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Liver Damage
5 Symptoms of Liver Damage
Liver is one of the
most important organs in your body. It performs many functions including
detoxification of your blood and, breakdown and assimilation of nutrients.
Without it, your body cannot function.
Liver damage often goes unnoticed until
it’s in the advanced stages. The condition can be caused by a number of factors
like genetics, poisoning, excess alcohol intake or long term sickness.
Understanding the symptoms of liver damage
can help you get diagnosed and treated early.
Five of the common symptoms to look out
for include the following.
Swollen abdominal area
Most people will associate a swollen
abdomen with obesity or pregnancy. However, it might also be an indicator of
ascites.
This is a condition characterized by fluid
buildup within the abdominal area. Ascites is known to be caused by a damaged
liver.
Common causes the condition are alcoholic
liver cirrhosis, liver cancer.
Besides a swollen abdominal area, patients
suffering from ascites will also experience swelling of the legs.
Treatment of this condition includes
reduction of sodium intake in the diet and administration of diuretics.
If left untreated, liver transplant might
be necessary.
Jaundice
Jaundice is one of the easiest ways of
detecting liver damage.
This condition is characterized by
yellowing of the skin and the whites of your eyes.
This condition occurs when the liver isn’t
able to effectively remove bilirubin (bile) from red blood cells.
Treating jaundice requires diagnosis and
treatment of the underlying liver disease.
Pain in upper right abdominal area
Pain in the upper right abdominal area
might be an indicator of an inflamed liver.
Liver inflammation is caused by a number
of conditions including viral hepatitis, cirrhosis and ascites.
In some instances, taking pain medication
might provide some temporary relief.
However, over the counter medication might
not treat the underlying cause of the inflammation.
In addition, some over the counter
medication can contribute to the development of liver damage.
Change in urine and stool color
The color of urine and stool might change
every once in a while depending on what you eat and drink.
However, if your urine turns a pale yellow
and stool becomes lighter and remains that way for a long time, you might have
liver disease.
One of the primary functions of the liver
is the breakdown of bilirubin and facilitating its removal from the body
through stool. Stool gets its brown hue from bilirubin.
In the case where the liver is unable to
breakdown bilirubin, it passes on to the kidneys and is excreted in urine. This
turns urine dark yellow while stool loses its dark brown color.
Chronic fatigue
One of the most common symptoms of liver
damage is constant fatigue and muscle weakness. It can also indicate that the
damage is in the advanced stages.
One of the functions of the liver is the
storage and breakdown of glucose which fuels the body’s cells.
A damaged liver cannot effectively release
glucose that’s needed for the body’s energy requirements.
As such, patients with liver damage will
experience chronic fatigue and in serious cases, it can lead to mental
confusion and even coma.
Liver damage can be characterized by a
number of symptoms. If detected early, the condition can be managed and
treated.
It’s therefore important that you consult
with a physician if you experience any of these symptoms.
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