Liver pain causes and therapy

Liver pain usually results from a dysfunction or disease of the liver, although it is often difficult to localize the symptoms, such as diffuse pain in the right upper abdomen. The liver itself has no pain receptors, so that the pain, for example, when enlarging the organ as a pressure pain in the surrounding tissue are perceived. Otherwise, the sentence commonly used by medical professionals applies: liver pain manifests itself as chronic fatigue. Since liver pain is often the result of a serious illness, it should urgently be examined by a doctor.

Contents:
Causes of liver pain
Lifestyle and diet favor complaints
Liver cell death leads to liver cirrhosis
Liver failure as a trigger
Inflammation of the liver
Liver pain requires treatment

Causes of liver pain

The causes of liver pain are diseases such as fatty liver, liver inflammation, liver cirrhosis or liver cancer. Most liver pain is accompanied by digestive problems, fatigue and chronic fatigue. By checking the liver values, the dysfunctions of the vital organ can usually be determined relatively clearly. As the central organ of metabolism, the liver performs tasks such as the production of vital proteins, the production of bile and the breakdown or excretion of metabolites, medicines and toxins. In addition, the liver regulates the nutrient content of the blood. The underlying diseases of liver pain are often due to over-demand of liver function due to unhealthy diet, persistent alcohol abuse or the side effects of drugs. The increasing pollution of our environment can also promote liver disease with corresponding liver pain. However, a high-fat and high-sugar diet as well as excessive alcohol consumption remain the main cause of liver trouble.

Cause of liver pain are often pathological changes due to unhealthy diet and excessive alcohol consumption. (Image: ag visual / fotolia.com)

Lifestyle and diet favor complaints

In the case of a high-fat diet, the liver has to process an excess of fats in a short time, whereby the production of bile juice, which is released into the small intestine via the gallbladder depending on the amount of fat, decomposes the absorbed fats. Excessive intake of fat or cholesterol may already push the liver to its limits. If additional alcoholic drinks or medicines are taken, the performance of the liver is often no longer adequate to the requirements, which is expressed for the time being in dyspeptic complaints, ie indigestion with bloating, bloating, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting. If the detoxification and degradation possibilities of the liver are so overwhelmed, fats must be stored in the organ, which can lead to pathological changes in the liver tissue and corresponding liver pain. Over time, the organ swells and loses its ability to function, with the result that the detoxification and degradability of the liver continues to decline and additional fats are stored in the organ. Thus, a self-reinforcing process begins, during which the liver increasingly loses its functionality and the risk of significant health impairments increases.

Liver cell death leads to liver cirrhosis

If the affected person does not change their lifestyle and if the pathogenic burden on the liver can not be switched off, the chronic overstraining of the liver may lead to life-threatening cirrhosis of the liver. Here, the liver cells have died in the course of prolonged overload majority and the liver begins to shrink. The tissue in the liver becomes scarred and the organ can no longer perform its vital tasks. At this stage, doctors speak of a so-called shrinking liver, which can also bring liver pain. Prospects for a cure do not exist in this case and the reduction of the organ also worsens the blood circulation of the liver lobules, which may result in a backflow of the blood into the portal vein (portal hypertension). This in turn also brings with it significant health risks and possibly pain in the liver. In the course of portal hypertension, congestion of the blood in the portal vein or liver not only causes death of liver cells but also bypasses the portal circulation, so that the blood from the abdominal organs stomach, small intestine, large intestine, pancreas, spleen and Sharing the rectum can no longer take its natural route via the liver back to the heart. As a further cause of liver pain is the so-called congestive liver into consideration, in which the blood accumulates due to heart failure (heart failure) in the liver, whereby the pressure on the liver cells increases. As the pressure increases, liver cells die and the tissue becomes scarred - liver cirrhosis is threatened.

Liver failure as a trigger

As a rule, liver pain is caused by liver failure (liver weakness), in which the vital organ is no longer able to carry out its metabolic function as required and thus causes pathological, sometimes painful changes in the liver tissue. A relatively clear signal for a corresponding weakness of the liver, for example, is a disturbance of bilirubin metabolism, which is quite easily detected by a yellowish discoloration of the skin and the eyes. Bilirubin is a breakdown product of the red blood pigment hemoglobin, which is metabolised by the liver. If the liver can no longer sufficiently fulfill its function in the bilirubin metabolism, the bilirubin is increasingly stored in the body tissue, with a yellowish discoloration of the skin, mucous membranes and the conjunctiva of the eye is recorded. Those affected suffer from the so-called jaundice (jaundice). This can be an indication of a serious liver disease and should therefore be urgently examined by a doctor. Is a dysfunction of the liver cause of jaundice, the experts speak of a so-called intrahepatic jaundice. If liver pain is accompanied by symptoms, liver dysfunction is highly probable and due to the threat of ill health, sufferers are in urgent need of medical care.

The pain in the liver can also be caused by so-called ascites, where fluid builds up in the abdomen, as the liver does not provide enough blood protein to regulate fluid distribution inside and outside the blood vessels. This lack of protein may be due to a low protein content in the diet, but is often due to impaired liver function.

Inflammation of the liver

Liver pain can also be caused by inflammation of the liver, with doctors in such cases speak of a so-called hepatitis. This includes all inflammatory reactions in the liver, such as those caused by toxins, hepatitis A to E viruses, bacteria (Salmonella, Leptospira), parasites, defects in the genome or a malfunctioning immune response. Also, mechanical or physical impairment, for example, by bruises or blood drainage disorder can cause inflammation of the liver. Here, acute and chronic forms of hepatitis are to be distinguished. In the course of hepatitis, the liver cells are damaged or destroyed, which can result in significant impairment of liver function. Disorders of the hemoglobin and bile acid metabolism with a corresponding increase in the bilirubin concentration, but also a disturbance in the energy metabolism, may cause the affected person to struggle with persistent fatigue and chronic weakness. Due to the disturbed removal of free ammonia from the bloodstream, there is also the risk of encephalopathy (dysfunction of the brain due to inadequate detoxification function of the liver), which in the worst case can trigger the so-called liver coma. The end-stage sufferers suffer from unconsciousness, a loss of muscle reflexes and muscle stiffness as well as a loss of muscle tension. For signs of liver inflammation, urgent medical attention is needed to address the causes of the condition, with precise diagnosis as the basis for successful therapy being of particular importance.

Liver pain requires treatment

Since liver pain can be a sign of numerous serious illnesses, medical treatment should be sought promptly if symptoms arise. The basis for successful treatment must be the strict avoidance of liver-damaging substances. Alcohol and high-fat foods should be avoided as well as high-sugar foods. Also, the intake of medication should be subjected to a critical review by the doctor. This is even more so since most drugs are broken down by the liver and their effect on normal liver function are aligned. This means that at the recommended dosages the degradation power of the liver is already taken into account, the degradation rate decreases due to a disease of the liver, therefore threatening health impairments due to deviations from the correct dosage.