What do you know about signs of liver disease?

You should carefully learn the signs of liver disease to early recognize and have appropriate treatment measures.

The liver is the largest internal organ in the body and is reddish-brown in color. The location of the liver is in the right part of the abdomen, above the stomach and below the diaphragm. The liver weighs about 1.3kg for women, and 1.8kg for men. 13% of the blood in the body goes to the liver so that it can perform about 500 different functions.

The main job of liver cells is to help the body absorb nutrients and detoxify the blood by filtering and eliminating harmful substances. For this reason, the liver is considered indispensable for the digestion and elimination of toxins.

Common liver disease can be hereditary or unintentionally caused by various factors that lead to liver damage, such as viral infections, consuming alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine, etc. too much or obesity. . Long-term or chronic liver damage can eventually lead to cirrhosis, a serious disease caused by the formation of scar tissue in the liver. If left untreated, cirrhosis can worsen and even cause liver failure.

Signs of liver disease

Up to now, experts have identified and classified more than 100 different types of liver diseases such as:

• Hepatitis
• Alcoholic liver disease
• Steatosis
• Cirrhosis

Symptoms of liver disease will vary depending on the type of disease you have. However, they are not always evident in the early stages of the disease. Symptoms can be mild and at first glance very normal, such as:

• Anorexia
• Tired
• Uncomfortable
• Nausea and vomiting
• Weight loss

These conditions can be confused with symptoms of other conditions. As a result, early signs of liver disease are largely ignored. However, as the condition worsens, a number of specific clinical signs may become apparent, including:

Abdominal pain, upper right side

Pain and discomfort can be easily felt in the upper and right side of the abdomen – right where the liver is located in the body. Pain can be a result of the liver growing in size due to excessive fat accumulation, acute hepatitis or some damage that can cause the liver to become rapidly weakened.

Swollen liver

A common sign of liver disease is an abnormally enlarged liver. Liver disease can disrupt blood flow in the liver or cause tumors, both benign and malignant, to grow, causing a sudden increase in the size and volume of the liver. Some of the most common causes of liver disease are metastatic cancer, hepatomegaly, fatty liver disease, and cirrhosis.

Jaundice

Signs of this liver disease include a pronounced yellow color in the skin, the whites of the eyes, and even the fingernails. This is the result of a damaged liver that is no longer able to properly process bilirubin, an active substance that occurs when red blood cells are broken down. Untreated bilirubin builds up in the blood and is deposited in the skin, causing discoloration.

Symptoms of cirrhosis

In the early stages, the signs of liver disease are extremely faint, thereby causing subjective psychology in patients. On the other hand, you can also confuse them with symptoms of other diseases.

The term cirrhosis refers to the formation of scar tissue (fibrosis) that replaces dead liver cells as a result of long-term liver damage. This happens because you drink too much alcohol, have a hepatitis virus infection, or have other factors that lead to toxins accumulating in the liver.

The main feature of cirrhosis is the presence of tumors or nodules that form in the liver. This scarring leads to hardening of the liver tissue, which blocks blood flow to the organ and severely affects its function.

You probably won't see any obvious symptoms as cirrhosis develops, until the disease is advanced. Cirrhosis if not treated in time will lead to liver failure. Some signs of this liver disease include:

Itchy

Itching or inflammation may be the result of accumulated bilirubin. Itching is a common sign of liver disease, but is not present in all cases. This symptom makes you uncomfortable and even debilitating because it causes intense itching all over the body.

Easy bruising

Damaged liver interferes with the production of proteins essential for blood clotting, leading to increased bruising or bleeding.

Hormonal imbalance

The damaged liver cannot regulate the production and breakdown of hormones. In men, this can lead to enlarged breasts and constriction of the testicles, while women will have a significantly affected menstrual cycle.

Spider veins

Spider veins are small, spider-like capillaries that can be seen just below the surface of the skin. This phenomenon occurs when the level of estrogen in the body increases because the liver is not metabolizing the hormone efficiently. About 33% of people with cirrhosis have signs of this liver disease.

Complications of cirrhosis

Hepatic encephalopathy

Hepatic encephalopathy refers to a decline in brain function that occurs because toxins build up in the brain because the liver is no longer able to remove them effectively.

Researchers believe that the cause of hepatic encephalopathy is a number of active substances including ammonia, free fatty acids, mercaptans, and pseudo-neurotransmitters.

This complication of cirrhosis can lead to symptoms such as confusion, short-term memory loss, and even loss of consciousness.

Ascites

Ascites refers to swelling or fluid retention that occurs due to poor kidney function. Impaired kidney function leads to sodium and water retention.

Portal venous hypertension

When the scar tissue in the liver has become severe, blood flow to the organ is hindered. This causes the blood pressure in these capillaries to increase over time, leading to portal hypertension.

As the pressure increases, blood begins to move along alternative veins in the esophagus and stomach. These blood vessels will dilate due to the intake of blood beyond their capacity, causing the capillary walls to become fragile and fragile. If these capillaries rupture, you will experience internal bleeding or melena (tarry black stools).