Alcoholic hepatitis

What's the scoop?

Hepatitis is described as liver inflammation (swollen, tender and painful). The liver is a large organ in the body that helps filter out waste (bad substances), and as you might have guessed, alcohol is mostly waste. Therefore, when alcohol gets to your liver, your liver has to work hard to filter out the chemicals produced by alcohol.

When you have too much alcohol, there is a chance that the alcohol will hurt your liver as the liver tries to process it out. When the liver is hurt, it might become inflammed. Typically when something is swollen, it can return back to normal as it heals itself. However when the liver is consistently damaged and swollen over time, it will remain inflammed, which is called alcohol hepatitis. Alcohol hepatitis may also be called alcohol-induced hepatitis.

Unlike alcohol poisoning or alcohol intolerance, alcohol hepatitis happens over time. While the liver may be able to handle the alcohol in small doses, heavy drinking over time can cause significant damage to the liver, leading to alcohol hepatitis.

I'm worried I may have it. How can I find out?

There are quite a few ways that your doctor can test for alcohol hepatitis. She will probably ask you a series of questions around your drinking habits and overall health.

At this time, it is also likely that you will have multiple blood tests such as white and red blood cell counts, liver function tests, and electrolyte levels. They may also test for things like bleeding times or for other chemicals that may be in your body.

If your doctor suspects that something isn't quite right from the blood tests, she may follow up with an imaging test. This can be an ultrasound, CT scan or even an MRI. After an imaging test, your medical team may follow up with performing a liver biopsy. This is where a small sample of tissue will be taken from your liver. If your doctor decides to do this test, she is looking to confirm if you have a condition that she may believe that you have.

I have it. Now what?

The most effective way to treat alcohol hepatitis is to stop drinking alcohol. This can help prevent further damage to the liver and allow it to heal. However, you should follow your medical teams recommendations on how to do this safely because if you go from drinking heavily to not at all, your body may experience alcohol withdrawal.

Alcohol withdrawal happens because alcohol slows down your central nervous system (CNS). If you drink alcohol often, your central nervous system gets used to having to work harder because of the alcohol, and that becomes its new norm. So once someone stops drinking heavily, the CNS wont be able to calm down quick enough, and it will continue to keep overworking. This overworking causes symptoms such as headaches, anxiety, tummy problems, trouble sleeping, sweatnig, heart palpitations, rapid heart rate, tremors, hallucinations, and more.

Other treatments

While there is no medication to fix alcohol hepatitis, in severe cases, steroids may also be prescribed to reduce liver swelling and improve liver function by helping the cells in the liver to restore themselves.

People with alcohol hepatitis may also be encouraged to take nutritional supplements or pills to make you have a bigger appetite to eat more food. This is because the condition can cause malnutrition.

The goal of treatment is to help the liver repair itself. It is possible for the liver to fully repair itself, meaning that you can be completely cured from alcohol hepatitis. However, this may not always be the case depending on how damaged the liver is and if the person is able to stop drinking. If you continue drinking with the condition, there is a likelihood of being diagnosed with cirrhosis and death.

I like to have a drink, so how can I avoid alcohol hepatitis?

To avoid alcohol hepatitis, you should drink in moderation. There is no magic number on how much you can drink, as this number is different for everyone. It will depend on your age, gender, genetic and overall health.

Know your levels of how much you can drink and try to only drink, at a maximum, a few times a week.

If you struggle with drinking or have someone close to you who does, try having a look at the links below for support on how to overcome dependency on alcohol.