March 18 is National Liver Day, and the theme of this year’s Liver Day is “Everyone participates in protecting the liver”. Liver care is not unique to people with liver disease, but everyone should participate, because in our daily life, drinking alcohol, exertion, taking nutrients indiscriminately, and improper use of drugs can seriously damage our liver. Therefore, even if you are healthy now, it is important to treat your liver well. In daily life, you need to pay special attention to the damage to the liver caused by improper drug use. According to the World Health Organization, drug-related liver injury has risen to the fifth leading cause of death worldwide. Some information shows that in the United States, drug-related liver injury accounts for about 5% of hospitalized liver disease patients, 10% of adult liver disease patients, and about 25% of fulminant liver failure is caused by drugs. In this regard, when people are sick with medications, they must regularly review their liver function to reduce the chances of drug-related liver injury, and promptly administer liver protection and other complementary treatments to minimize the damage. At present, China’s population of hepatitis B virus carriers about 120 million people, including chronic hepatitis B patients about 30 million cases. At the same time, the number of young and middle-aged people with chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and even liver cancer caused by factors such as overwork and mental stress is also increasing. The characteristics of liver disease are different from those of other diseases, which emphasize maintenance, “three parts treatment and seven parts nourishment”, and need to minimize the stimulation of the liver, especially in life should not be too strenuous, not too tired, the pace of life should not be too intense, often stay up late, overtime, business trips, are the big taboo for hepatitis patients. In addition, special attention should be paid to the daily use of drugs, to prevent drug liver injury, should be familiar with the performance of the drugs used and adverse reactions, as little as possible to use or do not use hepatotoxic drugs. How to use drugs to not cause drug-related liver injury? Many people around us, a little bit of discomfort, such as a cold, cough or something, usually go to the pharmacy to buy some drugs, and some people, their own indiscriminate consumption of supplements, diet pills, these are very easy to unknowingly their own liver damage. The right approach is to always see a doctor and follow medical advice to take medication, do not listen to hearsay, take drugs or eat herbal remedies. For example, although female hormones can increase the risk of avoiding malignant tumors such as breast cancer in menopausal women, they can also be hepatotoxic, but if you don’t take them, you will have to endure the pain and inconvenience of menopausal symptoms such as palpitations, hot flashes, and difficulty sleeping. Do not take medication that is not necessary, especially if you have a bad liver, you should avoid or reduce taking medication. Whenever you feel strange after taking medication, often with fever, chills, urticaria-like or measles-like rash, itching, joint pain or swollen lymph nodes, you should get a blood test as soon as possible, because once the drug-induced hepatotoxicity usually appears clinical symptoms, see if the index of ALT and ALP is elevated. If you are taking anti-mycotic drugs that can easily damage your liver, and if your liver is not functioning well, you should have regular blood tests to follow up. Among 1142 patients with acute drug-related liver injury, 51% had jaundice, 25% had clinical allergy, 17.9% had a history of liver disease, and 6% had a history of adverse drug effects; biochemical typing revealed 885 cases of hepatocellular type, 198 cases of cholestatic type, and 59 cases of mixed type. Chinese herbal medicine can also cause drug-related liver injury! According to the survey, 21.5% of the cases were caused by anti-tuberculosis drugs, 21.2% by Chinese herbal medicines, 8.7% by antibiotics, 8.67% by antithyroid drugs, 7.16% by antineoplastic drugs, 6.7% by immunomodulatory drugs, and 26.2% by other drugs. The researchers concluded that anti-tuberculosis drugs and proprietary Chinese medicines or herbal medicines may be the main causative factors of acute drug-induced liver injury in China. Drugs can cause liver cell damage can also lead to a variety of manifestations, which can result in acute liver failure, acute hepatitis, chronic hepatitis, biochemical abnormalities, cholestatic hepatitis, fatty liver, lipid peroxidation, sarcoidosis, and vascular injury. Daily medication needs to be careful After drug-related liver injury occurs, whether or not to stop the drug, as each person’s condition is different, should be judged by the doctor according to the professional. Generally speaking, under the control of a doctor, liver failure and other adverse consequences will not occur. Generally, most patients can recover by discontinuing the suspected drug in time, and only very few drug-related liver diseases develop severe hepatitis or evolve into cirrhosis. However, if the patient is taking herbal medicines, it is very difficult to confirm which drug or drugs have caused liver damage due to their complex composition, and sometimes even the patient himself does not know which herbal medicines are contained in the prescription, thus making the determination extremely difficult. There are several types of liver-protective drugs on the market today, one of which is amino acids or other nutritional ingredients, the other is natural extracts, and the others are chemical synthetics. These drugs may not be harmful to the human body. But drugs from unknown sources should be especially careful, may cause hepatotoxicity, or even liver failure. Ten rules to avoid drug injury 1. Do not just take drugs. 2. Do not take herbal remedies, Chinese medicine and health products from unknown sources. 3. Do not increase the dose of drugs at will. 4. Do not mix Chinese and Western medicines together. 5. Do not take medicines together with alcohol, milk, tea or coffee. 6. Do not give half or reduced doses of adult medications to children. 7. Do not use expired medications. 8. Do not buy western medicine from unknown sources for a small price. 9. Take medicine after the body does not feel well to quickly seek medical attention. 10. Be careful when taking medicine for a bad liver.