What conditions cause inflamed liver and high blood pressure in a 22 year old man?
My friend is 22 years old, and hasn’t suffered any serious health problems before now. Recently he has been suffering with headaches, dizziness, abdominal pains and tiredness. The doctors say he has an inflamed liver, and very high blood pressure, but have said nothing further. They are running more tests. What conditions can cause these symptoms? Especially in a young man with no previous problems.
Taking too many painkillers is what got me. I don’t drink and I had the same problem at 25 years old. I also had a dying gallbladder that was infecting my liver, so I got it from both sides. Is your friend overweight? That can cause a toxin buildup and is commonly called "fatty liver disease". On a kinda plus side, the liver has the ability to recover at an insane rate. That’s why you can live for so long with liver problems. Your friend may have a miserable existence for a while, but he will likely live through it ok. Im going on two years now, and its still bothersome for me, but I’m alive and my quality of life is good.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Drinking too much most likely is the cause, taking into account your age and the uncommonness of liver inflammation…
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November 20th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
Alcohol?
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November 21st, 2009 at 12:20 am
Taking too many painkillers is what got me. I don’t drink and I had the same problem at 25 years old. I also had a dying gallbladder that was infecting my liver, so I got it from both sides. Is your friend overweight? That can cause a toxin buildup and is commonly called "fatty liver disease". On a kinda plus side, the liver has the ability to recover at an insane rate. That’s why you can live for so long with liver problems. Your friend may have a miserable existence for a while, but he will likely live through it ok. Im going on two years now, and its still bothersome for me, but I’m alive and my quality of life is good.
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November 21st, 2009 at 12:46 am
There are many things that can cause a liver
problem: alcohol consumption, medication
toxification, chemical exposure, viral infections
like Hep A,B,C,etc….mushroom poisoning,
metabolic problems, biliary obstruction or
mal-formation, hereditary conditions where
the body tend to hold onto iron or copper,
auto immune diseases like biliary cirrhosis or
sclerosing cholangitis, fatty liver disease,
some cardiac problems and there are others.
Usually, it starts out as the cells of the liver
becoming stressed or damage. If the
cells are damage…the immune system
will respond to this and cause inflammation
to develop in the liver which causes the
liver to enlarge in size. This has to be
treated and the cause removed so the
liver cells can heal. If it is not, it can
proceed to a more serious condition where
the liver cells can die off and form scar
tissue in the liver that blocks the flow
of blood to the cells and also through the liver…
this is known as cirrhosis of the liver then.
Tiredness is very much the starting of the
symptoms of this disease.
If you want to read more about cirrhosis of
the liver, here are a few links you can click on.
http://www.medicinenet.com/cirrhosis/article.htm
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cirrhosis/DS00373
http://www.hcvets.com/data/hcv_liver/cirrhosis.htm
He should be with a gastroenterologist or
a hepatologist. The usually start with blood
work to see what may be going on.
There are three types of blood testing they
do: The liver enzymes show if there may be
damage to the liver cells. The liver function
tests show how well the cells are able to
perform the functions they need to, to keep
the body well and the viral testing to see
if a virus may be the cause of the liver problem.
The doctor also does an examination where
they place their hand in the upper right hand
portion of the abdomen…just under the rib cage…they can sometimes feel if the liver
is enlarged. If they believe it is, he will
be sent for one of these: ultrasound, Ct scan,
or MRI. These will show the doctor if there
is growth on the liver, how the blood is flowing
through the liver, how much the liver is
enlarged and more. The very best test is
an invasive one…that is the liver biopsy.
I hope this information has been of help to you.
They usually will not give the patient a true
diagnosis until all the test results are in.
He should be sure to tell the doctor every
medication he has taken…this includes
over the counter (like pain med), herbs, herbal
teas, vitamins, minerals, supplements, and
prescriptions prescribed by other doctors.
Most medication goes through the liver
first before going to the rest of the body…
it may have to be adjusted or he may have
to change some of it or be taken off of some.
This is very important.
Best wishes. It is a shame that someone
so young has to go through all of this.
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