alcohol's effects on the liver.

[Pex]

does anyone know off hand the regenerative capabilities of the liver trying to repair itself from alcohol? maybe an estimation of how much time it takes to repair itself totally from 10 beers a week or something?

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

10 beers per week how? like one session of 10 beers or 1 or 2 beers a day?

 

[vi edit]

10 beers a week, assuming they aren't drank in 2-3 days time really aren't harmful. That's less than 2 drinks a day if you space them out properly. Studies have shown in men that a drink or two a day may actually be more beneficial than harmful.

It's excessive drinking that is bad and causes havoc on your liver. Your only major concern is the added calories IMHO. That's an additional 250-300 calories a day. If you are already in excess of consuming a lot of calories, this will just add even more to your gut.

 

[Pex]

it would be a friday night...10 beers in maybe 4-5 hours. a normal drinking night.

 

[Ladies Man]

i'm pretty sure you're fine

my liver how ever is taking a beating from the thursday/friday/saturday and whenever else that I drink the 60 or so in a week.... ahh gotta love college

 

[aircooled]

The liver heals itself quite rapidly, but long term chronic abuse can cause damage to the point of cirrhosis (scarring of the liver) which is unrepairable. Taking milk thistle can help block damaging toxins and accelerate the healing.

 

[Spooner]

My liver and I have a special relationship that dates back to when I was 14 and drank my first beer.

 

[Linux23]

bah, you don't need a liver to live.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: Pex
it would be a friday night...10 beers in maybe 4-5 hours. a normal drinking night.

You're probably going to get people to flame you for 'binge drinking' or something.

With that in mind, in my non-professional opinion, you are fine. Millions of college students drink in these patterns and end up fine. Not one of my friends has ever had any problems and true 'alcohol poisonings' are extremely rare. Entire countries have been known for binge drinking and the liver effects (and other physical side effects) aren't as big of an issue as the social implications. Alcoholics that drinking 4-5 a day are in a much worse situation than you or I or the average college kid, who does drink a decent amount, except that it's all done at once.

I'd be sure I wasn't prone to alcoholism though. I do think that alcoholism is genetic. The addictive properties of alcohol are much worse than the physical effects in the short term, as most people stop binge drinking as they mature, with the exception being alcoholics.

 

[Bekker]

Someone very close to me has late stage Cirrhosis and she was released from the hospital just before Christmas. At the time of her release, we were told she was within an eyelash of having her brain melt from the ammonia the disfunctional liver failed to filter or backflushed, this after about 2 weeks hospitalized. She is 5' tall, if that, and exploded in weight, all in the abdomin. The liver had scarred to the point that it was backflushing whatever it coud not process into her abdomin, When she entered the hospital, she weighed 201. In the near 2 weeks she was there, they drained over 50 lbs. of fluid from her abdomin. She was very ill and very yellow. When released, they told her she had to not were herself out and to expect it to be 6 months before the liver repaired whatever it could. Meanwhile, they put her on a no salt diet she must stay on for life (and she loves burgers, Mexican food, fried chicken and all that) and she is not permitted any pain meds at all except Ibuprofin necause all other alternatives contain Tylenol which will damage the liver further.

So, to anwer your question, it may take 6 months or more or you may die a very miserable death first (coughing up or vomiting blood, melted brain, etc.) Whomever said they were doing 60 beers a week may well ne on the way there since that is what the initial stages were ... then to stronger .. then to straight Vodka, sometimes mixed with beer. It was tragic to see her suffer as she did, and to a point, still does.

Consider me a Carry (sp?) Nation after this experience. She has lost every relative in her extended family as well as a daughter and her grandchildren since they will now have nothing to do with her. I told her daughter how ill she was when hospitalized (against her wishes) and neither her daughter or anyone else knows whether she is dead or alive since they have not bothered to check. I would gladly ban the sh>t and/or tax the h*ll out of it. And people complain about the evils ofr tobacco as they sip their cocktails, chug their lugs, see how fast they can down shots and how many, and on this board, move up to harder liquors.

Sorry. Had to vent. I used to like to have a few drinks, but the unbelievable consequences are too devastating. And, no one is immune. My department chair is the daughter of someone whose mother died at the age of 56 or 7 from the same condition the friend had when the abdomin was to be drained .. her liver exploded before it could be done and she died. My cardiologist is fantastic. When she and I visited she cried as she told me that her father was the most brilliant person she had ever known. He was a fantastic mechanical engineer. She watched him die at the age of 43.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Yeah, right.

 

[Eug]

Nice long post, but a few drinks now and then is not a problem for most people. Significant liver damage occurs with continual drinking of moderate to large amounts, or less if there is some other underlying liver disorder.

ie. One binge drink session every few months is not going to be that bad for the liver (although of course there are other problems with binge drinking of course).

OTOH, lots of booze 6 days a week is going to wreak havoc on the liver.

 

[Bekker]

You are right, obviously. But as someone earlier said alcoholism is at least partially genetic, as was her case. She began drinking exactly as most all college students do and got hooked and abused alcohol for several years. It is that type of person who should be very careful about the early drinkin habits they develop.

I don't know if you were being sarcastic re the length of the post. Whether you were or not doesn't matter. I did post too long a response .. just had to vent and have no one to talk to and got carried away. I apologize to all for taking up space needlessly.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: Bekker
You are right, obviously. But as someone earlier said alcoholism is at least partially genetic, as was her case. She began drinking exactly as most all college students do and got hooked and abused alcohol for several years. It is that type of person who should be very careful about the early drinkin habits they develop.

I don't know if you were being sarcastic re the length of the post. Whether you were or not doesn't matter. I did post too long a response .. just had to vent and have no one to talk to and got carried away. I apologize to all for taking up space needlessly.

I made the post you were referencing.

You may be correct. I do believe alcoholism is genetic, and current research supports this. Most people throughout their lives can drink whatever they want and not have an addiction. For example, I actually started with hard liquor, and then moved back down to beers as a more social thing to do. It's not about 'moving up.' There are no 'gateway drugs' or gateway drinks. If she knew she had a genetic disposition, she should have been more aware of her drinking situations. There are plenty of alcoholics groups elsewhere. But it is false to say that this is the norm or even remotely common.

If you have family that suffered alcoholism, that should be in your mind every time you drink. Seems to me the woman in question brought it upon herself to end up in her current state.

 

[Bekker]

Sure she did. No one was there to pour it down her throat. The point is that she and others may not even know they have the genetic disposition when they begin. The daughter I referred to as not speaking to her is an alcoholic now (or was) and has gone through AA.

There is no longer any point in my continuing this discussion since no one here will change their mind and I won't change mine. Having personally seen the devastating effects of alcohol on too many I shall always hate the sight of it, the smell of it, and the effects of it. There is no excuse for its existence since all it does is alter one's state of conciuosness. You can call me unreasonable, but that's my problem. Similarly, almost every post regarding second hand smoke and all that here has about everyone showing a similar bias. They hate the sight, smell, effects, and the weaklings who have to have their nicotene fixes. There is no excuse for it.

I smoke.
Others drink.
Others hate my addiction.
I hate other's addiction.
I rationalize my behavior.
Others rationalize their behavior.

So I am unreasonable for my reasons.

Others are unreasonable for their reasons.

Guess that is what makes for diversity of opinion, and that contibutes positively in all parts of life.

OTOH .... duh, is there an other hand? I will leave you alone to continue your discussion uninterrupted.

 

[0roo0roo]

i've heard even moderate drinking shrinks the brain.

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: Bekker
Sure she did. No one was there to pour it down her throat. The point is that she and others may not even know they have the genetic disposition when they begin. The daughter I referred to as not speaking to her is an alcoholic now (or was) and has gone through AA.

There is no longer any point in my continuing this discussion since no one here will change their mind and I won't change mine. Having personally seen the devastating effects of alcohol on too many I shall always hate the sight of it, the smell of it, and the effects of it. There is no excuse for its existence since all it does is alter one's state of conciuosness. You can call me unreasonable, but that's my problem. Similarly, almost every post regarding second hand smoke and all that here has about everyone showing a similar bias. They hate the sight, smell, effects, and the weaklings who have to have their nicotene fixes. There is no excuse for it.

I smoke.
Others drink.
Others hate my addiction.
I hate other's addiction.
I rationalize my behavior.
Others rationalize their behavior.

So I am unreasonable for my reasons.

Others are unreasonable for their reasons.

Guess that is what makes for diversity of opinion, and that contibutes positively in all parts of life.

OTOH .... duh, is there an other hand? I will leave you alone to continue your discussion uninterrupted.

In all seriousness, this is probably the most intelligent post that I have read in the history of anandtech. The logic you applied to this situation can basically be the end-all of political debates since what you say is very true.

 

[RU482]

I read something recently that said if you drink 6 or more drinks a day, you can expect to have some type of liver problem down the road. The article also mentioned shrinking of the brain.

DOH!


My sister was trying to convince me that drinking a couple of diet sodas each day was just as bad...I guess I'm screwed