About Alcoholic Cirrhosis

Alcoholic cirrhosis is said to be one of the leading causes of alcoholic deaths every year.

It was thought in the past that you could only get this condition if you consumed very large amounts of alcohol daily for most of your life, but new research shows that even moderate drinkers can wind up getting cirrhosis.

In fact, studies show that a man who has five or more alcoholic beverages daily for a period of 10-15 years can be at risk of developing the ailment, and a woman who consumes 3 or more alcoholic beverages daily for the same amount of time is at risk for developing alcoholic cirrhosis, too.

An estimated 10-15% of people who drink in excess will develop this disease, so it’s not guaranteed that if you are a heavy drinker, you will get it, but it’s really important to know what it is and how it happens.

The first thing you need to know about alcoholic cirrhosis is that it is, as its name suggests, cirrhosis caused by alcohol, or continual consumption of the toxins found in alcohol; the ethanol in alcoholic beverages damages the liver over time.

Subsequently, the damaged tissue of the liver becomes non-functioning scar tissue. This means that the liver’s active cells are reduced, and this causes the liver not to work as well as it would normally. It is then harder for the liver to filter toxins from the body.

The more scar tissue that builds up within the liver, the less able it is to filter toxins, so the more likely it is that such wastes will build up in the body, creating problems such as shaking, confusion and irritability. Ultimately, if the liver is beyond repair, the only treatment for cirrhosis is a transplant; this is already hard to come by if you have hepatitis, but if you have alcoholic cirrhosis, it can be nearly impossible to get a liver.

There are stages and symptoms of liver disease before alcoholic cirrhosis occurs. If the problem is caught before it gets to the cirrhosis stage, it is possible to not only heal the liver, but prevent future damage to it as well.

There is an early stage of liver damage called “fatty liver”. This is caused by excessive alcohol consumption and is the earliest stage of liver disease. It is when the liver cells fill up with fat and water that it cannot properly get rid of. This causes the cells of the liver to become swollen, but if alcohol consumption is stopped at this time, the liver will be able to fully repair itself.

Cirrhosis caused by alcohol should not be confused with cirrhosis caused by diseases like hepatitis, which attacks liver cells whether a person drinks or not. In the case of hepatitis, the liver is damaged from the virus, not alcohol. Although the symptoms of cirrhosis are all the same, the causes can be far different.

In a normal, healthy adult with no family history of alcoholic cirrhosis, mild to moderate drinking or social drinking should never cause a problem to the liver, as most livers are quite resilient and can handle lots of alcohol over the years. If you have a family history of this condition, however, you should be very careful of your alcohol consumption, as you could be more susceptible to the disease.

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