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For those who haven’t heard of fatty liver, it means that the liver has extra fat in it. The scientific name for the same is hepatic steatosis and is a result of addiction to alcohol. Due to high consumption of alcohol fat builds up inside the liver making it hard to work properly. It does not mean that if you do drink, you don’t get fatty liver. For those who don’t consume alcohol and still have fatty liver conditions, it is a result of mainly metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, high amount of belly fat, and is known as Nonalcoholic Fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
Simple Fatty Liver – This means there are only extra fat and no inflammation in the liver cells. Most people suffer from Simple fatty liver and it does not get worse.
Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) – This is known to be serious as compared to simple fatty liver. It occurs when the liver gets inflamed. Your liver cells get damaged due to NASH and can lead to further life-threatening conditions like cirrhosis, liver cancer, and fibrosis.
Alcohol-related fatty liver disease – Also known as ALD, it might or might not exhibit any symptoms. If there are symptoms, they include discomfort or pain in the upper right side of the belly. Though if drinking is not stopped, it can lead to complications like alcoholic cirrhosis and hepatitis.
Alcoholic Cirrhosis – The condition causes scar tissue buildup in the liver. Symptoms that surface includes fluid buildup in the belly, body bleeding, enlarged spleen, liver failure, dis-orientation, and behavior changes as well.
Alcoholic Hepatitis – This kind of lever swelling can cause belly pain, jaundice, nausea, and vomiting. Alcoholic fatty liver worsens to lead to alcoholic hepatitis and furthermore into Cirrhosis.
Fatty liver disease symptoms – NAFLD as well as ALD as mentioned before may or may not give any symptoms other than fatigue or pain in the upper right side of the belly.
Though NASH, as well as cirrhosis, do exhibit symptoms like red palms, breast enlargement in men, swollen belly, enlarged blood vessels below the skin.
Fatty liver Diagnosis – The diagnosis is based on physical exam, health history, and based on tests like blood tests as well as imaging tests. If required a liver biopsy may also be advised.
Fatty liver Treatment – There is no treatment as such in terms of medications for NAFLD, but in case of NASH complications like liver failure or cirrhosis, you may have to go for a liver transplant.
