Alcoholic hepatitis: Don't underestimate

When liver cells are inflamed and damaged over many years, the dead cells will gradually be replaced by fibrous tissue and begin the process of cirrhosis.

Currently, countries in the world, even in developed countries, cannot know exactly how many beers and alcoholic beverages exist in their country. Along with tobacco, alcohol - one of the toxic substances - many people on this planet voluntarily put it into their bodies with a hard-to-end passion.

Alcoholic liver disease dizziness

"Unsuccessful ceremony" , whatever it takes, there must be alcohol, from Tet, festivals, festivals, summarizing to birthdays, funerals, weddings. The pub is becoming more and more popular and is the most profitable business activity. In addition to standard drinks such as beer, wine, spirits . produced in relatively scientific technology, a huge amount of manually produced wines that people call alcohol base and fake wines, wines made from industrial alcohol are on the market, even in every alley and corner that cannot be controlled.

In hospitals in our country, there are many patients hospitalized for alcoholic liver disease and the number tends to increase with lightning speed. In hepatobiliary departments, there are usually about a quarter of the treated patients suffering from cirrhosis of the liver due to two main causes: hepatitis B and alcoholic hepatitis. Patients who die partly due to complications of cirrhosis such as edema, multifocal effusion, hepatic coma, gastrointestinal hemorrhage due to esophageal vein rupture . Others develop into liver cancer.

About 20% of long-term drinkers suffer from cirrhosis.(Photo: Tan Thanh).

The liver is the only toxic organ

The liver is the only organ in the body that filters and removes toxins from food and drinks from the body. But to do that, it takes a certain amount of time. When we drink alcohol, the blood alcohol concentration increases rapidly and reaches the maximum concentration after 30 minutes if taken at an empty stomach and about 1 hour after taking it with a meal. Food, even high in fat, slows the absorption of alcohol rather than preventing it from penetrating the gastrointestinal mucosa. Therefore, if you drink alcohol slowly or drink a little during meals, the amount of alcohol absorbed into the blood will be resolved by a large part of the liver; the rest is enough to create a sense of lightheadedness, refreshment and gentle excitement for people.

Conversely, if you drink too quickly, too much as we often see now, the liver cannot resolve a large volume of alcohol in the blood, leading to dizziness and uneasiness. However, this situation will be gradually adapted by the body, leading to an increase in alcohol consumption by the alcoholics to create a sense of euphoria. And then, hepatitis will occur, starting with the phenomenon of fatty degeneration of liver cells, then alcoholic hepatitis and eventually cirrhosis in chronic hepatitis.

Types of alcoholic liver disease

1. Fatty liver

The earliest stage of alcoholic liver disease. A person who drinks a lot of alcohol, even in the case of drinking for a few days, can cause swollen liver cells to contain even fat cells. If alcohol is stopped at this stage, liver cells can recover.

2. Alcoholic hepatitis

Alcoholic hepatitis can cause death or make the disease worse.

Alcohol as a poison causes inflammation of the liver cells, damage and death. During this period, the patient may feel anorexia, abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea, and more severe fever and jaundice. Stopping alcohol completely during this period can help the liver recover. Alcoholic hepatitis can be fatal or make the disease worse, especially in people with pre-existing liver disease such as hepatitis C, cirrhosis .

3. Alcohol cirrhosis

When inflammatory and damaged liver cells last for many years, the dead cells will gradually be replaced by fibrous tissue and begin the process of cirrhosis. About 20% of people who have prolonged alcohol use have this complication and when they have cirrhosis, a lot of things will happen even if the patient no longer drinks alcohol.

Should you drink alcohol?

In today's communication culture, if there is not a bit of spicy, it is difficult to be happy with each other. There have been studies that show that if drinking alcohol in moderate amounts will help prevent quite a lot of diseases, especially diseases of blood vessel congestion such as stroke, myocardial infarction, especially those with If you do not have a little wine, it is difficult for you to have poetic poetry, passionate music. It's hard but know how to drink alcohol just right? One or two glasses, several glasses or one bottle?

In any case, because of the health of the liver, the more you limit drinking alcohol, the better, because when you have alcoholic cirrhosis, your life is considered a dead end.