Symptoms

You may not have any symptoms in the early stage of cirrhosis because your liver can still function despite being damaged.

You tend to get symptoms if your liver becomes more severely damaged.

The main symptoms of cirrhosis include:

• tiredness and weakness
• feeling sick (nausea) and loss of appetite resulting in weight loss
• red patches on your palms and small, spider-like blood vessels on your skin (spider angiomas) above waist level

If cirrhosis progresses, some of the further symptoms and complications you may have include:

• yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice)
• a high temperature and shivering
• vomiting blood
• pale-coloured poo
• itchy skin
• a painful, swollen tummy from a build-up of fluid (ascites)
• dark pee or tarry-looking poo
• bleeding or bruising easily
• swelling of your legs, ankles and feet (oedema)
• personality changes, confusion, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, or hallucinations
• in women, abnormal periods
• in men, enlarged breasts, a swollen scrotum (the loose sac of skin that contains the testicles) or shrunken testicles
• loss of sex drive (libido)

See a GP if you think you may have cirrhosis.