How much alcohol abuse does it take for the onset of liver disease or symptoms of?
My little brother who is roughly 22 is in college now and called me to get my advice cause he’d been experiencing light abdominal pain. Now I know he drinks a lot cause he’s honest with me and that’s a good thing. From what he tells me he drinks enough to get him drunk 4-5 nights out of the week. He’s not a big guy (5′-7″ and about 180) but enough to get him drunk would be about six or seven beers and maybe a shot or two. The thing is he’s been doing this for about 3 months now (beginning of school year to now.) He says he hasn’t noticed any yellowing of the skin,eyes or any other pain, just a slight discomfort in his abdomen and lower chest. I guess what I’m asking is is liver disease something that develops over a longer period of time or could it develop in a couple months? I’ve already told him that the main thing is to prevent the development of poor habits which will cause him to behave this way beyond his college years, but I just wanna gauge his risk factor at present.
Also he’s in a frat and I’ve seen this group – it’s about 30 guys who all do the same thing… So it’s hard for me to say stop when his friends are also drinking that much…. What’s funny is that he almost NEVER drinks when he’s home, it’s not an addiction just a HORRIBLE social habit – that’s what bothers me
3 Responses to “How much alcohol abuse does it take for the onset of liver disease or symptoms of?”
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October 25th, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Have him get a blood test that measures liver enzymes. There are cases of death caused by 3 drinks a day plus Tylenol. Rare, but it depends on the person. Anyone who is taking strong meds for arthritis and such is monitored for elevated liver enzymes and all medication is stopped if the levels increase. You really do not want to wait till your skin turns yellow and permanent damage has occurred. He also needs to find a different form of entertainment.
October 25th, 2011 at 8:20 pm
Different people react differently to alcohol. I had friends at college who caused themselves severe liver problems from getting drunk everynight, even though they were very young and tough. I also had friends who got drunk everynight for 30 or 40 years, with no visible problems, then suddenly dropped dead. Only a thorough medical check up will tell if your brother has already damaged his liver. If he hasn’t yet, he will one day, so whatever, it is best if he stops drinking to excess as soon as possible because the demon booze will get him one day if he doesn’t
October 25th, 2011 at 9:02 pm
My mother drank about a liter of vodka a day for about 15 years, she was pretty ill for the last 10 of them so I would have to say the serious damage took about 5 years, but obviously there must have been some damage before that. She died with no friends, alone and too ill to take care of herself, green from jaundice and using adult diapers at only 45 years old. The details get worse but I am still having trouble dealing with it, she passed in June and I had to sign the DNR. My younger sister is about where your brother is, and as much as it hurts me one thing I learned from my mom and her drunk friends is that they are pretty determined to do what they want, and unless he wants to change his life no rehab or anything else will help. We tried it all with my mom. Just go ahead and say good bye to him now while he still has “good days” because you don’t want to see how awful he will be in a few more years. It is painful to watch a loved one kill themselves, and that is exactly what he is doing. On my mother’s death certificate the cause of death is Septic Shock, all of her organs finally gave up and her body poisened her to death, and the DR said it was 100% from alcohol abuse. Hopefully you can get your parents to slam him into a rehab for AT LEAST a year… any less does no good.