Those with less severe diseases will survive longer if they abstain from alcohol. This article explores the early signs and symptoms of alcoholic liver disease, its stages, causes, risk factors, treatments, and prevention. Other health concerns, called complications, caused by alcoholic hepatitis can happen as a result of scar tissue on the liver or cirrhosis.
Learn more about A.D.A.M.’s editorial policy, editorial process, and privacy policy. The provider can counsel you about how much alcohol is safe for you. Alcohol misuse is now one of the most common causes of death in the UK, along with smoking and high blood pressure. This reduces the risk of further damage to your liver and gives it the best chance of recovering. Cirrhosis is a stage of ARLD where the liver has become significantly scarred. Even at this stage, there may not be any obvious symptoms.
Diagnosis
This can be an outcome of advanced-stage liver disease and often means that a liver transplant is the only option for prolonged survival. A liver transplant is a complicated procedure that depends on a donor’s availability. Cirrhosis occurs when the liver has been inflamed for a long time, leading to scarring and loss of function. Cirrhosis damage is irreversible, but a person can prevent further damage by continuing to avoid alcohol. If a person continues to drink alcohol it will lead to ongoing liver inflammation.
Most people are diagnosed with alcoholic hepatitis at an advanced stage of liver disease when fibrosis or cirrhosis is already present. Fibrosis may improve with alcohol abstinence, but cirrhosis is usually permanent. If you stop drinking alcohol in the early stages of liver disease and your liver recovers, your life expectancy may be normal.
Progressive Symptoms
In cirrhosis (right), scar tissue replaces healthy liver tissue. The disease is most common in people between 40 and 50 years of age. However, women may develop the disease after less exposure to alcohol than men. There’s currently no specific medical treatment for ARLD. The main treatment is to stop drinking, preferably for the rest of your life.
- To diagnose ALD, a healthcare provider will assess alcohol use, ask about symptoms, and conduct several tests.
- Most people will not experience symptoms in the early stages of ALD.
- Alcohol use speeds up the liver’s destruction, reducing the liver’s ability to compensate for the current damage.
- The first step in treating any level of alcoholic liver disease focuses on removing alcohol from the diet.
- A liver transplant is a complicated procedure that depends on a donor’s availability.
That can raise pressure in a large blood vessel called the portal vein and cause a buildup of toxins. Fatty liver disease can often be reversed by stopping drinking alcohol. After two to three weeks of abstaining from alcohol, fatty deposits disappear and liver biopsies appear normal. The liver is responsible for metabolizing or processing ethanol, the main component of alcohol.
You may want to talk to a provider if you think you’re drinking too much alcohol too often. Your provider knows it’s not always easy to share personal information like alcohol use. They’ll discuss your concerns without making judgments and check your health to see how alcohol use is affecting your body. If you have cirrhosis, the damage to your liver is no longer reversible. If this is a safe option for you, you’ll join a national waiting list to get a liver transplant.
Many people with alcoholic liver disease are deficient in B vitamins, zinc and vitamin D and it may become necessary to take supplements. Abstaining from drinking alcohol is the first step in treating ALD. A team of healthcare providers, which may include psychologists or addiction specialists, can help if you find it challenging to stop drinking. The liver can usually repair itself and generate new cells.
Abstinence
Each time your liver filters alcohol, some of the liver cells die. As the liver no longer processes toxins properly, a person will be more sensitive to medications and alcohol. Alcohol use speeds up the liver’s destruction, reducing the liver’s ability to compensate for the current damage. Fibrosis is a buildup of certain types of protein in the liver, including collagen. Once damage begins, it can take a long time to become noticeable, as the liver is generally highly effective at regenerating and repairing itself. Often, by the time doctors detect the damage, it is irreversible.
What Stages Aren’t Reversible?
This can result in serious and permanent damage to your liver. Doctors may also recommend weight loss and quitting smoking as excess weight and smoking have both demonstrated a role in worsening alcoholic liver disease. The first step in treating any level of alcoholic liver disease focuses on removing alcohol from the diet. Once the alcoholic liver disease progresses, its symptoms become easier to recognize. It can be easy for someone to dismiss the early symptoms as the effects of a stomach bug or general malaise. However, leaving these symptoms undiagnosed and untreated — especially while continuing to consume alcohol — can lead to a faster progression of liver disease over time.
How doctors diagnose this condition
Hepatitis heals in a person who stops drinking alcohol, but any cirrhosis does not reverse. Other substances besides alcohol also can inflame and damage the liver. This is called toxic hepatitis, which may result from certain medicines, herbal supplements or poisons. Alcoholic hepatitis is sometimes grouped under the broader category of toxic hepatitis, but most experts consider it a distinct condition caused specifically by alcohol. Corticosteroids are used to treat severe alcoholic hepatitis by decreasing inflammation in the liver.
Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease
Though rare, liver cancer can develop from the damage that occurs with cirrhosis. If a person is dependent on alcohol, stopping drinking can be very difficult. Severe alcoholic hepatitis, however, Alcoholic Liver Disease is a serious and life-threatening illness. The liver is very resilient and capable of regenerating itself.
- The disease is most common in people between 40 and 50 years of age.
- This is the same as a 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine or a 1.5-ounce shot of liquor.
- Cirrhosis is considered end stage liver disease as it cannot be reversed and can lead to liver failure.
- Any conditions that have reversed will typically return once drinking restarts.
- This can help to reverse some early stages of liver disease.
- They’ll discuss your concerns without making judgments and check your health to see how alcohol use is affecting your body.
Alcoholic liver disease
An assessment of alcohol use will establish when alcohol consumption started, how much a person drinks, and how often. Alcoholic liver disease is treatable if it is caught before it causes severe damage. However, continued excessive drinking can shorten your lifespan. More information and support for people with alcoholic liver disease and their families can be found by joining support groups for alcoholism or liver disease.