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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease often has no symptoms and is discovered during routine checkups. Symptoms include upper right stomach pain, fatigue, and unexplained weight loss. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and cirrhosis can lead to serious liver problems. Obesity, high cholesterol, and gastric bypass surgery increase the risk of the disease.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease does not usually cause noticeable symptoms in most patients, as this condition is usually discovered during routine medical checkups. When symptoms are present, they tend to include pain in the upper right side of the stomach, fatigue, and weight loss that occurs for no apparent reason. Most people do not experience complications from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, but non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cirrhosis are two more serious forms of this condition that can lead to serious liver problems. Most doctors try to determine the cause of the disease so that the underlying problem can be treated, since there are no specific treatments for fatty liver disease itself.
Although fat is not generally supposed to accumulate on the liver, this problem is not usually harmful in otherwise healthy patients. This is probably why most people don’t have fatty liver symptoms, as their body isn’t bothered by the problem. When the body is irritated, fatigue and weight loss often result, but these symptoms of fatty liver usually go unnoticed or are attributed to other causes. The one symptom that usually prompts people to see a doctor is dull pain in the upper right stomach area. It usually comes and goes, causing many people to wait to see a doctor until the pain is severe.
The typical form of fatty liver disease may not be particularly harmful, but there are two other types that can lead to health problems. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis can occur when fatty liver disease causes inflammation of the liver, often leading to poor function and occasionally other long-term complications. Additionally, this can escalate into cirrhosis associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, as the inflammation can cause scarring that ultimately results in liver failure. Considering that most people have few, if any, symptoms of fatty liver, detection sometimes comes too late to save the liver.
Despite the lack of symptoms of fatty liver in most cases, some people are more at risk for the disease than others, forcing their doctors to check for the problem at routine medical appointments. For example, those who are obese, have high cholesterol, or have had gastric bypass surgery are usually more likely to get this condition than most people. Type 2 diabetes, malnutrition, excessive weight loss, Wilson’s disease and some medications can also put people at risk for fatty liver disease. Whether or not these people have symptoms of fatty liver, it is important that they are occasionally examined for this problem.
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