There are very few symptoms during the early stages of cirrhosis. As healthy liver tissue is destroyed and scar tissue builds up, the liver loses its ability to function properly and more symptoms will appear.
As cirrhosis progresses, it causes your liver to swell. Your liver then begins to shrink as scar tissue replaces healthy tissue. As your liver function weakens, you may have some of the following symptoms:
- tiredness and weakness
- loss of appetite
- weight loss
- feeling sick
- very itchy skin
- tenderness or pain around the liver
- tiny red lines (blood capillaries) on the skin above waist level
- jaundice (see below)
- a tendency to bleed and bruise more easily, such as frequent nosebleeds or bleeding gums
- hair loss
- fever and shivering attacks – because you're more prone to infections
- oedema – a build-up of fluid in the legs, ankles and feet
- ascites – a build-up of fluid in your abdomen, which can make you look heavily pregnant
Jaundice is the yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes. It occurs either as a result of a blockage in your bile duct (the tube that transfers bile from the liver to the gallbladder). Or it results from liver damage, which means that the liver is unable to process a yellow substance in your blood called bilirubin (a by-product of red blood cells).
You may notice changes in your personality due to toxins in your bloodstream that affect your brain. You may also have problems sleeping (insomnia), memory loss, confusion and difficulty concentrating (encephalopathy).
Late-stage symptoms
In the later stages of cirrhosis, you may vomit blood or have tarry, black stools. This is because blood can't flow through the liver properly, which causes an increase in blood pressure in the vein that carries blood from the gut to the liver (portal vein).
The increase in blood pressure forces blood through smaller, fragile vessels that line your stomach and gullet (varices). These can burst under high blood pressure, leading to internal bleeding, which is visible in vomit and/or stools.
Read more about how swollen varices are treated.
