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Fatty liver, causes and symptoms

2023-10-13 14:55:00, Shëndeti Ilir Allkja

Fatty liver means that you have extra fat in your liver, which replaces its normal cells. Your doctor calls it hepatic steatosis.

This disease makes it difficult for your liver to work, since the fat cells do not perform any function, instead they cause damage. Fatty liver disease has serious health consequences, which can be fatal.

There are two different types of fatty liver:

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: This is a very serious liver injury that is not related to alcohol use, and means that you have inflammation in the liver. The causes can be metabolic, infectious, toxic, etc. The inflammation and damage to liver cells that occurs in nonalcoholic steatosis can cause serious problems such as fibrosis, cirrhosis, and even liver cancer. About 20% of people with nonalcoholic steatosis develop cirrhosis of the liver, which is its dramatic development.

Nonalcoholic steatosis usually has no symptoms. Some people may have symptoms such as chronic fatigue or pain in the upper right part of the abdomen where your liver is located.

If non-alcoholic steatosis has developed or you have cirrhosis, you may have symptoms such as:

- Abdominal bloating.

- Dilated blood vessels under your skin

- Breasts larger than normal in men

- Abnormal redness of the palms of the hands.

- Yellowing of the skin and eyes.

- Alcoholic steatohepatitis: Alcohol-related fatty liver disease is preventable, quite simply: stop drinking alcohol. If you continue to drink, alcoholic steatosis progresses causing serious problems.

- Enlargement of the liver. It doesn't always cause symptoms, but you may have pain or discomfort in the upper right side of your abdomen.

- Alcoholic hepatitis. This is swelling in the liver that can cause fever, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes).

- Alcoholic cirrhosis. This is a buildup of fibrous tissue in your liver.

- Accumulation of fluids in large quantities in your abdomen (ascites).

- High blood pressure in the liver

- Bleeding without cause in your body

- Mental confusion and behavioral changes.

- Decreased ability to work.

- Enlarged spleen

- Destruction of the liver, which is fatal

Causes and Risk Factors

- Consumption of alcohol.

- Obesity

- Environmental pollution

- Malnutrition.

- Viral hepatitis, especially hepatitis C.

- Inheritance

- Long-term use of drugs, including antibiotics.

- Age, the more you advance, the more the chances of hepatic steatosis increase.

In my work as a doctor, patients with serious liver damage often mention to me their relatives or friends who have consumed heavy alcohol, but have no liver damage.

I am mentioning some of the reasons why exactly you develop alcoholic or non-alcoholic steatosis, and others do not:

- You are overweight or obese

- Your body does not respond to insulin properly (called insulin resistance) or you have type 2 diabetes

- You have high levels of triglycerides or "bad" cholesterol (LDL), or low levels of "good" cholesterol (HDL).

- You may be older.

- You may have polycystic ovary syndrome

- You may have sleep apnea

- You may have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)

- You have an underactive pituitary gland (hypopituitarism)

- You are malnourished

- You have lost weight rapidly

- You may have been exposed to certain toxins and chemicals