Overview
Liver is the largest inner organ of the human body and is situated on the upper right part of the abdomen. The liver removes waste materials and process food nutrition within the body. Fatty liver disease is a serious liver disease which leads to fat build up in the liver. Healthy tissues are thus affected by this resulting in liver enlargement. In some instances, organ destruction can happen due to fatty liver disease, which in turn leads to serious complication known as liver cirrhosis. Fatty liver disease can be divided into two main categories namely NAFLD and NASH. NAFLD is the most common type of fatty liver disease and it does not cause any serious complications which can be treated with a meaningful lifestyle change. NASH is such a fatty liver disease in which the patient can have serious complications which can lead to liver cirrhosis, if left untreated. In NASH, scar tissue replaces the healthy liver tissues which disrupt function of the liver. Fatty liver disease can affect any age group irrespective of sex, community, region, and ethnicity. Fatty liver disease at first, do not cause any symptoms. Symptoms started to develop when 10% of fat is developed in the liver. The most common symptom is just little abdominal discomfort. Inflammation of the liver may cause jaundice (yellow color formation of the eye and skin), fatigue, and continued fever. Fatty liver disease can also be a cause of origination of many health problems, if it is left untreated. Fatty liver disease is a serious health problem and if immediate medical attention is not given, it can lead to liver failure.
Help and support
The main cause of fatty liver disease is high alcohol intake and excess fat consumption in the liver. There are other causes also such as obesity (two out of 10 obese people can have the disease), little or no exercise, diabetes. Different medication usage such as tamoxifen, amiodarone injection, and methotrexate are linked with NAFLD. Symptoms of fatty liver disease include excess accumulation of bilirubin leading to jaundice. As fatty liver disease is asymptomatic, the diagnosis occurs incidentally when inflammation of the liver occurs. The medical practitioner first of all undergoes a routine test on the patient especially medical history which includes the patients alcohol and drug use. It can also be detected by screening blood test. Ultrasound, MRI, and CT scan can also be performed by the physician to check for the amount of fat deposition, liver tumor, or bile duct obstruction. Patients who have swelling of the abdomen, easy bruising, and yellowness of the body (jaundice) should seek immediate medical attention. Although fatty liver disease is a curable disease, one should always maintain a healthy lifestyle including controlling of weight, balanced diet, totally abstaining from alcohol use, and a regular exercise regime. All of this does not confirm prevention from disease but still people can have liver disease.
Overcome
Fatty liver disease is a life threatening condition, if left untreated. First and foremost treatment is to minimize the risk associated with the disease by completely abstaining from alcohol intake. The doctor and the patient should chalk out a plan to work together which involves mainly everyday lifestyle changes. Although research work is still going on to find out an effective medication for fatty liver disease, but still there are no medications available to appropriately treat the disease; however, medications to reduce cholesterol and triglyceride level are available which are linked with exercise and diet. Treatment of fatty liver disease can be a long term process depending on the medical practitioner’s suggestions. Side effects of fatty liver disease include some physical and mental effects as stopping of alcohol intake can cause some mental agony to the patients who are undergoing treatment of fatty liver disease. Maintaining a strict diet restriction can also cause some physical effects on the body due to rapid loss of body weight. Treatment of fatty liver disease involves full support of the family, community, and support groups as without the help of them a patient cannot fully cope up with the disease, as he or she remains mentally depressed and cannot cope up with the situation.
Conclusion
In order to refrain from fatty liver disease, one should always maintain a healthy lifestyle, abstaining from alcohol intake and controlling weight especially the obese persons as high fat intake can be a cause of fatty liver disease. So always maintain a healthy liver and lead a healthy life.
