liver damage symptoms
Chances are that you always assume that your liver is fine and healthy and it isn’t something to worry about. This happens only until you start feeling pain or unmanageable acid reflux in your digestive system. People often assume that liver problems usually occur only to older people or ones who have a habit of drinking alcohol regularly. But this is not entirely true.
Liver disease is a common symptom that can occur to anyone with or without a reason. Research in the UK found that one in every eight people can potentially have some sort of liver problem. The liver diseases are known as a silent epidemic fatty liver syndrome. This silent form of the liver problem can occur if you are overweight. The disease can weaken your liver inside and you might not know it yet. And when the symptoms become non-sufficing, it might be already too late. The disease might take a toll on your body and may be hard to cure and treat. Severe liver problems may lead to cirrhosis, permanent liver failure, and even death. Though this disease is serious, knowing the signs and working to prevent them can be a great help in the goal of preventing liver failure.
Liver and its importance
The liver is an important organ and its function is as important as any other organ of your body. It plays a vital role in digestion and other functions of our body. The liver acts as a filtration unit for your blood and purifies it. It also stores energy and produces hormones. The liver also makes a compound enabling our gut to digest food easily. The organ can also metabolize proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. It helps blood clots creation and is an essential organ in our body for producing bile. A healthy liver is always a necessity for living a good life. This is the reason why a liver transplant is done in case it gets damaged permanently.
Causes of liver failure
It is found that liver among other causes, liver failure can be caused by Hepatitis C and B. Liver damage may also be the result of other diseases such as:
- Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis
- Metabolic diseases like Hemochromatosis
- Bile duct diseases
- Autoimmune hepatitis
Since the organ holds great importance in our overall well-being, catching the signs of liver failure is crucial in treating someone. However, estimating its symptoms are hard to do at an early stage. The signs do not become prominent unless serious problems develop which makes the condition hard to identify and treat. Also, the fact that early symptoms of liver failure are so vague and common, it’s nearly impossible to identify whether they are the indications of liver problems or something else.
We know that things got a bit of really freaky here. While you should not start looking for liver failure right away, one can make some habits to identify the symptoms of liver damage. But before treating the symptoms, it is important to know them. You should definitely keep a track of the signs in the back of your mind and stay aware of it if it’s related to the liver or not. To help you out, we will tell you some common symptoms of the liver that, when identified, can be treated to avoid permanent liver damage or failure
Pain in the abdomen
As we discussed, abdominal can be the cause of certain digestive diseases, not just liver problems. It can be related to indigestion, constipation, bloating, nausea, acid reflux, etc. But when pain in the abdomen comes along with other indications such as vomiting, diarrhea, swollen feeling in stomach or nausea, it might be the symptom of liver failure. One thing to take note of here is that the liver is on our right side of the abdomen. Hence, if you are having pain or swollen feeling in the right portion, it must be a liver problem. In case you feel significant achy for a prolonged period, you should get it checked from a Gastroenterologist.
An experience of confusion
If your liver is unhealthy, it will affect other parts of your body too. And the most delicate organ that can be affected by this is our brain. The liver can cause the building up of too much copper in our brain. This leads to unexpected confusion in our brains. We are unable to identify things or distinguish them or focus on a certain thing. The problem is somewhere identical to Alzheimer’s or dementia. The person might find simple tasks to be too difficult. You might also get the feeling that you are unable to think to your fullest potential. These signs can increase to become a liver disease. If you notice it at first, you should realize that there is a problem with the liver.
Pain in the joints
Joint pain is common these days. But did you know that if you are experiencing continuous joint pain, you may have a problem in your liver? The indication relates to the liver as liver damage can cause autoimmune problems in humans. In autoimmune problems, our immune system starts attacking healthy cells. This often leads to the weakening of joints leading to severe joint pain.
Change in pee color
If your urine color is very dark, it may be a sign of dehydration. However, scientists believe that dark-colored urine is a sign of liver problems. The symptom often accompanies with yellow feces, instead of brown. This sign can be observed easily and needs attention promptly. Change in the pee of feces color signifies that you are having problem processing toxins. If you tend to get such colored urine frequently, it might be a good idea to speak to your doctor.
Lack of hunger
Loss in appetite and weight loss that is really unpredictable are the common signs of liver failure. These are some of the early symptoms that can be easily recognized. Loss of appetite can be the sign of many problems including gut disease. If you are experiencing it with other symptoms mentioned in this blog, then your liver needs attention, care, and treatment.
Blemishes
Again skin blemishes can be the sign of many other problems such as lack of water, aging, etc. however, if you notice skin blemishes that are different in appearance, it might be related to liver damage. The skin blemishes, in this case, will be somewhat like spider rash. It is a huge sing of liver failure. It also signifies that the liver is unable to clean your blood and causing unmanaged clotting on our skin.
Easily bleeding
In case you notice that you are bleeding or bruising easily, you should take action. The bruising if occurs to you like never happened before, then it might be a symptom of liver failure. This happens as your liver can no longer produce enough proteins. Hence, it fails to clot blood quickly after an injury leading to heavy bleeding and bruising, even from a smaller wound.
Itching on the skin
When your liver stops functioning, the bile deposits in the inner layers of our skin. This causes skin rashes or unwanted itching. You will feel high levels of irritation and itching all over your body. And no matter what you eat or do, it won’t go away easily. If this happens, you should not think that it’s an allergy. And scratching will only make it worse. You should identify the symptom quickly and consult a doctor in this case.
Jaundice
If your eyes are turning yellow and your skin is acquiring a pale color without any indication, then it might be a liver failure symptom you are experiencing. Jaundice is a common symptom of liver failure. You will get a yellow tint all over the body. This happens as a yellowish compound called bilirubin deposits in your body. When the liver fails, bilirubin levels increase as it breaks down from blood cells and builds up in your body. When your skin accumulates too much bilirubin, your body tends to look yellow. Yellow-colored pee and feces also indicate that you might be suffering from Jaundice.
Gallstones
Gallstone is a small hard mass formed around formed in an abnormal manner in our bile duct or gall balder. They are formed from bile pigments or calcium salts. High levels of cholesterol can also be lead to gallstones. These are really painful. They cause serious stomach pain. Liver disease can lead to gallstones formation. This happens as there is not enough bile secreted from the liver. If you don’t have enough bile secretion, it won’t reach the gallbladder and it becomes unable to work properly.
The takeaway
The liver is one of the most important organs in our body. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most overlooked organs in the human body. The liver plays an important part in several bodily functions. It helps in protein production and blood clotting. It also aids in glucose, cholesterol and iron metabolism.
But when you don’t tend to your diet or lifestyle habits, the liver may become weak and might even stop function. Liver disease can cause a disturbance in liver functions that causes illness. The problem arises when we don’t ignore the liver failure symptoms but fail to understand their relevance. The trick here is to consider each and every symptom as a major one and look for the triggers. As far as liver problems are concerned, the above-given symptoms are truly an indication of liver damage. Once you notice them, you should not sit back. You should consult your doctor immediately. We hope that we have helped enlighten your senses towards liver damage symptoms. Let us know your views in the comments section.
