Alcoholic liver damage

Alcoholic liver damage is a disease mainly caused by alcohol poisoning due to excessive drinking. Gastric lavage needs to be performed in time, otherwise it will cause liver dysfunction, food poisoning and diarrhea, etc. Therefore, it is recommended that everyone should avoid excessive drinking. Let us now learn about the treatment methods and causes of alcoholic liver damage.

When drinkers show symptoms of liver damage, more than three-quarters of liver cells have lost their normal function, and we may have lost the best time to intervene. Therefore, it is very important for drinkers to go to the hospital for regular check-ups. Doctors can detect early signs of liver damage through physical examinations, B-ultrasounds and blood tests. It's also important to be honest with your doctor about how much you drink.

When liver function is impaired due to drinking, other organs of the body will soon be adversely affected due to nutritional deficiencies and excessive accumulation of toxic substances in the blood. Common symptoms and complications include fatigue, loss of appetite, abdominal distension, diarrhea, weakened immunity and susceptibility to infection, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or sclera), petechiae and ecchymoses on the skin, bleeding from the nose or teeth, as well as confusion and kidney damage.

If the patient can completely abstain from alcohol in the early stages of alcoholic liver disease, especially when the liver damage is mild, the liver damage can be 100% reversed. When there is no alcohol in the blood, liver cell function quickly returns to normal because liver cells have a strong regenerative ability.

Alcohol-related liver disease can range in severity. When alcoholics experience swelling of liver cells due to fat deposits and edema, it is called alcoholic fatty liver. Steatohepatitis occurs when the liver, where fat is deposited, becomes inflamed and necrotic. Alcoholic fatty liver and mild alcoholic fatty hepatitis can usually heal on their own if you abstain from alcohol for more than half a year. However, severe alcoholic hepatitis can progress to cirrhosis, in which the liver's structure is permanently destroyed.

For most people with alcoholic liver damage, staying away from alcohol can lead to a slow but very significant improvement in liver function. However, despite complete abstinence from alcohol, one-third of patients with severe alcohol-related liver disease will experience persistent progression of liver disease. For these patients, doctors often recommend medication, which in many cases allows patients to lead a normal life.