Joint and muscle pain are common symptoms or complications of liver disease. The pain can be caused by the immune system fighting an infection, such as viral hepatitis. Joint pain may also be a side effect of medications, or the result of conditions with links to liver disease, such as RA.
Joint Pain and the Liver
Approximately 50% of patients with hepatitis (B and C) have joint pain associated with cryoglobulinemia. Metabolic liver diseases such as hemochromatosis and Wilson disease may mimic osteoarthritis and can affect the joints.
The reported prevalence of symptomatic inflammatory arthropathy in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis ranges from 4% to 50%. Skeletal involvement with Wilson's disease is common. Such patients may complain of pain and stiffness, mainly in the knee, wrist, or other large joints.
yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes (jaundice) swelling in the legs, ankles and feet caused by a build-up of fluid (oedema) swelling in your abdomen caused by a build-up of fluid known as ascites. a high temperature and shivering attacks.
Aches and pains in our bones, joints, and muscles may be caused by everyday wear and tear, overuse, or aging. This pain can also be the result of injury or illness. No matter the cause, the pain medicine experts at Weill Cornell Medicine can help alleviate pain and improve quality of life.
Stage 3: Cirrhosis
During this stage of disease, symptoms become more noticeable: pain and discomfort, fatigue, appetite loss, fluid retention, jaundice, and an itchy feeling around the liver.
Acute liver failure causes fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, discomfort on your right side, just below your ribs, and diarrhea. Acute liver failure is a serious condition. It requires medical care right away. If treatments are not effective, you may be a candidate for a liver transplant.
For instance, if you have non-alcohol related fatty liver disease and have obesity, you may also have osteoarthritis and cirrhosis makes your bone and joint pain worse. Cirrhosis also causes an inflammatory state in your entire body. Inflammation and your body's reaction to inflammation can cause general pain.
Two of the most common changes in fatty liver disease patient's walk are a staggering gait and a tendency to fall, as per the Liver Trust. A staggering gait is usually described as an ataxic gait, which means that the walking is uncoordinated.
Liver pain and liver disease. Liver pain can be dull and nonspecific, but it can also be severe. It may result in a backache. Liver pain is sometimes confused with a pain in the right shoulder, or in the abdomen, or the kidney.
Liver diseases are associated with bone loss that is due to decreased bone formation or increased bone resorption depending on the etiology of liver disease.
Sleep disturbances, particularly daytime sleepiness and insomnia, are common problems reported by patients suffering from liver cirrhosis.
In liver disease, saturation of fatty acids produces inflammation in the hepatocytes, which increases the induction of caspase-1 activation and the release of IL-1β. This results in a release of more DAMPs from the hepatocytes, generating a feedback that amplifies the inflammatory response.
If cirrhosis gets worse, some of the symptoms and complications include: yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice) vomiting blood. itchy skin.
It takes upwards of ten years for alcohol-related liver disease to progress from fatty liver through fibrosis to cirrhosis to acute on chronic liver failure. This process is silent and symptom free and can easily be missed in primary care, usually presenting with advanced cirrhosis.
Blood tests
But liver function tests can be normal at many stages of liver disease. Blood tests can also detect if you have low levels of certain substances, such as a protein called serum albumin, which is made by the liver. A low level of serum albumin suggests your liver is not functioning properly.
Fatigue and arthritis
Fatigue can be linked to many types of arthritis and related conditions. It's commonly a symptom of autoimmune conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, reactive arthritis and lupus. In autoimmune conditions the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's own healthy tissues.
If your joint pain wasn't caused by an injury, make an appointment with your doctor if: Your joint pain, stiffness and/or swelling lasts three days or more. You have several flare-ups of joint symptoms within one month.
Autoimmune disorders that specifically affect the muscles, joints, and nerves include rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and multiple sclerosis (MS). Polymyalgia rheumatica, which also involves the joints, is thought to be an autoimmune condition, according to the Arthritis Foundation.
Blood tests.
Blood tests are done to determine how well your liver works. A prothrombin time test measures how long it takes your blood to clot. With acute liver failure, blood doesn't clot as quickly as it should.