Liver pain has a variety of causes; there are types of liver pain that are temporary and not permanent. Reading this article will add to your information about liver pain.
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Anatomy of the liver
The liver is the largest and heaviest gland in the body. A healthy liver is essential for human survival and life would be impossible without a healthy liver.
This vital organ is located on the right side of the body, above the abdomen and below the ribs. The liver has more than five hundred functions; one of them is to prepare absorbed food from the gastrointestinal tract and the other to refine the substances in the bloodstream.
The liver produces many of the body’s proteins and many of the essential nutrients in the immune system.
Pain in the liver
Liver pain can be understood in several qualities:
- Stabbing pain that can cause shortness of breath
- Liver pain may spread to the right shoulder and back
- Sometimes it is perceived as slow and vague
- Sometimes the nature of liver pain can be throbbing.
In addition to liver pain, other symptoms of liver dysfunction such as swelling of the legs, jaundice of the skin and sclera, nausea and vomiting, and decreased level of consciousness and hepatic coma will also occur.
Symptoms of liver problems
If liver function is impaired, in addition to liver pain, any of the following may be present:
- Your urine may darken and your stools may become light or even white
- You will suffer from fatigue due to disorders of your metabolism
- Your appetite decreases
- Your sclera and eyes become amber
- Pervasive itching of the skin that does not respond to common treatments
- Swelling of the joints (especially the ankles) and abdomen (Abdominal swelling due to liver disorders and any factor that upsets the balance of blood proteins is called ascites.)
- Decreased consciousness, etc.
In advanced cases, liver failure will occur.
What are the causes of temporary liver pain?
It is said that cirrhosis of the liver (the last stage of functional failure of the liver is called cirrhosis); it can cause pain in the liver area. The characteristics of this liver pain are:
- throbbing pain
- stabbing pain
- Pain in the liver in cirrhosis can be the nature of comes and goes (?)!!!!!!!!!!
So cirrhosis, for whatever reason, will be the most common cause of liver pain with the comes and goes nature. (?!)
Liver tissue contains pain-sensitive receptors. If there is inflammation in the tissue or any of the structural components of the liver, it causes swelling at the site and thus puts pressure on the nerves spread in the liver tissue and causes pain in the affected person. They will have liver problems.
Among the causes of liver damage and inflammation are the following:
- Viral hepatitis:
Common hepatitis viruses include types A, B, and C. These viruses cause inflammation in the liver.
Following inflammation, swelling of the liver tissue, and pressure on the nerves inside the liver tissue, a person with viral hepatitis develops pain in the upper right abdomen. B and C viruses, if left untreated, can eventually lead to liver failure and cirrhosis.
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver:
In obese people, people with diabetes, or people with high blood fats, the liver loses its normal function.
Fatty liver can cause blurred pain on the right side of the upper abdomen, sometimes causing diffuse abdominal pain.
- Alcoholic hepatitis:
People, who drink high amounts of alcohol, develop inflammation of the liver tissue due to alcohol toxin damage, which is called alcoholic hepatitis.
Weight loss and loss of appetite with fatigue and tenderness of the abdomen and liver area to the touch and pressure are clinical signs and symptoms of alcoholic hepatitis that can eventually lead to liver cirrhosis and pain that comes and goes.
- Liver abscesses:
Liver abscesses are bags full of infection that are caused by a bacterial, parasitic or fungal infection of the liver. If there is a liver abscess, the volume of the upper right part of the abdomen increases and becomes sensitive to touch. Having fever, shivering and pain is possible
- Liver cysts:
The sacs are full of fluid that is not usually infected. The presence of liver cysts with an increase in the contents of the abdomen causes you to feel full early. Sometimes liver cysts suddenly bleed; they are usually accompanied by sudden and severe pain that is felt in the liver area and spreads to the right shoulder
Budd–Chiari syndrome:
In this syndrome, a clot forms spontaneously inside the veins that drain blood from the liver, followed by congestion inside the liver (felt as swelling in the liver area), pain (there may also be abdominal pain), sensitivity to touch occurs in the area of the liver and mild jaundice and ascites.
- Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndromes:
It is actually a bacterial infection that causes inflammation around the liver (perihepatitis), especially in women for unknown reasons. This syndrome is accompanied by sudden pain in the liver area with fever and chills and a feeling of sickness and boredom.
- Liver damage:
Accidents, falls from heights and sometimes direct blows to the abdomen can cause bleeding in the liver, which is accompanied by pain in the liver and the entire abdomen. Sometimes failure to treat internal liver bleeding in time leads to shock and loss of the patient.
- Liver cancers:
Early stages of liver cancer in advanced stages as well as metastases of other tumors to the liver cause pain in the liver area by spreading to the right shoulder and sometimes the entire abdomen. People with liver cancer are thin and feel very unwell and weak.
- Gallstones:
If gallstones block the bile ducts of the liver, the person will suddenly have pain in the upper right side of the abdomen, called a “gallbladder attack “. If these symptoms are not treated, more serious complications can occur.
From the above mentioned factors that are not treated and lead to liver failure and cirrhosis, cause pain in the liver area that comes and goes.
If you suffer from liver pain after eating a fatty and bulky meal or consuming a lot of alcohol, it is better to avoid fatty foods for a few days, do not drink alcohol and sit straight to relieve pressure on your liver. If the pain persists, it is necessary to see a doctor.
When to see a doctor?
If your liver pain is accompanied by one or more of the following symptoms, it is best to see a doctor as soon as possible:
- loss of appetite
- weight loss
- Feeling weak and tired
- Yellowing of the skin and sclera of the eye
- resistant Itchy skin
- Dark urine and light stools
Dizziness, drowsiness, and eventually loss of consciousness and hepatic coma occur in advanced stages of liver failure.