Stomach distress

This can be alleviated by a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda in water or by use of a buffered type of aspirin. If you are truly sensitive to aspirin, you may find Tylenol a useful substitute. If you are occasionally, not habitually, constipated, it is safe to take a mild laxative such as a teaspoonful or two of milk of magnesia. 

Avoid regular dosing with any laxative or cathartic. Be certain to see your physician if you find yourself beginning to suffer persistently or repeatedly from any of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, excessive belching, fullness or burning sensations in the abdomen, cramps, constipation, or diarrhea. Be certain to see him immediately if you pass stools that are blood-streaked, blackish, colorless, or foul- smelling. The liver in a healthy body requires no particular care.

 It certainly does not need to be "stimulated" by such medicines as those claiming to "increase the flow of bile." But there are several things you can do to prevent damage to the liver. You can protect it from the harm that can result from excessive intake of alcoholic beverages and from poisons such as carbon tetrachloride to which you may be exposed at work or in the course of hobbies requiring use of solvents. Remember that glue sniffing, engaged in by youngsters seeking a "thrill," can harm the liver. 

Both normal weight and balanced diet are necessary to keep the liver healthy. Liver damage, such as that from a virus infection, may produce jaundice-a yellowing of the skin and particularly of the whites of the eyes. Jaundice should be reported immediately to your physician. Some viruses that cause liver infection are transmitted by blood on syringes or needles. That is why drug addicts who share equipment have a high rate of liver disease. Alcohol and ordinary boiling do not kill the viruses; the very high temperature of an autoclave type of sterilizer is needed. 

Do not use someone else's injection equipment in administering insulin, for example. Other viruses affecting the liver are transmitted hand to mouth, and so it is vital to wash hands with soap and water after passing a stool, before each meal, and after trips and contacts on buses, trains, and other public conveyances and places. Infection may affect the gallbladder. Gallstones sometimes cause considerable pain and may block the flow of bile, leading to jaundice and infer lion of the liver and gallbladder.