Liver damage can include anything from heredity (i.e., inherited from a family member), toxicity (i.e., due to chemicals or viruses) to a long-term disease (i.e., Cirrhosis) that can affect your liver for the rest of your life.
The liver helps the body digest food, absorb nutrients, and eliminate toxic substances. Without this abdominal organ you wouldn’t able to live.
7 Early Signs of Liver Damage
Jaundice
This is the well known ‘yellowing’ of your skin. Your whole body including sometimes your fingernails and eyes take on a yellow hue. This is mainly due to the build up of ‘bilirubin’ which is a pigment in bile. Bile is made in our livers, and is essential in the digestion process. If your liver is having problems filtering the toxins that you ingest (whether through the digestive tract, the skin or the respiratory system) bilirubin will collect in the bloodstream thus turning your pallor yellowy.
Swollen Abdomen
Cirrhosis, the serious progression of liver disease, causes fluid build-up in the abdomen (a condition referred to as ascites), as levels of albumin and proteins in the blood and fluid are retained. This may actually make the patient appear pregnant. While ascites can be caused by numerous medical conditions, cirrhosis of the liver is the single most common. Sometimes, swelling can also take place in the ankles, as accumulated fluid is drawn down into the body by the forces of gravity.
Acid Reflux
If you suffer from increasingly frequent attacks of acid reflux with indigestion, with or without vomiting, these are other warning signs that all is not well and needs investigating further.
Change in urine color
Whilst color changes can be indicators of many problems within the body, it is often a key sign with liver problems. If you keep yourself well hydrated then the urine produced should always be a pale straw type color. As per jaundice however, a build-up of bilirubin can manifest itself as a much darker colour of urine. A badly working liver may also cause your stools to become pale, bloody, or even black. Know your own body and recognize changes.
Irritated Skin
Itchy skin that doesn’t seem to go away and develops into a flaky rash is another telltale sign of serious liver damage. Skin irritations result from the body’s lack of fluid flow, which most commonly manifests on the surface of the skin in thick, flaky, itchy patches. Liver disease can also cause other skin problems, including a generalized yellowing of the skin and mucus membranes (jaundice), reddened of the feet or hands, and changes in skin tone and color. These changes can result in unusually dark or unusually light patches of skin in localized areas.
Diarrhea
Obviously this can have many things at its root cause, but if it becomes a more regular issue than it could be due to the liver malfunctioning as it is central to the body’s digestion system.
3 Liver Detox Recipes
1. Liver Boosting Beet Juice:
- 1 beet
- 1 carrot
- 1 lemon, peeled
- 1 handful parsley
Instructions: Run all ingredients through a juicer and enjoy.
2. Deep Green Liver Detox:
- 1/2 cucumber
- 2 cups kale
- 1 lime, peeled
- 1 cup swiss chard
- 1/2 lemon, peeled
Instructions: Run all ingredients through a juicer and enjoy.
3. Liver Detox Green Smoothie:
- 2 oranges, peeled
- 1/2 rib celery
- 1 lemon, peeled
- 1/2 cup dandelion greens (or other bitter green)
- 1/2 cup parsley
Directions: Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!
Sources:
healthy-holistic-living.com, activebeat.com, youngandraw.com
Also from author
11 Natural Surprising Antibiotics Hiding In Your Kitchen
12 Herbal Antibiotics: An Effective Defense Against Drug-Resistant Superbugs
Powerful Drink That Helps to Clean Your Whole Organism
Specialities in Family health; autoimmune diseases; mental health; diabetes, cancer; fitness and nutrition.
