Massage By Jane, LLC

11/06/2025

🧠 The Connection Between Itchy Skin and Your Liver 🌿

Do you ever feel like you’re itching for no reason at all—especially at night? 🥴
It may not be dry skin… it might be your liver calling for help! 🧬

💥 What’s the Link?

Your liver is your body’s detox powerhouse 🧽🛡️
It filters toxins, hormones, medications, and byproducts of digestion. But when it’s overloaded or sluggish, something sneaky can happen:

👉 Bile acids and toxins start to build up in your bloodstream instead of being properly filtered out.

👀 And your skin? It notices.
The body uses the skin as a secondary detox organ. That toxic backup can trigger itching, irritation, or even rashes.

🧬 What Liver Conditions Commonly Cause Itching?

🔹 Cholestasis – slowed or blocked bile flow (common in pregnancy and liver diseases)
🔹 Fatty liver – too much fat stored in liver cells
🔹 Hepatitis or liver inflammation
🔹 Cirrhosis or liver scarring
🔹 Liver congestion due to poor drainage, inflammation, or lymphatic stagnation

Often, the itching is worse on hands, feet, or limbs, and may get worse at night when bile levels rise.

🌿 Supportive Steps (always check with a healthcare provider)

✅ Support your lymphatic system (hello, MLD! 🙌)
✅ Eat liver-loving foods: beetroot, artichokes, bitter greens, dandelion
✅ Stay hydrated to help flush toxins
✅ Limit alcohol and processed fats
✅ Consider castor oil packs or gentle herbal liver support (milk thistle, burdock root, etc.)

✨ Final Thought

The skin and liver are deeply connected.
If you’re itching and you can’t quite explain why—your lymph and liver might just be whispering (or yelling!) for attention. 💚

🔬 Research & Resources
1. Carey EJ, Lindor KD. “Pruritus in cholestasis.” Clin Liver Dis. 2013.
2. Kremer AE et al. “Pathogenesis and Management of Pruritus in Liver Diseases.” J Hepatol. 2011.
3. Kim DJ et al. “Itch and the Liver.” Clin Mol Hepatol. 2021.

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11/05/2025

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10/30/2025

Meet the Mesentery: Your Gut’s Superhero Cape 👌🏻

You’ve heard of the heart, the liver, even the pancreas… but have you ever stopped to appreciate the mesentery?

No? Well buckle up, Lymphie, because the mesentery is the unsung hero of your gut — quietly holding things together, keeping your intestines in line (literally), and even helping your lymphatic system stay squeaky clean.

So… What Is the Mesentery?

The mesentery is a double fold of peritoneum (a fancy word for a silky membrane in your abdomen) that looks like a curtain or web. It holds your small intestine, parts of your large intestine, and even your stomach in place — kind of like a very organized spiderweb for your digestive system. 🕸️🫃

For centuries, scientists thought the mesentery was just a leftover scrap of tissue. But in 2016, it got a major glow-up — reclassified as a full-blown organ. Yep! An organ with its own structure, function, and importance in immune health, inflammation, and lymphatic drainage.

Mesentery: The Multi-Tasking Marvel

Your mesentery isn’t just a passive hammock for your guts. It’s a superhighway of action — here’s what it does:
• Anchors your intestines so they don’t twist or wander 🚧
• Carries blood vessels from your heart to your gut 🩸
• Transports lymph from your digestive system to your thoracic duct 💧
• Supports immune response through GALT (gut-associated lymphoid tissue) 🛡️
• Transmits nerves that help with digestion and movement 🧠
• Regulates inflammation and plays a role in conditions like Crohn’s disease 🔥

Basically, if your intestines were a city, the mesentery would be the electrical grid, plumbing, roads, and waste system all in one.

How Does the Mesentery Help Your Lymphatic System?

Here’s where things get juicy for us lymph lovers: the mesentery is loaded with lymphatic vessels.

As your digestive system breaks down fats and nutrients, the lymphatics in the mesentery absorb those fats and toxins and send them to the cisterna chyli — a large lymph collecting vessel just below the diaphragm.

From there, lymph is pumped up through the thoracic duct, helping clear waste, fight infection, and keep your internal waters clean. Think of it as your gut’s detox conveyor belt. ♻️🛒

Medical Fun Facts About the Mesentery
• The small intestine is over 6 meters long, and the mesentery keeps it neatly folded like a ribbon inside your belly 🎀
• Over 70% of your immune system lives in your gut — much of it within the mesentery’s GALT 🦠
• It’s being studied for its role in chronic inflammation, autoimmune diseases, and even cancer spread
• Surgeons are now exploring “mesenteric-based” approaches to improve outcomes in IBD and colon surgery 🏥

How Can You Support Your Mesentery?
• Deep diaphragmatic breathing to pump lymph upward 🫁
• Gentle abdominal massage to move lymph and relieve tension 🤲
• Stay hydrated so lymph can flow freely 💧
• Eat anti-inflammatory foods to support gut immunity 🥦
• Do lymphatic drainage therapy to encourage detox flow and organ support 🌿

The Mesentery Deserves a Standing Ovation

It might not get the attention of the heart or brain, but the mesentery is crucial for circulation, immunity, detox, and digestion. It’s like the backstage crew at a big production — you may not see it, but nothing works without it.

So next time your belly gurgles or you’re focusing on your gut health, give a little thanks to this marvelous, multitasking membrane.

Because behind every healthy gut… is a mesentery doing the most.

Written by:
Bianca Botha, CLT, RLD & MLDT
Lymphatica – Lymphatic Therapy & Body Detox Facility

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, exercise, or health regimen.

©️

10/08/2025

🧠 Why Does Your Brain Swell When Your Lymphatic System Is Blocked?

We often associate the lymphatic system with body swelling, immunity, or detox — but did you know it plays a vital role in clearing waste from your brain?

When your lymphatic system is blocked, your brain may actually start to swell — not just emotionally with stress, but physically with fluid, inflammation, and pressure. And this can silently affect your memory, focus, mood, and even your risk for neurological disease.

Let’s break it down.

1. Your Brain Has Its Own Drainage System

Just like your body, your brain accumulates cellular waste every day — including amyloid beta, tau proteins, and other byproducts of thinking, moving, and even healing. If this waste isn’t cleared, it builds up and creates inflammation that affects how you think and feel.

Enter the glymphatic system — a recently discovered brain-cleaning pathway that works alongside your lymphatic system. It becomes active mostly during deep sleep and uses cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to wash toxins out of the brain and into nearby cervical lymphatic vessels in the neck.

2. Blocked Lymph = Blocked Brain Drain

If your neck lymph nodes are swollen, congested, or chronically inflamed, the exit pathways for brain waste become clogged. This can happen due to:
• Poor posture and forward head tilt
• Chronic sinus infections or congestion
• High cortisol and adrenal stress
• Head or neck trauma
• Poor hydration and sleep quality

When the “exit pipes” are blocked, brain pressure rises and toxins remain in the brain — triggering symptoms.

3. What Does This Feel Like?

Many people silently experience symptoms of brain lymphatic stagnation without ever realizing it. You may notice:
• 🔁 Brain fog or mental fatigue
• 💥 Pressure headaches, especially behind the eyes or base of the skull
• 🧊 Puffy face and neck in the morning
• 😵‍💫 Vertigo or balance issues
• 😔 Depression, irritability, or anxiety
• 💤 Waking up tired despite “sleeping”

In more advanced cases, glymphatic dysfunction has even been linked to Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, and neuroinflammation.

4. The Healing Starts at the Neck

Supporting your brain’s lymphatic drainage doesn’t have to be complicated. Start with these science-backed steps:

✅ Sleep on your side

This position improves glymphatic flow up to 4x compared to sleeping on your back.

✅ Gentle Manual Lymphatic Drainage

A qualified therapist can help stimulate drainage through the deep cervical nodes, allowing CSF and brain waste to exit.

✅ Stay hydrated with electrolytes

Brain fluid balance relies on proper sodium-potassium channels. Hydration + minerals = better flow.

✅ Neck mobility exercises

Releasing tight neck and jaw muscles (including the scalenes and sternocleidomastoid) frees up lymph vessels.

✅ Lower inflammation

Focus on an anti-inflammatory diet and stress-reducing practices like breathwork, prayer, or gentle movement.

🌿 Bottom Line: Your Brain Needs to Drain

The brain is not just protected by bone — it’s protected by flow. When lymph stagnates, the brain swells. When lymph moves, the brain heals.

If you’re experiencing mystery brain fog, head pressure, or fatigue that doesn’t go away, it may be time to look beyond blood tests and into your lymphatic health.

⚠️ Disclaimer:

This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, exercise, or health regimen.

©️

10/07/2025

Where Does the Lymph Go After Drainage?

From Puff to Flush—Your Body’s Hidden Detox Highway!

Hey Lymphies!
Ever wondered what actually happens to the lymph after your MLD (Manual Lymphatic Drainage) or dry brushing session? Where does all that puffiness and extra fluid go? Let’s take a journey through your body’s magical drainage map—because the flow doesn’t stop at your skin!

First Things First—What IS Lymph?

Lymph is a clear-ish fluid filled with:
• Water
• Proteins
• Cellular waste
• Immune cells
• Bacteria, viruses, and toxins

It’s like your body’s wastewater, and your lymphatic system is the plumbing network designed to collect it from your tissues and send it packing!

The Drainage Route (The Fun Part!)

After you stimulate your lymphatic system (through MLD, exercise, rebounding, or infrared saunas), here’s what happens step-by-step:

1. Tissues → Lymph Capillaries
Lymph fluid is collected from between your cells (where waste builds up). Think of this as your body picking up trash from every neighborhood.

2. Lymph Capillaries → Collecting Vessels
These vessels have valves to push lymph forward (like a one-way street!). They move it toward central lymph nodes.

3. Nodes → Filter Party!
Lymph passes through lymph nodes, where it gets filtered. Immune cells here attack bacteria, viruses, and debris.
It’s like your lymph goes through a security checkpoint!

4. Cleaned Lymph → Ducts
Filtered lymph travels to the thoracic duct (left side of your neck) or right lymphatic duct—the final stop before exiting!

5. Ducts → Subclavian Vein
Here’s the magic moment!
The ducts drain the lymph directly into your bloodstream, at the base of your neck, where the subclavian vein lives.

6. Bloodstream → Kidneys + Liver
Now the filtered lymph becomes part of your circulating blood. From here:
• Kidneys filter out water-soluble waste → p*e it out!
• Liver handles fat-soluble toxins and waste → p**p it out!

And voilà!
Your lymph just became waste… and left your body.
Flush complete!

That’s Why You Might Notice…
• More p*eing after a session
• Increased bowel movements
• Feeling thirsty
• Fatigue (your body is processing the detox!)
• Reduced swelling or puffiness

So YES—you’re not imagining it. The flush is real.

Fun Lymphie Facts:
• You have 500–700 lymph nodes in your body!
• The thoracic duct drains around 75% of your lymph!
• Your lymphatic system can move 1.5–3 liters of lymph per day with the right support!
• No heart? No pump! The lymph system depends on movement, breath, and pressure (that’s why you NEED to move!).

Support the Flush:
• Hydrate (lymph is mostly water!)
• Move daily (walking, rebounding, stretching)
• Breathe deep (diaphragmatic breathing helps move lymph!)
• Massage & MLD
• Eat clean (to reduce toxin load)

So, Where Does It Go?

In simple terms:
Lymph → Blood → Kidneys/Liver → Toilet!
Your body is brilliant. And your lymphatic system? Even more so.

So the next time you finish your session and head to the loo—give a little thanks to the silent flow keeping you well.






References / Research Links:
• Cleveland Clinic – Lymphatic System Overview
• NCBI – Physiology of the Lymphatic System
• Lymphatic Research and Biology Journal

Disclaimer:
This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your health routine.

©️

09/23/2025

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09/19/2025

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09/18/2025

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09/13/2025

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08/27/2025

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08/05/2025

https://www.lymphloveclub.com/blog/4-things-to-expect-after-your-first-lymphatic-drainage-session

Detox symptoms that we're not expecting can feel scary, like something went wrong after our first lymphatic drainage appointment! Here's everything you need to know about what may happen as your body eliminates the things that the lymphatic system pulls from your tissue during the lymph drainage.