Your liver is involved in performing several vital bodily processes. It removes harmful bacteria to prevent infections and flushes out toxins from your blood. It also serves as the processing unit for hormones, nutrients and drugs in your body. Your liver produces a digestive juice called bile that plays a role in digestion of fats and absorbs cholesterol as well. However, sometimes, your liver fails to function properly due to a serious medical condition such as cirrhosis. Many people don't know much about this condition and have little knowledge about how to improve cirrhosis life expectancy. Keep reading to get more information about this condition.

What Is Cirrhosis Life Expectancy?

Cirrhosis is a liver disease in which healthy liver tissue is replaced by scar tissue. It is a slowly progressing disease, which ultimate prevents your liver from functioning. The scar tissue not only restricts the flow of blood through your liver but also slows the processing of hormones, nutrients, drugs and other naturally produced toxins in your body. What makes cirrhosis more dangerous is the fact that it remains asymptomatic until it progresses to the later or worse stage.

Many people want to know about cirrhosis life expectancy after its diagnosis. They even want to know if it is at all possible to make things better. Unfortunately, you won't find optimistic answers because cirrhosis is basically end stage liver disease. Still, you may notice differences in cirrhosis life expectancy in different people. It usually depends on the type of cirrhosis (A, B and C) a person has. A relative assessment HERE will help find your score that will indicate the severity of liver damage.

Your score will help determine the type of your cirrhosis, which could be class A, class B or class C cirrhosis.

• ŸClass A cirrhosis patents will have 5-6 points and have a live expectancy of 15-20 years.
• ŸClass B cirrhosis patients will have 7-9 points and have a good cirrhosis life expectancy of 6-10 years. It means these patients will have enough time to think of using other advanced treatment options, such as liver transplant, for living.
• ŸClass C cirrhosis patients will have 10-15 points and a life expectancy of only 1-3 years.

So cirrhosis life expectancy will really depend on the condition of your liver at the time of diagnosis. It is, therefore, important to get yourself checked regularly for early diagnosis.

What Is the Cirrhosis Life Expectancy After Liver Transplantation?

It is not possible to reverse the damage caused by cirrhosis. You cannot prevent further damage to your liver tissue even when you use specific treatment options. Your condition will become complicated with time and you will be left with only one treatment option, i.e., liver transplantation. Thanks to the latest techniques used during surgical transplantation, it is now possible to prevent rejection of the transplanted liver. It means people can now hope to live longer even after transplantation; in fact, more than 80% of cirrhosis patients live for more than five years after procedure. Unfortunately, not everyone with cirrhosis is a good candidate for liver transplantation, and the unavailability of enough livers to transplant makes things even difficult for someone diagnosed with cirrhosis.

What Can You Do to Improve the Cirrhosis Life Expectancy?

Many patients notice no change in overall health even though they have cirrhosis for years. Whenever the complications start, it will always affect your life expectancy, which will of course depend upon the cause and severity of liver damage. It is worth pointing out that you can improve your liver function by treating the underlying cause of cirrhosis. This in turn will improve your cirrhosis life expectancy.

If your cirrhosis is still in its early stage, you will benefit a lot by making some changes to your lifestyle along with taking medications. Here's what you can do to limit additional liver damage:

• Avoid drinking alcohol. Whether excessive drinking was the underlying cause of your cirrhosis or not, you should simply stop drinking after your diagnosis to prevent further liver damage.
• Go on a low-sodium diet. Excess salt often makes your body to retain fluids that in turn causes swelling in your legs and abdomen. Be sure to use herbs for seasoning and limit your salt intake to avoid putting pressure on the liver.
• Eat a balanced diet. You should pay attention to eating a balanced and healthy diet because you are more likely to experience malnutrition after being diagnosed with cirrhosis. Add more fruits and vegetables to your diet and opt for lean protein, such as poultry, legumes and fish. Don't eat raw seafood.
• Take measures to avoid infections. Your body will find it extremely difficult to fight off infections with a damaged liver, so you need to take measures to protect getting infected. Avoid getting in contact with people who are sick and develop a habit of washing your hands frequently. Be sure to get vaccinated for influenza, hepatitis A&B and pneumonia.
• Be very careful when using OTC medications. Your liver will not be able to process drugs as effectively after cirrhosis. It is, therefore, important to ask your doctor before you take a new medication. This includes nonprescription drugs as well, meaning you should also avoid drugs such as ibuprofen, aspirin and acetaminophen.