Today is National Liver Love Day, this article let's talk about how to love it!
The liver is known as the largest "chemical factory" of the human body, and there are many chemical reactions closely related to life in the liver every moment.
Part of the chemical reaction is the process of transforming toxic substances in the human body into non-toxic substances, which is what we often call "detoxification".
For example, the alcohol we drink into the body when drinking alcohol (the chemical name is "ethanol") is a kind of "poison" that is harmful to the human body, just drinking alcohol will be dizzy, and even mental disorder and confusion when drunk, which is a manifestation of alcohol "poisoning" the brain.
In the liver, ethanol first becomes acetaldehyde, and then becomes acetic acid (also called "acetic acid", which is the main component of edible vinegar), that is, from "wine" to "vinegar", and finally into carbon dioxide and water, which completes the "detoxification" process of alcohol.
In addition to foreign poisons like alcohol, there are also some endogenous poisons, such as "ammonia" eventually produced by protein metabolism in the human body, which are also detoxified in the liver.
Ammonia is converted into urea through a biochemical reaction and then excreted in the form of urine through the kidneys, which is exactly the same as the process of fertilizer plant synthesis of urea.
The importance of such an important "detoxifying" organ in the human body is self-evident.
So, what happens to liver damage?
01
What happens if the liver is damaged?
Once the liver is damaged, the chemical composition of the whole body changes, just like an accident in a chemical plant in the real world, it may be smelly water in the river, or toxic gas in the air.
Therefore, the early manifestations of liver disease are predominantly systemic symptoms.
The most common signs of liver damage are the following:
1. Loss of appetite: Loss of appetite is one of the common symptoms of liver disease, if you lose appetite for a long time, in addition to suspected gastritis and other diseases, the possibility of hepatitis should also be considered.
2. Nausea, vomiting, bloating: Many liver diseases will be accompanied by nausea, nausea, anorexia and greasy, upper abdominal fullness and other discomforts after abnormal liver function.
Patients are often mistaken for acute gastroenteritis, and experienced doctors will ask patients to go for liver function tests to find liver disease.
3. Fatigue: If the liver function is more serious, there can be fatigue, lazy bed, low-grade fever, very similar to having a "cold".
Some people will take cold medicine for a few days for this, and go to the hospital when they don't get better.
4. Jaundice: Under normal circumstances, the liver can remove excess bilirubin, and jaundice is a series of changes that can be observed with the eyes caused by the increase in bilirubin concentration in the blood due to bilirubin metabolism disorders in the body, the most common is yellow urine like strong tea.
If it is very serious, you can also see the white eyes turning yellow, and even the skin of the whole body turning yellow. The presence of jaundice often indicates a possible problem with the liver and gallbladder and should be checked promptly.
5. Liver palm: The palm of the liver is a unique manifestation of chronic liver injury, which is manifested as redness of the large and small parts of the palm and fingertips, while the palm is white.
This change can be seen in people with chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer of all causes.
6. Spider angiomas: Spider angiomata is a vascular nevus formed by the branching expansion of the end of the skin arterioles, resembling spiders, so it is named "spider angiomas".
Spider angiomas, often appear on the face, neck, back of the hands, upper arms, chest, and shoulders.
The diameter can vary from needles as large as several centimeters or more. When the center of the mole is pressed with a fingertip or cotton swab, its radial "small vascular network" fades and reappears after pressure is removed, most commonly in people with chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis.
However, these symptoms are not specific to liver disease, and many other diseases may present similarly.
In addition, from the subjective feeling of the patient, the clinical manifestations of all liver diseases are almost the same. And these symptoms are not related to the severity of liver disease, whether acute hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver cancer can appear similar feelings.
Therefore, once these typical liver disease symptoms appear, you should go to a hepatologist as soon as possible to see a doctor in person, and make a clear diagnosis as soon as possible through more detailed blood tests and imaging tests.
02
Caring for your liver starts with lifestyle changes!
From acute hepatitis, which heals on its own in thirty or forty days, to irreversible cirrhosis for life;
From mild liver damage with mild symptoms that do not require treatment, to life-saving liver failure requiring a liver transplant;
From fatty liver with a prevalence greater than 30% to rare inherited metabolic liver disease... The spectrum of diseases suffered by the liver is quite extensive and complex.
Among them, many liver diseases are related to unhealthy lifestyles, especially some people will inadvertently eat a lot of foods that are harmful to the liver, and these can be actively avoided by changing their lifestyle.
1. Fatty liver: Fatty liver is a "disease of wealth" related to obesity, which can be regarded as a manifestation of obesity in the liver.
With the continuous improvement of the mainland's economic situation, fatty liver, which was previously only common in "developed countries", has gradually become a "frequent customer" on the physical examination form of our people.
Although fatty liver progresses slowly, if it is not effectively controlled for a long time, it will eventually develop into cirrhosis and even liver cancer.
At present, there is no specific drug to treat fatty liver, and it can only be prevented and treated by controlling weight and changing lifestyle, which is what we often say - "control the mouth and open the legs".
2. Alcoholic liver disease: Long-term heavy drinking can cause serious chronic liver damage, which is alcoholic liver disease.
According to the degree of liver damage, alcoholic liver disease can be divided into: alcoholic fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, alcoholic cirrhosis, etc.
Different stages of the disease, once the liver cirrhosis stage develops, there is a risk of developing liver cancer.
There is currently no specific drug to treat alcoholic liver disease, and alcohol abstinence is the only effective measure to prevent and treat this disease.
However, no matter what stage of alcoholic liver disease is the stage of abstinence, it is beneficial, can bring about the improvement of the disease, and even complete cure.
3. Drug-induced liver injury: Many drugs, health products, and even special "foods" may cause liver damage.
These liver diseases caused by the entry of exogenous substances into the human body can be called drug-induced liver damage.
There are also many people who think that "natural things are non-toxic", so they are keen to eat a variety of wild animals and plants, or their products, health products to maintain health, and as a result, poisoning leads to liver damage.
This misconception is also a key reason for the increasing number of drug-induced liver injury cases at this stage.
The pathological types of drug-induced liver injury are also diverse, ranging from acute hepatitis that resolves without treatment to advanced cirrhosis that causes hepatic ascites.
Most drug-induced liver injury recovers on its own after stopping the causative drug.
However, it is often difficult for people to suspect that the drugs they usually take to maintain their health can also harm the liver, so it is difficult to quickly find the cause of drug-induced liver damage.
In clinical work, there have been many cases of patients with drug-induced liver injury who have repeatedly had abnormal liver function and have been diagnosed after going to many hospitals for medical treatment.
4. Liver cancer: Aflatoxin contained in moldy peanuts, rice, corn, nuts and other foods is also a clear carcinogen that can increase the risk of liver cancer.
It can be seen that for liver disease, the saying "disease comes from the mouth" is really not just talking about viral hepatitis, which is a liver disease caused by clear pathogenic microorganisms.
Fatty liver, alcoholic liver disease, drug-induced liver damage, and even some liver cancers are all caused by the scourge of not "controlling the mouth"!
Therefore, healthy diet, weight control, reduce alcohol consumption, and do not abuse drugs are effective measures to protect the liver and protect our lives in our daily lives!
Author|Yan Jie Director of the Department of Liver Disease of Ditan Hospital
Review|Tang Qin Director of Science Popularization Department of Chinese Medical Association Researcher
(Popular Science China)