Liver Cirrhosis Cures

Cirrhosis, or scarring of the liver, is the body's reaction to chronic liver damage. Commonly linked to long-term alcohol abuse, it can actually result from a wide variety of causes, including cystic fibrosis, hepatitis B and C, autoimmune disease, fatty liver disease and a host of other factors. In its worst forms, cirrhosis progressively destroys all liver function, and ultimately leads to death. There is no known cure for cirrhosis, but researchers have begun to uncover some promising avenues for future treatment breakthroughs.

Degrees of the Disease

• The liver is one of the body's most indispensable organs. With responsibility for cleansing the blood stream, producing essential nutrients and detoxifying harmful substances, it is vital to proper health. It is also extremely resilient, and is perfectly capable of dealing with mild cirrhosis, or cirrhosis from a short-term event. As long as the damage is limited, the liver will repair itself, bypass any scar tissue and continue on with its job.

  But ongoing or progressive liver damage makes such a recovery impossible. At a certain stage, scarring becomes too great for the organ to compensate, and liver failure sets in. It is precisely this sort of degeneration and failure that potential cures for cirrhosis must seek to overcome.

Symptoms and Complications

• Cirrhosis typically does some amount of damage before any symptoms manifest. Standard treatments revolve around stopping or slowing the progress of the disease as early as possible, or easing the effects of advanced damage. Potential complications of advancing cirrhosis include excess fluid in your torso or legs, infection, increased levels of blood toxins, and increased potential for liver cancer. Your doctor can help you manage these effects, or others should they arise. The line of last resort for advanced cirrhosis is liver transplant.

Alternative Treatments

• A word of caution. Mainstream health organizations agree that currently there is no cure for cirrhosis. Some alternative practitioners do not agree. While many mainstream authorities do not explicitly discourage the search for alternative approaches, they uniformly recommend that any such experimentation be done under a doctor's supervision.

  The Mayo Clinic has identified two alternative cirrhosis treatments that have received at least some scientific testing: milk thistle and SAMe (a synthetic compound designed to mimic natural amino acids and adenosine triphosphate). Although neither of these substances has shown any clear effectiveness in treating the disease, they appear to be more or less chemically safe in a monitored program.

  Certain alternative herbal remedies for cirrhosis are not only ineffective, but can cause actual harm to your liver. Among them are valerian, skullcap, black cohosh, kava, comfrey and pennyroyal. To safeguard your health, make sure that you consult a physician before attempting any alternative cirrhosis treatments.

The Possibility of a Cure

• Medical research has produced at least one possibility for a future cirrhosis cure. In 2007, researchers from the University of California, San Diego, were able not only to stop, but to reverse scar tissue buildup in the livers of test mice. While these mice did not have cirrhosis, but rather a separate disease that causes similar symptoms, scientists believe the results apply to mice cirrhosis as well. Further research is now in its earliest stages, but there is reason to hope that these findings may one day provide permanent relief for human cirrhosis patients.