Causes of Enlarged Liver

Understanding the causes of enlarged liver and what to do about it

Did you know the liver is one of the most critical organs in your body? Well, it is! That’s why liver detoxification is required to remove harmful substances, aid digestion, and manage the storage of nutrients. However, like any other organ, it can be exposed to some conditions, and one of these is hepatomegaly or an enlarged liver. An enlarged liver is not a disease, but a symptom of another disease. But what causes an enlarged liver? Let’s dive into learning about enlarged liver causes, symptoms, and treatments that will help you handle the problem in a better way and avoid further complications.

What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Enlarged Liver?

The initial stages of an enlarged liver hardly cause any symptoms. In its later stages, the condition could present with the following manifestations:

• Abdominal Pain or Ache: Pain or an ache in the upper right side of your abdomen are common signs of an enlarged liver.
• Fatigue and Weakness: If your liver is overloaded, it might make you much more tired or weak than you would normally be.
• Jaundice: A condition characterized by yellowish discolouration of the skin and eyes, which may show liver malfunction, including enlarged liver.
• Nausea or Vomiting: As the liver fails, toxins increase in your body, and the patient may experience feeling nauseous or start vomiting.
• Swelling or Fluid Retention: You might have swelling in your legs or abdomen as a medical condition that may be associated with ascites caused by the liver.
• Unexplained Weight Loss: Additionally, unexplained weight loss is considered a great sign that something might be amiss with your liver.

This is when early symptoms can help you tackle the problem at its root before it gets worse. However, an enlarged liver diagnosis is usually done during tests through blood tests, ultrasounds, or CT scans.

What Are The Causes Of Enlarged Liver?

Here are some of the most common causes of enlarged liver:

• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: This is because excess fat develops in the liver due to a bad diet, obesity, or sedentary lifestyle. Alcohol-related liver diseases also cause inflammation, scarring and enlargement.
• Hepatitis: Viral infections like hepatitis A, B, or C may cause the organ to become inflamed and enlarged.
• Cirrhosis: The chronic destruction from alcohol abuse or hepatitis may be the reason for an enlarged liver before it starts to shrink
• Liver Cancer:The presence of benign or cancerous tumours within the liver results in organ enlargement.
• Failure of the Heart: Poor pumping action of blood in the heart may cause blood to collect in the liver and make it enlarged.
• Genetic Diseases: Some genetic diseases like Wilson’s disease or hemochromatosis may also increase the size of your liver.

Understand what is causing your enlarged liver so you can work out an appropriate treatment plan.

What Are The Risk Factors For Enlarged Liver?

Some risk factors may increase your chances of developing an enlarged liver:

• Chronic alcohol misuse: mainly causes damage to the liver, inflammation, and enlargement.
• Obesity: Overweight and obese people are at greater risk of developing fatty liver disease, a primary cause of liver enlargement.
• High Cholesterol and Diabetes: The two conditions are likely to store fat within the liver, and commonly lead to its enlargement.
• Viral Infections: Hepatitis, among other types of infections involving the liver, may increase liver swelling causes.
• Genetic Conditions: With a family history of diseases related to the liver or others like hemochromatosis, you tend to suffer from problems in your liver.
• Medications: Certain medications, mostly those metabolized by the liver, could cause damage to your liver if you use them for an extended period.

Lifestyle and genetic conditions contribute to the impact on your healthful liver. For example, by avoiding such risks, you are preventing liver enlargement.

What Are The Treatments For Enlarged Liver?

The treatment for an enlarged liver largely depends upon the cause of enlargement. Here are a few general approaches:

• Diet and Lifestyle Modifications: Your doctor could advise you on diet and lifestyle changes, especially when the causes of enlarged liver are due to fatty liver disease or alcohol use. Dietary changes can reverse the condition. In this way, an enormous amount of fiber, lean proteins, and healthy fats, accompanied with regular exercise, can improve the condition for a healthy liver.
• Avoid Alcoholic Drinks: Alcohol consumption must be minimized or stopped if alcoholic liver disease is the cause of an enlarged liver.
• Medication: If viral infections such as hepatitis cause liver enlargement, it may require antiviral medications to treat these infections and thus reduce inflammation in the liver.
• Surgery or treatment of Cancers/tumours: If cancer or tumours are the causes of an enlarged liver, surgery and chemotherapy may be required.
• Chronic Conditions: Like heart failure and diabetes trigger your liver to enlarge, then its treatment plan will involve managing the chronic condition by using drugs and making lifestyle changes.

Healthy lifestyles such as exercise, eating a healthy diet, and not overusing alcohol can help maintain a healthy liver.

Conclusion

Slightly enlarged size of the liver often signals a health condition that needs urgent attention. If medical experts diagnose the case at an early stage, further complications may not occur, and more importantly, your general health will be restored. Identifying these symptoms and the causes involved and taking the right measures to change lifestyles will always protect your liver. So, keep a check of your liver health!

FAQs

Can liver swelling be caused by medications?

Yes, some drugs are the reason for enlarged liver, especially those metabolized by the liver in getting rid of wastes. Long-term or overuse of painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs and cholesterol-lowering drugs can strain the liver and thus enlarge it.

Are there genetic factors that cause an enlarged liver?

Yes, such genetic disorders include hemochromatosis which is excess iron buildup in the liver and Wilson’s disease, characterized by accumulation of copper in the liver.

Can an enlarged liver be a sign of a serious illness?

An enlarged liver may indicate several diseases that are not serious, but on the other hand, it may also indicate serious conditions as well, such as liver cancer, cirrhosis, and heart failure. So if you feel that your liver is enlarged, then seek medical advice to avoid complications.

How does chronic alcohol consumption affect the liver?

Chronic alcohol abuse provokes liver inflammation and fat build-up, scar tissue, and enlargement. Repeatedly, it causes alcoholic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver failure.

Can viral infections lead to an enlarged liver?

Yes, the viral infections causing hepatitis A, B and C inflame the liver and cause enlargement. This can be treated to control inflammation and swelling of the liver.

Still unsure about what are the causes of enlarged liver? Well, just remember that you need to take care of your liver and maybe even through an Ayurvedic way of life. You can also use natural remedies for liver care like milk thistle, turmeric, and dandelion root. Or add Liver Care Tablets from Dr Vaidya’s to your daily regime to stop liver swelling. So, take control of your health now!