Each time your liver filters alcohol, some of the liver cells die. The liver can develop new cells, but prolonged alcohol misuse (drinking too much) over many years can reduce its ability to regenerate. This can result in serious and permanent damage to your liver.
Liver: Heavy drinking takes a toll on the liver, and can lead to a variety of problems and liver inflammations including: Steatosis, or fatty liver. Alcoholic hepatitis.
The first stage of alcoholic liver disease is hepatic steatosis, which involves the accumulation of small fat droplets under liver cells approaching the portal tracts. More advanced disease is characterized by marked steatosis, hepatocellular necrosis, and acute inflammation, known as alcoholic hepatitis.
Generally, symptoms of alcoholic liver disease include abdominal pain and tenderness, dry mouth and increased thirst, fatigue, jaundice (which is yellowing of the skin), loss of appetite, and nausea. Your skin may look abnormally dark or light. Your feet or hands may look red.
Heavy alcoholics consuming at least 80 g of alcohol per day for more than 10 years will develop liver disease at a rate of nearly 100%.
It takes upwards of ten years for alcohol-related liver disease to progress from fatty liver through fibrosis to cirrhosis to acute on chronic liver failure. This process is silent and symptom free and can easily be missed in primary care, usually presenting with advanced cirrhosis.
Alcoholics seeking treatment drink an average of 160 g of undiluted alcohol per day. About 14 percent of alcoholics will develop cirrhosis if they drink this quantity for a period of 8 years.
Liver disease, kidney disease, and alcoholic pancreatitis are fairly well-known health risks associated with heavy drinking, but they're not the only serious health conditions related to excessive alcohol use. The American Cancer Society (ACS) links the following forms of cancer to alcohol: Mouth.
Organs known to be damaged by long-term alcohol misuse include the brain and nervous system, heart, liver and pancreas. Heavy drinking can also increase your blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels, both of which are major risk factors for heart attacks and strokes.
Causes of death in heavy alcohol use are related to trauma, acute intoxication or alcohol-related disease such as cirrhosis [5].
Doctors guess that chronic alcohol abuse will lower a person's life expectancy by as many as twelve years. Though many people are aware that alcohol improves the likelihood of liver complications and heart disease, many people do not realize how many other risks alcohol poses.
Over years of increased chronic alcohol consumption, this inflammation leads to permanent scarring of the liver or cirrhosis. As the liver metabolizes drugs and produces important proteins for the body, liver failure due to cirrhosis is ultimately fatal without a liver transplant.
Alcoholic liver disease is defined by three stages of liver damage following chronic heavy alcohol consumption: fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and fibrosis/cirrhosis (Figure 5).
When liver damage progresses to an advanced stage, fluid collects in the legs, called edema, and in the abdomen, called ascites. Ascites can lead to bacterial peritonitis, a serious infection. When the liver slows or stops producing the proteins needed for blood clotting, a person will bruise or bleed easily.
The final days of liver failure can vary, depending on the person. Someone may experience symptoms such as yellow skin and eyes, confusion, swelling, and general or localized pain. The symptoms of end-stage liver disease typically worsen as the patient becomes closer to death.
Acute liver failure can happen in as little as 48 hours. It's important to seek medical treatment at the first signs of trouble. These signs may include fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, and discomfort in your right side, just below your ribs.
Most people with liver disease report abdominal pain. Pain in your liver itself can feel like a dull throbbing pain or a stabbing sensation in your right upper abdomen just under your ribs.
Blood tests.
Blood tests are done to determine how well your liver works. A prothrombin time test measures how long it takes your blood to clot. With acute liver failure, blood doesn't clot as quickly as it should.