Hepatitis/Liver Disorders
Your liver is one of the largest and important organs in your body, second only to your skin. Your liver performs over 100 functions, all designed to keep you alive and healthy. The healthy human liver can ward off infection, stop bleeding, clear toxins and alcohol from the body and process medications. Your liver changes food into energy and also makes bile, a yellowish-green liquid that helps with digestion.
Liver disease is any condition that causes liver inflammation or tissue damage and affects liver function. There are many kinds of liver diseases. Viruses cause some of them, like hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Others can be the result of drugs, cancer, poisons or drinking too much alcohol. If the liver forms scar tissue because of an illness, it's called cirrhosis. Jaundice, or yellowing of the skin, can be one sign of liver disease. The liver is the only organ in the body that can easily replace damaged cells, but if enough cells are lost, the liver may not be able to meet the needs of the body.
Hepatitis causes your liver to swell and become inflamed. Hepatitis C is the most common blood-borne infection in the nation. Over 4 million Americans are infected, 3 million of them chronically. Many people with chronic hepatitis C have no symptoms of liver disease. If symptoms are present, they are usually mild, nonspecific, and intermittent. They may include fatigue, mild right-upper-quadrant abdominal discomfort or tenderness (“liver pain”), nausea, poor appetite, and mild muscle and joint pain. Standard therapy consists of a combination of medications called interferon and ribavirin.
These medications eliminate the virus in half of all patients after six to 12 months of treatment.
In addition to hepatitis C, other liver disorders we treat at Gastroenterology Specialists, Inc. include:
- Hepatitis A & B
- Hemochromatosis
- Cirrhosis
- Liver cancer
- Hereditary liver disease
- Adverse drug reactions
- Jaundice
- Noninfectious hepatitis
For a comprehensive evaluation, visit our hepatitis and liver disease specialists. In Westerly, Rhode Island, call 401-596-6330, or Mystic, Connecticut, call 860-572-5862. To schedule an appointment at our new satellite office located in North Stonington, Connecticut call us at 401-596-6330.
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Hepatitis/Liver Disorders
Your liver is one of the largest and important organs in your body, second only to your skin. Your liver performs over 100 functions, all designed to keep you alive and healthy. The healthy human liver can ward off infection, stop bleeding, clear toxins and alcohol from the body and process medications. Your liver changes food into energy and also makes bile, a yellowish-green liquid that helps with digestion.
Liver disease is any condition that causes liver inflammation or tissue damage and affects liver function. There are many kinds of liver diseases. Viruses cause some of them, like hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Others can be the result of drugs, cancer, poisons or drinking too much alcohol. If the liver forms scar tissue because of an illness, it's called cirrhosis. Jaundice, or yellowing of the skin, can be one sign of liver disease. The liver is the only organ in the body that can easily replace damaged cells, but if enough cells are lost, the liver may not be able to meet the needs of the body.
Hepatitis causes your liver to swell and become inflamed. Hepatitis C is the most common blood-borne infection in the nation. Over 4 million Americans are infected, 3 million of them chronically. Many people with chronic hepatitis C have no symptoms of liver disease. If symptoms are present, they are usually mild, nonspecific, and intermittent. They may include fatigue, mild right-upper-quadrant abdominal discomfort or tenderness (“liver pain”), nausea, poor appetite, and mild muscle and joint pain. Standard therapy consists of a combination of medications called interferon and ribavirin.
These medications eliminate the virus in half of all patients after six to 12 months of treatment.
In addition to hepatitis C, other liver disorders we treat at Gastroenterology Specialists, Inc. include:
- Hepatitis A & B
- Hemochromatosis
- Cirrhosis
- Liver cancer
- Hereditary liver disease
- Adverse drug reactions
- Jaundice
- Noninfectious hepatitis
For a comprehensive evaluation, visit our hepatitis and liver disease specialists. In Westerly, Rhode Island, call 401-596-6330, or Mystic, Connecticut, call 860-572-5862. To schedule an appointment at our new satellite office located in North Stonington, Connecticut call us at 401-596-6330.
GO BACK