti-inflammatory and regenerating agent.

Liver cleansing with oats – recommendations for use:

  • To activate bile secretion and eliminate congestion in the gallbladder.
  • Gentle, deep detoxifying liver cleanse.
  • Prevention of gallstone formation.
  • Neutralization of spasms and inflammation in the biliary system of the body.

Liver cleansing with oatmeal is suitable for those who, due to the specifics of their work, do not have time to prepare complex medicinal compositions, decoctions, infusions. The drug is available in a convenient capsule form, as well as in drops.

The dosage for cleansing depends on the degree of slagging and possible stagnation in the gallbladder, but the standard recommended regimen is as follows:

  • 15 drops twice daily for a month.
  • The medicine should be washed down with half a glass of warm boiled water.
  • The course should be repeated quarterly.
  • If oatmeal is prescribed in tablet form, it should be taken twice a day, one tablet at a time, with plenty of water. The course lasts at least three weeks.

This method has virtually no contraindications, but in case of chronic congestion in the gallbladder, the presence of large stones, the drug should be taken under the supervision of a doctor and after examination. Transient allergic reactions to some components of the drug are possible - essential oils, mint, in which case it is better to cancel the drug and choose another method of detoxification.

Attention!

To simplify the perception of information, this instruction for use of the drug "Drugs to cleanse the liver" translated and presented in a special form on the basis of the official instructions for medical use of the drug. Before use read the annotation that came directly to medicines.

Description provided for informational purposes and is not a guide to self-healing. The need for this drug, the purpose of the treatment regimen, methods and dose of the drug is determined solely by the attending physician. Self-medication is dangerous for your health.

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