Liver Disease Symptoms and Diagnosis
Liver disease has its own distinct set of symptoms that enable you to identify whether you have any problems in the said organ system. But it is important to seek the advise of a health professional for proper diagnosis instead of relying on your self-diagnosis. You will therefore be subjected to a series of tests to determine whether the symptoms that have manifested are indeed related to a liver problem or something else.
Below are some of the common symptoms of liver disease and a short discussion on how they are manifested.
Jaundice
This is considered by health experts as the main symptom for liver disease. This is especially alarming if the case of jaundice is persistent than usual, which indicates that there is a problem in your liver or gall bladder. You will notice that your skin turns a bit orangey or pale yellow. If you take the time to examine your eyes, the white part is also turning yellowish at this point.
Jaundice is a result of failure in your liver function, which is supposed to produce bile to process the old venous blood. There are also accompanying symptoms for jaundice depending on which of the two types of jaundice one might have: yang or yin.
In Yin Jaundice, symptoms include yellowish appearance on skin or eyes (or both), poor appetite, fatigue, severe fever, chest repression, nausea, loose stool, cold hands and feet, palpitation, hypochondriac pain, among others. In Yang Jaundice, symptoms include constipation, abdominal distention, yellowing of the tongue, and palpitations.
Appetite and Digestive Problems
If you have liver disease, you will also notice that you reduce your desire for food as your appetite drops immensely. Hence, it also results to a consequent symptom of weight loss. You must therefore look closely into your diet choices since one could mistakenly result into adapting a poor diet pattern by intaking the wrong kind of nutrients to make up for lack of food intake.
As your body begins to weaken due to low supply of food, other digestive or appetite prolems could result from it such as anemia, diarrhea, nausea, gastric ulcer, to name a few.
Stool Discoloration
The presence of certain obstructions in your liver system, it could result to abnormalities in your bile secretion. Hence, it is manifested in the patient's stool, which might appear lighter in color than normal. The patient will also suffer from irregular bowel movement with the onset of your liver disease.
Distention and Bloating
Distention in the lower right side of your ribs could indicate that you might have liver and gall bladder problems. This is due to the ascites or hepatomegaly and is one of the common indicators of liver disease. When you notice this symptom, make sure to visit your doctor right away before it becomes severe enough to make your breathing painful and difficult.
Other Common Symptoms
To learn more about what other symptoms of liver disease are, you should take note of the list below:
- Skin problems.
- Dizziness.
- Spasms and tremors.
- Stroke.
- Uncharacteristic and frequent irritation.
- Hypochondriac pain.
- Depression.
- Headache.
- Allergy.
- Tinnitus.
- Sudden seizures, and many more.