For thousands of years it was used by the ancient Egyptians as part of religious ceremonies to reach higher levels of consciousness and connect to the Divine. They would steep the Blue Lotus flowers in wine for several weeks and use it as a sacred sacrament.
1 Metabolic disease. 2  Rare metabolic diseases, such as Wilson's disease and acute fatty liver of pregnancy, infrequently cause acute liver failure. 3  Cancer. 4  Cancer that either begins in or spreads to your liver can cause your liver to fail.
In this article. Liver failure occurs when large parts of the liver become damaged beyond repair and the liver is no longer able to function. Liver failure is a life-threatening condition that demands urgent medical care. Most often, liver failure occurs gradually and over many years. However, a more rare condition known as acute liver failure occurs rapidly (in as little as 48 hours) and can be difficult to detect initially.