The liver is an essential element of the digestive and metabolic system, which is also involved in blood circulation and the production of bile. It is located in the area under the ribs on the right. Sometimes people, feeling pain in that place, decide that the liver hurts.
If the sensations are disturbing, then you need to urgently consult a doctor, since the problem can be very serious. This is understandable, but now it's worth talking about how to recognize pain in the liver, as well as what actions can be taken to alleviate it at home.
Sensation location
It can sometimes be difficult to determine which organ is bothering. From the above photo, you can understand where the liver is located. Most of it is in the area under the ribs on the right.
However, the observed discomfort does not always indicate that the liver hurts. Symptoms may indicate problems in the gallbladder or pancreas. Still, such sensations are often a manifestation of intercostal neuralgia, appendicitis, cysts.
So if there is pain in this area, it is not necessarily the liver. A thorough medical examination will help to accurately determine.
Physical pain
Reasons - this is the first thing to figure out when the liver hurts. Pain in it may appear due to several provoking factors. And one of them is intense physical activity.
The fact is that the liver is an organ depot of venous blood. And the load provokes its accumulation in it. But this is only if a person does not follow the breathing technique. Because of this, stitching sensations in the liver arise. At this point, it is filled with blood and increases in size, which stretches the capsule covering it.
As a rule, the liver hurts especially badly after a person has eaten heavily and began to practice, not allowing food to be absorbed. You need to wait at least an hour and a half.
What to do if the liver started to hurt during exercise? Stop straining. A short break is the best way to eliminate pain.
Then, returning to the lesson, you need to start breathing correctly. Inhale and exhale - only through the mouth. So it is possible to ensure effective oxygen saturation of the muscles. This is a diaphragmatic type of breathing in which air escapes into the abdomen.
Pain as a consequence of alcohol abuse
And this is not uncommon. If the liver hurts, and a person is sure that it is because of alcohol, then it is time to think about a change in lifestyle. Since this indicates a regular abuse of alcohol. The consequences may be:
- Fibrosis. In 1 out of 10 people who drink alcohol, it occurs. It manifests itself in the growth of tissue in the liver around the veins. Possible weakness, nausea, belching.
- Hepatomegaly. The consequence of a violation of protein metabolism in the body. It proceeds without symptoms, but makes itself felt in the form of pain in the liver after drinking.
- Fatty alcohol steatosis. It occurs in 7 out of 10 people who regularly consume alcohol. Manifested in severity and discomfort in the hypochondrium.
If the liver hurts because of this, what to do at home? First, give up alcohol completely. And then go to the hospital, since only medical therapy can help.
How to understand that the liver needs help?
You need to pay attention to your feelings and analyze them. How does the liver hurt? Symptoms in women and men can be as follows:
- Heartburn and frequent belching with a bad smell.
- Not passing feeling of heaviness.
- Aching pain in the right side. It can be both acute and minor. Strengthens after taking salty and spicy foods.
- Rashes, redness, itching on the skin. Brown spots and wen appear.
- Taste of bitterness due to excess bile. Plaque in yellow or white.
- Dark or bright yellow urine. Colorless feces.
- General weakness, drowsiness. Fatigue is observed even after rest.
- Irritability.
- Loss of appetite.
- Night sweats.
- Digestive disorder, manifested in diarrhea, constipation, flatulence and vomiting.
- Women experience malfunctions in the menstrual cycle. In men - loss of potency.
- Deteriorating condition of nails and hair.
Here is an impressive list of symptoms. Does the liver hurt and there are several signs of the above? This is a cause for concern and to see a doctor.
Oil Liver Cleaning
This is a procedure that can eliminate the discomfort in the hypochondrium, improve the functioning of the pancreas and liver. Cleansing will be useful to healthy people as a preventative measure.
In order for the liver to remain healthy, bile must not be allowed to stagnate. To do this, you need to drink one tablespoon of olive oil daily on an empty stomach. This product has the strongest choleretic effect. Once in the body, oil provokes the release of bile, the breakdown of fats, increased intestinal motility. Also, this procedure helps to draw out toxins that have settled in the gallbladder.
Extra Virgin cold-pressed oil is best for cleaning. It is considered the best. You can also replace it with linseed or cedar oil. However, you can simply periodically diversify your diet with various types.
Grass cleaning
Another way to improve your condition yourself if the liver hurts. Broths based on smoky grass, immortelle, plantain, dandelion, nettle, corn stigmas, chicory, wormwood, yarrow, celandine, rosehip and mint will help to clean it.
All of them have a choleretic effect. However, each herb acts on different parts of the body because of its characteristics. Therefore, it is better to drink broths in turn. So it will be possible to provide a complete, comprehensive cleansing of the liver.
Preparing a decoction is simple. First you need to buy grass at the pharmacy (or pick it yourself). Then get a thermos and put a few tablespoons of the dry mixture into it. Enough of three or four - you need to consider this if you want to prepare a collection of several herbs. It’s important not to overdo it.
Poured grass in a thermos should be poured with boiling water and let it brew. Strain immediately before use. The daily norm is one half-liter thermos.
Emergency cleaning
It happens that the excruciating sensations on the right side are not just haunting - they can disrupt plans. In such situations, people in a panic think: “The liver hurts, what to do, how to urgently eliminate sensations?” There is a way.
It is considered effective to consume fresh apple juice in any quantity. But it’s better to make a detox drink with this recipe:
- Cranberry juice mixed with water. Proportions - 1 to 3. Boil.
- Add one teaspoon of ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon to the kettle. Pour cranberry boiling water.
- Allow to cool to room temperature.
- Add the juice of 3 oranges and 3 lemons, stir.
This drink should be consumed throughout the day. The minimum norm is 2 liters. The drink may turn out to be too tart due to cranberries, and if you want, you can fix it with a natural sweetener.
Lemon juice cleaning
Another popular way by which you can eliminate discomfort in the liver. Many increase the effect of olive oil with lemon, which improves the outflow of bile and promotes the exit of corks.
What is required? Half a glass of olive oil and lemon juice. No need to mix! You just need to drink one tablespoon every 15-20 minutes. First oil, then juice. For one and a half to two hours, a portion is drunk.
If you want to enhance the effect, then you need to lie on your right side, putting a heating pad under the hypochondrium. Within four hours, bowel movements should occur. But if it does not happen, you need to do an enema.
Soft cleaning
Another way involves using a decoction of whole oat grains. Cooking it is easy.
It will take three liters of water and one glass of oats. Pour the grain with hot water and "forget" about it for 12 hours. Only leave the container in a warm place. In the oven, for example, or in a large thermos.
After time, the broth must be filtered. Drink one glass a day daily.
This is an effective way to cleanse the bile ducts and restore the cells. But the result will be noticeable after 2-4 months. By the way, of the preventive methods, this is the best. Healthy people practice it actively.
Diet
Having figured out the photo where the liver hurts, and also having studied the symptoms and methods of cleaning, it would be nice to think about your diet. To get rid of unpleasant sensations and to establish the functioning of an organ, it is necessary:
- Refuse toxic products. These include fast food and factory food. There is nothing worse for the liver than refined sugar, nitrates, nitrites and hydrogenated fats.
- Add more vegetables to the diet and start drinking juices squeezed from them. It is best to make such drinks from Brussels sprouts and cauliflower with the addition of carrots, cucumbers, beets and greens. Such juices will reduce the level of acidity in the body.
- Eat foods rich in potassium. These include sweet potato, natural tomato sauces, spinach, beet tops, legumes, molasses, bananas.
- Diversify the diet with turmeric, dandelion, milk thistle.
- Start eating fish, bird and animal liver. It is rich in vitamins A and B, choline, coenzyme Q10, zinc, chromium.
If a person is ready for anything for the health of his liver, then you can start making coffee enemas. They reduce fatigue, eliminate constipation, and contribute to detoxification. Such enemas are made by mixing two tablespoons of natural ground coffee in three glasses of pure water. After this, the mixture is boiled, cooled, filtered and used. It is recommended to keep this fluid in the intestines for 10-15 minutes.
Medication Pain Relief
It must be understood that the cleaning methods discussed above have a cumulative effect. After drinking once a spoonful of oil or a thermos of herbal infusion, the result will not work. But after a couple of weeks he will be noticeable.
But what if the liver really hurts? Pills are the only way out. It is important to make a reservation that taking medications is very serious, and resorting to self-medication is strictly not recommended. Medical consultation and examination is required. After it, the doctor can prescribe these drugs:
- Essentiale Forte. 2 capsules three times a day.
- Gepabene. Three times a day, 1 capsule.
- Silymarin. 2 tablets three times a day.
- "Creon." Three times a day, 1 capsule.
- Ursofalk. Three capsules at night.
These drugs are usually prescribed for cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis - an inflammatory disease of the liver of viral origin.
In chronic cholecystitis and gallstone disease, Liobil, Allochol, and Sorbitol can be prescribed.
Effects
Many people, having figured out where the liver is and how it hurts, are fond of self-medication. This cannot be done. If the organ hurts, you need to go to a gastroenterologist or hepatologist. Sensations may indicate the presence of one of the following ailments:
- Hepatitis. It has already been mentioned above. Hepatitis mortality is comparable to HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.
- Cirrhosis. Chronic disease, manifested in the irreversible replacement of parenchymal tissue with fibrous connective tissue. With complications, hepatic coma, thrombosis, cancer, sepsis, peritonitis occur.
- Neoplasms. Metastases, cyst, abscess, cancer.
- Infiltrative lesions. Granulomatosis, amyloidosis, lymphomas, fatty degeneration.
- Functional Disorders
- Lesions of the bile ducts.
- Vascular pathology.
Ignoring the symptoms, there is a risk of exposing yourself to serious consequences. After all, the human liver is a laboratory in which processes are carried out to neutralize many poisons and toxic substances. The blood passing through it is purified from ammonia, ethanol, acetone and ketone bodies.
Therefore, you need to protect your liver and maintain its health with preventive methods, which are not so complicated.