Alcoholic Cirrhosis

[5thaday]

I come from a family that has a long-line of heavy drinkers. Recently one of my aunts, who is only 50 years old, was told that she has cirrhosis of the liver. Although she has been a heavy drinker for over 30 years, she had no symptoms of liver disease- she needed emergency surgery for another condition, and the medical team discovered the cirrhosis during her surgery. Fortunately it appears that the cirrhosis, although significant, hasn't scarred her whole liver. I was wondering if anyone else here either has had cirrhosis diagnosed in its early stages, or knows someone who has, and how much they improved upon abstaining from alcohol. I and other members of my family are curious over the kind of chance my aunt has if she makes important lifestyle changes now.

[giles123]

Alcoholic Cirrhosis

Never underestimate the livers ability to repair itself. I myself have been diagnosed with Liver damage through the evaluation of Liver Function Tests - and I am only 31..

After being alcohol free for 40 days after the initial tests I went and got the tests re-done on my liver a couple of weeks ago and the various functions which were tested had dramatically improved. They will never get back to the levels they were but they do indeed repair and go back to functioning well IF you catch it early enough and if you permanently stop consuming alcohol. It sounds as though your Aunt was diagnosed in time and together with the lifestyle change (ie no more alcohol) the liver should hopefully return to functioning "near normally" with the remaining intact liver cells.

The hard thing is of course making that lifestyle change.. but being told that you're going to be dead within 5 years if you continue drinking can also give you a bit more incentive to stop..

Cheers,
David

[Determinator]

Alcoholic Cirrhosis

hi 5th, sorry to hear that. Don't have any first hand knowledge,but did read an article recently from Britain that the arthritis drug Sulphasalazine has been shown to reverse cirrhosis/scarring of the liver in a remarkable way...I'm sure it's still in the experimental stages but sounded like a marvelous breakthrough. Best of luck to your aunt.

[cassy]

Alcoholic Cirrhosis

Hi 5th..dont know the answers but reminding me about cirrhosis of the liver and how it tremains undetected for a while has spurred me on not to take a drink today!

My father developed the liver failure from alcoholism and boy did he look and feel a mess after the years of abuse....strange how i didnt learn from that!!!Never mind i am working on it now...its never to late to give the liver a break from toxins!!Hope you get the info you need on this site.

Regards Cassy

[tea]

Alcoholic Cirrhosis

Hi all, are there any symtoms of liver disease? How would you know when to get a liver function test?

Lorna

[lakota]

Alcoholic Cirrhosis

hi when i eventually plucked up the courage to see my gp last yr about my drinking she automatically did a live rfunction tes and it was high but not as bad as i expected, you have to go through yr gp

[Guest]

Alcoholic Cirrhosis

Lorna, just tell your doctor you want to check your liver it is usually done by blood work. If you don't want to tell them why , just say you want full blood chemistry including liver. I take cholesterol medication, so I have my done every 6 months.
Smiles Baby
Mary

[5thaday]

Alcoholic Cirrhosis

Lorna,

The major symptoms of liver disease; jaundice, ascites (fluid in abdomen), portal hypertension, etc, often do not appear until the liver is extremely damaged. Personally, my GP gave me a liver function test via bloodwork in Feb 2006 and when it came back fine, she insisted on doing an ultrasound of my liver to be sure, which also came back fine- I'm lucky I'm still young. My GP told me that unfortunately liver function tests can reveal nothing wrong even when the liver is damaged because you only need a small amount of liver to perform all its vital functions. If you're really concerened, I would ask the doctor for the ultrasound- it's non-invasive and painless.