Overcome and risk factors for liver disease

What are the risk factors for liver disease?

• Some liver diseases are potentially preventable and are associated with lifestyle choices. Hepatitis B and C are viral infections that are most often spread through the exchange of bodily fluids (for example, unprotected sexual intercourse, sharing unsterilized drug injecting equipment, using non-sterilized equipment for tattoos or body piercing). Alcohol related liver disease is due to excessive consumption of alcohol. 
•  Hereditary liver disease can be passed genetically from generation to generation. Examples include Wilson's disease and hemochromatosis. 
• Chemical exposure may be toxic to the liver by irritating the liver cells causing inflammation (hepatitis), decreasing bile flow through the liver (cholestasis) and accumulation of triglycerides (steatosis). Chemicals such as anabolic steroids and vinyl chloride can cause liver cancers.
• Acetaminophen (Tylenol) overdose is a common cause of liver failure. It is important to review the dosing guidelines for all over-the-counter medications and to ask for guidance from your health care professional or pharmacist as to how much may be taken safely.
• Medications may irritate the blood vessels causing narrowing or formation blood clots (thrombosis). Birth control pills may cause hepatic vein thrombosis, especially in smokers.

What are the symptoms of liver disease?

 Classic symptoms of liver disease include:

• nausea,
• vomiting,
• right upper quadrant abdominal pain, and 
• jaundice (a yellow discoloration of the skin due to elevated bilirubin concentrations in the bloodstream).

Fatigue, weakness and weight loss may also be occur.

However, since there are a variety of liver diseases, the symptoms tend to be specific for that illness until late-stage liver disease and liver failure occurs.

Examples of liver disease symptoms due to certain conditions or diseases include:

• A person with gallstones may experience right upper abdominal pain and vomiting after eating a greasy (fatty) meal. If the gallbladder becomes infected, fever may occur. 
• Gilbert's disease have no symptoms. 
• Individuals with cirrhosis will develop progressive symptoms as the liver fails. Some symptoms are directly related to the inability of the liver to metabolize the body's waste products. Others reflect the failure of the liver to manufacture proteins required for body function and may affect blood clotting function, secondary sex characteristics and brain function. 

Symptoms of cirrhosis of the liver include:

1. Easy bruising may occur due to decreased production of clotting factors; 
2. Bile salts can deposit in the skin causing itching;
3. Gynecomastia or enlarged breasts in men may occur because of an imbalance in sex hormones; specifically an increase in estradiol;
4. Impotence (erectile dysfunction, ED), poor sex drive and shrinking testicles are due to decrease in function of sex hormones;
5. Confusion and lethargy may occur if ammonia levels rise in the blood stream (ammonia is a waste product formed from protein metabolism and requires normal liver cells to remove it); 
6. Ascites (fluid accumulation within the abdominal cavity) occurs because of decreased protein production; and 
7. Muscle wasting may occur because of reduced protein production. 

Additionally, there is increased pressure within the cirrhotic liver affecting blood flow through the liver. Increased pressure in the portal vein causes blood flow to the liver to slow and blood vessels to swell. Swollen veins (varices) form around the stomach and esophagus and are at risk for bleeding.