Fatty Liver Defined. Fatty liver cannot be defined as a disease condition by itself, but known to trigger diseases within. But even then it is known medically as. Info about end stage liver disease, model for predicting mortality, symptoms, complications and possible treatments and options. Physical Symptoms of Alcoholism. Although the presence of one or two physical symptoms of alcoholism may be easy to overlook or ignore, as drinking progresses, the. ![]() ![]() ![]() End- stage Liver Disease Symptoms. End- stage liver disease is a chronic and irreversible ailment that leads to total liver failure which eventually, can cause death. This disease develops slowly and reaches the final stage over a period of several years. According to the American Liver Foundation, liver disease is the 7th leading reason behind death of adults aged between 2. United States of America. Symptoms. As per statistics, one out of ten Americans have some kind of liver disease. The liver performs more than 5,0. Therefore, if proper care is not taken, liver failure can prove fatal. This makes it essential for you to be able to identify the symptoms which are listed below. Most patients in the end stage will have an enlarged, tender liver which causes abdominal discomfort and general decline in health. Let us take a look at what causes this disease. Surgery involves removal of damaged liver and replacing it with a healthy one obtained from a donor, who usually is a deceased person. In case a living person is the donor, it is not possible to replace the entire liver. Only a portion of healthy liver from the donor would be transplanted. However, if the condition is diagnosed in its initial stage, then treatment would include vaccinations, vitamins and mineral supplements, abstinence from alcohol, and maybe some painkillers. However, all of this depends upon the condition of the patient, which can be properly diagnosed only by a qualified healthcare specialist. If the condition is really bad, there may be instances that the patient may not even qualify for a liver transplant. End- stage liver disease is a crucial condition, wherein a liver transplant is the only option for a person to survive. Which is why, it is very important to identify the symptoms as soon as possible, when the condition is still in its initial stages. For best information, your doctor would be the best source. Disclaimer: This Buzzle article is meant for informational purposes only and should not be considered as a replacement for expert medical advice. ![]() Alcohol affects every body system, causing a wide range of health problems. Problems include poor nutrition, memory disorders, difficulty with balance and walking, liver disease (including cirrhosis and hepatitis), high blood pressure, muscle weakness (including the heart), heart rhythm disturbances, anemia, clotting disorders, decreased immunity to infections, gastrointestinal inflammation and irritation, acute and chronic problems with the pancreas, low blood sugar, high blood fat content, interference with reproductive fertility, increased risk of cancer of the liver, esophagus, and breast, weakened bones, sleep disturbances, anxiety, and depression. About 2. 0% of adults admitted to the hospital (for any reason) are alcohol dependent. Men are more than twice as likely to be alcohol dependent than women, and smokers who are alcohol dependent are much more likely to develop serious or fatal health problems associated with alcoholism. On a personal level, alcoholism, in many cases, leads to difficulties in marital and other relationships, domestic violence, child abuse or neglect, difficulty finding or keeping a job, impaired school or work performance, homelessness, and legal problems such as driving while intoxicated (DUI).
According to information derived from the United States National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Study released in 2. American adults are dependent on alcohol (estimates range from 5- 1. About 3. 4% of adult Americans do not use alcohol at all. Another 4. 4% are occasional or non- dependent users. Alcohol is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States (smoking and obesity rank first and second) and is responsible for about 8. Alcoholism is involved in about 3. It is the cause of about 2. Alcoholism costs the United States about $1. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism estimates that at least 6. Causes and symptoms. The risk of developing alcoholism has a definite genetic component. Studies have demonstrated that close relatives of people with alcoholism are more likely to become alcoholics themselves. This risk exists even for children adopted away from their biological families at birth and raised in a non- alcoholic adoptive family with no knowledge of their biological family's alcohol use. However, no specific gene for alcoholism has been found, and environmental factors (e. ![]() Recently some researchers have suggested that there are two distinct types of alcoholism. According to these researchers, type 1 alcoholism develops in adulthood, often in the early twenties. It is most often associated with the desire to relieve stress and anxiety and is not associated with any criminal or antisocial behavior. Type 2 alcoholism develops earlier, usually during the teenage years. Drinking is done primarily to get high. Type 2 alcoholism is associated with violence, destructiveness, and other criminal and antisocial behavior. Those who study alcoholism do not universally accept the distinction between these two types of alcoholism. Research continues in this area. The symptoms of alcoholism can be broken down into two major categories: symptoms of acute alcohol use and symptoms of long- term alcohol use. Immediate (acute) effects of alcohol use. Alcohol exerts a depressive effect on the brain. The blood- brain barrier does not prevent alcohol from entering the brain, so the brain alcohol level will quickly become equivalent to the blood alcohol level. In the brain, alcohol interacts with various neurotransmitters to alter nerve function. Alcohol's depressive effects result in difficulty walking, poor balance, slurring of speech, and generally poor coordination (accounting in part for the increased likelihood of injury). The affected person also may have impairment of peripheral vision. At higher alcohol levels, a person's breathing and heart rates may be slowed and vomiting may occur (with a high risk of the vomit being breathed into the lungs, potentially resulting in aspiration pneumonia.) Still higher alcohol levels may result in coma and death. Effects of long- term (chronic) alcoholism. Long- term use of alcohol affects virtually every organ system of the body: Nervous system. An estimated 3. 0- 4. This results in the loss of memory of the time surrounding the episode of drinking. Alcohol also causes sleep disturbances, so sleep quality is diminished. Numbness and tingling (parethesia) may occur in the arms and legs. Wernicke's syndrome and Korsakoff's syndrome, which can occur together or separately, are due to the low thiamine (a B vitamin) levels found in many alcohol- dependent people. Wernicke's syndrome results in disordered eye movements, very poor balance, and difficulty walking. Korsakoff's syndrome affects memory and prevents new learning from taking place. Gastrointestinal system. Alcohol causes loosening of the muscular ring that prevents the stomach's contents from re- entering the esophagus. Acid from the stomach flows backward into the esophagus(acid reflux), burning those tissues, and causing pain and bleeding. Inflammation of the stomach also can result in ulcers, bleeding, pain, and a decreased desire to eat. A major cause of severe, uncontrollable bleeding (hemorrhage) in an people with alcoholism is the development of enlarged (dilated) blood vessels within the esophagus, which are called esophageal varices. These varices develop in response to liver disease, and are extremely prone to bursting and hemorrhaging. Hemorrhaging varices are often fatal. Diarrhea is a common symptom, due to alcohol's effect on the pancreas. In addition, inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis) is a serious and painful problem in many people who abuse alcohol. Throughout the intestinal tract, alcohol interferes with the absorption of nutrients, which can result in a malnourished state. Alcohol is broken down (metabolized) in the liver and interferes with a number of important chemical reactions that occur in that organ. The liver begins to enlarge and fill with fat (fatty liver). Fibrous scar tissue interferes with the liver's normal structure and function (cirrhosis), and the liver may become inflamed (hepatitis). Blood. Alcohol may cause changes to all the types of blood cells. Red blood cells become abnormally large. White blood cells (important for fighting infections) decrease in number, resulting in a weakened immune system. This places alcohol- dependent individuals at increased risk for infections and may account in part for the increased risk of cancer faced by people with alcoholism. Platelets and blood clotting factors are affected, causing an increased risk of bleeding. Heart. Small amounts of alcohol cause a drop in blood pressure, but with increased consumption, alcohol raises blood pressure into a dangerous range (hypertension). High levels of fats circulating in the bloodstream increase the risk of heart disease. Heavy drinking results in an increase in heart size, weakening of the heart muscle, abnormal heart rhythms, a risk of blood clots forming within the chambers of the heart, and a greatly increased risk of stroke due to a blood clot entering the circulatory system and blocking a brain blood vessel. Reproductive system. Heavy drinking has a negative effect on fertility in both men and women. It decreases testicle and ovary size and interferes with both sperm and egg production. Alcoholism during pregnancy. A large body of evidence indicates that maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy contributes adversely to a fetus's development. Abnormalities in infants and children associated with maternal alcohol consumption may include prenatal and postnatal physical retardation, neurological deficits (e. These abnormalities, influenced by maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy, are referred to as fetal alcohol effects (FAEs), or fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) if a sufficient number of effects are apparent in the child. FAS is the leading cause of mental retardation in the United States. One to two of every 1,0. United States are afflicted with FAS. The incidence of FAS in children whose mothers drink heavily is 4% much higher than the rate in the general population. Research studies that have followed infants with FAS and FAEs across time have found that many of these children continue to have cognitive difficulties (e. IQ scores, more learning problems, poorer short- term memory functioning) and behavioral problems (e. Diagnosis. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM- IV- T)R requires three of the following traits to be present for a diagnosis of alcohol dependence: tolerance, meaning that a person becomes accustomed to consuming alcohol and must increase the amount in order to obtain the desired effectwithdrawal, meaning that a person experiences unpleasant physical and psychological symptoms when he or she does not drink alcoholthe tendency to drink more alcohol than one intends; being unable to avoid drinking or stop drinking once starteddevoting large blocks of time to acquiring and consuming alcoholunsuccessful attempts to reduce or stop alcohol usechoosing to use alcohol at the expense of other important tasks or activities such as work or family obligationsdrinking despite evidence of negative effects on one's physical and/or mental health. No laboratory tests exist that can screen for alcoholism with a high level of accuracy. Most alcoholism is diagnosed through patient and family history. However, alcoholism can be difficult to diagnose until late- stage physical symptoms become apparent because alcohol- dependent people often lie or about underestimate their alcohol use. In addition, many physicians do not routinely screen their patients using standardized questionnaires that may reveal alcohol problems. Diagnosis is aided by administering specific psychological assessments that help to indicate what aspects of a person's life may be affected by alcohol use.
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