For most people, one drink a day will not cause alcohol-induced liver damage. It is when that limit is exceeded and constantly abused that leads to disease. It is important for the public to know the safe level of intake and to be aware of the harm that drinking can cause to our liver. This means that women can have one drink a day and men can have two. It may be alarming to hear but excessive alcohol consumption is the most important cause of illness and death from liver disease in the United States. How our liver works: When we consume alcohol our liver breaks it down so we can excrete it from our body. When we intake more than our liver can handle, an imbalance occurs and therefore our liver can not break down our proteins, fats, and carbohydrates like normal.
Alcohol consumption can cause diseases like alcoholic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and fatty liver.
Alcoholic hepatitis is inflammation of the liver and 35% of heavy drinkers develop it. Symptoms include: vomiting, fever, jaundice, loss of appetite, nausea, and abdominal pain and tenderness. You can reverse alcoholic hepatitis if you stop drinking.
Alcoholic cirrhosis is the most severe type of these three diseases. Cirrhosis means that the liver has replaced normal, healthy liver tissue with scar tissue. About 10-20% of heavy drinkers develop cirrhosis. Symptoms are same as alcoholic hepatitis. However, it is not reversible. Cirrhosis can stabilize if you stop drinking.
Fatty liver occurs when our liver has a build up of fat cells. The only symptom is discomfort in you upper abdomen. Fatty liver happens with everyone who heavily drinks but will improve after you stop drinking.
Complications of severe alcohol-induced liver disease you need to know:
• Accumulation of fluid in the abdomen
• Bleeding from veins in the esophagus
• Enlarged spleen
• High blood pressure in the liver
• Changes in mental function, and coma
• Kidney failure
• Liver cancer
What does this all mean??
We have to take care of our liver. If you don't, complications can be life-threatening. Therefore, follow the recommended intake of alcohol. And most importantly, if you do have alcohol-induced liver disease, STOP DRINKING!
http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa19.htm http://www.liverfoundation.org/education/info/alcohol/
I never understood what actually happens to our liver when we drink. I makes sense that it can not keep up when we drink too much. We are overworking it and it gets unbalanced. Overtime that would be bad!
ReplyDeleteI did not know that the safe, suggested level of drinking was so low.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing that liver damage from alcohol is the most important cause of illness and death in the US. It is comforting to hear that most of the time it is not permanent though...unless you have cirrhosis.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that people are trying to spread awareness about how alcohol can affect our health. A close family member of mine died last year due to liver damage from alchol abuse. I feel that if our family had been more educated about this issue a long time ago, then his death could have been prevented. It is very sad to see that alcohol can have such an effect on people.
ReplyDeleteAlcohol abuse should taken seriously! it can cause life long damage!
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ReplyDeleteOnce an alcoholic drink has passed our lips it travels down through the esophagus to the stomach where it is absorbed into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, alcohol goes to every part of the body. alcohol rehabilitation
ReplyDeleteAlcoholic liver disease is the leading cause of alcohol-related death worldwide. It contributes up to 50 percent of the total burden of liver disease...
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Oh no! I must leave drinking right away. Nobody ever told me anything like this. This is scary and I don’t want this to happen to my liver. I must go to intensive case management and get my liver fixed. I want to come out clean and it surely is because of this post. Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteIt really upset me & I actually started yelling at the Dr & told them to get me the regular Dr I was usually with because I thought I was going to hit this one. She told me that my lft's were elevated too high & I told her it was because of my "fatty liver". She told me to stop drinking. I let her know that I don't drink. Mine was from suicide attempts yrs ago. She had again told me in order to get them down I needed to stop drinking. That's when I told her I don't drink & that she needed to get my other Dr in there or I was going to punch her on the throat. So... Fatty liver is not just from drinking!!! I know that may be one of the main causes, but it is NOT the only cause!!!!
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