Does any one know much about cirrhosis of the liver?

Question

my father has been an alcoholic for 14 years drinking whiskey every day. he now has yellow skin and eyes (jaundice) and complains about stomach pains through the night. The doctor has been treating him for alcoholism for a long time but he won't let anyone go with him so I don't know if he has been diagnosed with liver cirrhosis yet. Any doctors or nurses out there, what is the average time someone has left when they get like this (bearing in mind that he will not give up the drink. He is determined to drink till he dies)

Answer 1

Alcohol & liver disease

When you drink alcohol it is quickly absorbed directly into the blood stream from the stomach and upper part of the gut (small intestine). The absorbed alcohol then passes through the liver and subsequently into the blood stream where it reaches all organs in the body. Although most tissues are capable of breaking down alcohol, this is mainly carried out by the liver, where alcohol is eventually converted into water and carbon dioxide, which is removed through the lungs.

Since the liver sees the highest concentrations of alcohol, it is one of the organs in the body most prone to developing alcohol related problems. However, alcohol also causes toxic effects on other organs in the body including the brain, heart, muscles and pancreas.

Almost all excessive drinkers will develop the first stage of alcoholic liver disease fatty liver. This is a ‘side-effect’ of the liver breaking down alcohol into carbon dioxide and water. Fatty liver disappears when patients stop drinking excessively. If patients continue drinking excessively then a proportion (around 20-30%) will develop the next stage of alcoholic liver disease - alcoholic hepatitis. In this condition, the liver becomes inflamed and in its extreme form, patients can die of liver failure.

An even smaller proportion of patients (around 10%) will develop a permanently scarred and damaged liver (cirrhosis), if they continue to drink excessively.

Why certain heavy drinkers remain at the stage of fatty liver and others progress to alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis is not known at present, although undoubtedly, the more you drink and the greater the frequency and duration of heavy drinking, the more likely you are to develop the more advanced forms of disease. Recent evidence suggests that being overweight increases the risk of developing serious alcoholic liver disease and as yet largely unidentified genetic (inherited) factors may also be important.

Excessive drinking can also cause:

stomach disorders
pancreatitis leading to diabetes
high blood pressure
heart muscle damage leading to heart failure
strokes
cardiac rhythm disturbances
sudden cardiac death
vitamin deficiencies
sexual difficulties
problems with the brain
depression
problems with nerves in the limb
cancer of the liver, mouth, throat, gullet, large bowel and breast.

Answer 2

Your father will already have cirrhosis of the liver and the yellow colouring (jaundice) is not a good sign. I am sorry to say that his liver has already suffered a lot and is probably much bigger than your average liver. Unfortunately there is no solution to the problem, but by completely stopping drinking would help some. The liver is very good at healing itself, but a liver can only do so much. Hopefully his liver will not give up completely (liver failure) as the only solution then is a liver transplant. In the case of alcoholics transplants are not an option unless you have lots of money, eg Geore Best the famous footballer was a severe alocholic and he got transplanted. HIs transplant went well but he continued to drink again after the operation.
Sorry to give you so much bad news, but it is serious and there is not too much that can be done. Just hope that his liver keeps on ticking along. It's a pretty tough organ and can put up with a lot.

Answer 3

Really sorry to hear about your Dad, it must be an awful thing to cope with. Although you seem to have come round to the idea of what is inevitable, and i wish you all the best for any difficulties that lay ahead for you.

The outlook is not so good if there is a lot of liver damage, especially if you have alcoholic cirrhosis and do not stop drinking.

Cirrhosis can cause death by bleeding from varices, or by going into a coma from liver failure. People with cirrhosis are also more at risk of developing serious infections. In the UK over 4,000 people die from cirrhosis each year, two thirds of them being under the age of 65.

I have heard that keeping to a low sodium diet can help or he could take or diuretics (water tablets) to help reduce fluid accumulating in the body.

Good luck an i really hope that go well for you. You seem to be really level headed and aren't imagining a rainbow at the end of the storm, which means that you will never be disappointed. Good luck.

Answer 4

Unfortunately then, your dad is destined to die. The first stages of alcoholic liver damage begin with alcoholic hepatitis where you will begin to see signs of pain and jaundice, similar to what your father is experiencing. This is reversible at this point and is sort of the body's way of warning you to do something about it before the real damage begins. After this, your liver starts to develop scar tissue from the repeated damage it sustains from alcohol. This is cirrhosis, and is irreversible except by transplant. As far as I know, the NHS will not give an alcoholic a liver transplant if they know he'll just keep on drinking as this is a waste of a perfectly good liver.

So, it seems as if unless he changes his ways, he will die of cirrhosis. I think you need to seriously get the smack down if you care about your father. I don't know what you should do because I do not know your dad, but I would act quickly. He needs a good scare to show him how close he is to the grave if he's gonna stop.

Answer 5

Cirrhosis is a chronic disease that is the result of slow deterioration of the liver. In this disease, damage to the liver from one of many causes changes its structure gradually, and the liver becomes progressively less able to carry out its functions, which include regulating the content of the blood. What ever the underlying cause of the cirrhosis, stop drinking alcohol immediately. If you continue to drink, the disease is certain to get worse. You really need to get him some help because you do not want him to get this disease.

Answer 6

It may be that he has alcoholic hepatitis, which is the stage before cirrhosis. It is usually characterized by liver tenderness, pain, loss of appetite, nausea, jaundice, ascites (excess fluid in the abdominal cavity), and liver failure. Cirrhosis is the end stage of chronic liver disease.
As far as how long he has left, that really depends on if he has liver disease and what stage of failure he is in, and even if those were known factors it's still hard to judge because everyone is different. I can tell you this, liver failure does effect every body system, heart, kidneys, ect.
Good luck

Answer 7

I couldn't give you a timeline, depends on his physiology and how much whiskey he is drinking along with other medications or poor diet that can be componding the insult to his liver. All I can say is cirrhosis is a terrible way to die, often people end up bleeding to death via varocosities in their esophagus. The liver becomes so fatty that blood cannot move through it efficiently and blood will rupture these varocosities and the doctor can do nothing but watch the person bleed to death. Pretty sad

Answer 8

He would probably have to have a liver function test and or a biopsy to determine the stage of the disease is at. There is no guessing I'm afraid, infact if he is already receiving treatment, these tests will probably already have been done. It also depends on the individual and quantity of alcohol consumed. A friend of mine was given five years before transplant stage/liver failure if he continued drinking, 10 years before failure or transplant if he did. He is 58 and still drinking, 6 months to go at the moment. His problems were complicated by HEP C contracted whilst in a spanish hospital receiving cortisone injections for a back injury. There are so many factors involved. Mostly at the moment it depends on how far advanced the disease is and any other complications such as ulcers and intestinal problems. Is his diet healthy apart from the alcohol??? Avoid fatty foods and green tea...check out other sites for foods to avoid. I'm not a nurse or doctor just a friend of someone who went through many months in hospital. Best wishes xxxx

Answer 9

Cirrhosis is the end result of chronic liver damage caused by chronic liver disease. Common causes of chronic liver disease in the United States are:
Hepatitis B or C infection
Alcohol abuse
Less common causes of cirrhosis include:
Autoimmune hepatitis
Bile duct disorders

LIFESTYLE CHANGES
Limiting alcohol
Eating a healthy diet that is low in salt

To know more measures to improve liver you can see all information related to fatty liver diseases at:http://adola.net/go/fattyliver-bible/

Have a good health!

Answer 10

(NOTE I am not an expert) Well, the yellowness in the eyes indicates that the liver is not functioning as it should, because there is a buildup of 'bile' in his system.

If he did stop drinking, doctors often say that the liver is very resilliant and can recover to near normal health over a moderate time period.

I'm not sure that even a Doctor could tell you when someone in this situation is likely to pass away. Sometimes, miracles do happen so don't give up on your old man.