When does the liver hurt?

The liver is a restless, busy, compassionate mistress of our body. As long as the "mistress" is in a good mood, her work is going well and her health is excellent, the whole body works like clockwork. When the liver hurts, even if all other organs are in perfect health, the person's health is not to be envied. In a normal state, the liver is involved in many functions, interacts with almost all systems and organs, any failure in its work leads to multiple disorders, to a chain reaction, the consequence of which can be serious complications.

Why does the liver hurt?

The Many Faces of Hepatitis

The most common liver disease affecting people of all ages is hepatitis. Hepatitis owes its popularity largely to the widespread use of drugs. Every third person infected with hepatitis has a history of drug use. However, one should not attribute a connection with drugs to any person diagnosed with hepatitis.

The disease itself has several types and forms. Naturally, each type of hepatitis has its own way of transmitting the virus, its own clinical picture and course of the disease. With one type of the disease, the liver hurts, and with another, no suspicious symptoms are observed at all.

The most "harmless" is food hepatitis, in the diagnosis it is always accompanied by the letter A. The hepatitis A virus enters the body through the digestive system, with water, poor-quality products, and when personal hygiene is violated. Most often, this type of hepatitis occurs in children, when unwashed hands become the cause of many diseases.

The course of hepatitis A does not have severe manifestations, it is not prone to becoming chronic. Which cannot be said about hepatitis B. This virus enters the body through the bloodstream, the "gates" are procedures for transfusing infected blood, intravenous injections with non-sterile needles, which often occurs at home, or when using the same syringe for several injections to different people. Hepatitis B can also be transmitted sexually. This form of hepatitis is acute, violent, with a frequent transition to a chronic form, especially if treatment is not started in a timely manner. The pain syndrome is pronounced, in which the pain localization zone is clearly defined, the patient can accurately say that the liver hurts.

Letter C reflects another form of hepatitis, the virus of which also enters the body through injections and sexual intercourse, but has a latent nature of the course, is detected only by conducting a special blood test. Almost immediately takes a chronic form. It is very difficult to treat. There are also viruses D, E, and F. Independently occurring hepatitis D has not yet been recorded, mainly it develops against the background of an existing lesion by the hepatitis B virus, as one of the probable complications. The remaining two letters E and F belong to hepatitis viruses, which to this day have been poorly studied, and it is impossible to say specifically in what ways these pathogens enter the body.

Symptoms of hepatitis

Any type of hepatitis can be overt or covert, acute or chronic. It is not always possible to catch the moment of the onset of the disease. In most cases, a person learns about the disease completely by accident, having received the results of a blood test, for example, during a routine examination. There may also be no pain syndrome. Many assume that hepatitis must necessarily be accompanied by a change in the color of the skin and mucous membranes, changing from a natural color to yellow, the so-called jaundice. But practice denies such a statement. There are many known cases when hepatitis was detected already at a chronic stage, while no visible changes were observed, neither in the color of the skin nor in the mucous membranes.

However, jaundice is considered the most indicative symptom of liver damage, although it does not always characterize the onset of hepatitis. Jaundice and many symptoms similar to those of acute hepatitis can be provoked by taking many medications, heavy foods that have a strong irritating effect on the liver, excessive intake of toxic substances, such as alcohol. It does not matter what causes jaundice, what is important is that it reflects negative processes in the liver. To establish the true picture, you should consult a doctor as soon as possible, take all the necessary tests that reflect liver indicators.

The penetration of the hepatitis virus into the body triggers many pathological processes that change the structure of the liver tissue, slowing down and worsening its work, thereby all metabolic processes begin to slow down. A person suffers from weakness and constant malaise, which does not go away after a long period of rest, poor appetite, frequent belching accompanied by bitterness. Some patients note the constant presence of nausea, in severe cases vomiting begins.

A person does not suspect that his liver actually hurts and often does not rush to seek help. Manifestations from the excretory system are noted in the form of a change in the color of urine, from bright yellow to deep brown. And feces, on the contrary, become discolored. Often it is the change in the color of urine and feces that makes a person pay closer attention to the situation.

If a person seeks help from a therapist with all these symptoms, then first of all, after a routine examination of the patient, general blood and urine tests are prescribed, as well as a blood test for liver function tests. If necessary, the list of necessary tests can be significantly increased, everything depends on the degree and severity of the process. After the results of the necessary tests are received, the diagnosis is made with a high degree of accuracy.

The course of hepatitis

The disease occurs in several stages, which can be observed by the intensity of the yellowish coloration of the skin and sclera. The first stage is called pre-icteric, when there are no special signs, except for malaise, fatigue, dyspeptic disorders. During this period, the disease is associated with ordinary malaise or, if fever and cold symptoms join in, naturally, everything is attributed to a cold. The first stage can last from several days to a week.

Then comes the second or icteric period, when in a short period of time, literally in a few hours, the yellowish color of the skin and mucous membranes begins to increase intensively. At the same time, the main symptoms may, on the contrary, subside. At this stage, the appearance of a nagging pain is most likely. The liver hurts on the right side under the ribs, the pain can increase and stop, leaving behind a constant, pronounced heaviness. The duration of the icteric period varies from two weeks to two months, everything depends on the degree of viral infection and the time of seeking medical help. The later the treatment is started, the higher the probability of the disease becoming chronic.

The outcome of the disease can be one of three options:

• full recovery,
• transition to the stage of virus carriage (which is an indicator of the norm),
• transition of the process into a chronic form.

How is hepatitis treated?

Treatment of hepatitis is carried out under strict supervision of doctors in the infectious diseases department, if we are talking about the form of hepatitis that is transmitted through the digestive system. Isolation of the patient is a prevention of mass infection. Hepatitis transmitted sexually and through blood can be treated in a hospital, provided that the person undertakes to comply with all safety rules and not to harm others. If this option is possible, then both sexual partners are called for treatment: one for the purpose of recovery, the other for the purpose of prevention.

If hepatitis proceeds without pronounced symptoms, there are no concomitant diseases and complications, then treatment is limited to a special diet, intravenous infusions (drip and jet) of solutions that cleanse the blood of toxins, facilitate the work of the liver, nourish it with all the necessary substances and microelements. A severe course of the disease, in which the liver hurts severely and paroxysmally, the organ is greatly enlarged, there is edema, displacement of nearby organs, and body temperature increases - requires urgent transfer of the patient either to the intensive care unit or under the supervision of the resuscitation team.

Hepatitis is easy to prevent

A common and familiar rule of basic personal hygiene, which states that hands must be washed with soap before eating, can protect against many different unpleasant diseases. Hepatitis A is one of them. Currently, there is a very effective vaccination against this virus. If it is not possible to administer the vaccination, you can use an intramuscular injection of immunoglobulin. The nurse of each procedure or vaccination room knows the necessary dosages of this drug. The dose is calculated for each kilogram of total body weight.

There is also a vaccine against the hepatitis B virus. A whole course of vaccination is carried out, consisting of three injections. Vaccines against other types of hepatitis have not yet been developed. However, they can also be avoided by observing the rules of protection during sexual intercourse, resorting to the use of a condom. In cases where blood transfusions or intravenous injections are necessary, only disposable instruments and systems should be used. It would be a good idea to request from the medical staff a certificate of conformity of the transfused blood with all standards and norms, which will reflect information that the liquid has been tested for safety against the hepatitis virus.

It is always necessary to remember that there are no useless organs in our body, and the liver is one of the most important of them. If the time has come when the liver already hurts, then it is worth thinking about the correctness of the lifestyle, giving up everything harmful to this organ, including fatty, fried, spicy and smoked foods, and most importantly - eliminating alcohol from your life.