Get rid of the "liver" troubles in life, reduce sclerosis and enjoy a carefree life

Author: Ma Xuemei, deputy chief physician of the Fifth Medical Center of the General Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army

Reviewer: Jin Bo, Chief Physician, Fifth Medical Center, PLA General Hospital

The liver is the core of the body's detoxification and metabolism, and its health is related to the quality of life. Cirrhosis, as a serious liver disease, threatens the life and health of countless patients. In daily life, what inadvertent habits are quietly causing "liver" disturbances to our livers? Faced with the dual pressures of work and life, how can patients with cirrhosis find a balance so that they can maintain their enthusiasm for work and protect their fragile livers? Today we will discuss the matters that patients with cirrhosis should pay attention to in their daily life and work, aiming to help them better manage the disease and improve their quality of life.

1. Can cirrhosis be reversed?

Chronic liver disease is a chronic progressive disease, and the condition will mostly develop along the path of "chronic hepatitis → liver fibrosis → liver cirrhosis". Normally, after normal liver cells become inflamed and necrotic due to factors such as viruses, ethanol, and drugs, the human body will use various mechanisms to repair them. Just like wound healing, mild inflammation can be repaired quickly, and no trace will be left on the surface of the liver. However, long-term and repeated inflammation will gradually leave scars on the liver, forming liver fibrosis. Over time, more and more scars will cause significant changes in the normal liver structure, forming large and small nodules, which are cirrhosis nodules.

If the degree of cirrhosis is not serious and the cause is effectively controlled, after treatment, the degree of cirrhosis in some patients will indeed be alleviated. Even patients who originally had complications such as a small amount of ascites will have their ascites disappear and their condition stabilize. The spleen will also shrink, the symptoms of hypersplenism will be alleviated, and the platelet and white blood cell counts will increase.

If the degree of cirrhosis is already quite serious, the imaging examination results show that the liver is very obviously shrunken and nodules are formed, and the liver functions have changed seriously, the esophageal and gastric veins are obviously varicose, and even complications such as ascites and hepatic encephalopathy occur. At this time, it is very difficult to reverse the structure. The treatment focus at this stage is to prevent complications. Therefore, the treatment must be "rooted". Just like a knife wound, if you always scratch the skin with a knife, no matter how many hemostatic drugs you use, it will continue to be inflamed and scarred. Treatment must solve the problem from the source. Strictly antiviral, quit drinking, avoid using suspected liver-damaging drugs again, etc. At the same time, both the symptoms and the root causes must be treated. The basis of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis is chronic inflammation, so we must do our best to control inflammation on the basis of eliminating the cause of the disease, so that liver function can be maintained stable. After controlling the inflammation, anti-fibrosis drugs can be used, such as Compound Biejia Soft Liver Tablets, Fuzheng Huayu Capsules and Luoshugan Tablets, which have relatively definite efficacy and can reverse liver fibrosis. These Chinese medicine ingredients can soften and disperse nodules, and have a good effect on the treatment of early cirrhosis or liver fibrosis.

2. What liver-damaging lifestyle habits should patients with cirrhosis avoid?

While the liver is responsible for the important tasks of digestion and detoxification in the human body, it is also a fragile organ. As the saying goes, "Taking care of the liver is taking care of life." Even mild liver damage can be life-threatening. Especially for patients with cirrhosis, it is crucial to know which lifestyle habits are harmful to the liver and avoid them.

1. Lack of sleep: 23:00-03:00 at night is the best time for the liver to repair and detoxify. Ensuring 7-8 hours of sleep every night can relax and repair the liver. Staying up late often will not only lead to lack of sleep and reduce the body's resistance, but also seriously damage liver function. Therefore, "late sleepers" should try to adjust their work and rest time, and it is best to go to bed before 23:00 every day.

Figure 1 Copyright image, no permission to reprint

2. Overeating: Eating too much food will cause excess calories in the body, leading to obesity, inducing fatty liver, and increasing the burden on the liver. Therefore, never overeat, eat regularly, and eat small meals frequently.

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3. Blind medication: Most drugs need to be detoxified by the liver. Long-term use or blind use of drugs will increase the burden on the liver, cause liver damage, and cause acute drug-induced liver injury. These drugs include antibacterial drugs, antipyretic analgesics, traditional Chinese medicine, health products, weight loss drugs, secret prescription drugs, etc. Therefore, you must strictly follow the doctor's instructions and take the medicine under the guidance of the doctor; you should avoid taking drugs at random to avoid interactions between different drugs, thereby affecting the liver's ability to metabolize the drugs.

Figure 3 Copyright image, no permission to reprint

4. Drinking: More than 90% of ethanol is metabolized in the liver. After entering the liver cells, it is oxidized into acetaldehyde and acetic acid. Both ethanol and acetaldehyde can directly stimulate and damage liver cells, causing fatty degeneration, necrosis, and fibrosis of liver cells, which eventually lead to hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. Studies have shown that long-term heavy drinking or short-term alcoholism can lead to alcoholic liver disease. Therefore, it is critical for patients with alcoholic liver disease to quit drinking.

5. Smoking: The harmful substances such as nicotine and tar contained in cigarettes will increase the burden on the liver, affect the lipid metabolism of the liver, cause oxidative stress, lead to cell damage, tissue damage, and even fibrosis and cancer; for patients with liver disease, the harmful substances in cigarettes will hinder the recovery of liver function, make the liver's blood and oxygen supply insufficient, accelerate the fibrosis process, and induce liver cancer. Therefore, patients with liver disease should not only quit drinking, but also quit smoking.

6. Drug abuse: Drugs can directly or indirectly damage the liver and cause toxic hepatitis. The use of unclean syringes or non-disposable syringes significantly increases the risk of drug users contracting infectious diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and AIDS, and makes it very easy for these infectious diseases to spread among the population.

3. Can patients with liver cirrhosis carry out their daily work? What should they pay attention to in terms of rest?

1. Patients in the compensated stage of cirrhosis who do not have obvious mental fatigue or physical decline can participate in daily work. The nature of the work should be simple, easy, and pleasant, with less physical and mental exertion, and overtime work is not advisable.

2. Patients with decompensated cirrhosis are advised to rest in bed, which can significantly increase blood flow to the liver and help restore liver function. However, long-term bed rest can easily cause indigestion and bad mood, so they can try simple housework or walking, and participate in social activities appropriately to meet their emotional needs. It is recommended that the amount of activity should be gradually increased so as not to aggravate fatigue or other symptoms.

3. In daily life and work, it is recommended to have appropriate balance between work and rest.