Literal translation
it dries up my liver
Meaning
it eats away at me, torments me
Explanation
This expression describes a deep worry, a preoccupation that gnaws at and torments the person carrying it over time. The literal image relies on an old conception of the liver as the seat of emotions and passions, a notion inherited from folk medicine that placed in this organ the source of many emotional troubles. To dry up the liver is to deprive it of the vitality, the humour needed for it to function properly, exactly as a constant worry dries up a person's moral resources, gradually draining their energy and peace of mind. The expression is close in mechanism to other phrases in this set, such as the one about palpitations or blood doing a somersault, all borrowing from the vocabulary of the body to name intense emotional states. The register is familiar, used to describe a lasting, enduring torment, often tied to worry over a loved one, a debt, or a situation with no visible way out.