What are the symptoms of chronic hepatitis?

Hepatitis is divided into acute hepatitis and chronic hepatitis. When acute hepatitis is not treated and controlled in time, it can easily turn into chronic hepatitis. Chronic hepatitis brings heavy pressure and burden to patients and their families. It has a long course of disease, is difficult to cure, and is prone to relapse after recovery. Chronic hepatitis has many significant symptoms. Let’s take a look at them below.

How do I know if I have hepatitis? 5 symptoms to know at a glance

Although foreign enemies can be divided into A, B, C, D, and E (various types of hepatitis viruses), and the manifestation types can also be acute or chronic, since the target of attack is the liver, different hepatitis often have many common manifestations. So what are the main symptoms of hepatitis?

Hepatitis symptom 1: False "stomach problem"

Some hepatitis patients did not realize that they had hepatitis in the early stages of the disease. They just felt a loss of appetite and abdominal bloating. They took a lot of stomach medicine but their condition did not improve. Then they decided to do a gastroscopy. After a blood test at the hospital, they found that the loss of appetite was caused by hepatitis.

Why is this happening?

Because the liver is responsible for secreting bile, and bile is responsible for the digestion of fat. After getting hepatitis, the liver function is damaged and the function of bile secretion will also decrease, which affects the digestion of fat, so people do not like oily food.

Moreover, due to the decline in liver function, many substances cannot be fully detoxified by the liver. Their accumulation in the body can also cause loss of appetite, nausea, and aversion to greasy food.

How do I know if I have hepatitis? 5 symptoms to know at a glance

Hepatitis symptom 2: "Yellow" all day long

If a person's eyeballs turn yellow, many people will think that he has hepatitis. The saying "one cannot be yellow all day long" actually has some truth to it.

The yellowing of the whites of the eyes and skin is called jaundice, and it is the most easily noticed symptom of hepatitis. When jaundice develops, the skin and mucous membranes will appear yellow, the most obvious being the whites of the eyes turning yellow.

To confirm the diagnosis, blood and urine tests are usually done to check for elevated bilirubin levels. If the liver is damaged and the bile duct is blocked, bilirubin cannot be excreted smoothly and will flow back into the blood. Tests will reveal elevated bilirubin in the blood, and when it is deposited on the skin and mucous membranes, it will manifest as a yellow face and eyes.

Hepatitis symptom 3: Physical fatigue

Fatigue and weakness are one of the early symptoms of hepatitis patients.

The symptoms of different patients vary. Those with mild symptoms do not like to move, while those with severe symptoms are bedridden. Even if you get enough rest, the feeling of fatigue still cannot be relieved.

The reason is:

The patient's loss of appetite and digestion and absorption disorders lead to a significant lack of energy intake;

Liver cells are destroyed, reducing the amount of glycogen produced and stored by the liver.

How do I know if I have hepatitis? 5 symptoms to know at a glance

Hepatitis symptom 4: Fever

Patients with icteric hepatitis often have fever, generally between 37.5 and 38.5 degrees Celsius. High fever rarely occurs and usually lasts for 3 to 5 days.

Many patients with fever also feel general discomfort and loss of appetite, which is similar to a cold, so they are often mistaken for a cold.

The causes of fever may be liver dysfunction, hepatocellular necrosis, decreased detoxification and excretion function, viremia, etc.

Hepatitis symptom 5: Pain in the liver area

The liver is located in the right upper abdomen and cannot be felt under the ribs. When the liver is diseased, the patient will feel a needle-like pain in the liver area, or a heavy feeling, which is usually tolerable. It is more obvious when tired or angry. Bed rest can relieve the pain, but lying on the right side will aggravate the pain.

Pain in the liver area caused by hepatitis generally does not require painkillers. Instead, the pain will gradually disappear with the improvement of hepatitis through rest, nutritional conditioning and proper treatment.