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Fatty Liver: How Does Alcohol Affect Your Liver?

A fatty liver is the buildup of excess fat in the liver cells. Drinking alcohol can lead to numerous liver problems, beginning with a fatty liver and leading to severe liver damage.

Fatty liver is the accumulation of fat in the liver cells. Patients who drink too much alcohol for many years may develop alcoholic liver damage that will include a fatty liver. Alcoholism could also result in the inflammation of the liver and scarring of the liver.

The scarring of the liver is called cirrhosis and is very common in alcoholics.

The liver breaks down alcohol so it can be eliminated from your body. If you consume more alcohol than the liver can process, the resulting imbalance can injure the liver by interfering with its normal breakdown of protein, fats, and carbohydrates.

Usually there are no symptoms of liver problems. The first sign may be discomfort in your upper abdomen. Fatty liver occurs in almost all people who drink heavily. The condition will improve after you stop drinking.

Many heavy drinkers will progress from fatty liver to alcoholic hepatitis and finally to alcoholic cirrhosis, though the progression may vary from patient to patient. The risk of developing cirrhosis is particularly high for people who drink heavily and have another chronic liver disease such as viral hepatitis C.

The diagnosis of alcoholic hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. It is possible that up to 35 percent of heavy drinkers develop alcoholic hepatitis. These symptoms may include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and tenderness, fever and jaundice.

In its mild form, alcoholic hepatitis can last for years and will cause progressive liver damage. The damage may be reversible if you stop drinking. In its severe form, the disease may occur suddenly, after binge drinking, and it can quickly lead to life-threatening complications.

The next progression is alcoholic cirrhosis, which is the most serious type of alcohol-induced liver disease. Cirrhosis refers to the replacement of normal liver tissue with scar tissue. Between 10 and 20 percent of heavy drinkers develop cirrhosis, but usually not until after 10 or more years of drinking. The Symptoms of cirrhosis are similar to those of alcoholic hepatitis. The damage from cirrhosis is not reversible and it is considered a life-threatening disease. However, your condition may stabilize if you stop drinking.

Serious complications from alcohol-induced liver disease typically occur after many years of heavy drinking. Once they do occur, the complications can be serious and life-threatening. They may include:
•    Accumulation of fluid in the abdomen
•    Bleeding from veins in the esophagus
•    Enlarged spleen
•    High blood pressure in the liver
•    Changes in mental function, and coma
•    Kidney failure
•    Liver cancer