Hepatitis - Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Definition

The actual meaning of hepatitis means is "inflammation of the liver". This disease is occour due to different type of viruses. The most common cause is infection with one of 5 viruses, called hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E. All of these viruses can cause an acute disease with symptoms lasting several weeks including yellowing of the skin and eyes (jaundice); dark urine; extreme fatigue; nausea; vomiting and abdominal pain.

Causes

There are many causes of inflammation of the liver including medication side effects, excessive alcohol, and some toxic chemicals, disorders of the gall bladder or pancreas, and infections. There are many infective agents that can cause inflammation of the liver, or hepatitis; however the term is unfortunately commonly used to refer to a particular group of viruses identified not very imaginatively by letters of the alphabet.

Other medications that can cause damage to the liver include methyldopa (used uncommonly for high blood pressure), isoniazid for tuberculosis, seizure medications (like valproate and phenytoin), chlorpromazine, amiodarone (for irregular heart rhythm), and certain antibiotics (including trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and erythromycin). If you need to take any of these, your doctor will follow your liver function closely.

Symptoms

Symptoms of hepatitis vary depending on the cause of the illness and how much the liver has been damaged. In mild cases, many people do not have any symptoms or have flulike symptoms that can include fever, a generally tired or ill feeling, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea and muscle aches. As the condition worsens, the person also may experience these additional symptoms : -

Yellowed skin, mucous membranes and eye-whites
Dark urine
Light colored stools that may contain pus
Itching
Enlarged spleen
Hives
Headache
Dizziness
Drowsiness
Circulation problems

Treatment

If you can have some precaution then there should be no problem at all. If you are nauseated, eating small snacks throughout the day instead of three large meals may help. Soft, easily digested foods, such as soup or broth, yogurt and toast, may be the most appealing. You may also find you can tolerate food better in the morning than later in the day.
Medicine, Azathioprine (Imuran) is used to treat autoimmune hepatitis. Like prednisone, azathioprine suppresses the immune system, but in a different way. If you don't respond to these drugs or you have severe side effects, your doctor may prescribe cyclosporine or another immunosuppressant medication that may be effective. When medications don't halt the progress of the disease or you have or develop irreversible scarring (cirrhosis) or liver failure, the remaining option is a liver transplant a procedure that's often very successful in people with autoimmune hepatitis.

Alien writes for Makeup care. He also writes for herbal medicines and for home remedies.

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