What is Cirrhosis?
Updated: May 28, 2022
When lifestyle changes are not made after being diagnosed with NAFLD and fibrosis is left untreated, your liver can become permanently scarred. That permanent scarring is called cirrhosis and is damaging to your liver. Often patients with cirrhosis do not realize that they have it until the condition has progressed. Let's learn a little more about cirrhosis so we can make educated decisions on the topic.
The liver is an important organ and if we do not treat it with care, it can become permanently damaged. Learning about how to prevent your liver from getting cirrhosis can make all the difference when combatting non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
Topics Covered
Getting to Know the Liver
Before diving into what causes cirrhosis, it is important to understand our liver's role. Prior to my diagnosis of cirrhosis, I did not know too much about the liver and it's importance.
The liver is located below your ribs, in the upper right-hand corner of your abdomen. It is beneath the abdomen and on top of the stomach, right kidney and instestines.
Some of the key functions the liver performs:
Producing bile which helps your body absorb cholesterol, dietary fats, vitamin A, D, E, and K
The storage of sugars and vitamins in your body for later use
Purification of blood from toxins, ( i.e. alcohol, bacteria)
Creating essential blood clotting proteins
Cirrhosis Symptoms
Many times individuals are diagnosed with cirrhosis after it already has significantly progressed. This is due to the disease showing no symptoms until other health concerns arise. Another way someone becomes diagnosed with cirrhosis is from accidentally coming across the disease while trying to diagnose other health concerns.
When the liver becomes scarred enough to the stage of cirrhosis, symptoms would begin because the scarring has progressed to the level of reduction in liver function. This can cause function issues in:
purifying blood
break down toxins
help absorb fats and fat-soluble vitamins
Other symptoms that people have:
loss of appetite
fatigue
unintentional weight loss
pain in the upper right side of the abdomen
swollen veins
nausea
vomiting
Worse symptoms can include:
jaundice (yellowing of skin and eyes)
ascites (swelling of the abdomen)
edema (swelling of the legs)
confusion and a hard time thinking clear
bleeding or bruising easily
itchy skin
dark urine
The Two Stages of Cirrhosis
My liver is compensated, meaning that it still functions even though it has severe cirrhosis. My goal with my liver is to keep it in the compensated stage for as long as possible!
There are two technical stages of cirrhosis:
Compensated
Decompensated
Compensated cirrhosis: This is an asymptomatic stage of cirrhosis, meaning it does not show any symptoms. There may still be scarring but there is not enough to cause obvious or many symptoms.
Decompensated cirrhosis: During this stage, individuals are likely to see symptoms; jaundice or ascites can occur. This is a severe and very serious part of liver disease. Working with your doctor to figure out the root cause of your cirrhosis, is a very important part of this stage. If you are drinking, stop. Depending on how bad your cirrhosis is, there still could be a chance to reverse decompensated liver back to the compensated liver stage.
Causes of Cirrhosis
There are various causes of cirrhosis. The main two causes seen are alcohol abuse and hepatitis infections. Other causes of cirrhosis can be the misuse of medications, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), hepatitis D, and disorders that affect the body's ability to handle iron and copper.
We are not sure the exact cause of why my liver is in the stage of cirrhosis that it is in. I am a 29-years-old female and though I have lived a very fun life, there is no singular reason for the damage to be as bad as it is. Finding the exact cause of my cirrhosis may be hard, but limiting as many damage-causing factors as possible is key either way.
Since learning that everything that you ingest, your liver has the function of processing it and turning it into something non-toxic or a nutrient your body can use. One of the methods of combating my liver disease is choosing foods and drinks that do not add much stress to my body.
I now read every label on every food item that I purchase to make sure it DOES NOT have harmful ingredients such as:
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS): This ingredient can be found in just about any condiment, sauce, and other bottled or boxed food item.
The National Institute of Health has an article about how this ingredient, when ingested affects someone's intestinal barrier and in return, may be the cause of their fatty liver disease. Here is the article if you would like to read it: How high fructose intake may trigger fatty liver disease.
UC San Diego's article, Excessive Fructose Consumption May Cause a Leaky Gut, Leading to Fatty Liver Disease, was another great read that dives deeper into the topic. Learning a little more about how HFCS metabolizes in our bodies was fascinating and made me wish I knew this information earlier.
Additives: MSG, BHT, BHA, benzoate, sulfites, nitrates, food coloring including FD&C yellow.
Processed Foods
Artificial Sweeteners
Non-GMO Fruits and Vegetables
This may seem like a lot, but eating clean has not been too complicated. With resources on the internet, such as Pinterest, it is easier than ever to look up recipes and find inspiring ideas. I am not perfect at this but every day I make the best effort to ensure what I am consuming does not contain any of these items.
Alcohol consumption is one of the top causes of cirrhosis. Though this was not necessarily the cause of my liver disease, it is important to stop all alcohol consumption at this stage.
Eliminating alcohol from my life has become a very important part of my cirrhosis journey. I decided to have my last margarita, my last spiked Egg-Nog, my last New Years' champagne toast, and that would be it. Though sobriety has been a journey within itself, I know it is the best thing I can truly do for my cirrhosis.
Getting Diagnosed
Many individuals do not become diagnosed with cirrhosis until symptoms become noticeable at the decompensated stage of the disease. This is why liver disease can be described as a silent killer and what makes it a tricky illness to initially diagnose.
How my cirrhosis was discovered, was by my primary care physician. She had ordered a comprehensive metabolic blood panel to help try and identify why I have been dealing with some health issues. The results showed that my AST and ALT liver enzymes were elevated. This is when I was referred to a gastroenterologist who confirmed my diagnosis, cirrhosis of the liver.
Stumbling upon a cirrhosis diagnosis while treating other health concerns, as I did, is quite common. With the pandemic, there have been individuals who have caught covid, and bloodwork performed at the hospital showed their elevated AST and ALT numbers. After an ultrasound and fibrosis scans, they discovered that they have cirrhosis. This was mentioned in one of the support groups that I follow; otherwise, I would include a link to the information discovered.
Nature Reviews, Gastroenterology, and Hepatology's article about COVID-19 and liver disease, from March 2022, provides information on the most recent findings on the topic.
The main tests that were ordered to diagnose my cirrhosis were:
Comprehensive Metabolic Blood Panel
Showed my elevated AST and ALT liver enzymes
Ultrasound
Measured the size of my liver and checked on my neighboring organs
Fibros Scan
Showed the scaring and stiffness of my liver from the cirrhosis
After those three tests, my gastroenterologist knew without a doubt that my liver disease is at the stage of cirrhosis.
Preventing Cirrhosis
Preventing cirrhosis is almost copy-paste the lifestyle someone needs to be lived when they have NAFLD and NASH. Making sure to eliminate foods and ingredients that are not serving your body is a great way to help keep your liver healthy. Movement and excercise is important but no amount of excercise can combat the toxic ingredients in not natural foods.
The harmful ingredients listed above should be ideally eliminated from everyone's diet, not just individuals with liver disease. All these ingredients add stress to the organs, that are already working hard to keep your body running properly.
Do not binge drink or excessively drink! If I had known about my liver disease before it reached cirrhosis, I could have made lifestyle changes to reverse it. Though the idea of being sober would have seemed ridiculous to me in my early twenties, I would have had options that I don't have now.
I am blessed that I now know my diagnosis and chose sobriety. May 1st will be my 4 months sober and that I know my liver thanks me for!!
The YouTube channel Osmosis has an educational video on the liver disease cirrhosis. Feel free to check it out and dive deeper into understanding cirrhosis!
Osmisis is a educational science platform that is used by medical students everywhere. I am not assocciated with Osmosis in any way but utlize the information they provide for my own health education journey. When the terminology is unknown or hard for me to understand, I look into them to further my understanding.
**Please note that this is not medical advice. I am in no way a medical professional and it is recommended that before starting anything new, you consult your primary care physician.
This blog is for me to document my journey, compile the information I learn about my chronic illness, and change my life in the process. Information that my doctors have given me, new information that I learn about my disease, and as I grow on this journey I will update my blog to reflect that.**
If there are any comments or questions, feel free to comment below. I would love to see what questions there may be about cirrhosis. Have a wonderful day!
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