Lab Testing to Detect Early Signs of Excessive Alcohol Consumption May Prevent Serious Consequences

Alcohol and Liver Damage: Is There a Reliable Screening Test?

Screening for liver damage due to alcohol, some medicines, or other toxins may be difficult. Though acute liver failure is obvious as in mushroom poisoning or Tylenol overdose, often presenting with severe jaundice and nausea. But chronic liver damage may be more insidious. Elevations in liver enzymes tested for in routine lab work may be due to a variety of reasons such as obesity, mild viral illness, or some medicines. But if you are worried that you drink too much alcohol and your liver enzymes are elevated, that's a reliable sign that you are indeed causing real harm to your liver. Liver enzymes rise when they spill from dead or dying liver cells (hepatocytes). If the liver enzymes known as ALT, AST, and GGT are twice normal, it would be advisable to stop drinking for a month and avoid Tylenol completely. Then check them again, if they normalize, it stands to reason you need to curtail your drinking habits or abstain completely. Isolated elevations of GGT are often associated with binge drinking.

ALCOHOLIC HEPATITIS

A complete blood count (CBC) can reveal evidence of long-term excessive use of alcohol. Enlarged red blood cells are a symptom of vitamin B-12 and/or folate deficiency. Often the empty calories provided by alcohol combined with alcohol induced inflammation of the gut conspire to deplete nutrients. In fact some of the most disturbing manifestations of excessive alcohol consumption, so-called "wet brain" or Wernike Korsakoff syndrome are due to nutritional deficiency of B vitamins. In "wet brains" a specific part of the brain degenerates (mamillary bodies) and the sufferer is permanently impaired. These folks can speak but they may make no sense at all.

If you find yourself having symptoms of nausea or stomach pain, an Amylase and Lipase level will rule out pancreatitis. If those levels are elevated, it would be wise to stop drinking and see your physician. Pancreatitis can be fatal and chronic pancreatitis is difficult to live with. If those are normal, an H.pylori test may point towards a treatable stomach ulcer.

Screening for chronic cirrhosis (liver fibrosis) can be difficult. Liver damage due to long-term excessive alcohol consumption (alcoholic cirrhosis) can be a fatal condition. I've had patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis and let me say, it is something you want to avoid. But screening tests for cirrhosis may be misleading because if the liver is already damaged extensively, liver function tests may not be elevated. In this case easy bruising or prolonged coagulation tests (PT, PTT) may point towards liver damage. Ultrasound examination of the liver is now performed prior to liver biopsy, which is the gold standard for diagnosis of alcoholic liver disease.

Direct access laboratory testing can help an individual concerned about his or her long-term health avoid some of the most dire manifestations of alcohol abuse. Though many lab tests are not entirely specific for alcohol use, you yourself know what your habits are and with the help of a health professional, may be encouraged to make changes in your habits and lifestyle to prevent serious consequences and maintain excellent health.

To your health,

DrZforLife

Lab Testing to Detect Early Signs of Excessive Alcohol Consumption May Prevent Serious Consequences

ALCOHOLIC HEPATITIS

Effects of Excessive Alcohol Consumption on the Body

An addiction to alcohol is a lasting same ailment that can damage a person's career and their family. It can also be fatal to their health if left untreated.

Substantial alcoholic drinks in-take on a regular basis causes chemical changes to a individual's brain. For example, it alters the composition of the body's gamma-aminobutyric acids, which function to inhibit impulsiveness, and glutamate, which fuels the nervous system. Unnecessary drinking also tends to drain these chemicals, which can depress the nervous system and hurt important areas of the brain.

ALCOHOLIC HEPATITIS

Loss of control over the tongue and posture is symptomatic of an liquor-poisened bring, as is weariness, memory loss, weakness of the eye muscles, and paralysis. In critical cases, long-term substantial drinking can even send a person into a coma from which they may never awake.

In addition to the potentially lethal effects of alcohol poisening to the brain, other organs, such as the liver, can also be acutely effected. Unnecessary drinking causes alcoholic substances hepatitis, a disease that is characterized by inflammation of the liver. Its warning signs include appetite loss, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain, fever, tenderness, jaundice, and dizziness. If the hefty drinking goes on, the hepatitis can lead to cirrhosis, which is characterized by progressive scarring and obliteration of the liver tissues.

Alcohol-addicted persons can also suffer serious gastrointestinal problems, such as inflammation of the stomach, that leads to a illness called 'gastritis'. A gastritis sufferer is unable to absorb nutrients through their stomach, such as vitamin B, folic acid and thiamin.

When alcoholic substances is consumed in heavy quantities, it also damages the pancreas and interferes with the organ creation of hormones that regulate metabolism of the body by creating enzymes for digestion. It can also led to a assortment of cardiovascular problems, such as high blood pressure, and can even damage the heart muscle - a condition called 'cardiomyopathy'. Cardiomyopathy significantly builds up the possibilities of heart attack.

Diabetes is another common disease amongst alcohol-addicted persons. High liquor intake prevents the liver from releasing glucose, which intensifies the risk of hypoglycemia (characterized by low blood sugar). This ailment is particularly dangerous for someone who is already suffering from diabetes and is taking insulin to reduce their blood-sugar level. Further, prolonged alcohol abuse tends to damage the reproductive system, leading to erectile dysfunction in men and menstrual problems in women.

Alcoholic drinks abuse during pregnancy is particularly grave, as it can give rise to fetal alcoholic drinks syndrome, where the child is born with defects, such as a small head, short eyelids, heart defects, and other abnormalities. And finally, research also displays that continued alcoholic drinks abuse places one at higher risk of cancer and diseases of larynx, esophagus, colon, and liver.

In short, the human body was evidently not designed to handle large amounts of alcohol for any length of time. Heavy drinking may seem like a lot of fun at a distance, and it always seems to interest young people as a means of indicating how grown up they are. Ironically though, irresponsible drinking is the very behavior that has the potential to stop young individuals reaching adulthood altogether.

Effects of Excessive Alcohol Consumption on the Body

ALCOHOLIC HEPATITIS