Alcoholism Support Group

Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.

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Tazmom09
Tazmom09
Hi all--perhaps this isn't the right forum, so please feel free to shove me out of the way, or ignore.

I am wondering what are the signs of liver disease? From what I read on line, there are often no early warning signs. that's pretty scary. I'm a closet drinker--literally--so any face-to-face consultation or questions would be coming out of the blue (and probably unlikely, given that I'm closeted).

I'm so scared.
PJ54
PJ54
Hello Tazmom09,

My medical knowledge is somewhere between zero and none at all so I cannot tell you about the early symptoms of liver disease. Google will give you plenty of knowledge I am sure but nothing beats talking to your doctor and getting the proper tests done.

As far as I know, the liver can repair itself to some extent if the damage is not too severe, providing that you stop drinking. Maybe its time to come out of the closet and face reality.
Impermanence
Impermanence
I get ATL ALANINE TRANSAMINASE (LIVER TEST) every year because of the medication that I take.

Component Your Value Standard Range
ALT 23 0-60 U/L

I am doing great. I haven drank in 3 years. Ask your doctor for a liver test.
lostnursetoo
lostnursetoo
Right upper quadrant pain (meaning pain under your rib cage on the right side), nausea, yellowing of the skin, tea-colored urine, light colored stools (clay colored), itching, easy bruising or many small bruises or broken blood vessels, fatigue. Unfortunately the fatigue and nausea could be related to active drinking so by themselves mean nothing. The other signs usually indicate serious liver inflammation. The liver is remarkably forgiving and even with heavy drinking liver function tests can be normal to only slightly elevated. Check with your doc and please be honest about your alcohol use!
Community LeaderExJerseyGirl2
ExJerseyGirl2
Before I quit I was experiencing many of the symptoms that lostnurse describes. I had already watched my sister die from liver disease and realized that I was well down that path. I was too scared to go to a doctor. I quit drinking, and by the time I went in for a checkup 8 months later I was fine.

If you are thinking that you are damaging your body and that your liver is affected by your drinking -- your instincts are probably right.

You have a few choices... You can go to a doctor and get tested. You can quit drinking and hope that any damage you have done will reverse itself. (This is what I did.) You can keep drinking and if you don't have liver disease you might very well develop it.