The liver is the largest gland in the human body. This is a kind of chemical laboratory for cleaning and neutralizing all toxic elements that come to us from the outside. The mass of the liver is on average up to two kilograms, so this organ occupies almost a third of the abdominal cavity. Its role in the metabolism and functioning of the body is huge. This is the only anatomical structure that can independently regenerate quickly and without serious consequences, it was even jokingly called the “tail of the lizard of the human body” because of this unique ability to self-repair. However, a person is designed in such a way that he does not care much about the state of his own internal organs when they regularly serve him. Therefore, many subjects "slag" their own body with chemicals that are found in excess in alcohol, surrogates, food additives, drugs, etc. Sooner or later, such a negligent attitude to one’s own nature makes itself felt at some point.
Signs of liver disease, whether it is an acute process or already chronic, begin to manifest themselves in the fact that a person has periodic painful sensations or a feeling of heaviness in the region of the right hypochondrium. Sometimes pain can be disguised as a disease of another organ, which also belongs to the digestive system. It may be similar to gastritis or pancreatitis, perhaps the patient will think that he simply has an increased gas formation in his intestines.
Signs of liver disease are not limited to this. With the progression and rapid development of the pathological condition in the patient, the color of the skin can change from normal to icteric. The sclera of the eyes, that is, their white part, also first becomes slightly icteric, or in the medical language “icteric”, later it acquires an intense yellow, sometimes even saffron, color. In addition to the skin, the color scheme changes in the products of excretion of the human body: feces become colorless (if this is a mechanical form of hepatitis), and urine has the color of dark beer. However, signs of liver disease on the skin do not end with a color change. A change in skin color always accompanies itchy skin. With liver diseases, many liver enzymes are released into the bloodstream, which provoke a response of the skin receptors, which manifests itself as painful and incessant itching.
The following signs of liver disease are confusion and a feeling of apathy. The breakdown products of the liver tissue massively enter the bloodstream and, with a blood stream, reach the structures of the brain, exerting a pronounced toxic effect. Doctors call these phenomena "hepatic encephalopathy." The patient becomes lethargic, inactive, refuses to take the food put to him, sleeps all the time. If you do not take urgent measures, then a liver coma may occur.
Every medical worker must know the signs of liver disease in order to start adequate treatment on time, as well as be able to differentiate different forms of hepatitis, because the tactics of therapeutic measures for different variations of jaundice are significantly different. If this is parenchymal hepatitis, then most likely it was caused by a viral infection (hepatitis A, B, C, E, D virus), so the patient must be immediately isolated to avoid an outbreak of this disease. If jaundice is mechanical, immediate surgical intervention is required to restore bile duct patency. And if hepatitis is medicinal, it is advisable to stop taking the medications that caused it and start adequate detoxification therapy using hepatoprotective agents.