I was Working with a patient yesterday who had right shoulder pain. Indeed, the shoulder did show frontal displacement- when she stood straight, right shoulder appeared to, at rest, be ahead of left. Her presenting complaint had been that there was a continual pain beneath right scapula and around its edges toward the spine. She reported that a wholistic chiropractor had successfully reversed this at times, but it always returned.
It seemed a simple enough matter to change the picture of deep tissue beneath shoulder blade, and, as one might suspect, on closer questioning, she is an artist, very involved in home projects, mom to three children, ages 12 to 2, and had recently been stripping wallpaper. Again, as one might suspect, she is very right-handed and did a majority of the wall paper project using right arm in repetitive motion, all of which fit the continual soreness. But I felt another resistance besides these obvious signs and so, today notified her of the underlying cause- phrenic nerve.
In the philosophy of science, this would be called over determination, which Wikipedia defines as, “science, the concept of overdetermination has been used to describe a situation in which there are more causes present than are necessary to cause an effect.”
So, here you have a repetitive “shoulder” disorder. I See into the rhomboid major, rhomboid minor, and sub scapularis as having some fraying, but even as I repaired these, there was a nagging sense of some other causal factor that would resurface as a symptom. I remembered treating a tradesman, a 36 yo shipyard worker, who overused his right shoulder. I did the psychic surgery repairs to tendons including supraspinatus and teres minor. The symptoms went away but six months later, they reappeared. Here is where deep learning and working with a master healer was such an important part of tietaja training, the sheer immersion. This time, as she was watching me, one of my Teachers, Ludmilla, shook her head and said that we were missing something. Patient was face down on an exam table and she began to probe beneath the shoulder blade- this area was a bit more sore than the upper shoulder connective tissue. She then had him sit up and reviewed the diet, lifestyle, and noted the early high abdominal bulge in a fellow who was not showing a lot of belly fat yet.
She said that this was due to phrenic nerve impingement and undoubtedly a fatty liver was the proximate cause. After some changes in diet and taking some herbal remedies, the problem was permanently resolved and the deep shoulder pain never returned.
In the case of my present-day patient, the belly fat was present, but would easily be explained by having had three pregnancies and a bit of a ‘sweet tooth’ with a tendency to snack. In the video, and, preparatory to this article, I reviewed several other sources, but this is the most concise, the narrator posits that the belly fat is also a direct result of lack of fat digestion due to a fatty liver or hepatic steatosis.
The tricky thing about detecting or verifying HS is that a standard liver panel (liver enzyme test) will not see it. Only an ultrasound will pick it up. The video gives some simple remedies, such as starting the day with a mild solution of apple cider vinegar and lemon juice to help clean it out. Other standard remedies include sylmarin, often combined with artichoke extract powder. It is well worth watching and does not take that long.
This case was a reminder that male breast formation, spider veins in either gender, increased estrogen, and high blood pressure can all be symptoms of fat around organs and the cause is often fatty liver.
Overview:
Treatment:
A bit deeper dive:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/non-alcoholic-fatty-liver-disease/
For those of us who are doing alternative practice, the important point which this case illuminates is the non-linear diagnosis. In a linear sense, pain here or continual soreness and lack of mobility in this joint or that part of the body means looking at muscles, bones, and connective tissue. This is not incorrect, and, as in cases of multi-determinism, may be present as well, but where the symptom set repeats and reoccurs despite varied treatments, we should suspect a different concurrent cause.
What I should have listened more closely to was the fact that this condition involving right shoulder had defied X-rays and had been worked on by a variety of disciplines, including polarity healer, chiropractors, and reiki. All produced short term relief. That should have been my cue to keep searching, which, subsequently, the next day, I did. Look at the long-term history not just of the patient, but of the system or disorder’s manifestation before deciding that you have all the factors understood and the health challenges addressed.
One response to “Fatty Liver, a Hidden Disorder that Often does not Show up on Tests but is Serious”
That’s a great, very informative article Dad. You really seek the underlying condition.