Cirrhosis

The Hidden Disease of the Middle-Aged

Ailments of the liver are on the rise, but many people aren’t even aware they’re at risk.

Cannabis Beer Could Save Drinkers From Cirrhosis Of The Liver

Death by cirrhosis is not quick and painless. This scarring of the largest major organ in the human body causes of wealth of unsavory health complications before it actually kills. Loss of muscle mass, scrotal swelling and breathing difficulties are just the tip of this cold-blooded iceberg from hell. Without a transplant, a patient in stage 4 is doomed to suffer the atrocious nature of this inevitable death sentence.

More Americans Are Dying of Cirrhosis and Liver Cancer

Death rates from both diseases have risen sharply, particularly among young adults over the last decade. A possible villain: the Great Recession.

Movement toward a stool test for liver cirrhosis

In a study of people with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and their twins and other close relatives, researchers were able to diagnose liver cirrhosis simply by analyzing a person's stool microbes.

Young Adults Are Increasingly Dying of Alcohol-Related Liver Disease

Muir suggests that while researchers have focused on hepatitis C and fatty liver disease, alcohol-related cirrhosis poses a more difficult challenge—in part because it’s preventable, but requires not just new treatments, but changing behaviors.

Britain faces a liver disease 'epidemic'

As rates of cirrhosis rise sharply in younger people, the government faces renewed calls for alcohol controls.

How to Tell if Your Liver is Screwed

Let's put down the IPA and assess the damage.

How Your Daily Cup Of Coffee Could Be Saving Your Liver

Coffee drinkers can always use one more reason to keep our habit humming, so how does preserving the function of a major organ sound? The organ is the all-important liver, filtration central for everything that goes into our bodies. And it seems coffee, and quite possibly tea, may protect the liver from prematurely hardening and scaring from the punishment we put it through.

Russia is quite literally drinking itself to death

It’s difficult to overstate how serious Russia’s alcohol problem is. More than 30% of all deaths in Russia in 2012 were attributable to alcohol, according to WHO data crunched by the OECD. That’s by far the highest among the nations it tracked. Russian drinkers die a variety of deaths. Alcohol poisoning. Cirrhosis. Accidents. Suicide.

What My Father Didn't Know About Liver Damage Could Save Your Life

In the '90s, little was known about his condition, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Today, doctors know that certain steps can prevent, manage or even reverse liver damage. But what my father didn't know could save your life.

Why Coffee Is Good For Many Hispanics' Health

Are you a Hispanic? Do you like coffee? Well good news, your fondness for that “cup of joe” can be showing you liver some love. Drinking 2 or more cups of coffee daily could reduce an individual’s risk of death from liver cirrhosis (liver scarring) by as much as 66 percent...

Why Women Who Don’t Drink Can Still Get Cirrhosis

You might think that men are more likely to develop cirrhosis than women because they drink alcoholic beverages much more often than women. But women actually are at higher risk of developing cirrhosis — even when they drink only half the amount of alcohol men drink.

9 Risks Factors For Liver Disease (Besides Alcohol)

Our liver has the important role of acting as our body's filtration system, and while many of us have joked around that drinking too much is slowly ruining our organ, there are several other factors that can also do serious damage.

Healing Liver Cirrhosis

This blog was created to help other people who have cirrhosis, and help their loved ones as well.

Life After Diagnosis

There are a lot of things that you can do to fight this disease. Just don’t ever give up. You will have bad days. We all do. But you will also have good days. That’s just how life works with our without illness.

The Real Life

My journey living with cirrhosis to transplant.

American Liver Foundation

Cirrhosis is caused by chronic (long-term) liver diseases that damage liver tissue. It can take many years for liver damage to lead to cirrhosis.

GI.org

There are several known risk factors for developing cirrhosis. The most common risk factors are: ◾Excess alcohol use – regular consumption of more than 1-2 alcoholic beverage a day for women or 2-3 alcoholic beverages a day for men over a long period of time can lead to liver cirrhosis. Patients with other risk factors for liver disease may develop cirrhosis with even less regular alcohol use. ◾Infection with viral hepatitis – while not all patients who have chronic infection with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) or the hepatitis C virus (HCV) will develop cirrhosis, chronic viral hepatitis is one of the leading causes of liver disease in the world. ◾Obesity and Diabetes – obesity and diabetes are both risk factors for a form of liver injury known as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Over time NASH can lead to significant liver injury and cirrhosis. Not all patients with obesity or diabetes will develop NASH, but given the obesity epidemic in the United States, NASH is predicted to become the leading cause of cirrhosis in the future (as the number of cases of viral hepatitis declines).

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Causes of cirrhosis include •heavy alcohol use •some drugs, medicines, and harmful chemicals •infections •chronic hepatitis B, C, or D—viral infections that attack the liver •autoimmune hepatitis, which causes the body’s immune system to destroy liver cells •nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, which is often caused by obesity •diseases that damage or destroy bile ducts—tubes that carry bile from the liver

CDC

Fast stats.

MedicineNet

Alcohol and viral hepatitis B and C are common causes of cirrhosis, although there are many other causes.

MedlinePlus

Cirrhosis is the end result of chronic liver damage caused by chronic liver disease. Common causes of chronic liver disease in the United States are: •Hepatitis B or C infection •Alcohol abuse Less common causes of cirrhosis include: •Autoimmune hepatitis •Bile duct disorders •Some medicines •Hereditary diseases •Other liver diseases, such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)

NHS

There are usually few symptoms in the early stages of cirrhosis. However, as your liver loses its ability to function properly, you're likely to experience a loss of appetite, nausea and itchy skin. In the later stages, symptoms can include jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes), vomiting blood, dark, tarry-looking stools and a build-up of fluid in the legs (oedema) and abdomen (ascites).

Patient

Cirrhosis is a diffuse hepatic process characterised by fibrosis and the conversion of normal liver architecture into structurally abnormal nodules. Cirrhosis represents the final histological pathway for a wide variety of liver diseases. The progression to cirrhosis is very variable and may occur over weeks or many years. Around 80-90% of the liver parenchyma needs to be destroyed before there are clinical signs of liver failure. However, there is often a poor correlation between the histological findings and the clinical picture.