A person with cirrhosis has liver scarring, poor liver function, and is in the final phase of chronic liver disease. Chronic alcoholism is the #1 cause of cirrhosis in the country. The other most common cause is Hepatitis C.

With cirrhosis, scar tissue builds up to the point where the liver can't function properly. Advanced cirrhosis is not treatable. However, someone with mild cirrhosis can be treated and further damage can be stopped as the liver begins to repair itself.   

The Liver: A Brief Overview
Long-term, there is no way to live without your liver. Among other functions, it processes food and drink into energy and nutrients your body uses. And it removes harmful substances from your blood. It's easy to see how damage to the liver with cirrhosis can be so devastating.

Let's look at how important the liver is to the overall functioning of the body.

The liver is the largest organ inside the body. It's located under the ribs on the right side. It weighs about three pounds. According to American Liver Foundation, some of the liver's important functions are to:

  • Save up energy
  • Make bile to help breakdown food and digest food
  • Keep pollution from hurting you
  • Filter poison from the blood
  • Stop cuts from bleeding for a long time
  • Kill germs
  • Remove toxic chemicals
  • Build muscle
  • Break down (metabolize) alcohol
  • Store vitamins and minerals

How Cirrhosis Works
When your liver in injured through chronic alcohol abuse, it tries to repair itself. The repairing process involves developing scar tissue. Think of skinning your knee over and over again.

Eventually so much scar tissue builds up that, in the case of the liver, it can no longer function adequately. A cirrhotic liver can lead to a variety of major health problems.

Cirrhosis Health Issues and Treatments
Cirrhosis can lead to many different serious health issues, such as:

  • Excess fluid in the body may occur because of portal hypertension or as a failure to make blood proteins. The fluid accumulates in your legs and abdomen but can be managed with a low sodium diet and water pills. Sometimes, excessive fluid can be relieved by surgical drainage.
  • Infections can be treated with antibiotics.
  • Malnutrition (weakness and weight loss) may occur because the liver can't process nutrients.
  • Toxins in the blood (hepatic encephalopathy) can produce symptoms from confusion to coma. The damaged liver is not able to clean these toxins from the blood as well as a healthy liver. Medications can treat hepatic encephalopathy.
  • A failing liver can increase pressure in the portal vein and smaller veins around your liver. If the pressure is too great, the veins could burst causing serious bleeding. Pressure can also build in the esophagus, which can lead to life-threatening bleeding. This can also happen in the stomach where it's called gastric varices. Blood pressure medications can control the increased pressure. However, some people may need surgery. This involves placing a stent on the portal vein to hold it open.  If you've been diagnosed with cirrhosis, you'll likely undergo periodic endoscopy procedures to examine the veins in your esophagus and stomach for signs of bleeding.

Cirrhosis Symptoms

  • Abdominal indigestion or pain
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Nosebleeds or bleeding gums
  • Confusion
  • Impotence and loss of interest in sex
  • Swelling of the legs (edema) and in the abdomen (ascites)
  • Vomiting blood
  • Bloody, pale or clay-colored stools
  • Weakness
  • Weight loss
  • Small, red spider-like blood vessels on the skin
  • Yellow color in the skin, mucus membranes, or eyes (jaundice)
  • Excess breast tissue (usually found by doctor examination)
  • Expanded abdomen
  • Reddened palms
  • Small testicles

Other Diseases That Can Lead to Cirrhosis
Other than alcoholism, these diseases can occur because of liver damage.

  • Hepatitis B
  • Hepatitis C
  • Cystic fibrosis
  • Destruction of the bile ducts
  • Hardening and scarring of the bile ducts
  • Galactosemia or the inability to process sugars in milk
  • Hemochromatosis or iron buildup in the body
  • Autoimmune hepatitis or the damaging of the body's immune system
  • Poorly formed bile ducts
  • Glycogen storage disease which is a problem storing and releasing energy

Testing for Cirrhosis
These tests can confirm cirrhosis of the liver.

Liver Transplant Surgery
Liver transplants are for those people with advanced cirrhosis where the liver is no longer functioning. In a liver transplant, your liver is removed and replaced by a healthy liver from a deceased donor or with part of a liver from a living donor.

Sources:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cirrhosis/DS00373
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000255.htm
http://www.liverfoundation.org