The Silent Liver Killer: The Truth About Cirrhosis and a Self-Help Guide

The liver is the only organ in the human body that has no pain nerves. This silent characteristic makes cirrhosis the most dangerous invisible killer. When we find that our abdomen is bloated and our skin is yellow, we have often missed the best time for treatment. Every year, 1.2 million people die from cirrhosis worldwide, and more than 60% of these cases could have been prevented. Understanding the true face of this silent killer is the first line of defense to protect your health.

1. What is your liver going through?

The liver is like a biochemical factory that runs 24 hours a day, completing more than 500 physiological functions every day. When this factory is under continuous attack, liver cells will start the "self-repair" mode. But this repair is like using glue to stick broken glass, forming distorted scar tissue. These scars gradually replace normal liver tissue, turning the liver that was originally soft like a sponge into a hard rock.

Viral hepatitis is an important driver of cirrhosis. There are about 7 million chronic hepatitis B patients in my country, 20% of whom will develop cirrhosis. Alcohol is another invisible killer. Intake of 80 grams of alcohol (equivalent to 4 liang of liquor) a day may cause cirrhosis in 5 years. What is more alarming is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. With the surge in the number of obese people, the incidence of this type of cirrhosis has increased threefold in 10 years.

2. Danger signals from the body

Early cirrhosis is like a latent agent, and may only show mild symptoms such as fatigue and loss of appetite. When spider nevi (radiating red spots on the skin surface) and liver palms (redness of the thenar and hypothenar eminences of the palms) appear, the disease has entered the development stage. Late-stage hallmark symptoms include: ascites causing a sudden increase in waist circumference, jaundice causing the whites of the eyes to turn yellow, and gastrointestinal bleeding causing vomiting of blood.

What is worth being vigilant about is the boundary between the "compensation stage" and the "decompensation stage". Patients in the compensation stage may have no obvious symptoms for several years, but their liver function reserve has been severely overdrawn. When entering the decompensation stage, various complications will appear like dominoes, and the five-year survival rate is less than 50%.

3. Key strategies to reverse your fate

1. Prevention is always better than cure. Controlling alcohol intake is the key line of defense. Men should not consume more than 25 grams of alcohol per day (about 1 liang of liquor). Regular physical examinations should focus on liver function, liver B-ultrasound and liver fibrosis scans. People over 40 are recommended to have annual examinations. For patients with fatty liver, losing 5%-10% of their weight can significantly improve the liver condition.

2. Life management after diagnosis of liver cirrhosis requires precise control. Protein intake should be controlled at about 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight. Excessive intake may induce hepatic encephalopathy. Exercise should be low-intensity aerobic exercise, and avoid movements that increase abdominal pressure. Drug treatment needs to be strictly followed according to the doctor's advice. Some Chinese patent medicines may increase the burden on the liver.

3. Standing at the forefront of medical development, liver transplantation is no longer a fantasy. The five-year survival rate of living liver transplantation exceeds 80%, and the artificial liver support system buys precious time for patients. Even more exciting is the breakthrough in anti-fibrosis drugs. Some targeted drugs have entered the clinical trial stage, bringing hope for reversing early liver cirrhosis.

When we eat skewers and drink late at night, the liver is silently bearing metabolic pressure. Every night when we place an order on the food delivery app and every social occasion with toasts and glasses, we are writing the script of the liver's fate. The prevention and treatment of liver cirrhosis is essentially a game of lifestyle. Understanding the truth about the disease is not to create panic, but to take the initiative in health. Remember, the liver will not cry out in pain, but will send out the final distress signal with the quality of life.

The liver is the only organ in the human body that has no pain nerves. This silent characteristic makes cirrhosis the most dangerous invisible killer. When we find that our abdomen is bloated and our skin is yellow, we have often missed the best time for treatment. Every year, 1.2 million people die from cirrhosis worldwide, and more than 60% of these cases could have been prevented. Understanding the true face of this silent killer is the first line of defense to protect your health.