Liver Disease: Common Symptoms

Liver disease has many different causes, but the symptoms can be vague and often undetectable until liver disease has caused significant damage. This is why doctors recommend having regular tests performed on the liver to make sure that everything is healthy. Liver disease can be a tricky illness because it shares symtoms with several other diseases, and a delayed diagnosis can mean the difference between a positive and negative prognosis.

The intial symptom of liver disease is fatigue, which is, of course, fairly common in itself. Patients will notice a significant drop in energy, and may have difficulty getting out of bed. Patients with liver disease also notice a marked heaviness in the arms and legs, as though there are weights tied to both.

As the disease progresses untreated, patients with liver disease may begin to develop jaundice, which is a disease that affects the gall bladder, and will change the color of the skin from healthy to a sickly yellow, and may give the face a “sunken” appearance.

Appetite is another significant red flag that liver disease may be present in the body. The loss of the desire to eat will become apparent fairly quickly after liver disease sets in, and patients will have difficulty gaining or maintaining weight. Although it is not universally true, the patient with liver disease may also experience nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Liver disease can also cause a mild anemia.

Patients with liver disease have a more difficult time producing bile, which will make the stool light colored – a gray or very light tan color. This might also be true of vomit, though it is not the case in all occurances of liver disease. The patient may also experience distention of the stomach because of the gases that build up in the digestive tract, though in women it is almost the same as the bloating that occurs during menstruation.

Labored or pained breathing is another symptom of liver disease.

As with diabetes, patients may experience polyuria and polydypsia, which are increases in both urination and thirst. Patients with liver disease can never seem to quench their thirst, and they may use the restroom upwards of thirty times each day. This is because the liver is not filtering waste as it should, and the body doesn’t understand why it is not receiving proper nutrition.

Symptoms of Liver Cancer:

– significant weight loss
– decreased appetite
– moderate to severe abdominal pain
– nausea and/or vomiting
– fatigue
– accumulation of excess fluid in the abdomen
– an inflamed liver

An abnormally high level of blood pressure in the portal veins – called portal hypertension – may also be present, but this is discovered through blood tests and not by symptoms. However, patients with liver disease and who experience portal hypertension may experience bloody vomit or stool.

Patients who have liver disease caused by alcoholism will have all of the above symptoms, but may also have mood swings and other emotional changes through the course of the disease.