Alcohol and Your Liver: The Connection and How to Stay Healthy

The liver is the second most complex organ in the human body. It's also one that's vulnerable to serious damage from alcohol use. 

What Does the Liver Do?

Your liver performs several vital functions, including:

• Filtering toxins from your blood
• Aiding the digestion of food
• Regulating blood sugar and cholesterol levels 
• Helping to fight infection and disease

Each time your liver filters alcohol, some of the liver cells die. The good news is, the liver is very resilient. It continually develops new cells, essentially regenerating. But alcohol use, either in high doses or over many years, can reduce the liver's ability to repair itself. Drinking too much can result in serious and permanent damage to your liver.

Alcohol-Related Liver Disease

Experts refer to liver damage caused by drinking as alcohol-related liver disease or ARLD. There are three main stages of ARLD, marked by a range of symptoms and severity. While each is distinct, they sometimes can overlap.

Alcoholic fatty liver disease 

Drinking large amounts of alcohol even for just a few days can cause fat to build up in the liver, a condition known as fatty liver disease. This is the first stage of ARLD. Alcoholic fatty liver disease rarely presents any noticeable symptoms, so you may not even know you have it. 

If you get a diagnosis, you should take it as an early warning sign that you're drinking at a harmful level. Fatty liver disease is reversible. Your clinician can work with you to create a plan to treat and reverse fatty liver disease.

Alcoholic hepatitis 

Alcoholic hepatitis is different from viral hepatitis. You can't "catch" it from someone else. This serious condition can develop from a large amount of drinking in a short period of time or longer periods of drinking. 

This stage of ARLD is often the point when a person becomes aware that their drinking is damaging their liver because they start experiencing side effects such as nausea, abdominal pain, weight loss, tiredness, or yellowing of the skin to name a few. If you’re experiencing these side effects your should speak to a clinician. At Confidant, this includes nurse practitioners and physicians.  Mild cases usually are reversible if you stop drinking permanently. Severe alcoholic hepatitis, however, is more serious and can even be life-threatening. Your provider can help provide guidance and support if you suspect you have alcoholic hepatitis, or would like to reduce your drinking. 

Cirrhosis

Cirrhosis is the most serious stage of ARLD. It involves scarring of the liver. Even at this stage, there may not be noticeable symptoms, but symptoms can include fatigue, bruising or bleeding easily, nausea, loss of appetite, itchy skin, weight loss, or yellowing of the eyes or skin.  Cirrhosis is generally not reversible. But stopping drinking immediately can prevent further damage from occurring and may add years to your life. Of course, stopping drinking is not easy, but in addition to managing cirrhosis, Confidant providers can offer treatments for alcohol use disorder and ongoing support. 

Continuing to drink with alcoholic-related cirrhosis can have devastating consequences. A person who drinks with this condition has a less than 50-percent chance of living at least five more years.

What You Can Do

If you've been drinking heavily for a long time, you may worry about potential liver damage. A medical professional can evaluate your liver and diagnose any conditions. Stopping drinking may reverse some issues and prevent further damage even when the liver can't completely heal. And you don't have to do it on your own. The caring professionals at Confidant can help treat your alcohol use disorder safely and compassionately and manage your overall health.