Note for patients with chronic liver disease

  Chronic liver disease (chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis) belongs to the category of accumulation, dysesthesia, jaundice, dropsy, etc. in Chinese medicine. It is caused by the injury to the liver meridians, damage to the liver ligaments, prolonged and gradual accumulation of the disease, such as feeling epidemic poison, emotional and mental depression, excessive labor and desire, and poor diet. It is caused by a complex pathological mechanism of “poison, phlegm, heat and stasis”, and multiple pathological mechanisms are intertwined and entangled in the whole course of the disease, but with some emphasis in different stages and specific types of symptoms. The clinical symptoms are a combination of deficiency and reality, complex, with liver function damage and liver fibrosis as the main pathological changes; the deficiency and symptoms are real, with stasis, heat, phlegm and toxicity blocking the liver ligaments as the characteristics of the pathological mechanism. Usually, patients with liver disease can eat normally. As for obese people, they should restrict their weight to reduce or mitigate liver damage. However, absolute low-fat diet can cause anorexia, which hinders the treatment and recovery of the disease and should be taken seriously. Patients with ascites, floaters and hepatic encephalopathy should limit sodium or high protein intake. Patients with liver disease are advised to abstain from alcohol, because the mortality rate occurring after absolute abstinence from alcohol in alcoholic liver and cirrhosis is significantly reduced.  Second, rest and exercise Clinical observations show that long-term, absolute bed rest for acute and chronic hepatitis is not conducive to recovery and physical fitness, and rest one hour after meals is particularly important. For bilirubin levels below 50 μmol/L or ALT.