Hepatitis B is a chronic disease. As long as you follow the doctor’s advice and insist on treatment, you can “coexist peacefully” with the patient.
But Aunt Liu, the protagonist of today’s story, did a wrong thing and made her liver suffer…
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
Guangxi’s Aunt Liu is 67 years old and knew she had hepatitis B more than 30 years ago. It’s just that when she was young, she was in good health and didn’t have too many symptoms, so she never went for review and treatment.
About 2 years ago, she noticed her belly was getting bigger day by day. At first, she thought it was because she ate too much, which caused her body to gain weight, and thought that “it’s enough to lose weight”. It can be subtracted and subtracted, but it has no effect at all. Instead, at the end of last year, there were abdominal distension and lower extremity edema.
Aunt Liu felt that something was wrong and rushed to the local hospital to see a doctor. It was only after an examination that he found out that he was already in the late stage of liver cirrhosis, accompanied by a large amount of ascites, as well as splenomegaly and portal vein enlargement.
Aunt Liu came to our hospital after being introduced. After admission, we conducted a detailed examination of her and asked for her medical history.
As soon as I asked, I found out that Aunt Liu occasionally felt a little pain near the liver, which was uncomfortable. At this time, she would eat some local herbal medicines from her hometown to cure her, which caused her illness to come back and forth. And she has always listened to the rumors that “hepatitis B cannot be cured”, and believes that the hepatitis has not deteriorated anyway, so it is okay not to go to the hospital, just take some home remedies. In the face of her family’s advice, she refused to listen, which eventually led to the emergence of liver cirrhosis.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
We quickly gave Auntie Liu comprehensive treatment. On the one hand, ask her to rest in bed and reduce activities; on the other hand, give her high-calorie, high-protein and vitamin-rich foods.
On this basis, combined with liver protection, diuresis, supplemental albumin and other treatments, and performed abdominal puncture to drain ascites. About a week later, Aunt Liu’s abdominal distension, edema and other symptoms improved significantly.
I don’t know if you have heard the term “hepatitis trilogy”, that is, the development chain of “hepatitis B – liver cirrhosis – liver cancer”.
Many hepatitis B patients don’t pay enough attention to their condition, and always feel that “there is no discomfort at ordinary times, so there is no need for review and treatment”. In fact, the liver is a “silent organ that works hard without complaint”, and it is too late when the disease actually occurs.
And if regular treatment and regular review can be carried out, the further aggravation of the disease can be completely avoided and the risk of decompensated liver disease can be reduced.
What does decompensation mean?
This needs to be explained first, what is “compensation”. What it says is that when the liver develops inflammation and other diseases in the early stage, it can still stick to its post without complaining, without specific symptoms or signs, and generally there is no obvious abnormality in liver function tests.
AndDecompensation means that the liver is no longer able to “cope” with the damage caused by existing lesions. Compared with the compensation period, there will be more obvious symptoms, such as nausea, anorexia, abdominal distension, weight loss, fatigue, yellow skin and eyes, spider naevi, liver palm, etc. Over time, it may develop into more serious liver diseases such as cirrhosis.
For chronic hepatitis B, the most important thing is to adhere to antiviral treatment. This is a long-term process, but it can gradually normalize liver function and achieve what we often call “clinical cure”.
If you can achieve hepatitis B E antigen, virus DNA negative, normal liver function, and continue for more than one year, it is considered “basic cure”.
Doing this can greatly reduce the risk of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Therefore, we recommend that hepatitis B patients should be routinely re-examined 2-3 times a year. If the doctor judges that there is a risk of developing liver cirrhosis and liver cancer, it is necessary to review it every 3 months, including liver function, hepatitis B virus quantification, alpha-fetoprotein and abdominal B-ultrasound.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
In addition, there are more and more health products on the market, and some patients like to use health products to “treat” hepatitis B. But you must know that health products and medicines cannot be compared, which is also a big misunderstanding of hepatitis B treatment.
There are also some so-called “experts” in the society who often advocate “medicine to cure the disease” and sell medicines under the banner of local remedies, prescriptions, and home remedies, among which there are some traditional Chinese medicines that damage the liver, such as Notoginseng, gall, Polygonum multiflorum, etc., may increase the burden on the liver and even cause liver damage.
Therefore, patients with liver disease must not listen to rumors, and do not seek medical treatment or use herbal remedies indiscriminately. This may cause liver damage to varying degrees, making the fragile liver “worse” and even worse. Liver failure may occur.
*The content of this article is for the popularization of health knowledge. It cannot be used as a specific diagnosis and treatment recommendation, nor can it replace the face-to-face consultation of a licensed physician. It is for reference only.
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