YOUR LIVER WILL REMEMBER

If the colour of your eyes or the colour of your urine is yellow, then my friend you may already be in trouble and not realise it. In fact, you could be walking around with a potentially life-threatening condition and not know it. Basically, if you have yellow urine and yellow eyes, you might want to check your liver.

I feel compelled to do this piece based on my observation of the level of ignorance and non-challans of many of my peers within the Nigerian community in diaspora but also those at home about the real dangers of alcohol abuse and why the urgent need for a lifestyle change could save your life down the line.

When I turned forty, I felt the pressure that it was downhill from then on, so to counter that, I decided to be healthier but not just by doing a couple of push ups here and there or having the odd run from my house to the local ALDI but I wanted to see what was beneath my six foot two inches fourteen stone frame to have a glimpse into what was working and what wasn’t, coupled with the discovery that whenever I got injured either from playing basketball or sparing at the boxing gym, it took me longer to recover or walk properly compared to when I was in my twenties when injuries were simply an inconvenience.

It’s not the body…it’s the engine that counts

Like most people, I too equate muscles with fitness and good health and rightly so, except a muscle-bound body may not necessarily be a fully healthy body. What I’m saying is that there is need for an internal check of the “engine” so to speak and not assume that just because you have a massive bicep and a fifty-inch chest, then it’s okay to gulp down alcohol on a regular basis or drink “opa-eyin” (local herb mixed with local alcohol) indiscriminately without consequences.

You may be slim and trim, with a nice proportionate diet and exercise regime…but alcohol abuse could be slowly destroying your liver without you realising it.

Studies have shown that our internal organs just like our physical body also suffer wear and tear, therefore it is dangerous for anyone close to forty or above forty to continue to abuse his or her liver with indiscriminate alcohol consumption because guess what, few years down the line when you have forgotten all the “fun” you had, your liver will remember.

Yellow eyes? Yellow urine? Do a test!

I see a lot of guys walking around with yellow eyes. I have verbally mentioned the significance of it to some of these friends of mine but it was waved aside in jest. One said to me “I have been urinating yellow for ever and I’m fine”. He looked physically fit as well, tall and lanky but with golden eyeballs. The way I see it, there is only so much your liver can endure and it would be a shame to continue to hammer it until it grinds to a halt.

Alcohol abuse is a common problem in the West but hey, the medical support is available and efficient. My message is for the Africa community, because if women still die at child birth and children still die of malaria, I’m afraid your knackered liver won’t be anyone’s priority therefore it would be advisable to keep it in check while you can.

As it’s Christmas, the tendency to go “haka” or “mortal” as the Geordies would say it is high, but before you go on your bender, take a moment to think about your liver, cos it will remember.