If cirrhosis progresses and your liver is severely damaged, a liver transplant may be the only treatment option. This is a major operation that involves removing your diseased liver and replacing it with a healthy liver from a donor.
Healing can begin as early as a few days to weeks after you stop drinking, but if the damage is severe, healing can take several months. In some cases, “if the damage to the liver has been long-term, it may not be reversible,” warns Dr. Stein.
Liver transplant surgery
In advanced cases of cirrhosis, when the liver ceases to function, a liver transplant may be the only treatment option. A liver transplant is a procedure to replace your liver with a healthy liver from a deceased donor or with part of a liver from a living donor.
The liver damage done by cirrhosis generally can't be undone. But if liver cirrhosis is diagnosed early and the cause is treated, further damage can be limited and, rarely, reversed.
You should avoid eating raw or undercooked shellfish, fish, and meat. Bacteria or viruses from these foods may cause severe infections in people with cirrhosis. Your doctor may recommend limiting salt in your diet and limiting your intake of fats or protein.
If you have a more serious form of ARLD – alcoholic hepatitis or cirrhosis – life-long abstinence is recommended. This is because stopping drinking is the only way to prevent your liver damage getting worse and potentially stop you dying of liver disease.
When a patient's liver disease reaches cirrhosis, a stage when the liver damage can no longer be reversed, it becomes a terminal diagnosis. Unlike most terminal illnesses, a cure may be available for some patients through a liver transplant.
In the past, liver cirrhosis was considered an irreversible phenomenon. However, many experimental data have provided evidence of the reversibility of liver fibrosis. Moreover, multiple clinical studies have also shown regression of fibrosis and reversal of cirrhosis on repeated biopsy samples.
Treating cirrhosis
There's no cure for cirrhosis at the moment. However, there are ways to manage the symptoms and any complications and slow its progression. Treating the problem that led to cirrhosis (for example, using anti-viral medicines to treat hepatitis C) can stop cirrhosis getting worse.
During stage 3, fluid accumulates in the abdominal cavity. Clinical symptoms become obvious, including weight loss, yellowing skin, fatigue, and confusion. Cirrhosis has become irreversible. Diagnosed at stage 3, the 1-year survival rate is 80%.
Increased appetite: Digesting foods and nutrients can become easier as the liver healing continues. Usually, your appetite can improve as well. Improved blood work: Liver healing can lower toxin levels in your blood and improve liver function. You can see evidence of these improvements in your lab work.
Week four of giving up alcohol
Removing alcohol from your diet for four weeks can also help to improve your liver function as your liver will start to shed excess fat. If your liver function is not too badly affected by alcohol, it can recover within 4-8 weeks.
Patients with compensated cirrhosis have a median survival that may extend beyond 12 years. Patients with decompensated cirrhosis have a worse prognosis than do those with compensated cirrhosis; the average survival without transplantation is approximately two years [13,14].
Deaths from hepatic failure, variceal bleeding and infection are common in advanced cirrhosis, and even the rate of sudden unexplained death is increased compared with that in a normal population.
Although the overall leading cause of death in patients with cirrhosis is liver-related, the most common causes of mortality in patients with NAFLD cirrhosis is non-hepatic malignancy, cerebrovascular disease, and diabetes.
Avoidance of Alcohol for Patients with Cirrhosis Cirrhosis
Patients with cirrhosis, regardless of etiology, should not drink any alcohol at all.
This can lead to liver failure. Usually the damage cannot be reversed. Between 10 to 20 percent of heavy drinkers develop cirrhosis typically after 10 or more years of drinking.
For cirrhosis to develop in men, a person must drink more than about 3 ounces of alcohol a day for more than 10 years. These 3 ounces include drinking 6 cans of beer, 5 glasses of wine, or 6 shots of liquor.
Fill your fruit basket with apples, grapes and citrus fruits like oranges and lemons, which are proven to be liver-friendly fruits. Consume grapes as it is, in the form of a grape juice or supplement your diet with grape seed extracts to increase antioxidant levels in your body and protect your liver from toxins.
Antioxidants. Preliminary evidence suggests that antioxidants, including vitamin E and selenium, might help in treating primary biliary cirrhosis, a condition in which the bile ducts of the liver are slowly destroyed.
Processed cheese is bad for your liver as it comes under the category of processed foods and has high sodium content and saturated fats. Excess consumption can lead to fatty liver diseases, plus obesity.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Incredible detoxification actions of ACV work to flush out the harmful toxins from the liver that hinders its normal functions. Studies discloses that regular intake of ACV promotes weight loss, diminishes cholesterol levels, lessen inflammation, and uplift the overall health of the liver.