Is it possible for the liver to hurt the liver? Liver diseases

Despite the fact that people very often complain of pain in the liver, it cannot hurt. This is justified by the anatomical structure - there are simply no pain receptors in it. Painful sensations in the right side can occur due to inflammation of the capsule shell that covers it and the gallbladder.

That is why they learn about liver disease when tissue degeneration is already diagnosed - the destruction of the organ occurs asymptomatically. Diseases are most often detected accidentally, during various examinations - routine or diagnostic.

Some symptoms can help you find out that the problems are related to liver pathology. But this is not pain - these are dysfunctions in the human body.

Liver functions

It is possible to tell how the liver hurts only at the stage when this organ has collapsed almost completely - normal cells have already been replaced by fibrous tissue, which has caused general intoxication of the body.

It is possible to learn about diseases associated with this organ if you have an idea of ​​why it is needed.

The most important function of the organ is filtration. It cleanses the blood, filters out harmful substances that enter the body, and neutralizes the effects of poisons. All toxins entering the bloodstream remain in the liver, and subsequently leave the body naturally - with feces.

The liver accumulates elements necessary for the functioning of the body, and one of them, the most important, is glycogen. If excess glycogen is stored, blood sugar levels decrease, which prevents the development of diabetes.

Also accumulate in the liver:

• iron – hemoglobin is subsequently produced from it;
• folic acid – necessary for brain function;
• vitamin B12 – growth and immunity stimulator;
• and many other useful compounds - about 500 in total.

Another very important function of the organ is hematopoiesis. If it is disrupted, the blood stops clotting.

A person has only one liver, and its removal or destruction leads to death within 1-3 days. It is impossible to survive without this organ. Therefore, when symptoms appear that indicate dysfunction, you need to immediately take measures to restore functionality.

Signs of functional impairment

Why does the liver hurt, and by what signs can one guess about problems associated with it?

Problems are indicated by:

• bitterness in the mouth, which first appears only in the morning, and then is felt throughout the day;
• change in the color of the tongue - it becomes greenish;
• yellowing of the whites of the eyes and skin - the sclera reacts most sensitively;
• the appearance of dark urine and light feces;
• periodic pain under the ribs on the right side.

If these symptoms are observed only after a violation of the diet - eating large amounts of fatty, rich or spicy foods - or large amounts of alcohol, you can not stress. But if they are constantly present, it is advisable to start an examination.

Yellowness of the sclera and skin appears when the filtering function is impaired: bilirubin, which accumulates in the liver, is normally excreted in the bile. During inflammatory processes, it remains and causes general intoxication.

Dull pain under the ribs on the right side and constant heaviness occur with enlargement of the organ. During inflammatory processes, it swells, and the capsule - the shell - which has pain receptors, stretches. The clinical picture can be identified during an ultrasound examination.

To understand why there is a constant bitter taste in the mouth, gastroscopy and ultrasound examination are performed.

Changes and disturbances in liver function can be guessed by the following signs:

• periodically there is a sensation of hot waves passing along the spine;
• girdling spasms occur, as if from an electric shock;
• the spleen is constantly enlarged - in case of liver dysfunction, it has to work hard, performing hematopoietic functions;
• numbness of the tips of the fingers and toes;
• frequent muscle spasms in the limbs;
• thickening and yellowing of nails.

The last symptom may appear already at the stage of constant intoxication.

These symptoms are not necessarily associated with liver disease, but if they appear, it is worth starting an examination - if the disease is detected at an early stage, its development can be slowed down.

Factors that increase the risk of pathologies

Liver dysfunction is caused by the following reasons:

• low-quality products;
• bad ecology;
• contaminated water;
• frequent alcoholic libations;
• obesity;
• viral infections;
• genetic factors;
• helminthic infestations.

Alcohol is especially dangerous. Under its influence, the bile ducts narrow, bile stagnates, beginning to destroy liver cells - hepatocytes.

This destroys the functions of the entire body - due to a lack of bile in the intestine, favorable conditions are created for the activation of opportunistic flora, immunity decreases - the altered cells can no longer differentiate between “own” and “foreign” structures, and the risk of autoimmune diseases appears.

In addition, since filtration is impaired, free radicals move freely throughout the body.

Brain cells - neurons - react especially sensitively to them - they die.

Non-hepatic manifestations - weakness, signs of kidney pathology, joint pain, skin reactions. With these symptoms and the absence of pain in the liver, completely different diseases begin to be treated, medications are prescribed that further increase the general malaise.

To prevent this from happening, do not neglect the general examination. Blood biochemistry and ultrasound examination will help identify changes in liver function at an early stage.

What to do if your liver hurts?

First of all - as already indicated - it is necessary to undergo an examination, and then analyze when the characteristic symptoms manifest themselves most strongly.

If this happens after drinking alcohol, then it’s even ridiculous to ask what to do when your liver hurts. It is enough to give up alcohol-containing drinks.

When pain in the right hypochondrium and nausea appear after eating fatty foods, you should reconsider your diet. You should not completely give up fat and go on a lean diet - vegetable oils are necessary to maintain the functioning of the body.

You do not need to prescribe medications yourself; you will start taking them after an accurate diagnosis has been established. Some diseases may require treatment with other means - antibiotics, deworming medications, or others.

To restore liver functions, not only hepaprotocters are used, but also essential phospholipids.

Only a doctor can decide which medication should be included in the therapeutic course.

• Hepaprotective agents include: preparations containing milk thistle, "Liv-52", "Sirepar", "Gepadif" and similar;
• Essential phospholipids are “Essentiale-Forte”, “Essliver-Forte”, “Rezalut”..

Drugs from other groups are also used to treat the liver:

• "Ademetionine";
• "Methyluracil";
• Ursodeoxycholic and lipoic acids...

You can try to help the liver at home, but this can only be done after an examination. Choleretic drugs or dubage can be used only in cases where there is no gallstone disease. Otherwise, the cleansing may end in failure - the stones will begin to move and get stuck in the bile duct. They can only be removed during surgery.

The liver is the heaviest digestive organ and the largest gland; it is located in the right hypochondrium. Many people throughout their entire lives do not know how this organ hurts. If a person’s liver hurts, then this primarily indicates serious disturbances in the functioning of this organ.

The causes of pain in the liver are provoked by various situations - both pathological and natural. For example, with cirrhosis, signs of pain in the liver arise due to necrosis of hepatocytes, and if you overeat fatty foods, the right side will only hurt for a while until it copes with the increased food load.

It is worth noting that this gland is the most pain-resistant organ - if the liver hurts, then this is the result of serious diseases. That is why doctors recommend not delaying a visit to the clinic if pain appears or painful sensations persist in the right hypochondrium for a long time. The causes of pain in the gland can be determined after a thorough examination.

As a rule, severe pain in the liver occurs at a late stage of severe pathologies such as hepatitis, cirrhosis of the parenchyma and cancer. Can the liver hurt if it is devoid of nerve endings? The appearance of liver pain occurs due to stretching of its capsule - all the nerve endings are concentrated in its membrane, which reacts to the disease with the appearance of unpleasant sensations.

Natural causes not related to diseases

Not only liver diseases can provoke discomfort in the right hypochondrium. There is also the so-called. natural reasons why the manifestations of the disease are not long in coming. In this case, no pathological processes are observed in the gland, but pain occurs as if it were affected by a disease. Such sensations arise for the following reasons:

• a heavy snack and physical activity quickly cause pain in the right side, which is why physical activity has to be stopped. This situation occurs due to the organ being overfilled with blood and the capsule stretching. When you eliminate physical activity, the discomfort goes away after a while;
• discomfort at the location of the gland occurs due to long-term diets, which are abused by girls who want to lose weight;
• provoke discomfort and alcoholic libations, the predominance of too fatty foods in the diet, against which cholecystitis develops - it is this disease that causes pain on the right side. Such symptoms appear more often in men than in women, since it is the stronger sex who are more likely to sin by not following a proper diet;
• lack of food if a person goes hungry for a long time;
• pain in the liver occurs due to limited physical activity, which leads to stagnation of bile and the appearance of stones. This condition occurs when it is necessary to lie down for a long time (long postoperative recovery), or move little (limb fractures);
• Some drugs that are prescribed to the patient for a long time (for example, antibiotics, oral contraceptives) can also provoke pain in the liver;
• Pregnancy, although a physiological process, nevertheless creates an increased load on the organ, which is why the expectant mother may develop cholecystitis.

It is important to correctly recognize these causes of liver pain, check the diagnosis and eliminate them. No special treatment is required here unless concomitant pathologies have developed.

Diseases that may cause pain

The liver can also hurt due to congenital disorders, which develop asymptomatically for some time, and then can manifest themselves in an adult.

The most common pathology that provokes pain is cholecystitis. With this pathology, the gallbladder is affected, but any symptoms that cholecystitis provokes also occur in the gland itself.

Severe pain in the gland also occurs due to toxic poisoning and the development of a malignant tumor.

How to determine what is bothering the liver?

Knowing exactly how the organ is disturbed and where the liver hurts and pulls, you can diagnose the pathology that caused the discomfort. A certain disease is characterized by its own type of discomfort. How do you know if it’s your liver that’s hurting? You can use an approximate table, but only the attending physician can accurately determine the causes of discomfort after a carefully collected history and examination.

If pain in the liver occurs, it is better not to start treatment without a medical examination. Also, you should not take analgesics and antispasmodics, which can confuse the picture of what is happening. The tablet can only be taken by a child who finds the pain unbearable and needs to relieve pain in the liver.

How to relieve pain during acute sensations without pills and what to do with pain in the liver in the absence of qualified help? In this case, you can apply ice to the right side and wait for a doctor’s examination. For pain in the liver, first aid should be provided in a clinic where it is possible to conduct hardware diagnostics of the patient’s condition, do an ultrasound, MRI or CT scan. Acute symptoms are also removed there by assessing the symptoms and treatment of the disease at this stage.

If your liver hurts, you should immediately contact the clinic, and after hours, call an ambulance and be hospitalized at the nearest emergency facility. There, after an examination, you can determine the reasons why the liver hurts, what treatment is needed and where to carry it out. Only a doctor can recommend how to treat an illness; independent prescription of any medications is strictly prohibited.

Treatment

Often, patients do not know how the liver hurts, where it is located and how to determine the nature of the discomfort. How can you tell if your liver hurts or if these are symptoms of another pathology? If the liver aches, then this will be accompanied by painful sensations on the right side, digestive disorders, especially when eating fatty foods. The patient cannot independently identify the disease, but can only indicate on which side the discomfort is observed, and what sensations he experiences, whether the organ aches strongly or not. Further diagnosis remains with the doctor.

Some gland pathologies can be treated at home. For example, with alcohol damage, improvements occur within 1.5-2 months of a healthy lifestyle. Both infectious mononucleosis and chronic hepatitis can be treated at home, but under the supervision of a doctor.

Patients with hepatitis are only found in the clinic, since the symptoms of the disease can manifest themselves in ways that can only be eliminated by the administration of special medications.

Congenital pathologies of the organ, as a rule, do not require treatment, but only monitoring the patient’s health status is necessary.

For pathologies such as tumors, cholecystitis, cirrhosis, surgical treatment may be necessary.

Prevention

As for the prevention of liver pathologies, it is important to give some tips:

People who eat right, take care of their health, and do not smoke or drink alcohol can boast that they do not know where the main digestive organ is located and how it hurts.

Signs of dysfunction or disease of the largest gland in the human body are difficult to recognize at the initial stage of development. Pain in the right side is felt when the parenchyma increases, when the capsule stretches, or when neighboring organs are compressed.

The first symptoms of inflammation of the liver tissue can be mistaken for signs of other diseases. You should take seriously the feeling of heaviness in your right side. Let's find out why the liver may hurt and what symptoms indicate diseases of the organ.

The organ is located in the right upper half of the abdominal cavity, adjacent to the diaphragm and in contact with the abdominal wall below the costal arch. The largest gland in the body consists of two lobes. The parenchyma, in turn, is formed by lobules from rows of hepatocytes. Bile capillaries pass between the layers of cells.

The hepatic parenchyma is well supplied with blood, but does not contain nerve endings. For this reason, pathological changes in the structure of the lobules are not felt. There are many receptors in the outer shell - the capsule. It is its stretching that is felt as pressure and diffuse pain on the right in the upper abdomen.

The liver is involved in digestion, metabolism of vitamins, hormones and enzymes, processes molecules of amino acids, glycerol, fatty acids into glucose - the most important source of available energy for cells. Glycogen, some vitamins, and metal ions are stored. About 500 ml of bile is produced, it enters the gallbladder, and from there into the duodenum. Bile is required for better digestion of fats.

The functions of the liver are so important and varied that in the event of its destruction, transplantation of half or the entire organ from a donor is necessary to save the patient’s life. Proteins synthesized in the liver can bind and transport substances in the blood, are important for blood clotting, and are involved in protection against infection.

The organ filters the blood, removing pollutants that come from food, air, medications, and also destroys bacteria, tumor cells and the body's own toxins. Toxins travel through the blood to the kidneys and are eliminated through urine.

Unpleasant sensations in the right hypochondrium are disturbing both in pathologies of various organs of the digestive and respiratory systems. It is difficult for a non-specialist to distinguish pain in the right lobe of the lung from liver damage, disease of the gallbladder and ducts. If the acidity of the gastric juice increases or the bile duct is blocked, the pancreas may become inflamed. Severe pain occurs, which is localized in the upper abdomen on the right, rarely radiating to the back.

Characteristics of the main diseases

Pain in this organ occurs with hepatitis, fatty degeneration, cirrhosis, and cancer. The enlarged parenchyma puts pressure on the membrane and surrounding structures. The pain is localized depending on the location of the liver in a particular person and the stage of the pathology, but is usually felt in the upper right region of the abdominal cavity, just below the right costal arch. Sometimes painful sensations radiate to the right shoulder and back.

Liver diseases are very often accompanied by digestive disorders and chronic fatigue.

The most common pathologies that can cause pain in the liver are:

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver parenchyma. Usually the disease is viral in origin, but there may be other causes. Hepatitis is classified into types A, B, C, D, E, toxic and autoimmune; acute and chronic forms of liver inflammation are distinguished. Symptoms in case of infection with different types of viruses may be similar, in particular, jaundice - yellowing of the skin and eyeballs due to the accumulation of bilirubin.

The urine becomes dark and the stool becomes light. In addition to viruses, hepatitis is caused by toxins in alcohol, drugs, medications, bacteria (Salmonella), fungal infections, hereditary and autoimmune diseases.

Common causes of pain in the organ area are alcohol abuse and excess weight. With the development of fatty degeneration, the liver cannot cope with its functions. First, there is an excessive accumulation of lipids in tissues. At the same time, detoxification abilities and other functions are suppressed.



As the pathology progresses, functions are impaired. Pain appears in the liver. With further development of the inflammatory process, the symptoms of cirrhosis intensify. In fact, liver cells die, the parenchyma is replaced by connective tissue. The organ initially increases in size and then “shrinks.” Cirrhosis at this stage cannot be cured. Any chronic inflammatory process in the liver can lead to cirrhosis and cancer.

1. Liver failure. Pain can be caused by damage to the parenchyma of the organ. The reasons for the development of pathology vary, but the result is usually degradation and the inability of the organ to perform its functions.

Fibrosis and cirrhosis. The most common causes of replacement of normal parenchyma with connective tissue are alcohol and hepatitis viruses. At first, cirrhosis does not manifest itself in any way, but if the disease is not treated, the destruction becomes irreversible and leads to the death of the patient within several years or months.

The organ cannot perform its metabolic and other important functions. Already existing fibrous areas are not restored, but in the early stages, proper treatment helps maintain healthy parenchyma.

Cancer. Two types of tumors can form in the liver. For example, when integrating the genetic material of hepatitis viruses into the genome of a liver cell. In such cases, there is a high risk of malignant tissue degeneration. Infected cells produce “spare parts” to assemble new viruses. The host cells eventually die. This type of cancer is called liver carcinoma.

Patients with cirrhosis are at risk of developing cancer.

More common cases are metastases of malignant tumors. These are scattered cancer cells that spread from other organs affected by cancer: the lungs, breast, uterus or colon. Cancer of any etiology causes severe pain in the organ area due to an increase in volume and pressure on nearby structures



Occurs when abdominal trauma occurs as a result of a blow, fall, accident, or sports injury. Rupture of the liver capsule is accompanied by severe pain. When the parenchyma of an organ is destroyed, blood accumulates in the capsule, stretching it, which also leads to painful sensations. A liver rupture requires immediate medical attention to the victim.

2. Inflammation of the gallbladder or blockage of the duct with a stone. In this case, liver functions are not impaired, and cirrhosis does not develop. Stones are deposits of crystallized components of bile that are deposited in the bladder itself or in the ducts. The movement of stones is accompanied by inflammation and severe pain - biliary colic.

What determines the nature of the pain?

A diseased organ sends warning signals, but it can be difficult to recognize them without special knowledge and equipment.

Main pathology

The nature of the pain can be different and depends on the underlying disease:

Localization

It happens that it is difficult to determine where the discomfort is felt more strongly. With hepatitis, pain is localized above the lower back on the right, in the area of ​​the right costal arch. The pain may be perceived as diffuse, not limited to one area of ​​the abdominal cavity. It is for this reason that liver disease is often mistaken for gastritis, inflammation of the kidneys or intestines.

Depending on the degree of development of the pathology, pain is felt in the side or middle back. An enlarged liver affects the organs of the chest. They are equipped with nerve receptors, so the pain spreads to the area between the ribs and towards the spine. There are reasons to think that this is osteochondrosis.

When you press on the area under the right costal arch, the pain is felt more strongly. However, inflammation of the gallbladder is also accompanied by pain and discomfort when pressing on the right hypochondrium.

Some features

When determining the cause of pain, it is important to answer questions that patients often ask:

Other causes of pain

In addition to the actual internal hepatic pathological causes, pain in the right hypochondrium can also be caused by other factors:

The liver is an organ that neutralizes alcohol, toxins and other harmful compounds. The organ that is the first to take on this chemical “blow” must be protected and not overloaded in order to preserve its functions.

How to determine what exactly hurts, forecasts

With inflammation of the liver, aching pain on the right under the ribs is combined with the following symptoms:

• nausea that does not depend on food intake;
• weakness and fatigue;
• change in color of urine and stool;
• swelling of the limbs;
• frequent belching;
• skin itching;
• weight loss;
• jaundice.

Inflammation of the gallbladder has different manifestations: it is accompanied by pain below the ribs on the right, which spreads to the shoulder and shoulder blade on the same side. The attack is usually associated with alcohol consumption, fatty, spicy, fried foods. Yellowing does not develop, swelling is not typical.

Painful sensations in the liver are very difficult to differentiate, therefore, when they occur, a whole range of diagnostic laboratory and instrumental procedures is prescribed. However, this often does not give an accurate picture:

Ivan: “I have frequent pain in my right side, where the liver is located. From the doctors’ answers, I know that the organ does not have its own pain receptors and cannot hurt. What is the reason for the discomfort?

Anna: “A friend of mine a few years ago started having pain in her right side, she went to see a doctor. The specialist recommended taking the drug Karsil. The pain went away, but the heaviness remained. The girl went to see the doctor again.

Tests and an ultrasound were ordered, which showed that the liver was fine. For about six months she underwent all kinds of studies, and it turned out that the cause of the pain was a bend in the gallbladder, that is, a deterioration in the outflow of bile. She was prescribed Karsil again, choleretic tea and other medications, and following a diet.”

Maria: “At the age of 64, I found out that I had hepatitis. She became infected back in 1990 through a blood transfusion. She lived with infectious inflammation of the liver and did not feel pain for a long time, did not notice the symptoms. But over the past couple of years, heaviness in the liver and quite severe pain after eating, especially at night, began to appear.

Hepatitis could not be recognized for a long time, since it had already become chronic. But finally treatment was prescribed, and thanks to a course of treatment with an antiviral drug and taking hepatoprotectors, I can sleep and eat normally again.”

You should immediately consult a doctor if you feel severe discomfort in the right hypochondrium. This may be the beginning of hepatitis, cholecystitis, cholangitis. Pain in the right side may be a harbinger of cirrhosis. The disease at an early stage is more treatable.

It is possible to stop the breakdown of liver cells and preserve the functions of a vital organ. To prevent the development of complications of the disease, it is necessary to protect the liver from damaging substances: alcohol, fatty foods, toxic gases, and undergo examination as soon as possible.

The liver is the largest gland in the human body, so its diseases have a serious impact on overall health. At the same time, it is very sensitive and extremely susceptible to various disorders. Doctors often hear the complaint “I have pain in the liver area.” But can the liver itself hurt and what sensations does a person experience when various diseases appear?

How does the disease manifest itself?

This organ is located in the abdominal cavity under the diaphragm, in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen. Many people who suspect they have certain diseases are interested in three questions: “How does the liver hurt and where?”, “What does pain and discomfort in the right hypochondrium indicate?” It should be noted here that there are no nerve endings in the organ itself, so the sensation of pain in the liver is impossible. However, there are a lot of nerve endings in the outer shell (capsule) of the liver.

Signs of liver problems

We have found out where a person’s liver is located and how it hurts; now we should talk about the symptoms. Liver diseases manifest themselves in different ways. There are external and internal symptoms of liver disease. Let's take a closer look at each group.

External manifestations

• The appearance of spider veins. Spider veins are a pronounced capillary network of dilated small vessels located in the superficial layers of the skin. This symptom is characteristic of serious liver dysfunction associated with intoxication, viral and alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis. Spider veins most often appear on the lower torso, but sometimes appear on the cheeks and back.
• Changes in pigmentation of the skin and mucous membranes. With liver diseases, regardless of the cause, a person experiences jaundice syndrome. For example, in the acute form of hepatitis, the skin acquires a yellowish tint already 2-3 days after the onset of the disease. The color of the mucous membranes may change even earlier. This occurs due to the fact that the concentration of liver pigment fractions (bilirubin) greatly increases in the blood of an infected person.


• Discoloration of palms and soles. A symptom of liver disease is also pronounced pigmentation in places of physiological folds. As a rule, it has a bronze or smoky tint.
• Hair loss. Accelerated hair loss is often observed with liver disease. The liver processes almost all nutrients that enter the body. If liver function suffers, then the body’s supply of “building materials” for growing tissues also suffers. For example, wounds heal more slowly or hair may fall out faster.
• The appearance of a rash. Along with changes in skin color, rashes appear in liver diseases. They can be of a very different nature. Pustular elements (folliculitis and furunculosis) are caused by an immune imbalance due to a decrease in the liver’s ability to synthesize immunoglobulin. An allergic rash (papules and spots) occurs due to a violation of the detoxification function of the liver. This reaction is triggered even to familiar environmental conditions. Hemorrhagic rash (small hemorrhages on the surface of the skin) appears when the synthetic function of the liver decreases. Patients have an increased tendency to form hematomas (“bruises”) even with minor injuries.

Internal manifestations

• Asthenia. It is characterized by general weakness and lethargy, drowsiness, fatigue, and decreased performance. These symptoms are usually the first to appear when the liver is damaged. Their occurrence is due to the inability of the organ to completely neutralize the products of nitrogen metabolism, which affect the functioning of the brain.
• Dyspepsia. In case of liver diseases, dyspeptic manifestations may be observed in the form of belching, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea or constipation, a feeling of heaviness after eating, and bloating due to increased flatulence. Due to impaired digestion and absorption of fats, qualitative changes in stool occur. Steatorrhea (“fatty stools”) is observed. Any liver disease is usually accompanied by changes in peristalsis (motor activity of the intestines) and the secretion of intestinal glands.
• Cytolysis. The first sign of liver damage is cytolysis—the destruction of hepatocytes. When liver cells (hepatocytes) are destroyed, the level of enzymes such as ALT and AST increases in the blood. If these enzymes are elevated in a biochemical blood test, this indicates an inflammatory process in the liver tissue.
• Increased body temperature. Often, people with constant pain in the liver area experience a slight rise in temperature (up to 37.8 °C). With cirrhosis, thermometer readings can reach 38 °C. In some cases, fluctuations are observed throughout the day, but most often appear in the evening. A higher temperature (from 39 °C) is a symptom of purulent processes in the gallbladder or bile ducts and is not associated with liver disease. Accordingly, treatment is prescribed for another organ.

To learn more about the causes of pain in the liver area and what to do when it occurs, you should consult a specialist. He will conduct an examination, based on which a diagnosis will be made and treatment will be prescribed. In most cases, the main minimum recommendation from doctors is to avoid drinking alcohol and junk food.

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What kind of organ is this and can pain occur?

The liver, let us recall, is a fairly large endocrine gland in most vertebrates (humans, first of all). The gland is divided into two large lobes, also divided into segments and consisting of individual liver cells (called hepatocytes).

The gland in question is tightly attached to the abdominal walls and diaphragm by means of a ligamentous apparatus; it is covered with a fairly thin protective shell - the so-called Glissonian capsule.

It should be said that the liver itself does not have any pain receptors (nerve endings), but the membrane of this gland is abundantly supplied with them.

Attention! Actually, therefore, when answering questions from patients regarding whether a person’s liver can or is capable of hurting, whining, or shooting, practicing doctors explain that liver tissue definitely cannot hurt!

In reality, only the fibrous protective capsule of the liver mentioned above can really bother, hurt or ache, the tissues of which can become very irritated when the gland itself becomes deformed or enlarged.

In addition, practicing doctors note that pain in the right hypochondrium is not always associated with liver diseases; sometimes this area can hurt:

• For diseases of the gallbladder and disorders of the functioning of the bile ducts;
• For pathologies of the pancreas;
• With inflammation of the appendix;
• Sometimes the right hypochondrium may hurt, or rather, kidney pain may radiate to this area.

Only an experienced doctor can determine exactly what exactly is associated with certain pain sensations in the right side, often only after conducting specific studies.

However, knowing the exact location of the gland in question and understanding how the size of a healthy human liver behaves, you can try to independently guess whether there is liver disease.

Where is the gland located and what are the signs of the disease?

We have already noted that the human liver is located in the right hypochondrium, to be more precise, in the upper part of the abdominal cavity, in close proximity to the right part of the dome of the diaphragm.

A small part of the gland starts to the left of the middle vertical of the body. In newborn babies, the gland occupies almost the entire peritoneal cavity, slightly slowing down its growth with age.

It must be said that the location of the gland in the human abdominal cavity can vary somewhat, depending on the specific position of the body at different points in time.

So, with a vertical position of the body, the gland lowers somewhat, and with a horizontal position, it rises moderately. During breathing, the healthy gland also moves somewhat, which is taken into account during palpation.

Important! A healthy gland is practically not palpable; only at the height of the deepest breaths can doctors determine the lower part of this structure.

If the patient periodically has pain in the right hypochondrium, and he manages to feel (palpate) the gland (some of its seals), it can be assumed that there is a certain disease, liver damage, and a doctor should be consulted immediately!

What ailments can cause pain?

Unfortunately, human liver pathologies are often detected quite late, at the most difficult stages, which is due to the lack of pain receptors in the gland itself.

At the same time, doctors still name a number of unpleasant symptoms that may indicate that not everything is in order with the gland. This:

• Periodic sensations of nausea or even vomiting of unknown origin (in the absence of poisoning);
• Change in the color of urine; darkening;
• Change in the color of stool, its lightening;
• Change in skin tone, its grayness, yellowishness;
• The appearance of skin itching, bitterness in the mouth or heartburn, general weakness, weakness, excessive fatigue.

Detection of one or more of the listed symptoms in a patient is definitely a reason to consult a gastroenterologist, hepatologist, or at least a therapist as quickly as possible.

Among liver diseases that may be accompanied by pain in the right hypochondrium, as well as the listed symptoms, doctors call:

• Cirrhosis;
• Various neoplasms, benign or malignant;
• Infiltrative lesions of the gland;
• Some functional disorders;
• Lesions of the ducts;
• And even vascular pathologies.

Uses of syrup for cleansing

It is no secret that any disease is easier and simpler to prevent than to then successfully fight it. In this context, timely cleansing of the liver, and indeed the entire body, can be considered an excellent prevention of many pathologies.

Today, folk recipes or alternative medicine are often used to cleanse the liver - Monastic syrup, for example.

This is a fairly effective product that can very quickly normalize the functioning of the body, cleanse the liver, and help with many diseases.

The drug is considered completely natural, certified in our country, tested in domestic clinical conditions. Regular use of such syrup significantly reduces the risk of developing pathologies of many internal organs.

In addition, the syrup can reduce intoxication of the body, which often occurs after treatment with other drugs. Patient reviews of this product are mostly positive.

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Why does my liver hurt?

Considering the versatility of the liver, you need to understand that its dysfunction is fraught with the appearance of not only local symptoms, but a deterioration in the general condition. Features include:

1. detoxification, because the organ removes intermediate and final metabolic products;
2. digestion;
3. accumulation of energy substances;
4. production and preservation of vitamins, protein structures, hormonal substances;
5. control of fat metabolism;
6. bilirubin synthesis, bile production;
7. recycling of biologically active substances;
8. blood deposition.

Stitching pain in the liver can occur due to damage to both the organ itself and those around it. How to recognize that your liver hurts? Given the fact that it is located in the right hypochondrium, liver tenderness is observed to the right of the gastric zone.

Symptoms and treatment of diseases in women and men depend on the cause of the pathology.

What can cause liver pain? Many patients may experience acute pain in the liver, which can be caused by various factors. A feeling of heaviness and pain is located in the right hypochondrium, since this is where the liver is located.

In what cases and on which side does pain appear? The fact is that this organ does not have nerve endings. When an inflammatory process or tumor formation increases the size of an organ, the changes that occur are accompanied by stretching of the fibrous capsule. Thus, severe liver pain occurs in adults.

Pain in the liver area can be observed both on an empty stomach and after eating and drinking alcohol. With acute or dull point pain, the gallbladder and its ducts may hurt. This is caused by a pathology such as biliary dyskinesia. With this disease, the normal secretion of bile, which our body needs for digestion and breakdown of fats, is disrupted. Most often, women suffer from this disease, although cases of dyskinesia are not uncommon among men. The disease can develop against the background of a number of factors:

As for hepatitis, as we have already found out, the liver is enlarged due to inflammation, and severe pain occurs purely due to stretching of the fibrous membrane. It turns out that when the liver hurts, what actually hurts is the gallbladder, ducts, and fibrous capsule. How can you understand that the liver (or rather, its ducts and capsule) hurts? Often such sensations begin to appear after eating, as well as during physical activity (especially when running in children and unprepared people).

Where and how does the liver hurt? In the right hypochondrium, a severe, nagging, sometimes sharp pain in the liver is clearly felt. If it is observed constantly, without provocation by food or physical activity, then there is a high probability of an acute or chronic inflammatory process.

What are the symptoms of liver disease?

We have already discussed in some detail the questions from the series “where does the liver hurt” and “how does the liver hurt.” Symptoms in men in most cases occur after alcohol abuse. We have clarified the key nuances necessary to understand the specifics of pain. Now let's move on to discussing equally important issues. For example, it makes sense to discuss the accompanying symptoms that appear with pain in the liver:

1. the sclera acquires a yellow tint, which is due to excessive bilirubin in the blood. This is a common manifestation of inflammatory processes in the liver tissue;
2. the tongue is coated with a yellowish or white coating and may have teeth marks on the sides;
3. With hepatitis, the urine darkens. Among doctors there is a common expression “beer-colored urine”, which reflects the specificity of the color change only in the most general terms. The color will darken depending on the severity of hepatitis;
4. a number of psychosomatic manifestations, such as fatigue, insomnia, irritability can also occur when the liver is affected in people;
5. low-grade fever or high fever;
6. "Spider veins".

Now let's take a closer look at the diseases that are accompanied by pain in the right hypochondrium.

The occurrence of an inflammatory process in the gallbladder can have an acute course or a chronic form of the pathology. Stagnation of bile is often accompanied by pancreatitis, colitis, and duodenitis. There are calculous and acalculous types of the disease. Impaired bile circulation in most cases predisposes the bladder to infection, which maintains inflammation. With prolonged cholecystitis, the risk of bladder deformation, the formation of fistula tracts, and the appearance of adhesions, which lead to intestinal dysfunction, increases.

Symptomatically, in addition to pain in the right hypochondrium, which intensifies after a diet violation, the following is observed:

1. nausea, vomiting;
2. intestinal dysfunction in the form of diarrhea;
3. weight loss;
4. bitterness in the mouth;
5. low-grade fever.

In the calculous form, the pain occurs as colic (acute, cramping). Pain can spread to the scapular, lumbar area, and the right side of the chest.

Complications include cholangitis, purulent cholecystitis, hepatitis, and bladder perforation.

Alcoholic hepatitis

The consumption of alcoholic beverages is accompanied by their breakdown into hepatotoxic substances, which in large quantities damage the liver tissue. Oxygen starvation (hypoxia) of hepatocytes is the cause of their mass death. Long-term inflammation leads to irreversible consequences.

The main cause of the disease is alcohol abuse. The strength of the damaging effect and the severity of clinical symptoms depend on the duration of alcoholism, the daily volume and type of alcoholic beverages.

With a persistent course, it is possible to restore the liver structure after the cessation of the toxic effect of alcohol on the body. With the onset of the progressive stage, small foci of necrosis predispose to the development of cirrhosis.

The symptom complex includes:

1. nausea, vomiting;
2. heaviness in the right hypochondrium;
3. weight loss;
4. diarrhea;
5. severe weakness;
6. "spider veins";
7. redness of the palms;
8. yellowness of the skin.

During an ultrasound, an enlarged liver with smooth contours is visualized. With cirrhosis, it becomes lumpy and may decrease in size. Splenomegaly (enlarged spleen) is also noted.

In the case of a fulminant course, the condition deteriorates quite quickly. Against the background of severe hemorrhagic syndrome, decompensated renal failure and severe liver dysfunction up to hepatic coma are observed.

How to treat and diagnose the disease?

If you experience at least some of the listed symptoms, do not delay visiting your doctor. Timely treatment starts gives a more favorable prognosis than treatment started at a critical stage of the disease.

How to define a disease? Many patients are scared off not only by the process of going to the doctor and waiting in line at the office. There are worse things - for example, tests, which is why we often postpone consultation.

Let's be honest: in the context of the commercialization of medicine, doctors prescribe tests often and willingly. It is useless to argue with the doctor - you will have to follow his instructions. To begin with, you will almost certainly be asked to take several blood tests to check the function and assess the condition of the liver: for biochemistry and viral hepatitis.

It is possible that the attending physician will persistently suggest performing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but here one can timidly object, because the procedure is not cheap, and it only allows one to obtain a clear image of the liver, but not the chemical composition of blood or bile.

By the way, if you suspect biliary dyskinesia, your doctor may prescribe duodenal intubation. During this diagnostic procedure, you will be asked to swallow a rubber tube with an olive at the end - bile will flow through it.

The procedure is very specific in terms of sensations, however, there are also less pleasant options. For example, a liver biopsy is the removal of a sample of liver tissue using a special needle. However, if chronic hepatitis or a violation of the outflow of bile is suspected, the doctor is unlikely to take such radical measures.

Laboratory diagnostics include:

1. biochemical study, which is necessary to establish the level of bilirubin, transaminases, alkaline phosphatase, total protein;
2. Analysis of urine;
3. coagulogram;
4. clinical blood test;
5. tests for infections (hepatitis, HIV).

In addition to duodenal sounding, magnetic resonance imaging can be performed:

In addition, tomography and ultrasound diagnostics examine surrounding organs (pancreas, spleen, kidneys).

What to do if you have liver pain?

It is also necessary to improve the condition of the nervous system, since often due to disruptions in its functioning, the outflow of bile worsens and symptoms of pain appear.

Knowing the causes of pain in the liver area, the doctor will quickly relieve the pain and prescribe effective therapy. Treatment of chronic hepatitis is based on the use of hepatoprotectors. The most popular drugs are Essentiale, Heptral, Ursochol and Karsil-Forte.

How to reduce pain from hepatitis? With viral hepatitis everything is much more complicated. The basis of the fight against these diseases is antiviral and immunomodulatory therapy. Interferon drugs are used. To alleviate the signs of pain in the liver, the body is detoxified, and the result is secured by the appointment of hepatoprotectors.

Treatment of any liver disease is also based on diet. Table No. 5 is assigned, with a predominance of boiled and steamed dishes. It is advisable to forget about fatty foods altogether. Alcohol and chocolate are allowed in very small quantities.

Girls are more willing to follow a diet than men. The diet requires frequent small meals. This allows not only to remove unpleasant sensations, but to alleviate the general condition.

Food should not be “heavy” for hepatocytes. The purpose of the diet is to protect liver cells, restore their nutrition, blood flow, and normalize metabolic processes. Remove from the nutritional diet:

• trans fats (fast food, canned food);
• fatty, fried foods. This applies to fatty varieties of fish, meat, dairy products;
• carbonated drinks, alcohol;
• chocolate, baked goods

Also remove spices, hot seasonings, smoked meats, and pickles. Daily calorie intake should not exceed 3 thousand calories. You should eat up to six times daily. The diet needs to be enriched with steamed, boiled dishes, vegetable proteins, and control over the drinking regime is also required.

If a child suffers from pain in the right hypochondrium, immediate consultation with a doctor is necessary. Given the high rate of cell reproduction in a young body, diseases also develop quite quickly.

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Symptoms and signs

It is possible to find out if you have liver disease in the early stages. The downside is that these symptoms are sometimes consistent with other diseases. Most often the patient is bothered by nausea, heartburn, indigestion, and changes in bad breath. There is a loss or, conversely, an increase in appetite, thirst, allergies appear, and general health worsens. It is possible that visual acuity may drop, insomnia may appear, the color of the skin and eye whites will change and become yellowish. This occurs due to increased levels of bilirubin in the blood. These signs are easily explained by the fact that the unhealthy organ can no longer effectively remove harmful toxins, which is why the body is gradually poisoned. Typical diseases are easily diagnosed by their characteristic symptoms. However, sometimes even experienced specialists are unable to accurately determine the problem.

In order not to make mistakes, it is important to know the individual characteristics of the body and whether there are other pathologies. The liver may hurt due to various diseases in which the following liver symptoms appear:

Causes and diseases

Due to the non-specificity of the symptoms of these diseases, a person will not immediately pay due attention to their health status. The causes of pain can be different. When symptoms cannot be ignored, treatment becomes more difficult. The gland can hurt under the following circumstances:

• with hepatitis (a disease with an inflammatory nature);
• hepatosis (liver dystrophy);
• with cirrhosis - irreversible replacement of healthy liver cells, leading to severe disruption of the gland;
• fibrosis (replacement of healthy liver cells with connective tissue cells);
• liver failure (in this condition the liver is not able to perform all its functions);
• the presence of cancerous tumors.

What to do?

To solve health problems, it is advisable to contact a hepatologist or gastroenterologist. The following can help in accurately diagnosing pathology and its level of development:

• Urine and blood analysis for bilirubin.
• Blood chemistry.
• Ultrasound examination of the diseased organ (determining the size, structure). Additionally, the doctor prescribes computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging.
• Tissue biopsy (only to clarify an already made diagnosis).

Using the results obtained, the attending physician recommends medication therapy with dietary changes. If the pathology is not critical, organ restoration is possible at home or in a hospital. In severe cases of the disease, you should agree to treatment in a hospital. In addition, surgical intervention cannot be ruled out.

Pain is a clear signal that the liver is seriously ill.

Factors that cause organ pain

The largest gland becomes diseased for many reasons. Painful manifestations of impaired functioning develop in the following cases:

Like any other disease, liver pathologies vary in nature. The interpretation could be like this:

• The liver aches, there is a feeling of heaviness inside. A slowly developing pathological process of inflammatory or other origin is likely. It is explained by an increase in the size of the liver and stretching of the liver capsule.
• Sharp acute pain in the liver area, stabbing on the right under the ribs, burning. Indicates an inflammatory, purulent or traumatic process. The liver may be swollen.
• Severe nagging pain in one place, radiating to the side of the liver. Rather, this type of pain is associated with problems with the gallbladder.
• No pain is observed. With the sluggish development of more severe forms of liver disease, nagging pain in the liver after eating is possible.

What and how to help?

The diseased gland must be properly treated. Choose your medication as directed by your doctor. The drug must have proven effectiveness and safety. Painkillers will help calm the unpleasant manifestations of pathologies. However, you should drink it only if there is an acute cutting pain or spasm in the liver area. A medicine that contains glycyrrhizic acid and phospholipids helps in therapy. Preparations based on these substances have a complex effect on the patient.

Proper nutrition

Check your diet if your liver is bothering you. The causes of pain in the liver can be caused by this. To prevent liver pain, it is important to adhere to a diet. Limit your consumption of spicy, fried and fatty foods. Don’t hesitate to throw away the food you cooked yesterday. This can greatly affect the outcome of treatment. The diet is not fatal, it is quite fatal to ignore the pain when the liver burns and ache.

When you are sick, you lose your appetite, but don’t worry right away. Doctors recommend eating light, enjoyable foods. It is advisable to increase the patient's diet in foods rich in proteins and fiber, vitamins and minerals. In the morning on an empty stomach you can drink flaxseed or olive oil. It is important to eat regularly, in small portions every few hours. Dairy products, pickled vegetables, various cereals, lean meats and fish, jam and honey are recommended. The consumption of eggs, hard cheeses, sausages and the like should be limited. Ice cream, chocolate, alcoholic beverages, spices and herbs, fatty and fried foods are completely excluded.

Prevention

Clear recommendations will help maintain the organ at the proper level of functioning. A lifestyle with negative health habits leads to the emergence of many diseases. It is worth adjusting the level of physical activity and improving the quality of food. The absence of nicotine and alcohol addiction has a positive effect on health. It is important to practice good hygiene to prevent hepatitis. Incorrect and untimely treatment will do more harm than good. Preventative actions are excellent as first aid.

The liver gland has the ability to regenerate at the highest level, however, an unhealthy lifestyle will lead to the liver becoming sick.

Following a proper diet is designed to reduce the stress on the body and the digestive system as a whole. Due to stress, poor lifestyle, and eating junk food, the liver can hurt. At night, you will feel a constant burning sensation in the liver, your stomach will be pulled and bloated. If everything is exactly like this: you feel a sharp pain in the liver and the unpleasant signs listed above, you should take strong analgesics. Reducing workload, the amount of stress, stopping smoking and drinking alcohol - all this can remove the lion's share of unpleasant moments. It is very easy to get liver diseases if you do not follow all the above recommendations.

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What can pain in the liver area be like?

Pain in the liver area, like any pain syndrome in general, is divided into acute and chronic. It can be stabbing, pulling, aching, bother you constantly, or occur only at certain times.

With pain in the liver, additional symptoms may occur, such as:

• nausea;
• vomit;
• constipation;
• diarrhea;
• jaundice;
• skin itching.

When visiting a doctor, the patient should describe his condition as clearly and in detail as possible so that the doctor can correctly diagnose and prescribe treatment.

Intense physical activity

Many people may experience stabbing pain in the liver during prolonged brisk walking, running or other physical activity.

This is due to the fact that the liver is one of the organs that store venous blood in the body. During physical activity, a large amount of venous blood accumulates in it. This process occurs most actively with improper breathing technique during sports, when the function of the diaphragm and other respiratory muscles is insufficient.

Due to the fact that the liver fills with blood, it greatly increases in size and stretches the capsule covering it, which contains a large number of pain nerve endings.

If before physical activity a person has eaten heavily, and even fatty foods, then stabbing pain in the liver occurs faster and is more intense.

What to do if pain in the liver occurs during physical activity? Just rest a little and the pain will go away on its own. It is not recommended to eat food later than 1 – 2 hours before training. And while running, you need to follow the correct breathing technique.

Drug overdose

Many drugs (for example, antibiotics, drugs used in neurology and psychiatry), after they have their effect, undergo changes in the liver and are then excreted from the body along with bile. If you take a single large dose of such drugs, or use them uncontrollably for a long time, they have a toxic effect on the liver, leading to pain and other symptoms:

• jaundice and skin itching;
• headaches, weakness, dizziness;
• digestive disorders in the form of heaviness, bloating, abdominal discomfort.

In some cases, such symptoms indicate the onset of the development of drug-induced hepatitis. When they appear, you need to go to see a doctor or, depending on the severity of the condition, call an ambulance. It is necessary to detoxify and prescribe medications that will protect and accelerate recovery processes in the liver.

Liver pain after drinking large amounts of alcohol

A hangover syndrome is often accompanied by the appearance of acute pain in the liver. The following factors contribute to the occurrence of pain:
1. It is the liver that is the organ that is primarily responsible for cleansing the blood of toxic substances: it contains the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase. Therefore, after taking large doses of alcoholic beverages, maximum stress is placed on the organ, forcing it to work more intensely.
2. Toxic damage to liver cells occurs with ethyl alcohol.
3. If during the feast a large amount of fatty, fried, smoked, spicy food was taken, then the liver experiences additional overload.
4. Medicines that are used to treat hangovers can also have harmful effects on the organ.

Treatment of pain in the liver after alcohol involves the use of so-called hepatoprotectors - drugs that promote the regeneration and protection of liver cells.

Sometimes after drinking alcohol, chronic pain in the liver develops, which does not go away for a long time. In this case, you need to see a doctor as soon as possible for consultation and examination.

Acute hepatitis

Hepatitis is an inflammatory lesion of the liver, which can have a different nature. A disease is considered acute if it lasts for less than six months. In this case, pain in the liver is very typical, which can also differ in nature and intensity, depending on the nature and severity of hepatitis:
1. Acute viral hepatitis A does not manifest itself as pronounced pain in the liver area. Often the disease begins as an acute respiratory infection: the body temperature rises, weakness, fatigue, and headaches appear. Usually, after 3–4 weeks from the onset of the disease, aching pain occurs in the liver, or simply a feeling of heaviness and discomfort under the right rib. After 2–4 days, jaundice occurs, and the patient’s condition improves. Gradually, the pain in the liver and other signs fade away, and recovery begins.
2. Spicy hepatitis B can last for 7 – 60 days. In this case, pain in the liver may not always occur and not immediately. First, signs appear that resemble acute respiratory infections or general chronic fatigue: weakness, fever, lethargy and fatigue. Gradually, aching pain in the liver, a feeling of heaviness and discomfort under the right rib appear and increase. The liver increases in size, jaundice, darkening of urine and feces appear.
3. Spicy hepatitis D usually accompanies hepatitis B. With this disease, liver pain is less pronounced.
4. In acute viral hepatitis E against the background of general weakness, fatigue and malaise, severe pain develops in the liver and above the navel. Sometimes pain is the first sign of a disease.

For pain in the liver caused by acute viral hepatitis, a gentle diet is prescribed, which excludes all types of food that can put increased stress on the liver: fatty, fried, smoked foods, etc. Treatment is prescribed by a doctor, depending on the type of hepatitis.

Chronic hepatitis

The chronic course can mainly be caused by viral hepatitis B and C. Pain in the liver can be constant or periodic (for example, it can only occur when eating fatty foods). Often the pain syndrome is not clearly defined under the right rib, but has an unclear location. Nausea and vomiting, discomfort and bloating may occur.

At the same time, pain in the liver is accompanied by all the symptoms of hepatitis:

• jaundice;
• an increase in the size of the abdomen;
• itchy skin;
• general weakness;
• fatigue;
• increased body temperature;
• darkening of stool and urine.

The cause of pain in the liver and other symptoms of chronic hepatitis is determined using:

• computed tomography;
• biochemical blood test;
• detection of viruses in the body.

After this, the doctor prescribes appropriate treatment.

Sometimes chronic hepatitis occurs without pain in the liver or other symptoms. The patient may feel the first signs of pathology already when the disease enters the stage of cirrhosis.
More about hepatitis

Pain in the liver with cirrhosis

Liver cirrhosis is a serious disease that is characterized by restructuring of the entire liver tissue and disruption of its normal function. Pain in the liver can be caused by various types of cirrhosis:
1. Alcoholic (with chronic alcohol abuse).
2. Medicinal (when taking medications that have a negative effect on liver cells).
3. Viral (as a complication of viral hepatitis).
4. Primary biliary cirrhosis is a disease in the development of which genetic mechanisms play a large role.
5. Stagnant – with stagnation of blood and disruption of the normal blood supply to the liver.

Pain in the liver with cirrhosis is always accompanied by a host of other symptoms:

• increased body temperature, weakness, fatigue;
• exhaustion;
• an increase in the size of the abdomen due to an enlarged liver and accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity;
• jaundice, itchy skin;
• dilated veins under the skin of the abdomen, legs;
• toxic brain damage, disturbance of mental activity.

Sometimes pain in the liver with cirrhosis is the only symptom for a long time. It is aching in nature, weakly expressed, and the patient does not even suspect that he has a pathology and does not seek medical help.

Diagnosis of pain in the liver with cirrhosis involves the use of ultrasound, computed tomography, biochemical blood test, and liver biopsy. Treatment is carried out in a gastroenterological or therapeutic hospital. Sometimes hemodialysis is required.
Read more about liver cirrhosis

Pain in the liver with steatosis

Steatosis is a disease in which large amounts of fat accumulate in the liver tissue. It does not disintegrate and is not excreted, disrupting the normal function of the organ and leading to pain. Most often, the causes of steatosis are conditions such as long-term alcohol abuse, metabolic disorders in the body, hereditary predisposition, poor diet and excess body weight.

With steatosis, pain occurs in the liver, which is most often accompanied by symptoms such as indigestion (bloating, constipation and diarrhea, nausea and vomiting), general fatigue, weakness, and lethargy.

Steatosis usually has a long course, lasting for many years. At the same time, during the period of subsidence of the process, pain in the liver ceases to bother, and when it is reactivated, they arise again.

Pain in the liver with steatosis usually goes away very quickly when you give up alcohol, follow a balanced diet, avoid stress and do a simple set of gymnastics every day. Some medications are also prescribed to treat pain and other syndromes.

Liver tumors

Benign tumors

Benign liver tumors often occur in the initial stages without pain or any other symptoms, so their diagnosis is quite a difficult task.

Among the tumors that can lead to pain in the liver, the most common are:
1. Adenomas are tumors of glandular liver cells.
2. Hemangiomas are vascular tumors.
3. Nodular hyperplasia of the liver is a large number of nodules of benign origin in the thickness of the organ tissue.
4. Liver cysts formed from the hepatic ducts and having a congenital origin.

Pain in the liver occurs only if the tumor reaches a very large size. It is aching in nature, constantly bothers the patient, and is accompanied by nausea, vomiting and other digestive disorders.

The diagnosis is established after ultrasound, CT, MRI, and liver biopsy. When pain occurs in the liver caused by benign tumors, surgical treatment is preferably used.

Malignant tumors

There are several types of liver cancer, but all are characterized by pain in the liver. The pain syndrome is aching in nature and worries the patient almost constantly. At the same time, signs such as an increase in body temperature to 38 o C, weakness, lethargy, fatigue, lack of appetite, and bloating are noted. The liver increases in size, and when it is felt, the pain intensifies significantly.

Confirmation that pain in the liver is caused by a malignant tumor is data obtained during ultrasound, scintigraphy, CT, MRI, biochemical blood test, blood test for tumor markers - substances that are released into the blood during cancer.

Treatment depends on the type, size and activity of the tumor. Radiation therapy, surgical treatment, and drug therapy (chemotherapy, targeted therapy) are used.

Acute cholecystitis is an acute inflammatory lesion of the gallbladder wall, accompanied by stabbing pain in the liver area.

Typically, an attack of pain in the liver area during acute cholecystitis occurs after eating fatty, spicy, smoked, or extractive foods. The pain syndrome can be very strong and causes severe suffering to the patient. Other symptoms are also noted:

• the pain often radiates to the right arm, shoulder, under the right shoulder blade, to the right collarbone;
• At the same time, digestive disorders are observed: nausea and vomiting, bloating, discomfort;
• body temperature rises, sometimes to very high numbers;
• general weakness and fatigue are noted.

Pain in the liver area during acute cholecystitis is an acute condition for which medical assistance should be provided as soon as possible. The patient is admitted to the hospital, an ultrasound of the liver and gallbladder, and other studies are performed. Most often, surgical treatment is prescribed.

Chronic cholecystitis

Chronic cholecystitis is an inflammatory process in the wall of the gallbladder that occurs over a long period of time (more than 6 months). It can be stoneless or stone-like (as a manifestation of cholelithiasis).

With chronic cholecystitis, dull pain occurs under the liver, accompanied by various digestive disorders. Sometimes jaundice may occur.

Most often, pain under the liver and other symptoms of chronic cholecystitis occur in waves, with periods of exacerbations and subsidence of the process. In this case, the period of exacerbation resembles acute cholecystitis.

Sometimes acute pain occurs in the liver area, like an attack of acute cholecystitis, which then transforms into chronic. But the disease can become chronic initially.

Treatment of pain in the liver during exacerbation of chronic cholecystitis is most often carried out in a hospital. Appropriate medications are prescribed. When the process subsides, the patient must follow an appropriate diet.
More about cholecystitis

Pain in the liver due to cholelithiasis

Characteristic sharp stabbing pains in the liver occur with biliary colic, which is a complication of cholelithiasis. The process may begin as acute cholecystitis. But the pain under the right rib quickly grows, intensifies, and becomes almost unbearable. It does not go away when changing body position; the patient literally cannot find a place for himself.

Pain under the liver is caused by the fact that a stone located in the gallbladder enters the bile duct and blocks it. In this case, a spasm of the duct occurs, causing the pain to intensify even more.

Since the outflow of bile is disrupted, jaundice is subsequently added to hepatic colic. The urine becomes dark in color, like beer, and the stool is almost completely discolored.

A patient with pain under the liver caused by hepatic colic should be immediately admitted to the hospital. Stones are easily detected by ultrasound. Drug treatment is carried out, indications for surgical intervention are determined.
More about cholelithiasis

Liver injuries

Liver injuries are always accompanied by severe pain, since the organ contains a large number of blood vessels, and the liver capsule contains many nerve endings.

Open injuries

Open liver injuries are various wounds (puncture, cut, chopped, gunshot). Due to the large number of blood vessels, intense bleeding is always observed. In this case, pain in the liver is the main symptom only for some time after the injury - then a state of shock develops as a result of massive blood loss, which threatens the patient’s life.

Victims with open liver injuries should be immediately taken to the hospital for surgical treatment.

Closed injuries

Closed liver injuries are the result of a blunt blow to the abdomen. After this, pain is noted in the liver area, which can have varying intensity and character.

If there is a rupture or crushing of an organ, then against the background of severe pain the patient turns pale, loses consciousness and falls into a state of shock. His blood pressure drops dramatically.

With liver bruises, the pain is not so severe. There is no indication that the patient is bleeding internally. In principle, this condition is not life-threatening for the patient. But, firstly, pain in the liver area after an injury does not make it possible to establish its severity without additional examination. Secondly, without appropriate treatment, these conditions can lead to the development of liver tumors and a purulent process.

Pain in the liver due to infectious diseases

With some infections, liver damage with pain occurs is quite common.

Infectious mononucleosis

Infectious mononucleosis is a disease of viral origin, in which there is an enlargement of the liver, lymph nodes, as well as symptoms reminiscent of a cold.

Liver pain with infectious mononucleosis occurs in approximately 15% of patients. Most often they are not very strong and have a pulling or aching character. There are the following additional symptoms:

• increased body temperature, fever;
• increased size of the liver and subcutaneous lymph nodes;
• sore throat, like a sore throat;
• digestive disorders;
• increase in the size of the spleen.

For infectious mononucleosis, antiviral treatment is prescribed.
More about mononucleosis

Adenovirus infection

Adenovirus infection is a disease from the group of acute respiratory infections, which can cause damage to the liver and lymph nodes. At the same time, some patients experience slight nagging or aching pain in the liver.

The disease begins like a normal acute respiratory infection: body temperature rises, runny nose, cough and sore throat, red eyes and watery eyes. Pain in the liver does not occur in all patients. They go away after the underlying disease is cured.

Flu

If the flu is quite severe and leads to severe intoxication of the body, then it can also be accompanied by an increase in the size of the liver and its soreness.
More about the flu

Once in the intestine, the larva penetrates through its walls into small blood vessels, and can enter, in principle, any organ through the bloodstream. In 50-70% of cases, liver invasion occurs. While the larva is small in size, it does not cause any concern to the patient and does not lead to any problems.

Later, when the echinococcal bladder is already quite large, it begins to compress the liver and stretch its capsule, disrupting the blood flow in the organ and the normal outflow of bile. The result is pain in the liver area, a feeling of heaviness and discomfort. In the future, the pain may be accompanied by jaundice and digestive disorders.

When the cyst suppurates, pain in the liver may be accompanied by an increase in body temperature and general malaise. Disorders of the digestive system are further aggravated.

If a cyst ruptures, a sharp stabbing pain is felt in the liver area, and the patient develops a severe allergic reaction, anaphylactic shock. This is a potentially life-threatening condition.

Treatment of hydatid cysts and associated pain in the liver is carried out surgically.

Liver abscess

An abscess is a cavity with pus, which is covered with a capsule and is located in the thickness of the liver tissue. For a liver abscess, pain in the liver area is a very characteristic sign. It is almost constant in nature, and is accompanied by elevated temperature, fever, and a disturbance in general well-being.

Suspicion of a liver abscess appears when pain occurs in the liver area in combination with fever. The final diagnosis is established after ultrasound, CT, MRI. Treatment is surgical, followed by antibiotic therapy.

Pain in the liver with damage to neighboring organs

Next to the liver, a person has the pancreas, intestines, and diaphragm (to which the lungs are adjacent). Therefore, the cause of pain in the liver area can be damage to these organs.

Acute pancreatitis

The head of the pancreas is adjacent to the liver and gallbladder. With the development of an inflammatory process in it - acute pancreatitis - pain occurs that can be mistaken for pain in the liver.

An attack of acute pancreatitis occurs suddenly. People who abuse fatty foods, alcohol, and have gallbladder diseases are most predisposed to it.
In acute pancreatitis, severe pain in the liver area, nausea, vomiting, and increased body temperature occur. These signs are similar to those of acute cholecystitis, but with pancreatitis they are more pronounced. Usually it is possible to make an accurate diagnosis only after an ultrasound scan. The patient is placed in a surgical hospital, fasting, bed rest, cold applied to the pancreas area, and drug therapy are prescribed for the first day.
More about pancreatitis

Kidney diseases

The right kidney is located in such a way that when it is damaged, pain can radiate under the right rib, simulating pain in the liver area. Similar symptoms can occur with pyelonephritis, kidney injury, urolithiasis, etc.

In this case, ultrasound, urine tests, and computed tomography help to establish the true cause of “pain in the liver.”

Duodenal ulcer

With a duodenal ulcer, pain in the liver area may also occur. They are accompanied by nausea and vomiting, most often occurring on an empty stomach and at night (so-called “hunger” pain).

In order to accurately determine the cause of pain in the liver area and prescribe the correct treatment, in this case fibrogastroduodenoscopy and contrast radiography are prescribed.

Osteochondrosis

This disease can sometimes mimic liver pain. As a result of the pathological process occurring in the spine, the intervertebral nerve roots are compressed, causing pain that radiates under the right rib. There are no digestive disorders, jaundice or other signs characteristic of liver damage. The diagnosis is made by a neurologist; radiography or computed tomography may be prescribed.
More about osteochondrosis

Acute appendicitis

Typically, with acute appendicitis, pain occurs in the right iliac region. But sometimes the cecum with the appendix may have some anatomical features and is located very high, right under the liver. As a result, the resulting pain is perceived as liver pain. The pain syndrome is characterized by the following features:

• very strong, paroxysmal;
• may be accompanied by nausea and vomiting, constipation and diarrhea;
• body temperature rises, usually up to 37 o C;
• the general condition of the patient is significantly impaired.

Appendicitis is an acute condition that requires immediate hospitalization of the patient. If the condition is confirmed, surgical treatment is performed.
More about appendicitis

What to do if you experience pain in the liver?

Which doctor should I contact?

If you experience acute or chronic, dull, aching or stabbing pain in the liver, it is not advisable to take any measures on your own. You need to see a doctor as soon as possible - a gastroenterologist, hepatologist or surgeon. Only after examination by a specialist can a presumptive diagnosis be established? and begin treatment of pain in the liver in accordance with the pathology that caused it.

In most cases, the doctor prescribes an ultrasound examination for patients. It is safe, and at the same time very informative, so it can provide a lot of useful information.

In the future, the doctor will either prescribe outpatient treatment or give the patient a referral to a hospital.

If acute severe pain in the liver occurs, it is advisable to immediately call an ambulance. In some cases, this symptom indicates an acute condition that requires immediate hospitalization of the patient.

Treatment

To eliminate pain in the liver, painkillers and antispasmodics are most often used as temporary symptomatic remedies. However, you should not take them before being examined by a doctor: if the pain subsides, the doctor may get a false impression, and as a result, he will not make the correct diagnosis and will not prescribe the necessary treatment.

After the diagnosis is made, treatment of the underlying disease, which is the cause of pain in the liver, begins. Prescriptions can only be made by the attending physician.

In the treatment of liver diseases, a complex of drugs is used - hepatoprotectors, the most popular of which are natural-based products. For example, Legalon, an original drug based on milk thistle extract with high bioavailability and a high content of the active component silibinin, strengthens membranes, stimulates the functioning of liver cells, and prevents the penetration of various dangerous substances into it.

In addition to the protective effect, this hepatoprotector has a restorative effect and relieves inflammation from tissues. Legalon is also suitable for the prevention of liver dysfunction, since it significantly reduces the load on the organ when taking medications, fatty foods and alcohol, and also prevents the occurrence of fibrosis and other degenerative changes.

The liver is an important organ that destroys and neutralizes poisons and toxins and cleanses the blood from them. It is the largest gland in the body and produces bile. It helps break down fats and stimulates the intestines. The liver tissue stores useful substances (vitamins and microelements), thanks to which the human body functions normally.

There are no nerve endings in the deep tissues; they are located in the lining of the organ. Therefore, when the gland is damaged, pain does not appear. The liver hurts when its tissues are already severely damaged and the disease is difficult to treat. For this reason, it is important to know how to identify organ diseases in the early stages and what to do if pain occurs.

Does your liver hurt?

Many patients are interested in the question of whether the liver can hurt. Often people who are faced with disorders of the functionality of the gland complain of discomfort, heaviness or pressure on the right side under the ribs. This occurs at the 2nd stage of organ disease.

Pain in the gland occurs when there is significant damage to it

Some patients felt their liver hurting. As mentioned earlier, there are no nerve endings in the gland, so there is no cutting or stabbing pain. But the serous membrane (outer membrane) contains receptors. With hepatomegaly (liver enlargement), neighboring organs begin to put pressure on the liver tissue, resulting in pain. It is then that the patient complains of aching in the right side. As a rule, this symptom manifests itself when there is significant damage to the organ.

Major liver diseases

According to statistics, about 220 million people in the world suffer from diseases of this organ. This pathology is among the top ten causes of death in patients. And hepatitis is on a par with tuberculosis and AIDS in terms of mortality.

The most common organ diseases that are accompanied by pain include hepatitis, cirrhosis, cancer, etc.

As a rule, liver diseases are provoked by infectious diseases of viral origin, intoxication with poisons (for example, ethanol). In diseases with a chronic course, the likelihood of cirrhosis and complete degeneration of the gland increases.

The most commonly diagnosed liver diseases are:ъ

• Hepatitis of various origins. There is viral, toxic, hypoxic hepatitis. They have an acute or chronic course. Patients are interested in how to find out that the liver hurts. Severe pain manifests itself in the right hypochondrium at the late stage of hepatitis. This occurs due to stretching of its capsule.
• Cirrhosis is a chronic disease characterized by the proliferation of fibrous tissue or stroma in the parenchyma of the gland. This pathology develops as a result of necrosis of organ tissue, blood diseases or genetic ailments. Characteristic symptoms of cirrhosis are pain in the right side and heaviness in the abdomen.
• If the liver hurts, it may be a consequence of gland cancer or metastasis from other organs. Cysts and tissue abscesses exhibit similar symptoms.
• Pain is provoked by infiltrates that form against the background of the following diseases: amyloid dystrophy, Gierke's disease, hepatosis, etc.
• The liver can hurt when its functionality is impaired, which is accompanied by jaundice: intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, Gilbert's disease, Dubin-Johnson syndrome, congenital hereditary malignant hyperbilirubinemia.
• Painful sensations occur when the intrahepatic bile ducts (BID) are damaged. Such diseases include angiocholitis (infection of the bile ducts), inflammatory damage to the bile ducts, cholelithiasis (partial or complete obstruction of the gallbladder).
• Diseases of the circulatory system of the gland: thrombosis of the hepatic veins, bile stagnation and cirrhosis against the background of functional heart failure, arteriovenous fistulas in the liver (artificial connections of arteries with veins that provoke serious circulatory disorders).

Treatment of liver pain should be carried out by a qualified professional.

Causes of pain syndrome

The liver is actively involved in metabolism, and its functionality is influenced by various factors, which often provoke diseases of the organ.

Diseases of the gland, accompanied by pain, develop as a result of alcohol abuse

Causes of pain in the liver area:

• Metabolic disorders. Due to metabolic disorders, the number of obese people is constantly increasing. As a result, the number of patients suffering from non-alcoholic fatty disease, which provokes dysfunction of the organ, is growing.
• Another cause of liver pain is excessive or systematic consumption of alcohol. Alcohol abuse inevitably leads to gland diseases. Alcoholic liver disease causes the proliferation of fat cells. As a result, hepatocytes cease to cope with their functions and fibrosis (overgrowth of connective tissue) occurs. In women, alcohol causes liver damage to the liver more often (45%) than in men.
• If you have a question about why the liver hurts, then perhaps the unpleasant sensations arose against the background of diseases of the gland of viral origin. The most common viral pathologies are hepatitis, which provokes cirrhosis, cancer and various diseases of the digestive organs.
• Liver pathologies manifest themselves as a result of long-term use of potent drugs: analgesics, NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), antibacterial drugs, sleeping pills, etc.

You shouldn’t figure out why your liver hurts on your own. This is a dangerous symptom that indicates serious damage to organ tissue. A similar symptom is accompanied by autoimmune diseases that provoke liver failure.

Characteristics of skin in liver diseases

Characteristic signs of pain in the liver can be seen even on the patient’s skin:

• Jaundice occurs when the liver tissue or internal bile ducts become inflamed. Not only the skin, but also the visible mucous membranes acquire a yellowish tint.
• The armpits and folds in the groin area acquire a brownish tint. This occurs due to the accumulation of melanin.
• Itching on the skin occurs with biliary cirrhosis and other pathologies that occur against the background of intrahepatic stagnation of bile.
• A skin rash is accompanied by infectious hepatitis and autoimmune damage to the gland.
• Telangiectasia (spider veins) is a classic symptom of cirrhosis.
• Dry skin, cracks in the corners of the mouth, and a bright red tongue are signs of vitamin deficiency due to gland damage.
• Bruises and hemorrhages under the skin that form for no reason indicate a decrease in the production of blood clotting factors by the gland.
• White spots on the legs are formed due to chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis.
• The skin on the abdomen becomes covered with stretch marks after ascites (accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity).

Liver pathologies can be suspected when examining the patient’s skin

In liver diseases, which are accompanied by increased pressure in the portal vein, veins located near the navel protrude from under the skin.

To understand what a particular symptom indicates, you need to seek medical help.

Digestive disorders

The liver is part of the digestive system as it produces bile, which breaks down food. Therefore, with diseases of the gland, the following dysfunctions of the gastrointestinal tract appear:

• The patient feels pressure on the right under the ribs, a feeling of heaviness or fullness arises. This occurs due to a violation of the evacuation function of the bile ducts.
• Bowel disorders (constipation or diarrhea).
• Feces become discolored, urine darkens, and the skin and whites of the eyes become yellow.
• Fecal odor from the mouth indicates the development of functional liver failure.
• Flatulence.

With diseases of the digestive organs, discomfort is felt in the right hypochondrium, nausea, stool disorders, etc.

Many patients experience an increase in abdominal circumference. This symptom does not appear due to bloating, but due to the accumulation of fluid in the abdomen. This symptom manifests itself in cirrhosis or ascites (abdominal dropsy). The latter disease is often accompanied by swelling of the lower extremities.

Hormonal changes

Hormonal imbalance is more pronounced in the stronger sex, especially with alcoholic liver poisoning. Feminization most often occurs in patients who suffer from alcoholic or viral cirrhosis. With the constant intake of alcohol into the body, male hormones (testosterone, androgen, etc.) are transformed into female hormones (estrogen).

Hormonal imbalance in men with liver disease is accompanied by breast enlargement

Due to hormonal changes, the following symptoms appear:

• breast enlargement;
• female hair type;
• decrease in testicular size;
• sexual impotence;
• disappearance of sexual attraction to people of the opposite sex.

Some diseases of the gland (for example, primary biliary cirrhosis) provoke an increase in the concentration of parathyroid hormone, which affects the structure of bone tissue. This condition is accompanied by unpleasant sensations:

• ossalgia (painful sensations in the bones);
• spontaneous fractures;
• deformation of bones (usually flat ones).

In addition, with chronic diseases of the gland (for example, hepatosis), the likelihood of developing diabetes mellitus increases.

Nervous system disorders

In liver pathologies, inhibition of ammonia detoxification processes is observed. As a result, the toxic substance enters the bloodstream and provokes neurological disorders. Some of them are identified using a specialized psychometric test. Others are visible to the naked eye and indicate progressive hepatic encephalopathy, which often ends in the death of the patient.

Nervous system disorders due to gland pathologies occur due to the penetration of ammonia into the blood

Symptoms of illness:

• increased fatigue;
• decreased mental and physical performance;
• sleep disorders;
• disturbance of sleep patterns (if the patient is drowsy during the day and suffers from insomnia at night, this may be a sign of encephalopathy);
• increased excitability or inhibition;
• constant craving for sleep (up to lethargic sleep);
• tremor (finger shaking);
• memory loss;
• psychological changes;
• confusion;
• involuntary muscle spasms;
• epilepsy.

If such signs appear, which are accompanied by pain in the liver, you should immediately consult a doctor.

Problems with the blood coagulation system

In addition to subcutaneous bleeding, the patient complains of spontaneous or caused by minor trauma (during brushing teeth or blowing nose) hemorrhages. The patient experiences bleeding from the nose, anus, stomach or intestines. Women complain of long or heavy periods.

If problems with the coagulation system and pain in the liver occur, you also cannot do without medical help.

General poisoning

Liver intoxication manifests itself in viral or bacterial diseases, immune disorders, oncological processes, and cirrhosis.

Poisoning of the gland manifests itself against the background of viral diseases, immune disorders, cancer, etc.

As a result of these diseases, the following symptoms appear:

• an increase in temperature is observed with infections, purulent complications, diseases with a chronic course;
• constant weakness;
• myalgia and arthralgia (pain in muscles and joints);
• decreased appetite;
• nausea;
• chills occur with purulent inflammation of the liver tissue;
• weight loss, decrease in muscle mass.

The above symptoms can occur in diseases of different organs. Therefore, if they occur, it is recommended to consult a doctor.

Liver syndromes

A syndrome is a whole complex of symptoms that are characteristic of different diseases.

Liver damage syndrome is accompanied by various symptoms

Doctors identify the following syndromes of liver diseases:

• Mesenchial-inflammatory. This syndrome is manifested by the following symptoms: fever, swelling, pain in the lymph nodes, arthralgia, enlarged spleen, damage to the pulmonary vessels and skin. In addition, the patient suffers from pain in the liver area.
• Cytolysis syndrome. Hepatocytes die due to damage to their walls and membranes. This condition occurs as a result of infectious diseases of viral origin, the influence of toxic substances, and starvation. Cytolytic syndrome can be determined using a laboratory blood test. This takes into account the concentration of the following indicators: transaminase, total bilirubin, iron, ALT (alanine aminotransferase), AST (aspartate aminotransferase).

Cytolytic syndrome is accompanied by cirrhosis, hepatitis, and cancer of the gland. Then the patient complains of a feeling of discomfort, aching pain in the liver.

• Cholestasis is a pathology characterized by a decrease or cessation of the outflow of liver secretions into the duodenum. The disease is manifested by jaundice, itchy skin, plaques on the upper eyelids, skin pigmentation, discoloration of feces and darkening of urine. With this disease, a dull, pressing and squeezing painful syndrome occurs.
• Portal hypertension is a syndrome in which the pressure in the portal vein system increases due to circulatory disorders. The disease occurs due to mechanical damage, cancer, cirrhosis, vascular pathologies, chronic hepatitis, helminthiasis, etc. At an early stage, the pathology is manifested by dyspeptic disorders, pain on the right under the ribs, and bloating. In the second stage, the spleen swells and esophageal varicose veins begin to develop. In the third phase, ascites, swelling, and subcutaneous bleeding are observed. Portal hypertension is complicated by internal bleeding and digestive system disorders.
• Liver failure syndrome is a pathology in which hepatocytes are replaced by connective tissue. With dystrophy, liver cells are unable to perform their functions. Hepatic cell failure is manifested by increased body temperature, weight loss, jaundice, bleeding under the skin, redness of the skin of the palms, etc. Severe liver failure should be treated by a qualified specialist.

If you suspect one of the syndromes described above, you should consult a doctor. The attending physician will clarify the diagnosis and prescribe appropriate therapy.

Symptoms of hepatitis

As mentioned earlier, hepatitis is a group of diseases that affect the human liver. The clinical picture for these ailments differs depending on the origin:

• Hepatitis types A and E are accompanied by general poisoning, weakness, headache, fever, nausea and vomiting. In addition, the diseases are manifested by hepatomegaly, heaviness in the liver area, jaundice, and changes in the color of stool.
• The disease caused by the HBs virus, when hepatitis becomes chronic, is manifested by the following symptoms: general weakness, dyspepsia, pain on the right side under the ribs, jaundice, hemorrhages. In addition, the liver and spleen enlarge.
• Hepatitis type C does not show symptoms for a long time. At the same time, liver cells are degenerated and functional disorders of the gland appear.

The clinical picture of hepatitis depends on the origin of the pathology

All hepatitis manifests itself as pain only in the later stages.

Actions for liver pain

Patients who have pain in the liver are concerned about what to do when this symptom occurs. It is strictly forbidden to endure painful sensations, as they indicate a severe pathology of the organ. In this case, you should visit a gastroenterologist.

If pain occurs, you should seek medical help

If the patient is not sure that it is the liver that is hurting, then you need to visit a therapist. The doctor will conduct a comprehensive diagnosis and prescribe laboratory tests. If necessary, a specialist will conduct instrumental studies. If the pain is caused by liver disease, the patient will be referred to a hepatologist or infectious disease specialist (for hepatitis of viral origin). If neoplasms are found in the gland, then it is necessary to visit an oncologist. The patient may have to consult a neurologist, dermatologist, hematologist, or endocrinologist.

After making a diagnosis, a nutritionist will help you create a menu, because proper nutrition for liver diseases is an important point in therapy. If you have an alcohol-related organ disease, you should visit a narcologist. In case of dangerous complications, for example, in case of hemorrhages from esophageal veins damaged by varicose veins, a consultation with a surgeon is necessary. When clarifying the diagnosis, diagnostic specialists (endoscopist, ultrasound doctor) play an important role.

Thus, liver diseases that are accompanied by pain threaten dangerous complications. Therefore, you should immediately seek medical help. The patient must follow a diet, lead a healthy lifestyle and take medications prescribed by the doctor.

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