Alcoholic hepatitis is a liver disease caused by drinking too much alcohol regularly. When the liver has to process a lot of alcohol, it can harm the liver cells, causing the liver to become swollen and scarred.
Alcoholic hepatitis can range from mild to very serious. If it gets very serious and a person doesn’t get treated or keeps drinking alcohol, they might need a liver transplant to survive.
This article will talk about how alcohol affects the liver, what symptoms and causes are linked to alcoholic hepatitis, and what treatments are available.
What is alcoholic hepatitis?
Alcoholic hepatitis is a liver disease that happens when someone drinks more alcohol than their liver can handle. The Alcoholic Hepatitis Consortia explains that this condition comes on quickly and causes the liver to swell because of heavy drinking.
The second largest organ in the body is liver, located on the right side of your torso, just below the rib cage. Its main job is to turn food and drinks into nutrients the body can use.
Besides that, the liver also filters out harmful and poisons substances, like alcohol, from the blood.
When you drink alcohol, the liver breaks it down to remove it from the body. But alcohol can harm and damage liver cells, and the liver can only handle small amounts of alcohol at a time. If you drink too much, the extra alcohol stays in your body and can cause severe damage to the liver.
Signs and Symptoms of Alcoholic Hepatitis
Jaundice is the common sign of alcoholic hepatitis, which means the eyes and skin turn yellow. Other symptoms include:
- Loss of appetite
- Feeling nauseous
- Vomiting
- Stomach pain and sensitivity
- High temperature of the body
- Feeling very tired and weak
- Losing weight
Alcoholic hepatitis can be mild or very serious. If caught early, stopping alcohol consumption can help reverse the condition.
Serious alcoholic hepatitis can happen suddenly and may lead to life-threatening problems like liver damage. Severe symptoms include:
- Swelling in the upper body due to fluid buildup
- Confusion and changes in behavior
- Kidney and liver failure
Symptoms can vary from person to person and depend on how bad the disease is. They can also get worse after drinking alcohol.
Causes and Risk Factors of Alcoholic Hepatitis
The main reason someone gets alcoholic hepatitis is because they drink a lot of alcohol over a long time. When the liver tries to break down all that alcohol, it gets swollen and damaged, which can harm liver cells.
As time passes, scars start to replace healthy liver tissue. This makes it hard for the liver to do its job properly. When the liver gets really damaged, it’s called cirrhosis, which is the last stage of alcoholic liver disease.
Cirrhosis can lead to liver failure fast once it sets in. A damaged liver may also mess up how blood goes to the kidneys, causing kidney damage and maybe even kidney damage.
Some other things can make alcoholic hepatitis more likely. For example, if someone already has a different kind of hepatitis, they’re at a higher risk, so they shouldn’t drink alcohol.
People with alcoholic hepatitis might also not get enough nutrients because alcohol can make them not feel hungry. Sometimes, alcohol is all they eat, which can make them malnourished and make their liver disease worse.
Some other stuff that might make someone more likely to get alcoholic hepatitis could be:
- Whether they were assigned male or female at birth; females might have a higher risk
- Being overweight
- Things in their genes
- Their ethnicity or race; Hispanic folks and African American might be at a higher risk
Diagnosis of Alcoholic Hepatitis
Some individuals might not feel any symptoms until the disease gets really serious.
When someone sees a doctor, here’s what might happen:
- The doctor will ask about their medical history and give them a check-up.
- They’ll ask about how much alcohol they drink and their drinking habits.
To diagnose alcoholic hepatitis, the doctor may conduct various blood tests. These tests involve checking the functioning of the liver, counting different types of blood cells, assessing blood clotting time, examining mineral levels in the body, and looking for other abnormalities in the blood.
If they need a closer look, they might do an ultrasound, CT scan, or MRI scan to see the liver better and if there’s any damage.
If the other tests don’t give a clear result, the doctor might do a liver biopsy. That’s when they take a tiny piece of liver tissue using a needle or during surgery to check it in a lab.
Treatment for Alcoholic Hepatitis
The main way to treat alcoholic hepatitis is to quit drinking alcohol altogether. If it’s caught early, stopping alcohol might help reverse some of the liver damage. Even if it’s more serious, stopping drinking can still slow down how fast the condition gets worse.
People can talk with their doctor about different options to help them cut back on drinking safely. This might include counseling, taking certain medications, or going through a detox program.
Right now, there’s no cure for alcoholic hepatitis, but treatment focuses on easing symptoms and stopping the disease from getting worse. The scars on the liver are permanent, but some of the damage can be fixed.
Treatment tries to get the liver working as well as it can. Some things doctors might suggest include:
- Changing what you eat: A doctor might recommend eating certain foods or taking vitamins to fix any nutritional problems caused by drinking too much.
- Taking medicine: Doctors might prescribe drugs like pentoxifylline and corticosteroids to help with liver swelling.
- Liver transplant: In really serious cases, someone might need a new liver to survive. But finding a liver donor can take a long time and be complicated.
The doctor might also suggest other ways to stay healthy, like:
- Keeping a healthy weight
- Exercising regularly
- Staying away from harmful stuff like drugs
- Using protection during sex to prevent diseases
- Getting vaccinations
Scientists are also looking into other treatments, like using cannabidiol to help with liver inflammation caused by alcohol. But they need to do more research to be sure it works.
Doctors will probably say that the best chance to get better is to watch out for any signs of problems and to cut back or stop drinking before things get worse.
Summary
Alcoholic hepatitis is a liver problem caused by drinking too much alcohol regularly. When someone drinks too much, it can hurt their liver, leading to cirrhosis, which is when the liver gets scarred and can’t work right anymore.
Stopping drinking alcohol can sometimes help, especially if the disease is caught early. But sometimes, the symptoms don’t show up until it’s too late.
There’s no direct cure for alcoholic hepatitis, but doctors can help handle the symptoms. If the liver gets really damaged, someone might need a new liver.
It’s really important to not drink too much alcohol and to watch out for signs that someone might be drinking too much.
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