Thursday, March 28, 2024

Can Fatty Liver Cause Extreme Fatigue

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Upper Right Abdominal Pain

Fatty Liver, Causes, Signs and Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment.

Patients in both the early and late stages of fatty liver disease typically notice upper right abdominal pain. The liver is located in this area, and the pain often begins as a dull ache that comes and goes. Some patients have described it as a sensation of fullness, and the pain may also radiate to the center of the abdomen. In the later stages of fatty liver disease, the pain becomes more severe, and patients might notice a loss of appetite or vomiting.

To assess upper right abdominal pain, doctors will normally begin with a physical examination of the entire abdomen. First, they will listen to the abdomen with a stethoscope to detect bowel sounds, and they might then tap over certain areas. This can be useful in estimating the size of the liver itself. Next, the doctor will press deeply in all quadrants of the abdomen to check for masses, pain, or swelling. Since upper right abdominal pain could indicate several serious conditions, imaging studies are often used to assist in the diagnostic process.

How Are Fatty Liver Disease And Liver Fibrosis Diagnosed And Evaluated

Your doctor will begin by asking you about your medical history and symptoms. You will also undergo a physical exam.

In order to diagnose FLD and liver fibrosis, your doctor may order blood tests to evaluate liver function, including tests to assess the level of the liver enzymes ALT and AST, which can be high when the liver is fatty.

Your doctor may also order imaging tests of the liver such as:

Types Of Fatty Liver Disease

Health care providers divide fatty liver disease into two types. If you just have fat but no damage to your liver, the disease is called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease . If you have fat in your liver plus signs of inflammation and liver cell damage, the disease is called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis .

About 10% to 20% of Americans have NAFLD. About 2% to 5% have NASH.

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Acute Fatty Liver Of Pregnancy

Acute fatty liver of pregnancy is when excess fat builds up in the liver during pregnancy. Its a rare but serious pregnancy complication. The exact cause is unknown, although genetics may be a reason.

When AFLP develops, it usually appears in the third trimester of pregnancy. If left untreated, it poses serious health risks to the mother and baby.

If your doctor diagnoses AFLP, they will want to deliver your baby as soon as possible. You might need to receive follow-up care for several days after you give birth.

Your liver health will likely return to normal within a few weeks of giving birth.

Can Liver Problems Cause Mental Problems

10 Symptoms of Fatty Liver Disease

Hepatic encephalopathy starts when your liver gets damaged from a disease youve had a long time, like chronic hepatitis, Reyes syndrome, or cirrhosis. It doesnt work right anymore, and toxins get into your bloodstream and travel to your brain. They build up there and cause the mental and physical symptoms of HE.

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How To Reverse Fatty Liver

1. You can reverse fatty liver by adopting a diet that includes lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins like greek yogurt, chicken, turkey, shrimp, lean beef, lean pork, and whole grains like oats, rye, whole wheat pasta, and wild rice. All of these healthy categories of foods help to reverse fatty liver.

2. If you want to reverse fatty liver, its also a must that you stop drinking sugary-sodas or sugar-sweetened beverages, avoid alcohol, and reduce the amount of processed foods in your diet. Reducing your intake of white flour, white pasta, white rice, and dessert items like cookies, cakes, doughnuts, and pies will also help you avoid developing insulin resistance, which is the primary cause of fatty liver.

3. Exercise is not only good for your mood, your heart, your blood vessels, and your overall health, its good for reversing fatty liver too. Exercising 3 times per week for 45 minutes to an hour can reduce the amount of fat in your liver in just 8 weeks.

4. Losing just 7% of your body weight which if you weigh 200 pounds would be around 14 pounds-can begin to reverse your fatty liver.

The Most Effective Fatty Liver Treatment: Lifestyle Changes

The good news is that the most effective treatment so far for fatty liver disease does not involve medications, but rather lifestyle changes. The bad news is that these are typically hard to achieve and maintain for many people. Heres what we know helps:

  • Lose weight. Weight loss of roughly 5% of your body weight might be enough to improve abnormal liver tests and decrease the fat in the liver. Losing between 7% and 10% of body weight seems to decrease the amount of inflammation and injury to liver cells, and it may even reverse some of the damage of fibrosis. Target a gradual weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week, as very rapid weight loss may worsen inflammation and fibrosis. You may want to explore the option of weight loss surgery with your doctor, if you arent making any headway with weight loss and your health is suffering.
  • It appears that aerobic exercisealso leads to decreased fat in the liver, and with vigorous intensity, possibly also decreased inflammation independent of weight loss.
  • Eat well. Some studies suggest that the Mediterranean diet may also decrease the fat in the liver. This nutrition plan emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, replacing butter with olive or canola oil, limiting red meat, and eating more fish and lean poultry.
  • Drink coffee, maybe? Some studies showed that patients with NAFLD who drank coffee had a decreased risk in fibrosis. However, take into consideration the downsides of regular caffeine intake.

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Fatty Liver Disease Risk Factors

People who are overweight, obese, have diabetes or metabolic syndrome are more likely to develop NASH. Fatty liver disease is becoming more common in the United States. Fatty liver affects over 80 million people in the U.S. or about 25% of the country. Itâs one of the most common causes of cirrhosis of the liver.

Excess fat in the liver can also be caused by excessive alcohol use, certain medications, or inherited liver disease.

Clinical Assessment Of Fatigue

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Risk Factors, Symptoms (ex. Fatigue), Treatment (ex. Coffee)

Understanding and then managing fatigue in CLD is dependent on our ability to quantify what is a complex and difficult to vocalise symptom in a way that is both valid and reproducible. There are three broad approaches to the assessment of any symptom. These are the use of subjective measures , objective measures and impact measures . In the context of fatigue in CLD the three categories are: fatigue impact scores, physical activity monitoring, and higher QOL or functional status assessment tools. In terms of fatigue assessment tools, the Fatigue Impact Score has been validated for patient self-completion and is widely used., This approach has the advantage of allowing cross-disease comparison. Disease-specific measures such as the PBC-40 may offer greater sensitivity but are limited in terms of their availability.

Objective measurement of physical activity is in reality an indirect measure of fatigue. It must be remembered that there are confounding factors in chronic disease which are unrelated to fatigue but which cause reduced activity. Perceived fatigue levels can be very high in motivated patients who strive to keep active and thus retain high levels of activity, a scenario that can lead to under-estimation of their symptoms. Physical activity monitoring has been done in PBC and NASH and correlates well with perceived fatigue,, but has limited application other than in the clinical trial setting when objective outcome measures have a particular value.

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Pathophysiology Of Fatigue In Liver Disease

The pathogenesis of fatigue in general is poorly understood and this holds true for fatigue in the setting of liver disease . However, given that altered neurotransmission within the CNS drives central fatigue, and that central fatigue is the predominant issue in the setting of liver disease, any discussion of the possible etiology of fatigue in the context of liver disease must relate to these potential changes in neurotransmission within the brain . Therefore, the discussion of the pathophysiology of fatigue in liver disease must incorporate two main concepts:

  • How does the diseased or damaged liver communicate with the brain to cause changes in neurotransmission?

  • What specific changes in neurotransmission occur within the brain as a result of this communication, and how do these changes give rise to the genesis of central fatigue?

  • Moreover, this discussion must also be placed in the context that fatigue in patients with liver disease is manifest in the setting of a diagnosis often holding an uncertain outcome and often associated with societal taboos. Therefore, the diagnosis of chronic liver disease encompasses complex interactions among biological, psychosocial and behavioural processes, which can all significantly affect the clinical expression of fatigue in a given patient.

    Who Is At The Greatest Risk For Liver Failure

    People most at risk for liver failure include those who:

    • Have the chronic liver infections Hepatitis B or C
    • Drink or have drunk alcohol excessively
    • Have preexisting or acquired medical conditions that make liver failure more likely, such as hemochromatosis , non-alcoholic fatty liver disease , autoimmune disease and Wilson disease .

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    Possible Fatigue Biomarkers/biomarker Signatures

    Current clinical and translational research has led to discussions about possible endpoints for treatment trials and clinical outcomes in managing fatigue. There is interest in the research community to develop objective measures, biomarkers or biomarker signatures for self-reports. According to the National Institutes of Health, a biomarker is a defined characteristic that is measured as an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes or responses to an exposure or in-tervention, including therapeutic interventions. A biomarker signature is a combination of multiple variables to yield a patient-specific indicator of normal biological processes or responses to an exposure or intervention including therapeutic interventions. Biomarker modalities are diverse, and can include genetic, protein, cellular, metabolomics, imaging, behavioral, and physiologic endpoints.

    It is likely that a combination of these measures will need to be configured in order to identify endpoints for clinical trials of fatigue and may serve as treatment targets to better manage the symptom.

    How Many People Have Fatty Liver

    Fatty Liver: Causes, Symptoms, and Diagnosis

    Around 20% of the US population suffers from non-alcoholic fatty liver and this number is going up. Children can even develop fatty liver-and lots of fat storage right around the midsection or belly area is a clue this may be happening to your childs liver.

    This type of fatty liver is similar to the fatty liver that can develop with excess alcohol intake. Excessive alcohol intake can destroy and inflame liver tissue in a similar way as non-alcoholic fatty liver-though the non-alcoholic form of fatty liver is the most common cause of chronic liver disease in the developed world.

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    Stages Of Fatty Liver

    Fatty liver can progress through 4 stages.

    Simple Fatty liver: There is a build-up of excess fat in the liver.

    Steatohepatitis: In addition to excess fat, there is inflammation in your liver.

    Fibrosis: Inflammation in the liver, due to scarring.

    Cirrhosis: Scarring in the liver that has become widespread.

    Cirrhosis is a potentially life-threatening condition that can cause liver failure. This is why it is important to prevent it from developing.

    To help stop it from progressing and causing complications, follow your doctors treatment plan.

    What Is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

    Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis . It primarily affects young adults and resembles a prolonged flu-like illness. By definition, the symptoms must be present for at least six months before it can be labelled as chronic fatigue syndrome. Estimates are that around 2 to 4 in a thousand people may have CFS and approximately two thirds of people who get it, are women.

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    How Does Liver Disease Affect Memory And Thinking

    As liver disease progresses, the toxins that a healthy liver should be removing from the blood instead travel to the brain and impact its ability to function normally, think clearly, and remember information. Fortunately, this cause of memory loss is treatable. HE can affect both cognitive and physical abilities.

    Symptoms Of Liver Damage

    Adrenal Fatigue Could be a Liver Problem
  • Bruising & Bleeding The liver produces protein factors necessary for clotting, so when liver function begins to fail, increased bruising and bleeding may be noticed.
  • Digestive Problems The liver plays a critical role in breaking down fats and carbohydrates . When the liver is not functioning properly, digestive complaints begin to surface, including nausea, diarrhea, constipation, and reflux. Irritable Bowel Syndrome may also be a sign of liver function decline.
  • Spare Tire When the liver is overcome with sugar that the body cannot burn, the liver converts this energy into glycogen, and stores it as fat. This fat tends to accumulate in the upper abdominal area, giving the appearance of the spare tire or liver roll, which is a roll of fat around the upper abdomen.
  • Swelling & Pain Swelling, bloating, pain or itching in the right, upper quadrant of the abdomen may be a sign of damage in the liver. Unexplained lumps in this area may indicate a tumor or cancer.
  • Gallbladder Problems Gallstones and gallbladder disease may be a symptom of a larger problem, as liver disease is the inability to tolerate fatty foods.
  • Jaundice Bilirubin, which creates the yellowing of eyes and skin, is produced when the liver breaks down old red blood cells and cannot properly divert bilirubin into the intestines for removal. When this happens, the stool becomes pale and the urine becomes dark as the kidneys attempt to remove the excess bilirubin from the body.
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    Causes Of Fatty Liver Disease

    Eating excess calories causes fat to build up in the liver. When the liver does not process and break down fats as it normally should, too much fat will accumulate. People tend to develop fatty liver if they have certain other conditions, such as obesity, diabetes or high triglycerides.Alcohol abuse, rapid weight loss and malnutrition may also lead to fatty liver. However, some people develop fatty liver even if they have none of these conditions.

    Causes Of Fatty Liver Disease Remedy For Fatty Liver

    Causes of Fatty Liver Disease is a result of excess deposits on the liver, which prevent it from functioning normally. The result? You are likely to experience poor digestion, weakness, weight loss and, in extreme cases, death! Learning about Fatty Liver causes and symptoms can help you take the right action early and save your life!

    But before that, you need to know that there are two types of Fatty Liver Disease Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease .

    In this article, we shall discuss the causes and symptoms of fatty liver of both these types, to gain a thorough understanding of the problem.

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    Remedies For Excess Gas

    • Take a good liver tonic like LivaTone to support better production of bile. This will also help the liver to break down toxins, so the bile that enters the small intestines is healthier.
    • Take our Super Digestive Enzymes two capsules before each meal. These really are ‘super’ because they contain pancreatic enzymes, hydrochloric acid and oxbile yes, we have got all bases of good digestion covered with this formula!
    • Take a good probiotic supplement.
    • Eat fermented foods such as sauerkraut, natto, kefir, kombucha, cultured vegetables, miso or tempeh to improve gut bacteria.
    • Sip organic Apple Cider vinegar in a dose of 1-2 tablespoons diluted in a quarter of a glass of warm water before your meals.
    • It is important to avoid being constipated. Ideally you would have between one and three bowel motions each day, as this reduces the risk of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth . If you are not having thorough bowel actions, Colon Detox capsules are a gentle and effective laxative.

    If you are really a very gassy person you may need a detox!

    What Causes This Excess Gas

    What Causes Liver Damage and The Symptoms of Liver Damage?
    • Eating excess quantities of food
    • Excess intake of sugar or poorly absorbed carbohydrates in the diet
    • Intolerance to gluten or other foods
    • Excess unfriendly bacteria in the gut
    • Constipation
    • Poor digestion and absorption of food due to a sluggish or fatty pancreas
    • Poor digestion and absorption of food due to a sluggish or absent gallbladder
    • Changing your diet from a bad way of eating to a good way of eating yes, the change shocks the digestive system and it takes time to adapt
    • Eating lots of foods high in sulfur e.g. eggs, onions, garlic, cabbage etc.

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    Liver Disease & Fatigue

    Everyone complains now and then of being tired. Perhaps you were up all night cramming for a final exam, caring for an ill family member, or maybe you just could not fall asleep. We experience many situations that result in decreased energy levels, but a night or two of good sleep usually puts us back on track. But what if you woke up every morning feeling as if you never got a moment of rest? What if you could not function at work, at home, or socially because you were just too tired? That is what most healthcare practitioners would consider chronic fatigue.

    Chronic fatigue can be peripheral or central. Peripheral is muscle or physical fatigue, whereas central fatigue comes from the central nervous system, and is associated with difficulty in performing physical and mental activities that require self-motivation. Whether physical or mental, it is difficult to cope while in a constant state of fatigue.

    Fatigue is a symptom commonly described by people with liver disease , regardless of whether the hepatitis is caused by a virus, excess alcohol or fat consumption, or an inherited disease. The associated fatigue may be intermittent or constant, mild or debilitating. There is no relationship between the severity of liver disease and the severity of the fatigue. Those with minimal liver disease may experience total exhaustion while those with severe liver disease may not feel tired at all, or vice versa.

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