If you have HE, your liver is damaged and cannot filter toxins out of the blood the way that a healthy liver can. These toxins can build up and travel through your body until they reach your brain. It’s the buildup of these toxins in your brain that can lead to the symptoms of HE.
If you have liver disease, it is important to know the symptoms of HE. By paying close attention to your mental and physical symptoms, you can alert your doctor before things get worse.
HE can be either “covert” or “overt” depending on the degree of the symptoms:
Symptoms of overt HE can include:
These symptoms can also be found in older people with Alzheimer’s or dementia, but when they occur in people with liver disease, it may be HE.
Download this easy-to-use checklist by clicking below, fill it out, and talk to your loved one’s doctor about any mental or physical symptoms you’ve noticed.
The liver is important because it filters your blood, including everything that you eat and drink, such as food, alcohol, and medicines. It helps process food into energy and nutrients that your body can use. It also gets rid of toxins in your blood, which otherwise may be harmful to your body.
When your liver is damaged, it cannot remove toxins as well as a healthy liver can. When toxins build up in your brain, you may have short-term and long-term effects that can get worse over time.
When HE symptoms become more severe, the condition is called “overt HE.” If you have overt HE, you may have experienced what is called an “episode” of overt HE.
During an episode, your symptoms can become more obvious. There may be a change in your behavior or personality. You may not understand what is happening, and people around you may notice that you are acting strangely.
These episodes can get worse over time and may result in:
Studies suggest that problems with memory and learning could get worse after repeated episodes of overt HE, and damage may be permanent.
According to one source, >50% of patients with overt HE were admitted to the hospital for HE episodes. In fact, more than 1 in 3 of these patients were readmitted to the hospital a second time within 30 days for another episode.
