Signs of Liver Disease

and Risk Factors

The liver is essential for digesting

food and ridding your body of toxic
substances. Everything you eat or
drink passes through it. Aside from
helping clean your blood, the bile that
it produces helps you break down fat
from food. It is thus important to
keep your liver in good shape.

Signs that your liver is not well:

• Skin and eyes that appear yellowish

• Abdominal pain and swelling
• Swelling in the legs and ankles
• Itchy skin
• Dark urine color
• Pale stool color, or bloody or tar-colored stool
• Chronic fatigue
• Nausea or vomiting
• Loss of appetite
• Tendency to bruise easily

Risk factors for liver disease:

• Heavy alcohol use

• Injecting drugs using shared needles
• Tattoos or body piercings
• Exposure to other people’s blood and body fluids
• Unprotected sex
• Exposure to certain chemicals or toxins
• Diabetes
• Obesity

Ref: mayoclinic.org