liver pain after drinking alcohol

If you are one of those people who cannot limit or quit the habit of drinking alcohol and liver pain bothers you after drinking alcohol, we recommend that you read more

In the following we will tell you more about “Liver pain after drinking alcohol”

 

what you will read next :

 

Why do you get liver pain after drinking alcohol?

When you have been consuming alcohol for many years, the natural and efficient tissue of your liver will gradually be replaced by a hard, scar-like tissue, and the liver will become inflamed As your alcohol consumption increases, so does the extent of liver scarring (loss of healthy and functional liver tissue and cells) and inflammation of your liver.

Doctors call the replacement of the tissue of non-functional scar instead of the healthy and functional tissue of the liver, cirrhosis. Inflammation of the liver is called hepatitis, so following the habitual consumption of alcohol, alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis will be waiting for you.

The liver with cirrhosis and inflammation will no longer be able to function. The liver is a very important organ whose dysfunction and insufficiency will cause the body to face very important and serious complications.

 

What does alcohol do to our liver?

Alcohol can damage and destroy liver cells. If you have consumed alcohol for many years beyond the tolerance threshold of the liver and beyond the ability to purify the liver, you will definitely face damage and destruction of your liver cells.

There are three categories of disorders and diseases in the liver that occur following alcohol consumption:

  1. fatty liver:

With long-term alcohol consumption, more fat is stored in the liver cells and you get alcoholic fatty liver. You may be asymptomatic at this stage or experience fatigue, weakness, and some local discomfort in the right upper abdomen. Your liver function test and liver enzymes may be completely normal in some stages of fatty liver or liver enzymes may be elevated. In less severe stages of alcoholic fatty liver disease, the liver may return to normal after stopping alcohol consumption.

Alcoholic fatty liver is common in alcoholics who have consumed heavy amounts of alcohol for years.

  1. Alcoholic hepatitis:

In this disorder, fat builds up inside the liver cells and the liver cells become inflamed. Some of the normal liver tissue may be replaced by scar tissue.

In alcoholic hepatitis, a person experiences liver pain, or pain in the upper right quadrant of the abdomen, just below the right ribs.

Symptoms of alcoholic hepatitis:

In alcoholic hepatitis, your liver function tests are defective and your liver enzymes are elevated. Alcoholic hepatitis will have a range of severity; mild alcoholic hepatitis may prevent the healing process by stopping alcohol.

Sometimes people with alcoholic hepatitis are so severe that the symptoms are much more severe than those of alcoholic hepatitis and occur suddenly and can lead to acute liver failure or even death.

  1. Cirrhosis:

Doctors describe cirrhosis as the most advanced and severe disorder caused by the habitual drinking of alcohol in professional alcoholics. In cirrhosis, the normal cells of the liver are damaged and destroyed, and hard tissue and scars will replace them, which will have no function.

In cirrhosis, the patient has the following complications:

Bacterial infection in the abdomen or bacterial peritonitis

Brain damage (hepatic encephalopathy that results in dizziness, drowsiness, loss of consciousness, and eventually coma and death)

Bleeding from the esophageal varices

Liver cancer

Treatment of liver cirrhosis:

In advanced liver cirrhosis, the patient must be prepared for a liver transplant at a well-equipped center.

 

Prevalence of liver disorders in alcoholics

Thirty-five percent of alcoholics develop alcoholic hepatitis Ten to twenty percent of people who drink heavily develop cirrhosis.

Liver pain in alcoholics can indicate the following:

 

What is cholecystitis?

In cholecystitis (inflammation of the gallbladder), after drinking alcohol, a person will have a pain attack in the upper right part of the abdomen, which may be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. You will read about its clinical manifestations below.

Very severe liver pain (pain in the right and upper abdomen) that spreads to the back and right shoulder:

Acute cholecystitis is a medical emergency. If you experience the above symptoms, you should immediately inform the emergency department and go to an equipped medical center.