Acute cirrhosis treatment

Overview

There is almost not a person in the world who has not heard about cirrhosis. Those who have not need to know that it can be fatal if it is not treated in time. This conditions shows up when there are damage from scarring and inflammation to the liver. People need to be aware that there is no treatment that can repair the damage that the liver has already suffered. However, people need to know that proper treatment can prevent any further damage. There are some important points on which the treatment focuses on treating the cause of cirrhosis if that is possible, avoiding the consumption of any substances which may cause more damage to the liver like alcohol, prevention of symptoms and complications and even having a liver transplant if the liver is beyond any hope of saving. However, a person needs to be an appropriate candidate in order to receive a transplant and there needs to be a liver available as well.

Initial treatment

When a person is diagnosed with cirrhosis, the doctor will give him a couple of advices and strongly recommend several things. The first one is to stop alcohol consumption completely. A person needs to tell the doctor about any medicines he or she might be taking at the moment. If there is fluid retention, the patient needs to start following a low-sodium diet. When a person is diagnosed with cirrhosis, he or she needs to get immunized against both hepatitis A and B, influenza and pneumococcus, if he or she has not already. It is important that a person follows these steps in order to avoid any further damage to the liver.

Ongoing treatment

Since cirrhosis can seriously damage a person’s health and even be fatal, it is important that people who are diagnosed with it pay a lot more attention to prevention and treatment of any symptoms and complications. In addition to this, people need to avoid all alcohol, inform the doctor about the medications a person is on and starting a low-sodium diet. The diet is important because it will reduce the fluid buildup and all the complications that follow it. The complications a person experiences will determine what medicines, surgeries or any other treatment he or she will need. Among all the possible complications, fluid buildup is probably the most common and people need to know that it must be controlled in order not to become fatal. Apart from the diet, there are some medications that help with this complication.