If your liver is sick, you may not have any symptoms yet! There are eight things that can harm your liver. People who often take these seven types of drugs should be more careful.

You may not have any symptoms if your liver is sick! There are eight things that can harm your liver

When we talk about "hepatitis", we usually refer to viral hepatitis caused by hepatitis viruses, which mainly include five types: A, B, C, D and E.

Among them, hepatitis A and E viruses are transmitted through the fecal-oral route.

The transmission routes of hepatitis B and hepatitis C include blood transmission, sexual transmission, mother-to-child transmission, and medical transmission.

However, hepatitis D virus rarely infects alone, and is often co-infected with DNA viruses such as hepatitis B virus.

A study published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology in 2018 stated that as of 2016, there were nearly 300 million people infected with hepatitis B worldwide. According to this model, there are still 86 million people infected with hepatitis B in mainland China.

Globally, there are 94 million people infected with hepatitis B who need antiviral treatment, but only 5%, or 4.8 million, have received effective antiviral treatment. Among patients with cirrhosis and liver cancer worldwide, about 30% to 45% are caused by hepatitis B, while in my country, these two proportions are 60% and 80% respectively.

Long-term exposure to hepatitis B and hepatitis C can cause cirrhosis and even liver cancer.

Who are the high-risk groups for liver cancer?

Mainly include:

People with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and/or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, excessive drinking, non-alcoholic fatty hepatitis, cirrhosis caused by other reasons, and a family history of liver cancer, especially men aged >40 years.

Many people believe that there is no problem as long as the liver function is normal. Even many liver cancer patients have normal liver function until they are diagnosed with liver cancer.

How is liver cancer treated?

Surgical treatment of liver cancer is an important means for liver cancer patients to achieve long-term survival, mainly including liver resection and liver transplantation. For early and middle-stage liver cancer, surgical resection is the main treatment method. For patients with middle and late-stage liver cancer who do not have the opportunity for surgical resection, there are still many effective treatment methods, including tumor artery catheterization microsphere embolization (TACE), tumor artery catheterization chemotherapy, local ablation, radiotherapy, targeted drugs, and immune checkpoint inhibitors. These treatments have prolonged the lives of many patients with advanced liver cancer.

However, the specific treatment plan requires MDT multidisciplinary discussion and individualized treatment. If the first treatment plan is scientific and reasonable, patients have the opportunity to get the best effect, improve the cure rate, and prolong survival.

Doctors remind: Many liver cancers have no symptoms in the early stages, and once discovered, they are already in the late stages!

How did your liver damage step by step?

1. Never know whether you have hepatitis B or hepatitis C, and do not take the initiative to get the hepatitis B vaccine.

Because the liver is a "dumb organ", by the time obvious symptoms such as liver pain and yellowing of the skin appear, the condition is often already very serious. Data show that the early diagnosis rate of liver cancer in my country is only 23.2%. In clinical practice, 80% of liver cancer patients are almost in the late stage when they seek medical treatment.

2. Frequently go to informal places to get tattoos, eyebrow tattoos, ear piercings, etc., and share razors and toothbrushes.

3. Knowing that you are a patient with chronic viral hepatitis, you do not go to a specialist for follow-up examination or receive standardized antiviral treatment to control the replication of the hepatitis virus.

4. Smoking, drinking, and frequently eating fried, smoked, grilled, and moldy foods.

6. Often stay up late, feel depressed, and don’t like to exercise.

7. Long-term or excessive use of hepatotoxic drugs.

Be careful if you often take these 7 types of drugs! Drugs that are very harmful to the liver and relieve fever and pain

Anti-TB drugs

Lipid-lowering drugs

Digestive tract medication

Such as omeprazole, ranitidine, etc.

Cancer chemotherapy drugs

Sleeping pills

Don't ignore the liver damage caused by Chinese medicine

Many people believe that Chinese medicine is mild in nature. Some people do not understand Chinese medicine and take it on their own. They only go to the hospital for treatment after causing liver damage.

Warm reminder: Before taking drugs that may damage the liver, you need to check your liver function before considering whether to take them. For drugs that need to be taken for a long time, such as patients who are taking lipid-lowering drugs and anti-tuberculosis drugs, you should also check your liver function regularly. If you find any abnormalities, stop taking them and consult a doctor immediately.

8. Not paying attention to physical examinations.

In fact, healthy people should have a comprehensive physical examination every year. Even if there are no symptoms, men over 40 and women over 50 should undergo liver cancer screening (B-ultrasound, AFP) every year.

For people with chronic liver disease, it is recommended to have a follow-up examination every 3 to 6 months. Regular liver ultrasound combined with serum AFP should be used for early screening of liver cancer, and enhanced CT and enhanced MRI screening should be used when necessary.

July 28, 2022 is the twelfth "World Hepatitis Day". This year's publicity theme is "Active prevention, proactive detection, standardized treatment, and comprehensive containment of the harm of hepatitis."

I hope everyone can take good care of their liver!