Cirrhosis

Cirrhosis

       Cirrhosis is the liver disease in which your liver cells turn from smooth, red and filled with blood into scarred and useless versions of themselves. If the liver cannot function, it will not fulfill its duties, such as filtering any harmful substances from your system and tagging them accordingly, so as to avoid their return into the bloodstream. Also, your liver has an essential digestive role, generating bile, which helps in the decomposition of the food you ingest into simpler substances that your body can use.

Liver cirrhosis

       While there are many variations of this disease, liver cirrhosis is the most common one. It is not as spectacular as primary biliary cirrhosis and not as deadly as cryptogenic cirrhosis, in stead being the only one with a 20 year life expectancy rate. It can be caused by alcohol abuse over long periods of time, by mutant genes or even hepatic viruses. The treatment offers only the alleviation of symptoms and not a cure, since the damage done to the liver cells is irreparable after a certain point.

        ...read more about liver cirrhosis: Liver cirrhosis

Primary biliary cirrhosis

       Everything is disputed about this type of cirrhosis: from its name, contested because cirrhosis itself appears in the final stages of this disease, to its cause, still a mystery to some. Primary biliary cirrhosis will simply destroy your bile flow by either clogging the bile ducts or rupturing them. It is a strange form of cirrhosis, and one that seldom responds to the same treatments as classical cirrhosis in its early stages simply because it does not turn into the feared liver disease until later, when the bile ducts are already done for.

        ...read more about primary biliary cirrhosis: Primary biliary cirrhosis

Cirrhosis symptoms

        ...read more about Cirrhosis symptoms: Cirrhosis symptoms

       Cirrhosis symptoms are a strange gathering of all sorts of things that could or could not indicate only and strictly cirrhosis, ranging from the physical to the psychological. Usually, they are described in order of appearance, making sure that everyone understands the gravity of certain ones, like digestive tract bleeding and high fever.
However, the most common are:

• fatigue: it slowly creeps by you, making you think you are just stressed or that you simply lack sleep. Once it is all settled in, you discover that you cannot lose the feeling of permanent tiredness;
• nausea and lack of appetite: because of the imbalance in your organism, your digestive system stops working properly, thus refusing you the opportunity to eat without being forced or without feeling nauseous;
• weight loss: this is, of course, an immediate consequence of the nausea and the lack of appetite. It is an obvious loss of weight, over a rather short period of time. Be careful, this is not your diet working. This is your liver telling you it is in trouble.
• ascites (the accumulation of liquid inside your joints, your legs and even your abdominal cavity), jaundice (the yellowing of some patches of your skin) and excoriations (small wounds on the surface of your skin, easily treatable);
• lack of focus, disorientation and changes in personality, all of them due to a modification in the body's chemistry.

Alcoholic cirrhosis

       Just like the name suggests, the cause of this specific type of cirrhosis is alcohol abuse. It is the only form of cirrhosis that could be called "self - induced" and the only one that can be more or less stopped in the middle of its evolution if the patient stops drinking immediately. Unfortunately, that seldom happens, since an alcoholic will not stop on his or hers own and he or she will certainly not do it unaided. If you wish to get help, first you must admit to having a problem and then you can ask for assistance from one of the many Alcoholic Anonymous associations out there.

        You have to remember that if you wish for your cirrhosis to even stand a chance at being properly treated, there is no safe amount of alcohol for you to drink ever again. Also, the fact that you have been an alcoholic almost always makes you unsuitable for a liver transplant, which could be your last chance of survival.

Cryptogenic cirrhosis

       Cryptogenic cirrhosis is an odd one. It is the only cirrhosis with absolutely no identifiable cause. At least, until now. It appears suddenly and it has the same symptoms as any kind of cirrhosis. It simply cannot be foreseen. There are some researchers out there that postulate that the cause of cryptogenic cirrhosis is nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), but that is not even theoretically proved so far. You just have to wait for the answer to this mystery.

        ...read more about Cryptogenic cirrhosis: Cryptogenic cirrhosis

Hepatic cirrhosis

       Known as classical cirrhosis, it was the first one to be discovered and to be described clinically. Hepatic cirrhosis symptoms were the ones that established the basis for all the others and the drugs that it responded to are surely included into the common treatment for cirrhosis and its complications.

Cirrhosis treatment

       Cirrhosis treatment has one purpose and one alone: it has to be able to stop the furthering of the damage of the liver cells. If it cannot stop it, it must slow it down at least. That can or cannot be possible, depending on the type of cirrhosis that you have or the illness stage that you are in. A well rounded cirrhosis treatment is customized to each sufferers needs, trying to change the way they live and even the way they think and act in relation to their bodies. It is comprised of three steps:

• initial treatment: once you are diagnosed with cirrhosis, you must at once start a specific diet and stop drinking immediately.
• ongoing treatment: your attending physician will recommend you either diuretic medicines, such as furosemide, to eliminate the excess fluid that has accumulated into your abdominal cavity and joints or antibiotics, such as ciprofloxacin, if you develop an infection.
• the final step is one of ultimate resorts: liver transplant is attempted only if your life truly depends on it and if you are suitable for it.

        ...read more about Cirrhosis treatment: Cirrhosis treatment

Cirrhosis skin and cirrhosis diet

       There are two major cirrhosis signs that show up on your skin: spider veins (the sudden appearance of venules under your skin due to the dilatation of the walls of the blood vessels) and palmer or plantar erythema (a reddening and deadening of the upper epidermis of your palms or soles). One consequence of already installed cirrhosis is jaundice, an affliction that manifests itself by yellowing certain portions of your skin and changing their texture. A cirrhosis diet is no different than any kind of diet, if maybe a little stricter. However, you must keep in mind that when you consume salt - less foods, more proteins and carbohydrates and stop the drinking, you working towards saving your life, not your figure.

Causes of cirrhosis and cirrhosis life expectancy

       Cirrhosis causes extend from the unavoidable, like a mutated gene or a virus (usually the virus of hepatitis B or C) to the very avoidable, like alcohol. You must keep in mind that if you have a close relative that has suffered from any kind of liver disease, you too could have a problem with the same gene. Also, if you have had transfusions or unprotected sexual intercourse lately, you should go and get yourself checked for a number of illnesses, one of which is cirrhosis. The life expectancy in cirrhosis is not as grime as you could think, but not exactly stellar either. Depending on the type of cirrhosis you have and the way you take care of yourself, you could live with it for 10 up to 20 years.