Suggest Treatment For Alcohol Addiction

Posted on Mon, 16 Feb 2015

Question: I am a 53 yr. old female and I have a history of chronic morbid obesity 5'2' 310 lbs. at my XXXXXXX weight. I first had a Roux en y, but began to regain my weight. About 10 yrs. ago I had a bileopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch. I have maintained my weight at around 215-225#. However, about 7 years ago, I took a job where I was traveling by plane all over the U.S. and began to drink heavily (Liquor mostly-about 150-250 ml /day3-4 days of the week. In the past 6-8 months, my alcohol intake has increased to every night. I have just made the decision to STOP. I am a hospice RN and I certainly should have known better than to abuse my body. I am terrified that its too late for me as I already have metabolic syndrome and a family history of CAD, Obesity, Diabetes and CVA as well as HTN. Can my liver regenerate and what should I do next?

Answered by Dr. Binu Parameswaran Pillai (16 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Liver has great regeneration capacity

Detailed Answer:
Good day,
Noted your concern. I appreciate your decision to stop alcohol. Congratulations.

Besides causing liver damage, alcohol surely will cause significant weight gain. Each 60 ml of Alcohol contains around 140 calories and since you were taking around 150-250 ml per day, you would have gained was around 400 to 500 extra calories a day. This cause significant weight gain and also metabolic syndrome.

You may please get a complete liver function done alone with a lipid profile and sugar profile. If the Lier functions are altered, an Ultrasound may be required to look at the liver status.

Stopping alcohol will surely help in liver regeneration as well as to improve metabolic syndrome. Liver has enormous regeneration capacity.

Regards
Binu

Note: For further follow-up, discuss your blood glucose reports with our diabetologist. Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar