Almost any event in adults is accompanied by drinking alcoholic beverages. These are birthdays, corporate holidays, family gatherings. Some people don't need to be drunk to loosen up and have casual conversations. But for people with a tendency to develop alcohol dependence, there are always few drinks. As a result, any holiday and event for them becomes a reason to get drunk. Over time, such drinkers inevitably develop alcoholic hepatosis, the symptoms and treatment of which are described in this article.
How the liver reacts to alcoholic beverages
Ethanol is the name of the substance that is in any alcoholic drink and due to which intoxication occurs. In the Soviet years, this component was equated with narcotic substances, which is why the authorities organized "dry law" and labor camps for addicts.
Today, alcoholic beverages do not causeno one is scared. Even teenagers and pregnant women drink freely at their pleasure. Alcohol has the ability to relax and pacify a person (this is a deceptive feeling, but more on that another time). Few people think about the impact on the liver even tiny doses of ethanol drinks.
After entering the body, ethanol undergoes many structural changes in order to lose its toxicity. It is to the cells of the liver that a person owes the fact that even huge doses of alcoholic beverages do not kill the body.
The liver is the only organ in the body that has the ability to regenerate. But with regular abuse of alcoholic beverages, the body gives up: fatty degeneration of the organ cells begins, alcoholic hepatosis of the liver develops.
How often do you have to drink to start liver problems
The development of the disease is very individual and depends on the individual characteristics of the person and his state of he alth. In the presence of other chronic diseases, alcoholic hepatosis develops many times faster. If an alcoholic is in excellent he alth (which is rare), changes in the liver at the cellular level can begin after decades of regular abuse and binges.
For an ordinary man weighing about 80 kg, it is enough to consume 200-300 ml of a forty-degree drink once a week (both in cocktails and in beer or wine equivalent) for about ten years. On average, this will be enough for the development of alcoholicfatty hepatosis of the liver. In addition to him, with a high degree of probability, such a man will be diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis, cholecystitis and pathologies of the cardiovascular system.
For a woman who regularly abuses alcoholic beverages, only 200 ml of a forty-degree drink per week for about ten years is enough to develop alcoholic hepatosis.
What drinks cause disease?
It doesn't matter at all which drink the alcoholic prefers. The mechanism of action on the body is the same for all of them, whether it be beer, wine, vodka, cognac, cocktails, tequila or other exotic expensive drinks.
Of course, high-quality alcohol has a higher degree of purification. When abused, the effect on the body will be approximately the same. The toxic effect of ethanol on the liver, central nervous system, blood vessels, organs of the gastrointestinal tract will always be the same.
At what stage of alcoholism does alcoholic hepatosis develop
Narcology identifies three stages in the development of an alcoholic disease. Depending on how far the addiction has gone, the result of the treatment of alcoholic hepatosis will differ:
- At the first stage, ethanol has not yet been integrated into the metabolism. In each case, it causes severe poisoning of the whole organism. At the end of the first stage of alcoholism, as a rule, fatty degeneration of liver cells begins. It still does not cause any inconvenience, and even in the MRI image it does not appear.discern. If the patient stops drinking at this stage, the liver will regenerate to a he althy state in about a year of complete sobriety and proper nutrition. Provided that there will be no burden in the form of drugs and chemotherapy.
- At the second stage, the patient begins mini-binge drinking. Ethanol is gradually built into the metabolism. The liver is already enlarged, other diseases of internal organs develop (pancreatitis, gastritis, erosion of the esophagus and gastric mucosa, cholecystitis). In the middle of the second stage of alcoholism, 80% of alcoholics are diagnosed with alcoholic hepatosis. In some cases, cirrhotic disease may already begin. You should not give up: if you go into complete sobriety, pierce a course of hepatoprotectors and change your diet, then it is still possible to restore the liver. It will take several years, but the road to recovery is still there.
- In the third stage of alcoholism, as a rule, irreversible changes in the work of internal organs develop. Cirrhosis progresses, and this is an incurable liver disease that will eventually lead to death.
Stages of development of toxic hepatosis
Medicine identifies several stages in the development of the disease:
- Zero - a small amount of fat cells, the patient feels good, and nothing overshadows his condition.
- First, the number of affected liver cells is rapidly increasing.
- Second - adipose and connective tissue grows, the patient suffers from a violationdigestion, pain in the right hypochondrium, weakness and asthenia.
- Third - adipose and connective tissues almost completely replace he althy cells.
Symptoms of alcoholic hepatosis
The main cause of the disease is the frequent abuse of alcoholic beverages, especially when taking medications at the same time. If there is no such habit, then you should not look for symptoms of alcoholic hepatosis of the liver.
Try to feel the area of the right hypochondrium with your fingers. If the liver is greatly enlarged, even a person without a medical education can feel it. Do not press hard on the abdominal cavity - enough superficial palpation. If the liver is palpable, it is safe to speak about the presence of the second stage of alcoholic hepatosis.
If you have the following symptoms, you should also be concerned:
- strong bitterness in the mouth in the morning;
- nausea after eating fatty foods;
- indigestion - persistent diarrhea;
- cal brightens;
- weakness, asthenia, lack of vitality.
What will happen if you do not treat and continue to drink
The main danger of alcoholic hepatosis - it inevitably leads to the development of cirrhotic disease over time. And this is already an incurable disease, which leads to the patient's slow extinction.
Therefore, it is important to recognize hepatosis in the early stages and make every possible effort to return the liver to its previous functionality. The main condition for this is the refusalalcohol consumption and a sober lifestyle.
Therapeutic treatments
The main method of therapy is strict adherence to the therapeutic diet No. 5. Without proper nutrition and the rejection of alcoholic beverages and drugs, it makes no sense to spend money on expensive drugs. It is impossible to break the diet - each food failure can aggravate the patient's condition.
Treatment of alcoholic hepatosis of the liver most often requires the use of special drugs that restore damaged liver cells. They are called hepatoprotectors.
Also, hepatologists often prescribe B vitamins, with an emphasis on taking riboflavin. These vitamins not only heal the liver, but also restore the tone of the immune system and restore the functioning of the central nervous system after alcohol intoxication.
Efficiency of taking hepatoprotectors
Laboratory studies have proven that the most effective in hepatosis of various etiology "Heptral", administered intravenously. A course of ten droppers has a powerful effect on liver cells, preventing further degeneration of the organ.
Preparations based on essential phospholipids are also effective. These are capsules "Essentiale Forte" and "Essliver". To achieve a therapeutic effect, these drugs should be taken for a long time, sometimes for years.
Preparations based on milk thistle and silymarin - "Karsil", "Silimanil" - also have hepatoprotectiveaction, but much less than "Heptral" or "Essentiale Forte".
Reception "Ursosan" will be effective if alcoholic hepatosis is accompanied by a violation of the outflow of bile and there is chronic cholecystitis.
Is it possible to cure alcoholism?
You can spend a lot of money on the latest hepatoprotectors. But everything will be in vain if the main cause of the development of alcoholic hepatosis is not eradicated. As long as the patient abuses ethanol-containing drinks, the disease cannot be cured. It will progress and sooner or later lead to cirrhosis.
It happens that alcoholics have excellent he alth. Hepatosis bypasses them, they feel great. Do not flatter yourself: in some cases, hepatosis develops quickly. The liver is trying with all its might to function, but the patient himself, voluntarily brings it into a pre-cirrhotic state.
Alcoholism is an incurable, fatal disease that can take years to progress. To date, there is no magic pill for this disease.
Only constant consultations with a narcologist and a psychiatrist can help. Some patients are helped to stay sober by sessions with Alcoholics Anonymous. Some find themselves after psychotherapy sessions. The main thing is not to let the problem of alcoholism take its course and be aware of your condition.
