Be kind to your liver

If you ask most people to rank their organs, their liver might be way down the list. Maybe just above spleen, but day and night it breaks down food, fights infection, and filters bad stuff from your blood. You can’t live without it. Luckily, you can often slow, stop, or even reverse liver damage.

There are many things that can cause liver damage, and it tends to get worse over time. No matter the cause, it usually unfolds the same way. First your liver swells, then it gets scars (called fibrosis). With treatment, your liver may heal, but without it, over time, the scars become permanent. This is called cirrhosis and your liver struggles to do its job. Last comes liver failure, which is life-threatening and this means your liver has stopped working or is about to.

At first, you probably won’t notice liver problems, but as it gets worse, your skin can feel itchy and bruise easily. Your eyes and skin may look yellowish, which doctors call jaundice. Your belly might hurt, and you could lose your appetite or feel sick to your stomach and your legs, ankles, and belly may swell, too.

Most liver disease is chronic and it happens slowly over years. However, sometimes, it comes on fast. While the symptoms are the same, including jaundice, pain, and upset stomach, acute liver failure takes only weeks or even days and it can be life-threatening. See a doctor right away if you have symptoms.

Some liver problems are related to diseases and other health conditions. Others have to do with your lifestyle, which you have some control over like how much alcohol you drink and how much (or little) you exercise. Although rare, pregnancy may contribute to liver problems.

Extra weight raises your odds of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, when fat builds up in your liver. Most of the time, this condition is harmless. But for some people, it gets worse and leads to cirrhosis and other problems.

Heavy drinking is tough on your body and the liver’s process of filtering alcohol out of your blood creates harmful chemicals. If you drink too much alcohol for too long a time, those chemicals damage your liver. The first stage of alcoholic liver damage, when extra fat builds up, is called alcoholic fatty liver. If you keep drinking, you are likely to get alcoholic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and eventually liver failure.

Helpful medications and supplements can sometimes cause acute liver damage, including some antibiotics, acetaminophen, and NSAID pain relievers like ibuprofen and naproxen. Usually, it happens only when you take a very high dose or mix these with alcohol or other drugs. Street drugs like heroin and cocaine also cause liver damage, so can herbal remedies and supplements, as well as some chemicals used in dry cleaners and factories.

Different types of cancers can affect the liver, although most spread from other parts of the body. Your chances of getting liver cancer, the kind that starts in the liver, are higher when you already have damage from fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, hepatitis, liver failure, and other conditions. If that is the case, your doctor may suggest you get checked regularly so you can catch cancer early.

Your doctor will start with blood tests to see how well your liver is working. They may use ultrasounds, CT scans, and MRIs to get a look at it and check for damage. Some people also need a biopsy, that is when a doctor uses a needle to take a tiny sample of the liver and then tests it.

In early stages of liver disease, lifestyle changes can often heal liver problems completely. Even with advanced disease, they can often limit the damage. Medications such as steroids, surgery, and other treatments may also help slow down or stop liver disease.

If you are heavy, try to lose some weight. It can improve your liver health and even cure some types of early-stage liver disease. Regular exercise is great whether or not weight is an issue. Eat a balanced diet, with lots of healthy grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins. Choose high-fibre foods, and limit high-fat things like fried foods as well as salt.

keisha.hill@gleanerjm.com

SOURCE: John Hopkins Medicine; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases