The spleen is an organ inside the human body totally important for our lymphatic system, since its functions are to protect us from diseases, purifying our body and filtering germs from the blood. But there are times when our spleen has a turn and stops working well. One of the most common disorders of the spleen is inflammation, which if we neglect can lead to other diseases as a result. In this OneHowTo article we will teach you what the symptoms of an enlarged spleen are so you are able to remedy it as soon as possible.
A common symptom is acute pain. The intensity of this pain will depend on the extent of the growing organ due to inflammation, the worse the inflammation, the greater the pain on the left side of the abdomen. If the growth has been slow, the pain results in a persistent nuisance. Spleen pain, being related to the diaphragm (it is situated just below), can be felt up in the left shoulder. That's why we have to pay attention because when the pain is very strong, it can be difficult even to breathe. It is a very specific pain, so go see a specialist to get a diagnosis done right away.
Another indication or symptom of inflammation of the spleen is a lack of appetite. As the spleen is located so close to the digestive organs, when it gets inflammated it puts pressure on these organs. This pressure on them causes a feeling of satiety that takes away feelings of hunger or makes us feel full without having eaten barely anything. As a result of this poor appetite, people reduce their food intake and they can lose weight easily. With this, we must be careful because it affects the lack of nutrients and, therefore makes the sufferer feel very weak.
Anaemia will be another symptom that we notice when we have an enlarged spleen. Anaemia is a lack of red blood cells, whose quantity and quality is altered because the spleen cannot properly perform its function debugging the inflammation, so that these suffer and are no longer healthy. Anaemia will produce symptoms of weakness, fatigue and paleness, often making the skin go yellow which is associated with this lack of red blood cells.
You'll feel like you're very tired due to a lack of red blood cells caused by the anaemia. One of the most crucial moments in your day will be the time to be getting out of bed in the morning. You'll notice that it costs a lot of work, like the feeling of effort you feel when walking, the weight bearing down on you and any activity in your life. Of course, you won't be able to play sports because your body will not hold up that kind of physical activity and daily fatigue will grow more and more. Visit your doctor when you notice that feeling of exhaustion in your daily life.
Bruising on your skin or more visible bleeding on your wounds will indicate the possible symptoms of an enlarged spleen. This is because your body is inflamed, the few red and white blood cells remain inside and prevent arriving adequately to our body. With the lack of white blood cells, platelets are decreased, so wounds bleed more than usual.
Platelets are responsible for cutting the bleeding in our body, so with this alteration is easy to see when you have more infections than would normally happen. You may also perceive the appearance of oedemas in the lower limbs.
Other symptoms that may appear next to those described above and also indicate that the spleen may be swollen. They are as follows:
- Swollen joints
- Coughing
- Fever
- Enlarged lymph nodes across body
If we stop to look at the causes of inflammation in the spleen we can find a derivation of other diseases that we suffer from such as the following:
- Haematological diseases as inherited anaemia.
- Infectious diseases can increase the size of the spleen diseases which is caused by viruses such as mononucleosis, or by bacteria such as tuberculosis.
- Inflammatory diseases such as rheumatitis.
- Cancer: various cancer diseases can cause inflammation of the spleen, such as leukaemia and lymphomas.
- Liver disease: suffering from nasty cirrhosis increases the size of the spleen.
- Portal hypertension.
- Heart failure: only in extreme and difficult venous return cases they can inflame the spleen.
Treatment of an enlarged spleen must be established by a medical specialist, so you have to go to the doctor when you perceive symptoms that are not usual in your body. Prolonged inflammation of the spleen may lead to its removal due to chronic infection if not treated in time. You can change your diet for softer goodness, with the introduction of fruits, wines and vegetables as a base. Natural medicine does help shrink the spleen as:
- Infusion of nettles, thanks to its anti-inflammatory properties this helps reduce infections.
- Apple tea tree is one of the most effective methods because it helps to cleanse the lymphatic system and to reduce the inflammation of the spleen. A glass before you go to bed and when you wake up will go very well.
- Cranberry juice: this berry will recognise cleansing properties of the lymphatic system, so it is advisable that you include some in your diet juice as a mid-afternoon or midmorning snack.
This article is merely informative, oneHOWTO does not have the authority to prescribe any medical treatments or create a diagnosis. We invite you to visit your doctor if you have any type of condition or pain.
If you want to read similar articles to What are the Symptoms of an Enlarged Spleen, we recommend you visit our Diseases & secondary effects category.