The liver helps us do many things, from digesting our food properly to eliminating toxins from our body. Needless to say, it’s a very important organ. If you have liver failure, it can cause premature aging, a life-long disease, and even death.
I want to stress how important it is to have a healthy, functioning liver. If you think that something may be wrong with your liver, you need to do something about it right away because your life could literally be at stake if you ignore it.
Here are 7 ways that you can spot liver failure, and what you can do about it:
1. Jaundice
If you notice that your skin is discolored, yellow, or you have a strange yellowish color to your eyes, it could be jaundice. Jaundice is caused by a toxic bile buildup in your body, due to your body’s inability to eliminate waste properly.
2. Discolored urine
Discolored urine could be caused by many different things. If you notice that your urine is constantly dark yellow and/or it gives off a foul odor, though, it could be a sign of liver failure. Again, this is caused by the buildup of toxic bile that isn’t able to be eliminated by your body.
3. Skin problems
There could be many causes of skin problems. But if you notice that your skin is always rashy, itchy, flaky, or irritated, it could be a serious sign of liver problems. This is caused by the lack of fluid flowing through your body.
4. Bowel problems
Liver failure can cause a number of different problems in your bowel movements. Constipation, diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, or strange-looking bowel (such as sticky, pale, or bloody) movements can all by symptoms of liver failure. You could also suffer from all of the above. This is all due to the problems caused by your body’s inability to digest food properly.
5. Loss of appetite and/or weight loss
Loss of appetite and/or rapid weight loss is actually a sign of pretty severe liver failure. It could even be a sign that your liver damage may have reached life-threatening levels, plus it could cause you additional health issues due to malnutrition. If you have a constant loss of appetite, you probably don’t feel well enough to eat due to the level of liver damage you are suffering, or you simply can’t keep food down due to your advanced digestive problems.
6. Fatigue, dizziness, and/or weakness
Many things can lead to a feeling of vertigo or exhaustion, and one of those things is liver failure. If you constantly feel weak, fatigued, dizzy, or suffer from headaches, your liver may be the cause. This is caused by the accumulation of toxins and waste in your body, due to your liver’s inability to digest and eliminate your waste.
7. Retaining fluids (Swelling)
Swelling in your abdomen, hands, feet, and/or ankles could be a sign of liver damage. This is due to your damaged liver causing an imbalance of compounds causing fluid retention.