How to Know if You Have Hep B

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Your liver — the large, football-shaped organ in your upper right abdomen — is fundamental to the healthy functioning of your trunk. The liver cleans and purifies your blood and gets rid of harmful chemicals made by your torso that enter the bloodstream. In improver, the liver makes bile, which helps you lot break down fat from food, and also stores sugar (glucose), which can requite you a needed energy boost.^[1] An enlarged liver, also known as hepatomegaly, is not a disease itself, but is a symptom of an underlying medical condition such as alcoholism, viral infection (hepatitis), metabolic disorder, cancer, gallstones, and certain eye problems. To make up one's mind whether your liver is enlarged, you must recognize the signs and symptoms, get a professional diagnosis, and be aware of the risk factors.

1. 1

   Be aware of jaundice symptoms. Jaundice is a xanthous pigmentation of the skin, mucus, and whites of the eyes acquired by excess bilirubin in your blood stream. Bilirubin is a yellowish-orange pigment found in liver bile.^[2] Considering a healthy liver commonly eliminates excess bilirubin, its presence indicates a liver problem.^[3]

   • In addition to yellowish pigmentation to the pare and whites of the optics, symptoms of jaundice may include fatigue, intestinal pain, weight loss, vomiting, fever, stake stools, and dark urine.
   • Jaundice symptoms are usually present when the liver is seriously impaired, and it is best to seek medical attention immediately if you are experiencing them.

2. 2

   Look for intestinal swelling (distention) or pain. Abdominal swelling, if you lot are not meaning, usually indicates an aggregating of fat, fluid, or carrion, or the presence of a tumor, cyst, fibroids, or other enlargement of an organ such as the liver or spleen.^[4] In some severe cases, you could actually look viii months pregnant even if you're not. Many causes of abdominal swelling indicate an underlying medical condition that your doctor should examine.^[five]

   • If it is a fluid accumulation, and so it is referred to as ascites and is a mutual symptom of an enlarged liver.
   • This abdominal swelling will often pb to a decrease in appetite as yous are besides "total" to swallow. This symptom is termed "early satiety." You may also not take an appetite at all due to the swelling.^[6]
   • You may also experience swelling in the legs.^[seven]
   • Abdominal pain, specially in the right upper side of your abdomen, may also be a sign of an enlarged liver, especially if you lot have other symptoms likewise.^[8]

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3. iii

   Recognize general symptoms that could indicate an enlarged liver. Fever, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, pain in the upper right side of your abdomen, and weight loss are symptoms that are not specific to liver enlargement, just can be a sign of liver disease and enlargement if they are severe, prolonged, or unexpected.^[ix]

   • A lack of appetite or unwillingness to swallow can accompany abdominal distention, every bit mentioned higher up. It can also be a symptom of gallbladder illness every bit sufferers may exist unwilling to eat, since eating is a trigger for pain. Lack of appetite may also accompany cancer and hepatitis.
   • Doctors typically define pregnant weight loss equally more 10% of your body weight. If you're not attempting to lose weight, and you find weight loss, you should go in touch with your md.^[x]
   • Fever is a marking of inflammation in the torso. Because liver enlargement could be due to an infection such equally hepatitis, information technology'southward important to recognize and address fever when information technology occurs.
   • Unusually stake, light grayness, or even white stools may be a sign of liver problems.^[11]

4. 4

   Look for fatigue. When you experience fatigue, you experience tired after exerting only a picayune endeavor. This tin occur when the liver'south reserve of nutrients is damaged, and the body depletes its muscles of their nutrients as an culling energy source.^[12]

   • Fatigue tin can indicate the presence of a liver problem, and swelling can exist an accompanying symptom. Viral hepatitis and cancer tin can both cause fatigue.

5. 5

   Discover increased itching. When the liver is impaired, you may experience pruritus (itchy peel) that may be either localized or generalized. This status happens when the liver biliary ducts are obstructed. Equally a issue, bile salts that accept been excreted into your bloodstream eolith themselves in your skin and causing an itching sensation.^[13]

   • You may be tempted to treat the itching, but if you suspect a liver problem, you must run into your doctor showtime.

6. half-dozen

   Recognize spider angiomas. Spider angiomas, also chosen spider telangiectasia or spider nevi, are dilated blood vessels that spread out from a central red dot and await similar spider webs. These veins often form on the face, neck, easily, and upper one-half of the breast and are a archetype sign of liver disease and hepatitis.^[14]

   • A single spider nevus is non typically a crusade for concern on its own. Even so, if you lot exhibit other health weather or symptoms, such every bit lethargy, fatigue, bloating or signs of jaundice, you should come across your medico every bit this may be a sign of liver issues. In addition, if you have multiple clusters of spider nevi, you should also see your doctor as this suggests something is wrong with your liver.^[15]
   • Spider angiomas can range in size up to 5 millimeters in diameter.
   • If y'all apply moderate pressure with your fingers, their ruby-red colour volition disappear for a couple of seconds and they'll turn white (blanching) because the blood volition drain out.

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1. 1

   Make an appointment with your principal health care provider. At the outset of the appointment, your medico volition desire to do a consummate medical history with you. Information technology'southward of import to be forthcoming and honest with your provider then they can create the best treatment plan for you.^[xvi]

   • Be aware that some of the questions your doctor will enquire are quite personal and business organisation substance use, alcohol consumption, and sexual partners. All the same, your answers are critical to your diagnosis. Be clear and tell the truth.
   • Tell your doctor about any medications or supplements you're taking, including vitamins and herbal remedies.

2. ii

   Get a physical examination. A clinical physical test is the first stride to diagnosing an enlarged liver. Your physician volition begin past examining your skin for jaundice and spider angiomas if you lot have not already reported these as symptoms. He may and then examine your liver by feeling your stomach with his hand.^[17]

   • An enlarged liver may feel irregular, soft or firm, with or without lumps depending on the underlying cause. This kind of test tin can decide the liver'southward size and texture in order to assess the caste of liver enlargement. Your doctor will utilize two methods of concrete examination: a percussion test and a palpation test.

3. 3

   Use percussion to appraise the state of your liver. Percussion is a method to assess the size of the liver and to make sure that the liver does not exceed the boundaries of the right costal margin (the rib cage), which is the liver's protective barrier. It explores your inner organs by analyzing the sounds they produce. Your doctor conducts this examination past tapping on your body'due south surface and listening to the resulting audio.^[18] If they hears a boring sound that stretches more than i inch (ii.5 cm) below the bottom of your rib cage, and so your liver may exist enlarged. Note that if you are experiencing abdominal distention, this exam will not be accurate and you will likely demand to take an abdominal ultrasound.^[19]

   • Your doctor, if right-handed, will place their left hand on your breast and press their middle finger firmly confronting the chest wall. Using the centre finger of their right mitt, they will strike the midpoint of their left middle finger. The striking movement should come from the wrist (much like playing the piano).
   • Starting from below your breast, the percussion should result in a tympanic drum audio. That is because your lung is located in that location, and is filled with air.
   • Your doctor will movement slowly down in a direct line overlying the liver, listening for when the tympanic drum sound changes to a "thud." This signifies that your dr. is now over the liver. They volition keep to percuss and pay shut attending as they near the finish of your rib cage to run across if they keep to hear a "thud" racket and how far. Your doctor will stop when the "thud" changes to a mix of intestinal noises (gas and gurgling).
   • The doctor volition count how many centimeters beneath, if any, the liver, went beyond the rib cage. This is usually a sign of affliction, as our rib cage is intended to protect our important internal organs like the liver and spleen. (If you accept hyperinflated lungs but are otherwise good for you, your medico may be able to experience the liver edge.)

4. four

   Try palpation to determine liver shape and consistency. Your doctor will besides utilize palpation to determine whether your liver is enlarged. Palpation, similar percussion, uses the touch on and force per unit area provided by the hands.^[20]

   • This is performed, if your medico is right-handed, by placing their left hand under your correct side. You will have to take a big breath in and exhale slowly out as your medico tries to "capture" the liver between their easily. They will use their fingertips to experience the liver between its edge and the bottom of the ribcage, looking for of import details such as shape, consistency, surface texture, tenderness, and border sharpness.
   • Your physician will be feeling for a surface texture that is crude, irregular or nodular and also whether the liver has a hard or firm consistency. They volition also enquire yous if y'all feel any tenderness as they press.

5. 5

   Get blood tests. Your doc will likely want to have a sample of your claret drawn in order to appraise your liver's function and health. Blood tests are unremarkably used to place the possible presence of a viral infection such equally hepatitis.^[21]

   • The blood sample will point what your liver enzyme levels are and thereby provide of import information about the health and performance of your liver. Other blood tests may besides be appropriate, including a complete blood jail cell count, hepatitis virus screen, elastography, and blood clotting tests. These latter tests are peculiarly useful to assess liver office because the liver is responsible for creating the proteins involved in clotting blood.^[22]

6. 6

   Become imaging testing. Imaging tests such as ultrasound, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans are often recommended to confirm the diagnosis and assess the anatomy of the liver and its surrounding tissues. These tests tin provide specific data to your medico who can so brand an informed cess of your liver's condition.^[23]

   • Abdominal Ultrasound — In this test, you volition lie downwardly as a handheld probe is moved over the abdomen. The probe emits high frequency sound waves that bounce off the organs in the body and are received past a computer, which translates these sound waves into an image of your internal abdominal organs. Your healthcare provider will tell y'all how to set for the test, but in most cases, you are non supposed to consume or drink before the test.^[24]
   • Abdominal CT scan — In a CT scan, x-rays are taken to create cross-sectional images over your intestinal region. You have to lie on a narrow table that slides into the CT machine and stay still as the 10-rays are taken and rotate around you. These are translated into images on a computer. Your md will tell yous how to prepare for this exam. Considering the examination sometimes involves a special dye called dissimilarity being put into your body (either through IV or orally), yous may not be able to eat or drink beforehand.^[25]
   • MRI abdominal browse — This test uses magnets and radio waves to create images of the internal intestinal region, rather than radiation (x-rays). You have to lie on a narrow tabular array that slides into a large tunnel-similar scanner. To make your organs more clear on the scans, the test may crave dye, something that your doctor will discuss with you beforehand. As with the other tests, you lot may be asked non to consume or beverage before the test.^[26]

7. vii

   Undergo an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). This is a scope that looks for problems in the bile ducts, the tubes that carry bile from the liver to your gallbladder and small intestine.^[27]

   • In this exam, an IV line is placed in your arm and you will be given something to relax yous. And then, your medico will insert an endoscope through your mouth and down the esophagus and tum until it reaches the small intestine (the office closest to the stomach). They volition pass a catheter through the endoscope and insert it into the bile ducts that connect with the pancreas and gallbladder. And so, they volition inject dye into the ducts, which helps the doctor meet any problem areas more conspicuously. X-rays are so taken.^[28]
   • This test commonly follows imaging tests, including ultrasound, CT scan or MRI scan.
   • As with many of the other tests mentioned, your doctor will outline the procedure and tell you what to expect. You will need to provide your consent for the ERCP and not eat or drink for four hours prior to the test.
   • An ERCP can be a skillful option because your medico can also use it to facilitate treatment. For example, if there are stones or other obstructions in the bile ducts, the medico tin remove those while the ERCP is beingness conducted.^[29]

8. 8

   Look into getting a liver biopsy. As a full general rule, an enlarged liver and any liver diseases or conditions can be diagnosed successfully through a medical history, physical test, blood tests, and, finally, imaging tests. A biopsy, all the same, can exist recommended in sure situations, particularly if the diagnosis is unclear or if cancer is suspected.^[thirty]

   • The process involves the insertion of a long, thin needle into your liver to collect the liver tissue sample and will usually exist conducted by a liver specialist (either a gastroenterologist or hepatologist). Considering it is an invasive examination, you will exist placed under local or general anesthesia. The sample is then sent to a laboratory for further investigation, specially to examine whether in that location are whatsoever malignant cells present.

9. 9

   Get a magnetic resonance elastography (MRE). A relatively new imaging technique, magnetic resonance elastography combines MRI imaging with sound waves to construct a visual map (elastograph) to appraise the stiffness of body tissues, in this case of the liver. A hardening of the liver is a symptom of chronic liver disease, and something that the MRE tin can discover. This test is noninvasive and tin can be an alternative to a liver biopsy.^[31]

   • Magnetic resonance elastography is a new merely quickly developing technology. It is currently offered but at a few medical centers only is on the ascent. Check with your doctor to encounter whether this is an option for you lot.^[32]

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1. 1

   Determine the adventure posed by hepatitis. Hepatitis A, B, and C crusade liver inflammation, and tin can lead to enlargement accompanied past a smooth, tender liver border. If you have whatever grade of hepatitis, you are at higher risk for having an enlarged liver.^[33]

   • The damage to the liver is due to claret and immune cells that flood the liver in an attempt to fight against the hepatitis infection.

2. ii

   Consider whether yous have right-sided center failure. Blood can accumulate in your liver as a upshot of inefficient pumping of the middle, so heart failure can produce an enlargement of the liver, with a smooth, tender liver edge. Essentially, because the centre isn't doing its job, blood backs up into the liver.^[34]

   • Talk to your doctor if yous think you lot may have middle problems.

3. iii

   Recognize the risk cirrhosis poses. Cirrhosis is a chronic disease that leads to an increased density of the liver, as a result of fibrosis (excessive scar tissue product). Cirrhosis is usually the result of lifestyle choices that have an adverse consequence on the liver. Alcohol corruption, in particular, tin can directly cause cirrhosis.^[35]

   • Cirrhosis may produce either enlargement or shrinking, but is most often associated with enlargement.

4. 4

   Consider any genetic or metabolic conditions you have. People with certain genetic or metabolic weather, such as Wilson's disease^[36] and Gaucher's affliction, may also be at a higher gamble of developing an enlarged liver.^[37]

5. 5

   Understand the risk cancer poses. People with cancer may develop liver enlargement due to the spread of cancer (metastasis) into the liver.^[38] If you take been diagnosed with cancer, especially cancer of an organ near the liver, you are at a higher adventure of an enlarged liver.

6. half dozen

   Be cautious of excessive alcohol utilise. Chronic or excessive alcohol consumption across a few drinks a week tin can cause harm to the liver and impair liver regeneration. These can both induce irreversible functional and structural harm to the liver.^[39]

   • As the liver loses its functionality due to booze use, it tin get enlarged and swollen due to decreased drainage chapters. You lot may besides develop fat deposits in your liver if you swallow alcohol in backlog.
   • The National Constitute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines "moderate" drinking every bit no more one drink per day for women and no more two drinks per day for men.^[forty]

7. seven

   Consider your drug consumption. Many over-the-counter medications tin can harm your liver if used for extended periods of time or if used beyond the recommended dosage. The nearly liver-toxic drugs include oral contraceptives, anabolic steroids, diclofenac, amiodarone, and statins, among others.^[41]

   • If you are on long-term medication, yous should get regular check-ups and closely follow your physician's advice.
   • Acetaminophen (Tylenol), especially when overdosed, is a common cause of liver failure and tin cause liver enlargement. The risk is higher if acetaminophen is mixed with alcohol.^[42]
   • Be aware that some herbal supplements, such equally black cohosh, ma huang, and mistletoe, can as well increment the likelihood of liver damage.

8. viii

   Monitor your intake of fat foods. Regular consumption of fat foods, including french chips, hamburgers, or any other junk nutrient, can pb to fatty accumulation in the liver, chosen fatty liver. Pools of fat can develop that will eventually destroy liver cells.^[43]

   • Your damaged liver will be dumb and may swell due to a decreased power to procedure claret and toxins and the accumulation of fat.
   • Be aware besides that existence overweight or obese increases your hazard of liver affliction. Whether someone is overweight or obese is adamant past using the body mass index (BMI), an indicator of body fatness. BMI is a person'due south weight in kilograms (kg) divided past the square of the person'southward height in meters (chiliad). A BMI of 25-29.9 is considered overweight, while a BMI greater than 30 is considered obese.^[44]

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• Considering alcohol consumption is such a big risk cistron for many liver diseases, quitting drinking can help contrary any potential damage.

• Always talk to your medico if you're concerned about having an enlarged liver or before you make any dietary or lifestyle changes to make sure they're safety for you.

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• If you feel sudden, severe abdominal pain, seek emergency medical treatment.

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About This Article

Article Summary Ten

To know if you have an enlarged liver, bank check to meet if your skin or the whites of your eyes look yellowish, which is called jaundice. Next, gently feel your abdomen to cheque for swelling and note if y'all experience any hurting. If you're experiencing jaundice or swelling along with other symptoms like fever, loss of ambition, nausea, airsickness, intestinal hurting, or weight loss, make an date with your doc as presently as possible. Your physician will probably draw blood and social club a CT or MRI of the belly to take a closer await at your liver and evaluate how it's functioning. For tips on understanding the take a chance factors associated with an enlarged liver, read on!

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