What is AIH?
Autoimmune hepatitis is inflammation of the liver that occurs when immune cells mistake the liver's normal cells for harmful invaders and attack them.
Although the cause of autoimmune hepatitis isn't entirely clear, some diseases, toxins and drugs may trigger autoimmune hepatitis in susceptible people, especially women. Untreated autoimmune hepatitis can lead to scarring of the liver (cirrhosis) and eventually to liver failure. When diagnosed and treated early, however, autoimmune hepatitis often can be controlled with drugs that suppress the immune system.
A liver transplant may be an option when autoimmune hepatitis doesn't respond to drug treatments or when liver disease is advanced.
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What would happen without your liver?
Your liver is one of the largest and most important organs in your body. You have only one liver. It is the size of a football and weighs about 3 pounds in the average-size person. It is reddish-brown. Your liver is located on the right side of your abdomen behind your lower ribs, and your ribs help to protect your liver.Your food would not get digested properly; as the liver sends bile to break down food to the small intestine. You would die, most likely.
The liver is one of the only organs in the body that is able to replace damaged tissue with new cells rather than scar tissue. For example, an overdose of acetaminophen (Tylenol) can destroy half of a person's liver cells in less than a week. Barring complications, the liver can repair itself completely and, within a month, the patient will show no signs of damage.
However, sometimes the liver gets overwhelmed and can't repair itself completely, especially if it's still under attack from a virus, drug, or alcohol. Scar tissue develops, which becomes difficult to reverse, and can lead to cirrhosis.
Your liver has many important jobs. One of the jobs that the liver does is to act as a "filter" for your body. The liver filters or detoxifies the blood.
Almost all the blood in your body passes through the liver. As blood passes through the liver, it breaks down substances, such as prescription or over-the-counter drugs, street drugs, alcohol, and caffeine.
Our bodies naturally produce some harmful (toxic) chemicals or poisons, and those are also broken down by the liver. In this way the liver acts as a filter to clean your blood.
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What are some things you can do to protect your liver?
Viatamin C, Herbal Licorice, Green Tea, Curcimon, Milk Thistle, N-acetyle Cysteine (NAC)
What is the difference between AIH and Hepatits A/B/C?
".... Hepatitis A/B/C are viral hepatitis, they are contracted via blood to blood contact (B &C) or through contaminated food (A). Autoimmune hepatitis is a condition where the patient's immune system will attack their own cells, this is not contagious. The two are not related. ...."
---Jordan Mayberry PA-C
HIV and AIH
The association of immune dysfunction in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and AIDS and the development of autoimmune diseases is intriguing. Yet, the spectrum of reported autoimmune phenomena in these patients is increasing. An infectious trigger for immune activation is one of the postulated mechanisms and derives from molecular mimicry. During frank loss of immunocompetence, autoimmune diseases that are predominantly T cell subtype CD8 driven predominate. There is evidence for B cell stimulation and many autoantibodies are reported in HIV patients. We propose a staging of autoimmune manifestations related to HIV/AIDS manifestations and the total CD4 count and viral load that may be beneficial in identifying the type of autoimmune disease and establishing the proper therapy. In stage I there is the acute HIV infection, and the immune system is intact. In this stage, autoimmune diseases may develop. Stage II describes the quiescent period without overt manifestations of AIDS. [ READ MORE .... ]
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