Alcohol Liver Disease ALD and Cirrhosis

The liver is one of the largest and most complex organs in the body. It stores vital energy and nutrients, manufactures proteins and enzymes necessary for good health, protects the body from disease, and breaks down (or metabolises) and helps remove harmful toxins, like alcohol, from the body.

Because the liver is the chief organ responsible for metabolizing alcohol, it is especially vulnerable to alcohol-related injury. Even as few as three drinks at one time may have toxic effects on the liver when combined with certain over-the-counter medications, such as those containing acetaminophen.

Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD)—From Steatosis to Cirrhosis

ALD includes three conditions: fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis. Heavy drinking for as little as a few days can lead to “fatty” liver, or steatosis—the earliest stage of alcoholic liver disease and the most common alcohol-induced liver disorder.

Steatosis is marked by an excessive buildup of fat inside liver cells. This condition can be reversed, however, when drinking stops.

Drinking heavily for longer periods may lead to a more severe, and potentially fatal condition, alcoholic hepatitis— an inflammation of the liver. Symptoms of advanced ALD include; nausea, lack of appetite, vomiting, fever, abdominal pain and tenderness, jaundice (eg. yellow skin and eyes), and, sometimes mental confusion.

Scientists believe that if drinking continues, in some patients this inflammation eventually leads to alcoholic cirrhosis, in which healthy liver cells are replaced by scar tissue (fibrosis), leaving the liver unable to perform its vital functions.

The presence of alcoholic hepatitis is a red flag that cirrhosis may soon follow: Up to 70 percent of all alcoholic hepatitis patients eventually may go on to develop cirrhosis. Patients with alcoholic hepatitis who stop drinking may have a complete recovery from liver disease, or they still may develop cirrhosis.

Liver cirrhosis is a major cause of death. In 2000, it was the 12th leading cause of death.

Cirrhosis mortality rates vary substantially among age groups: They are very low among young people but increase considerably in middle age. In fact, cirrhosis is the fourth leading cause of death in people ages 45–54.

Other factors besides alcohol also may influence ALD development, including demographic and biological factors such as ethnic and racial background, gender, age, education, income, employment, and a family history of drinking problems.

Women

Women are at higher risk than men for developing cirrhosis. This higher risk may be the result of differences in the way alcohol is absorbed and broken down.

When a woman drinks, the alcohol in her bloodstream reaches a higher level than a man’s even if both are drinking the same amount.

The chemicals involved in breaking down alcohol also differ between men and women. For example, women’s stomachs may contain less of a key enzyme (alcohol dehydrogenase) needed for the initial breakdown of alcohol. This means that a woman breaks down alcohol at a slower rate, exposing her liver to higher blood alcohol concentrations for longer periods of time – a situation that is potentially toxic to the liver.

Differences in how a woman’s body breaks down and removes alcohol also may be linked to how much and how often she drinks, the fact that estrogen is present in her body, and even her liver size.

The liver is remarkably resilient in responding to disease and infection and, in fact, under certain circumstances, can even generate whole new sections of itself to replace those that are diseased once drinking alcohol has stopped.

Treatment for ALD includes making lifestyle changes, such as stopping or decreasing alcohol use, stopping smoking, and maintaining a healthy weight.

Health care providers may prescribe medications, such as pentoxifylline or prednisone, in cases of alcoholic hepatitis.

People may want to seek nutritional supplements or complementary and alternative medicine, such as SAMe for cirrhosis. Severe ALD is best treated with transplantation in selected abstinent patients.

Treatment for Alcoholic Liver Disease

• Lifestyle modification (stopping alcohol use, stopping smoking, losing weight
• Appropriate nutritional, vitamin supplementation.
• Use of pentoxifylline or prednisone for alcoholic hepatitis.
• Complementary and alternative medicine for cirrhosis.
• Transplantation in selected abstinent patients with severe disease.

From; U.S. Department of Health& Human Services. Alcohol Alert, Number 64.

If you or someone you love is in the grips of ALCOHOLISM call us today for specialist help.

PH: 07 56 066 315 

EMAIL: info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

Website www.CoachingWithSubstance.org.au

ABOUT COACHING WITH SUBSTANCE (WINNER Best Not-for-Profit 2014)

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand. Call us on 07 5606 6315 if you want to speak to an Addiction Specialist.

Our Founder, Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. She is currently completing her PhD on Recovery Coaching and is the first registered Recovery Coach in Australia.

We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all. Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Taoist Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.

Alcoholism and Women:

ALCOHOLISM AND WOMEN 

She wakes up groggy with a tremendous hangover, then makes a startling discovery. She is not in her own room, not in her own bed, and not alone.

Oh, no! I'm in bed with a man! How did I get here? I don't remember. Did I we have sex? We must have! Did he use protection? Could I be pregnant? Could I have a sexually transmitted disease?

How did this happen? Everybody else was drinking and apparently having a good time.

She was not drinking any more or less than her companion, and he seemed to be in control. How did she get so out of it?

The simple answer is women get drunk a lot faster than men. Even allowing for differences in body weight, a woman will attain a higher blood alcohol concentration than a man from the same amount of alcohol. This may be because women have lower levels of Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ADH), an enzyme involved in the metabolism of alcohol.

The end result was, while her date was drinking right along with her, he was simply not getting as drunk -- while she was drinking herself into a blackout -- and later he took advatange of the situation. It is a scene that has been played millions of times.

Other Risk Factors

Getting drunker quicker is not the only risk for women who drink to excess. Women are not only more sensitive to alcohol, may become addicted sooner, may develop alcohol-related problems more quickly, and many die younger than men with similar drinking problems.

Women usually have drinking patterns similar to those of their husband or lover and their friends. But because of the biological make-up of their bodies, develop alcohol-related diseases sooner, according to a study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

Plus there is growing evidence that women are at an especially high risk for the health and social problems caused by alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, compared to their male counterparts.

Growing Problem

Recent studies have indicated an increase of alcohol and substance abuse problems in the general female population. More women are drinking to deal with stress, according to health experts in a National Opinion Poll. More young professional females are drinking more after work , while mothers with small children are drinking more frequently at home.

Now that more women are in the work force, they have come out in the open with their drinking. A quarter of women questioned in the poll admitted having an alcoholic drink every day, with the same number drinking more heavily on weekends.

Women are also beginning to drink more early in life. In the early 1960's, among girls, about seven percent of the new users of alcohol were between the ages of 10-14. By the early 1990's, that percentage had increased to 31 percent. On top of this, girls today are 15 times more likely than their mother to begin using illegal drugs by age 15.

Other Factors

Women first caught up to men in cigarette smoking in the mid-1970s and their rate of lung cancer soared. Now, according to a new study by the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, women are catching up to men in the consumption of alcohol and the use of drugs.

To make matters worse, treatment of substance abuse in women lags behind because the female anatomy is more complex and they face greater social stigma that hinders treatment. Only 14% of women who need treatment get it, according to the Betty Ford Center.

Women simply pay a higher price for alcohol abuse than men.

IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE IS IN THE GRIPS OF ALCOHOL ADDICTION CALL US TODAY 07 5606 6315 Website www.coachingwithsubstance.org.au

EMAIL info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand.

Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all.

Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.