Liver Diseases – Causes And Symptoms
The liver is the largest organ in our body. It helps in digesting our food, stores energy and removes unwanted substances from the body. It is situated right under your rib cage on the right side of your abdomen. Like every organ, the liver can have diseases too. Liver diseases can be genetic or due to pathogens or the consumption of excess alcohol. There are various liver treatment approaches depending on the type of diseases. But how would you know if you have any liver disease? Today, we will discuss some of the symptoms that help detect liver diseases and also, which type of disease is caused by what.
Signs and symptoms of liver disease include:
- Skin and eyes appear yellowish: This is the most common symptom which usually means that you might have jaundice.
- Abdominal pain and swelling: If you are feeling pain and swelling in abdomen regularly, it means your liver is not functioning properly, leading to inflammation of the liver.
- Swelling in the legs and ankles: Due to liver disease, the secretion of a protein named Albumin can become inadequate and can cause fluid leakage known as edema. Due to gravity, this fluid gets deposited in the legs and ankles, causing their swelling.
- Itchy skin: It is caused due to the bile products deposited in the skin.
- Chronic fatigue: This is another common symptom for people with liver problems.
- Nausea or vomiting: If your digestive system is not working properly due to liver problems then you would feel nauseous and it becomes hard to keep your food down which also leads to loss of appetite.
Liver disease has many causes:
- Infection: Liver diseases can occur due to infection by Parasites and viruses causing inflammation that reduces liver function. These viruses can spread through blood, contaminated food or water, or close contact with an infected person. The common types of liver infection are hepatitis viruses, including Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C.
- Immune system abnormality: Some autoimmune liver diseases include Autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, etc can affect your liver system as well.
- Genetics: Liver diseases can be genetic where an abnormal gene is inherited from one or both of your parents causing various substances to build up in your liver, and thus resulting in liver damage. Some genetic liver diseases include Hemochromatosis, Hyperoxaluria, and oxalosis, Wilson’s disease, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.
- Cancer and other growth: Liver cancer is a severe liver disease. There are various reasons for liver cancer. One of the reasons doctors have found is regular and heavy alcohol consumption. Another type of cancer is bile duct cancer which also happens due to the same reasons.
- Fat accumulating in the liver: Eating unhealthy food is pretty common these days which is why fat accumulation in the liver has become very common as well.
If you have any of the aforementioned symptoms, it might imply that you have some underlying liver disease. It is best to get these symptoms evaluated and avail liver treatment as soon as possible, to lead a healthier life ahead.
Why a Healthy Liver can help you Lead a Healthy Life?
The human body comprises of several organ systems and each of these consists of several organs. Every organ plays a significant role in maintaining and regulating a healthy and functional life. One of such important organs is the liver. It produces cholesterol and mainly regulates the body metabolism. In simple word, this controls whether you are slim or overweight.
The cholesterol produced by the liver is essential for the body and it becomes a threat only when it accumulates beyond a safe limit. Several times, the liver encounters several malfunctions and abnormalities, which makes liver treatment inevitable. Minor problems associated with liver lead to problems like bloating, gas or constipation. The severe ones cause more serious threats and requires surgery.
It is crucial that one eats healthy food to provide the liver with all the nutrients necessary for it. This way it keeps functioning in a normal way and keeps the body weight in check. In contrast, when one stuffs his belly with fried food and toxic substances, he ends up burdening the liver and also a need for liver treatment arises.
In order to cope up with the highly processed food, the liver has to get extremely indulged in detoxifying the body. Simultaneously, it skips the function of mobilizing fat altogether. With time, the fat and cholesterol gets accumulated in the bloodstream. It causes several conditions such as cardiovascular disorders, arthritis, diabetes, hormonal imbalance and many more.
It is important to keep the liver healthy at all times, so that it can keep the body’s metabolism and toxic level in check. It can be done easily by controlling the proportion of food along with exercising regularly. Also, limiting the amount of alcohol being consumed helps a lot. Though occasional drinking does not cause any significant deterioration of the liver, drinking regularly can cause cirrhosis.
One should also keep a distance for over the counter drugs, especially the un-prescribed pain killers. In any case, experiment with health is a bad idea, a doctor’s advice is compulsory before consuming any medicine. Also, one should watch out for some of the unconventional methods of liver damage such as Hepatitis B and C. These diseases can be kept at bay by avoiding IV drugs, multiple sexual partners, body piercing and tattoos with infected needles.
These small changes can make a significant difference in the liver condition and improve the overall health stability.