Contents:
- Medical Video: Alcohol and the Liver
- What is the process of occurrence fatty liver or fatty liver due to alcohol?
- What are the signs and symptoms alcoholic fatty liver or alcoholic fatty liver?
- Alcoholic fatty liver
- Alcoholic hepatitis
- Cirrhosis
- Symptoms fatty liver or fatty liver that is already severe
- How to treat alcoholic fatty liver or alcoholic fatty liver?
Medical Video: Alcohol and the Liver
The liver is the second largest organ in the human body, the liver is also one of the most complex organs besides the brain. The liver functions to process what we eat or drink, and filter out toxic substances that circulate in the blood, regulate sugar metabolism, and help fight infections. This process can be disrupted if there is too much fat in the liver. Under normal conditions fat can be found in the liver, but if the amount of fat in the liver has reached 5-10% then liver function can be disrupted.
The liver is an organ that can repair and regenerate new cells if there is damage, but continuous and chronic bad habits such as alcohol consumption can cause impaired liver regeneration ability so that severe liver damage can arise. Fatty liver alias fatty liver is a condition that is often found, but the symptoms of fatty liver are usually only arises when the disease starts to get heavy.
What is the process of occurrence fatty liver or fatty liver due to alcohol?
After consumption, alcohol will enter the bloodstream, then digested in the liver so as not to harm other organs. When digesting alcohol, there are some damaged and dead liver cells. Chronic alcohol drinking habits can cause liver damage, as a result the liver cannot do its function, one of which is digesting fat, so that fat accumulates in the liver and arises fatty liver.
In 1 bottle of beer or 4 glasses of wine, it contains 12 g of alcohol. Alcohol consumption threshold as a risk factor fatty liver is more than 60-80 g per day for ten years for men, and 20-40 g per day for women. Consumption of up to 160 g per day can lead to a 25-fold higher risk of liver cirrhosis.
What are the signs and symptoms alcoholic fatty liver or alcoholic fatty liver?
In most cases, fatty liver does not cause symptoms until the stage is already severe. Symptoms that arise depend on how severe the damage that occurs. The following are steps in alcoholic liver damage:
Alcoholic fatty liver
Drinking lots of alcohol even if only a few days can cause fat buildup in the liver. This condition is not permanent and generally does not cause symptoms. Fat that accumulates in the liver can disappear by itself in 2 weeks if alcohol consumption is stopped.
Alcoholic hepatitis
If alcohol consumption is not stopped, patients can fall to the next stage, namely alcoholic hepatitis. At this stage symptoms generally appear so that the patient can be aware of liver damage. This condition can also improve by stopping alcohol consumption.
Cirrhosis
The last stage of fatty liver is cirrhosis. In cirrhosis, the liver cells are damaged and cannot regenerate again. Stopping consumption of alcohol will not restore the function of liver cells that have been damaged, but only function so that damage does not spread.
Symptoms fatty liver or fatty liver that is already severe
In the initial stages, fatty liver symptoms are usually not typical, such as feeling unwell, abdominal pain, diarrhea, decreased appetite, and weakness. As the disease progresses, other symptoms can arise:
- Looks yellow on the eyes and skin
- Swelling in the abdomen and legs
- Fever, can be shivering
- Decrease in body weight and muscle mass
- Blood clotting disorders
- Vomiting blood
- Coma
How to treat alcoholic fatty liver or alcoholic fatty liver?
There is no specific therapy for alcoholic fatty liver. The main therapy is to stop drinking alcohol, adequate nutrition, and total rest in bed proven effective for reducing symptoms. Liver transplantation may be needed if liver damage has reached the stage of cirrhosis and symptoms do not improve with alcohol fasting.
Stop drinking alcohol is not easy, about 70% of people with liver damage because alcohol is an alcoholic. Symptoms withdrawal aka sakau usually appears in the first 48 hours after stopping drinking alcohol, and usually improves within 3-7 days. When you stop drinking, psychological therapy is sometimes needed so that people do not drink alcohol again, and if it is not effective, the doctor will prescribe several drugs to help people not drink alcohol again.
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