Alcohol And The Liver

Alcohol And Liver Damage

There are many health risks of chronic alcohol abuse, ranging from high blood pressure to stroke. People are most familiar with alcohol’s negative effects on the liver.

The definition of heavy drinking is consuming 8 drinks or more per week for women and 15 or more for men. Even a single binge-drinking episode can result in significant bodily impairment, damage, or death.

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How Alcohol Affects The Liver

The liver breaks down and filters out harmful substances in the blood and manufactures the proteins, enzymes, and hormones the body uses to ward off infections. It also converts vitamins, nutrients, and medicines into substances that our bodies can use. The liver is also responsible for cleaning our blood, producing bile for digestion, and storing glycogen for energy.

It takes the body approximately an hour to process 1 alcoholic beverage. This time frame increases with each drink. The higher someone’s blood alcohol content, the longer it takes to process alcohol. The liver can only process a certain amount of alcohol at a time. When someone has too much to drink, the alcohol left unprocessed by the liver circulates through the bloodstream. The alcohol in the blood starts affecting the heart and brain, which is how people become intoxicated. Chronic alcohol abuse causes destruction of liver cells, which results in scarring of the liver (cirrhosis), alcoholic hepatitis, and cellular mutation that may lead to liver cancer. These conditions usually progress from fatty liver to alcoholic hepatitis to cirrhosis, although heavy drinkers may develop alcoholic cirrhosis without first developing hepatitis.

Per University Health Network, a safe amount of alcohol depends on a person’s weight, size, and whether they are male or female. Women absorb more alcohol from each drink in comparison to males, so they are at greater risk of liver damage. Consuming 2 to 3 alcoholic drinks daily can harm one’s liver. Furthermore, binge drinking (drinking 4 or 5  drinks in a row) can also result in liver damage.

Mixing alcohol with other medications can also be very dangerous for your liver. Never take alcohol and medication simultaneously without speaking with your physician first. When combined, certain medications (such as Acetaminophen) can lead to severe damage to your liver. Other medications that are dangerous to combine with alcohol include Antibiotics, Antidepressants, Sedatives, and Painkillers.

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Symptoms Of Liver Disease

Heavy drinkers face a higher risk of developing a range of liver diseases when compared to moderate drinkers. As many as 20% of heavy drinkers develop fatty liver disease, although fatty liver disease is typically reversible with abstinence. Alcoholic hepatitis, inflammation that causes liver degeneration, can further develop into cirrhosis and may even be fatal. However, this is also reversible with abstinence.

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People who regularly abuse alcohol have a compounded risk of developing liver disease if they develop an infection or are genetically predisposed to liver problems. Those consuming more than 2 drinks on a daily basis put themselves at risk of liver disease.

Common symptoms of liver disease include:

• Yellowish skin and eyes (jaundice)
• Abdominal pain and swelling
• Swelling in legs and ankles
• Dark urine
• Nausea or vomiting
• Itchy skin
• Discolored stool
• Tendency to bruise easily
• Chronic fatigue
• Fever
• Disorientation
• Weakness
• Loss of appetite
• Pale, bloody, or tar-colored stool

Liver disease caused by alcohol is avoidable. Most reputable sources cite moderate alcohol consumption as 1 drink per day for women and 2 for men. In general, there isn’t a type of alcoholic beverage that is safer for the liver.

Treatment For Liver Disease And Alcoholism

Many forms of liver damage can be reversible if you stop drinking or take other steps.

• Fatty Liver disease –Reversible with abstinence
• Alcoholic Hepatitis –Reversible with abstinence
• Cirrhosis –Abstinence is helpful; however, it is usually fatal due to secondary complications. These can include kidney failure or hypertension in the vein carrying blood to the liver. It could stabilize with abstinence but is case-by-case sensitive.
• Liver Cancer –Same as cirrhosis

If you have an alcohol addiction and symptoms of liver damage, it’s important to find help as soon as possible.

If you or someone you love is struggling with alcoholism, contact a treatment provider to find a rehabilitation center today.