There are a variety of symptoms of liver disease because of the number of different conditions and diseases affecting the liver. Liver disease might spring from autoimmune problems, injuries, genetic defects, toxic reactions, viruses, use of alcohol or drugs, or other causes.
In order to understand liver disease, it is important to know a little bit about the liver and what it does. The liver is located below the rib cage on the right side of the abdomen in the upper right quadrant. It helps to digest fats and store sugars. It makes many important proteins, especially those needed to help blood to clot. The liver also stores vitamins and minerals, helps the function of red blood cells and is the place where medications and substances are metabolized, including alcohol, amphetamines, and other drugs.
By the time you experience the symptoms of liver disease, the chances are that some of your necessary liver functions are declining. Liver disease can be acute or chronic, but chronic is much more typical. Sometimes there are no symptoms of liver disease at all. Other times the symptoms of liver disease are common among several different ones, and testing is necessary to see which liver disease is developing.
Some of the symptoms of liver disease include jaundice, which is the yellowing of the skin, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, pain in the abdomen, darker urine or stools which are lighter than normal. Other symptoms of liver disease include a variety of more general conditions such as feelings of malaise, fatigue, low blood sugar, depression, muscle aches, itching, or a loss of sex drive. Sometimes people with liver disease either gain weight or lose it for no obvious reason.
Types of Liver Disease
While for many people cancer immediately comes to mind when thinking about liver disease, it is only one of a great many possible liver conditions and diseases. There are five different forms of hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver, fatty liver disease, genetic disorders, and many different types of obstructions.
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that comes from five different viruses, named appropriately in order of discovery, A, B, C, D, and E. Many of the forms of hepatitis are spread by the use of unsanitary conditions. Hepatitis A, for example, is caused by infected food and water. Although it is common in children, most patients show no symptoms whatsoever. In adults, it presents itself with diarrhea, nausea, tiredness and jaundice.
Hepatitis B is the most common form of hepatitis in the world. It is very common in Africa and Southeast Asia, and it is the number one form of hepatitis in the United States and Europe. It is spread from one person to another through sex, blood, and it is passed from a pregnant mother to her child. Around 3% of the people diagnosed with hepatitis B will develop chronic conditions, but among those with immune system disorders, such as AIDS, the number is up around 10%.
Hepatitis C is most commonly caused by exposure to infected blood. This is common among drug users who share needles, and in recent years there has been an increase in the number of cases due to people who get body piercing or tattoos with infected equipment. You can also develop hepatitis C from working in a hospital or other healthcare setting where you can get it from exposure to sharps (needle sticks).
Hepatitis C and D are liver diseases which are very rare in the United States. They are found most often in Africa, South America and the Middle East.
The symptoms of liver disease often point to cirrhosis of the liver. Anything which causes ongoing damage to the liver can cause cirrhosis. This can include continued use of alcohol or drugs, infections, viruses, and other causes. Liver function will be constantly monitored with this disease. Cirrhosis can cause other problems, such as intestinal bleeding, the wasting of muscles, ascites, gnecomastia, and other conditions. Because cirrhosis of the liver is a progressive disease, often the only final treatment is a liver transplant.
Sometimes the symptoms of liver disease can be mild enough that they can be treated. This can be the case with fatty liver disease, which is most often caused by excessive alcohol consumption. It can also be caused by certain kinds of hepatitis. While it is possible for fatty liver disease to cause cirrhosis, usually the condition can be reversed by abstaining from alcohol. Other liver diseases caused by over-consumption of alcohol are alcohol hepatitis and alcohol cirrhosis.
Any kind of blockage in the bile ducts that drain the liver can cause not only intense pain but interfere with liver function as well. There can be obstructions from gallstones, which may need to be removed surgically or there may be other kinds of blockages, such as to the hepatic vein. This blockage is often caused by a tumor.
More often than not, cancer spreads to the liver from other organs, but there are cases where cancer begins in the liver. The most common of these is hepatocellular carcinoma. It is a cancer which begins in the hepatocyte cells. The second most common form of primary liver cancer are growths which begin in the bile ducts. These are called chilangiocarcinomas.
There are many symptoms of liver disease which are associated with genetic disorders, meaning you inherit them from your family’s genes. In children, the most common is alpha 1-antitypsin deficiency. This ultimately causes cirrhosis of the liver and eats away at the lungs, often causing death by respiratory failure. In adults, the most commonly diagnosed genetic liver disease is hemochromatosis. This occurs when too much iron remains in the liver. (continued...)