Alcoholic Cirrhosis

Alcoholic cirrhosis

        Cirrhosis is a disease with many variations: it can be classical, primary biliary, virus - induced, genetic or alcohol cirrhosis. While each and every one of them is just as dangerous to your health and, ultimately, to your life, only one type can be prevented: alcoholic cirrhosis.

       You have to keep in mind that, when talking about cirrhosis, the main problem is in your liver. Every other complication that might arise comes from the fact that your liver cells are slowly, but surely, replaced with scar tissue, turning your main detoxifying agent into a lumpy and hard place and burdening your liver so much until it stops functioning. All this is inevitable if you have a virus or if your genes say so, but alcoholic cirrhosis is simply self - induced. If you consume great amounts of alcohol over large periods of time, this is a certain outcome for you. Also, ingesting alcoholic beverages when you are under a treatment of any kind or when you suffer from another chronic disease usually leads to the same result.

       Most alcoholics do not want to believe that they will irremediably destroy their liver, arguing that they do not feel anything different about their bodies even after 20 years of heavy drinking. That is, certainly, not true. One main characteristic of alcoholic cirrhosis is the fact that it is a slow killer: the damage builds up gradually and so very leisurely that by the time anyone notices that something is wrong, your liver simply shuts down and you go into liver failure. This apparently unexpected outcome is due to the fact that cirrhosis of any kind, but mostly alcoholic cirrhosis can be either compensated (your liver is not completely covered in scar tissue and it can still function, making your illness hard to detect) or decompensated (untreated compensated cirrhosis turns into the decompensated version, some years after).

Symptoms of alcoholic cirrhosis

       Just like any other kind of cirrhosis, the alcoholic - induced one has little to no symptoms in the early stages. However, as the disease progresses, the symptoms start to appear and get more frightening by the day:

• jaundice: a yellowing of your skin or the whites of your eyes;
• swollen abdomen and legs because of accumulation of fluid;
• weight loss or lack of muscle control: the toxins in your body cannot be processed properly if your liver is damaged, remaining inside your cells and slowing their metabolisms, leading to lack of appetite and general weakness;
• inflammation of your blood vessels: the smallest of blood vessels, called capillaries, suddenly appear at the surface of your skin, forming a web - like pattern;
• you bruise and you bleed easily;
• excreting blood, both through your vomit and your feces (making them black and tarry): this is due to a perforation either your stomach lining or your esophagus walls;
• ascites: skin itching due to a build up of toxins;
• high temperature: infection, a certainty in alcoholic cirrhosis, causes a rise in your body temperature;
• red skin and nail problems;
• psychological symptoms, such as a permanent feeling of confusion and a poor memory.

       If you present any of these symptoms and are aware of having a drinking problem, schedule an appointment with your medical doctor as soon as possible. If you are vomiting blood, have blackened stools or a high temperature, you should go to the emergency room immediately.

Alcoholic cirrhosis pictures

Treatment of alcoholic cirrhosis

       If there is one certain thing about cirrhosis, it must be that the damage it causes to the liver cells is irreversible. Most treatments focus on putting a stop on the furthering of the scarring. When talking about alcoholic cirrhosis, the only way to do that is to stop drinking. Not many people can do that on their own, but if they admit and accept that they have a drinking problem, there are support groups and professional counselors that can help with it. However, you must always keep in mind that the only one that can end the vice is yourself.

       Your attending physician can always prescribe drugs for alleviating the symptoms of cirrhosis, but if you continue to drink, they will be useless. Also, the one treatment that cures cirrhosis, liver transplant, is almost unheard of for alcoholics, because they have a tendency of relapsing and, therefore, wasting a perfectly functional liver.