The liver is one hell of an organ that performs myriads of functions in the human body. Some scientists estimate its functions to be 500, while they claim to be still exploring. A very large, weight and meaty gland, it does the work of detoxification, protein synthesis and production of chemicals that help digest foods.
There is a range of medical conditions that can affect the liver. These medical conditions have different symptoms depending on their severity, but a certain number of symptoms are common to the diseases. There are Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, hepatitis C, Cirrhosis of the liver, hemochromatosis, alcoholic hepatitis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and many others. All these diseases affect the liver and disrupt their functions. Let us take a look at some of the symptoms of these liver diseases: including the ones that cut across the diseases and the ones specific to each condition.
Pain
Pain is one symptom common to all types of liver disease. Depending on the kind, this pain may occur in your abdomen (common to fatty liver disease, alcoholic hepatitis, hepatitis A, B, C, D, E, hemochromatosis, hepatitis C, and cirrhosis). However, for hepatitis A, asides experiencing pain in your abdomen, it is possible this abdominal pain spreads to your joints and muscles. The abdominal pain occurs in the upper part of the abdomen, on the right-hand side since around this area is where the liver is situated. The pain can be dull and nonspecific, but it can become severe as the disease advances.
