I Have A Quiestion About Liver Disease And Drinking. I

Posted on Mon, 25 Mar 2019

Question: I have a quiestion about liver disease and drinking.

I am 31 years old male and would classsify myself as an occasional drinker. I do binge drink on occasion. I never drink daily or even monthly. I would say I binge drink maybe 5-6 times a year.

I’m college I drank more than I do now, but still never drank everyday. Maybe one -two days a week.

Is this drinking pattern enough tyke cause liver disease or cirrhosis?

I recently had a liver test that showed a mildly elevated ALT with all other tests normal.

Answered by Dr. Ramesh Kumar (31 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Very unlikely to cause liver disease in long runs.

Detailed Answer:

Hello dear and welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service. I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.

Your drinking pattern at the most can cause fatty liver in long runs.

There are various levels of liver diseases in which fatty liver is the initial phasse where fat gets deposited over the liver and may cause mild elevation of few liver enzymes.Usually an ultrasound is done for ruling this out.The high enzyme level is due to inflammation of the liver cells.

Live cancer or cirrhosis has many other symptoms such as jaundice, nausea and vomiting abdominal swelling etc and it takes years to develop even for regular uncontrolled drinkers.

I recommend you to do an ultrasound and alpha-fetoprotein blood (AFP) test to completely exclude liver problem at present.Get your lipid profile done.
I recommend maintaining under control glycemic level through regular measurements.

I also suggest to use a healthy plan based diet that contains fruits, vegetables, whole grains and healthy fats.

I recommend daily exercise.

If you follow the suggestions the liver will heal itself.So binging 5 to 6 times in a year won't cause any harm.Most of the extra alcohol would be eliminated by body.

Take sylimarin or milk of thistle a powerful anti oxidant and a liver rejenuvator.

However as ALT is mildly elevated an ultrasound should be. done to rule out chances of fatty liver or stage 1 of liver disease.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Enjoy life and thanks,
Follow ups are welcome,
Hope I was fast and clear
Do rate the answer dear.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad

Follow up: Dr. Ramesh Kumar (37 minutes later)

All my other liver enzymes were normal. Would all enzymes be raised in serious liver disease?

Answered by Dr. Ramesh Kumar (0 minute later)

Brief Answer:
Follow up.

Detailed Answer:
Hello again
Yes in any serious disease there would be severe inflammation in liver and all enzymes would be raised more then three times their normal value.
Thanks!

Note: For further follow up on digestive issues share your reports here and Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T