Liver Health 5
LIVER DISEASES AND PREVENTIVE DRUGS
Liver diseases are a major problem worldwide. However, the number of drugs actually used successfully in humans is very less. In this review some of the most promising studied drugs utilized for liver diseases were chosen and analyzed critically from the basic clinical point of view. Some medicines are used to prevent complications of chronic liver disease. Others are used to treat the symptoms of chronic liver disease.
Here are few Drugs suggested for Liver Disease
No treatment will cure cirrhosis or repair scarring in the liver that has already occurred. But treatment can sometimes prevent or delay further liver damage. Treatment involves lifestyle changes, medicines, and regular doctor visits. In some cases, you may need surgery for treatment of complications from cirrhosis. Blood tests, which measure liver enzymes, are done to check liver function before and during chemotherapy treatment. These tests are done to check for liver damage, especially when the drugs used have the potential to affect the liver.
- INTERFERON– It is used to treat hairy cell leukemia and AIDS-related Kaposi’s sarcoma. They are also used to treat laryngeal papillomatosis (growths in the respiratory tract) in children, genital warts, and some kinds of hepatitis.
- LASIX– Loop diuretics are given to help reduce the amount of water in the body. They work by acting on the kidneys to increase the flow of urine. Furosemide is also used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension) in those patients who are not helped by other medicines or in those patients who have kidney problems.
- PAXIL– It is used to treat mental depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic disorder.
- IMURAN– It belongs to the group of medicines known as immunosuppressive agents. It is used to reduce the body’s natural immunity in patients who receive organ transplants.
- PROZAC– It is used to treat mental depression, obsessive-compulsive symptoms associated with Tourette’s disorder, and in the treatments of obesity and bulimia nervosa. This medication has also been used to treat PMS (premenstrual syndrome).
- ELAVIL–Its heterocyclic drug used to treat spontaneous endogenous depression and is extremely sedating.
- AMANTADINE– It is an antiviral used to prevent or treat certain influenza (flu) infections (type A). It may be given alone or along with flu shots.
- LACTULOSE– It is an oral laxative
- LAMIVUDINE– It is used in the treatment of the infection caused by the human immunodeficiency virus
- LIV 52 – It is a herbal medicines for preventing chronic liver diseases. This protective effect of Liv-52 can be attributed to the diuretic, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and immunomodulating properties of the component herbs
- PENICILLAMINE – It is a commonly used medicine for Wilson’s disease. This drug chelates or binds with copper and leads to its secretion from the body. Patients on penicillamine are monitored since this drug can sometimes be tough on the kidneys or bone marrow. It can also affect wound healing. It is important to take penicillamine consistently, since patients with Wilson’s disease who stop it have developed liver failure.
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WHAT HAPPENS TO THE LIVER WHEN WE SMOKE
Despite the efforts taken by government organizations to curb smoking in public and showcasing the harmful effects of smoking you still come across a whole bunch of people who continue to smoke.
If you happen to ask a smoker why does he/she smokes the reply will definitely be one of these, ‘I’m stressed and smoking relieves stress for me’, ‘Smoking helps me think’, ‘It’s kind of cool and stylish’ or ‘I’m unable to leave it (addicted in short)’. One may think that smokers are not aware of what it may lead to. But that’s not what really happens. Most smokers are aware that it is injurious to their health and may lead to cancer.
Whether it is started for fun or out of stress, one should always know that nicotine is additive and you might not be able to get rid of it when you want to. Smoking causes a number of health related risks, including liver failure. Here are some health problems caused by smoking to liver.
Oxidative Stress
The chemicals from cigarette which eventually reaches the liver create oxidative stress which means that the liver cells do not get enough oxygen supply. This is because the red blood cells which do this oxygen supply work start losing their capacity to deliver oxygen to the liver.
As a result, the liver cells begin to die. Oxidative stress ages all organs of the body by releasing free radicals which cause great harm to the body. It is as good as scaring the good tissues of the body.
Liver Failure
Liver failure is the continuation of oxidative stress. When one does not stop smoking even after the onset of oxidative stress, then the health of the organ (liver) gets depleted and eventually reaches a stage when the organ fails to perform any of its functions.
The body becomes a toxic substance and the only way for recovery is a liver transplant, which is a high risk procedure to replace damaged liver with a healthy one from a donor. However, even if this procedure ends up successfully, the patient is expected to quit smoking to live longer.
Liver Cancer
It is common knowledge that smoking leads to lung cancer. But with smoking, the chances of getting liver cancer are high and this is not something that commercials mention. It is widely accepted through research that smoking leads to almost a quarter of the liver cancers in the world. Because of the harmful chemicals in cigarettes the liver gets damaged as explained in the process above and fails to pump out the toxins in the body. This results in liver diseases and liver failure. People with liver disease who continuously abuse smoking worsen the situation leading to death of more liver cells and multiplication of tumors leading to liver cancer.
Hemochromatosis
This is a rare disease where a metal like iron or some other metals present in the powder form in cigarette deposits in the liver. This causes scars in liver that is irreparable and eventually lead to other liver diseases.
Most often such iron deposits and diseases thereof would require a liver transplant.
Smoking though might not seem to be affecting liver, sure does have a deeper connection with the liver and its functions leading to serious diseases. It is always better to be afar from nicotine to lead a disease free happy life.
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CAUSES OF LIVER PROBLEMS
It is normal for one to give more care what they see, such as your skin, hair and so on and not what makes them look this pretty, the backstage organs such as the liver, kidneys and so on. Liver is one of the back stage workers and plays a very important role in the function of your body.
It performs more than 500 functions. Liver helps to process nutrients like carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals from the food and helps to get rid of toxins and microbes. It also plays a major role in clotting of blood. It plays a vital role in maintaining the body’s metabolic balance.
Certain unhealthy lifestyle practices and habits may cause liver diseases which can be overcome if you know how they are caused and what you need to do to stop it.
Causes of Liver Diseases
Hepatitis
The liver is infected by Viruses and Parasites which causes inflammation in the liver and reduces its routine function. This viral hepatitis is caused by Hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.
- Hepatitis A and E are caused by intake of contaminated food with virus.
- Hepatitis B, C and D spreads through blood or semen, body fluids and also it is sexually transmitted.
Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C are the main causes for liver cancer. Hepatitis can also be caused by excessive alcohol consumption, allergic reactions, drugs particularly paracetomol and other drugs used to treat cancer and obesity.
Cirrhosis
A healthy tissue is replaced with scarred tissue which is a slowly progressing disease reduces the liver function is called Cirrhosis. Due to cirrhosis the blood which passes through liver is blocked. It also reduces the processing of nutrients, hormones, naturally produced toxins, production of proteins etc.
Cirrhosis is mostly caused by excessive consumption of alcohol, overloaded iron or bile duct disease, obesity and diabetes. Other causes of this disease include prolonged exposure to the environmental toxins, parasitic infections and reactions to drugs.
The National Institutes of Health had announced that this Cirrhosis is the 12th leading cause of the death by disease in the world.
Overuse of Medications
Undue use of over the counter medication will lead to many problems. One of the most badly affected organs due to overuse of medications is Liver. Certain prescription drugs also contain harmful chemicals and may cause liver damage. These medicines include corticosteroids which are used for treating inflammation, antidepressants, mood stabilizers and pain killers.
Some herbal medications also damage the liver. Since liver is the major detoxifying organ it is subjected to variety of drugs and chemicals. Over the counter medications like paracetamol can cause liver failure.
Never choose self medication, medical prescription from a practitioner is safer. Before using the medicines one should see the side effects.
Alcohol Consumption and Smoking
Excessive alcohol consumption leads to liver failure. Liver absorbs the alcohol and converts it to a less toxin form. However when the amount of alcohol exceed the capacity of liver, it remains unattended to.
More absorption of alcohol leads to fatty liver, cirrhosis and inflammation of the liver and is called as alcoholic hepatitis. Though smoking does not harm the liver directly but the harmful chemicals from the cigarette smoke will increase the oxidative stress and cause irreversible damage to the liver.
Obesity and Diabetes
Obesity is one of the major problems for many diseases. Due to excess amount of fat in the body the liver also gets surrounded by these fats. This accumulation of fats in the liver leads to fatty liver disease. Obesity also leads to cirrhosis of liver and liver failure.
Diabetes is also plays a major role in increasing liver disease by 50 percent. When you are infected by diabetes the insulin level will increase in the blood which tends to abdominal weight gain. This leads to more fat storage in the liver which causes fatty liver disease.
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5 THINGS THAT MAY DAMAGE YOUR LIVER
You probably are not aware of the huge number of functions your liver does to maintain your overall health. In fact liver is the most important organ in your body and plays a definitive role from digestion to accumulation, generation of blood to secretion of hormones and even in your general immune system.
Almost 500 functions are performed by this football sized organ and hence should be treated rightly to keep you staying healthy throughout your life.
There are some things that you need to keep your liver healthy such as following the right kind of food habits, a good fitness regime, drinking lots and lots of water and having a good night’s sleep.
Well, there are some other things which you should not do, because these deeds of yours would damage your liver. Some such activities which you must avoid are discussed here.
- Fatty Food
10% of the overall fat that is present in your body goes directly to your liver and gets accumulated there. So for every 100 gm increase in fat your liver gets 10gm fat. The total weight of your liver is 1.36 kg; even an increase in 10 grams would mean a 10% increase t its normal weight.
Now imagine if the accumulated fat was the bad cholesterol or the saturated fat, the amount of harm it would cause to your liver and therefore your body would increase many fold almost instantly.
Thus fatty food consumption has to be minimized, concentrate on avoiding processed and preserved food such as pizzas and burgers.
- Processed Food
The main function of liver is cleansing your system; this implies that all the toxins, impurities and the non digestible waste would go to the liver for further filtration.
Preservatives, as the name suggest preserve food substances from the attack of microorganisms. Thsese microorganisms though cause harm to our body, still are living things. So basically the preservatives act against the functions of a loving thing to inhibit it from growing on a food substance. It is thus, a proven toxic product acting against the growth of a living being.
When these toxins reach the liver they cause irreparable harm to the liver and sometimes lead to serious liver conditions.
- Alcohol
Too much of alcohol consumption is considered to affect the functioning of liver directly. This is because when liver processes fats it converts them to sugars and sends it to through the blood to be used as energy. Alcohol hinders this conversion of fat to sugar.
Thus, fat remains as fat in liver rather than being converted to sugar. This leads liver conditions such as fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis and even cirrhosis.
- Drug Overuse
Medications, especially over the counter medications have to be taken only under unavoidable circumstances. The drugs such as painkillers and even vitamin additives do not get metabolized completely in the digestive system.
Some chemicals in them remain circulating further and reach the liver. Here they hinder the normal functions of liver and cause damage to it.
- Artificial Sweeteners
Using glucose is good for your health because it gives energy to perform your normal activities. However artificial sweeteners which are cheaper than sugar and give instant sweetness to juices and food do not give glucose.
They are made of sucrose or fructose. These sweeteners cannot be easily metabolized and hence leave behind toxic impurities that are carried away to the liver. In the liver they affect the bile production and also other hormonal production processes harming liver and its functions.
Some of the above activities seem to be a normal thing you do in your day to day life, and may not have looked so harmful too. However in the long run you would end up with liver conditions if they are not checked.
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HOW TO KEEP YOU LIVER HEALTHY
Liver is an important part in the human body which acts as an inbuilt filtering organ. Liver removes harmful substances from the bloodstream and gives fresh nutrition to the body and helps the body to remain healthy.
Intake of unhealthy foods will damage your liver and leads to serious problems in the body. The important sources to keep your liver healthier are only through consuming healthy nutrients foods and avoiding harmful foods. It helps the liver to do its regular multi functions.
Here are some tips to keep your liver healthy.
- Water
Drinking plenty of water between eight to ten glasses every day is essential. Water helps the liver to flush toxins way from your body.
- Lemon
You know lemons have high amount of Vitamin C. Lemons have a natural cleansing property and hence clean the toxic materials and helps in digestive process. It thus enhances the liver detoxification abilities.
Lemon is recommended for the persons having liver diseases owing to the electrolytic properties of lemon acting as a natural replacement of salt. So drinking plenty of fresh lemon juice in the morning stimulates the liver.
- Garlic
Garlic is one of the best cleaning agents of the liver. It has an ability to activate the liver enzymes which helps the body to get rid of toxins. Garlic has a high amount of allicin and selenium which acts as the two powerhouse nutrients for the liver. Garlic is a liver friendly food. Use whole garlic cloves rather than the processed ones to keep your liver healthy.
- Beetroot
Beetroots are natural cleansers and purify the blood. They are high in plant-flavonoids thereby boosting the overall functions of the liver and nutrient production in the body. They also contain pectin which removes the toxins from the liver.
- Green Tea
Green tea is a rich source of catechins that are believed to improve the functions of liver and thereby keeping liver healthy. Green tea also contains alkaloids that are beneficial for the liver function.
- Apple
Apples are high in malic acid which helps to cleans by removing carcinogens and other toxins in the blood. It is also very rich in pectin. This pectin helps to remove the toxins and cholesterol from the blood.
- Other Food
Avocados – Avocados help the body to produce an antioxidant known as glutathione. Glutathione is one of the important components which help liver in filtering the harmful toxins.
Walnuts – Walnuts aid the liver to detoxify ammonia since they are rich in amino acid arginine. Walnuts also have very high amounts of glutathione and omega – 3 fatty acids which is helps in the liver cleaning process.
Grapefruit – Grapefruit is rich in vitamin C as well as antioxidants. These two components improve the cleansing processes of the liver naturally. They also helps to remove carcinogens and toxins.
- Regular Exercise
It is important to keep your body fit and free of bad cholesterol. Liver has the tendency to accumulate cholesterol and owing to bad lifestyle and unhealthy eating habits if you manage to accumulate cholesterol, most of it would be I the liver.
Once cholesterol accumulates in the liver, its general functions would be affected and also production of bile juice, which is important for digestion of fat, would be produced in lesser quantities. Hence beat the road at least thrice a week and burn the extra fat.
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