Why Does My Liver Hurt When I Drink Alcohol?

Types of Alcohol Related Liver Disease –

Alcholol Related Steatohepatitis (ASH): Fat accumulates inside liver cells, making it hard for the liver to work properly. This early stage of liver disease occurs fairly soon after repeated heavy drinking. Usually it is symptom free but upper abdominal pain on the right side from an enlarged liver may occur. Steatosis goes away with alcohol abstinence. Alcoholic Hepatitis: This condition is marked by inflammation, swelling and the killing of liver cells. This scars the liver, which is known as fibrosis. Symptoms may occur over time or suddenly after binge drinking. They include fever, jaundice, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and tenderness. Up to 35 percent of heavy drinkers develop alcohol hepatitis, which can be mild or severe. If it is a mild case, stopping the drinking can reverse it. Alcohol Related Cirrhosis : The most serious form of ALD, it occurs when the entire liver is scarred, causing the liver to shrink and harden. This can lead to liver failure. Usually the damage cannot be reversed. Between 10 to 20 percent of heavy drinkers develop cirrhosis typically after 10 or more years of drinking.

Alcohol hepatitis and alcohol cirrhosis previously were called alcohol steatohepatitis (ASH), a term that still arises among some circles.

What helps liver pain after drinking?

– Liver pain from chronic liver disease can be severe and difficult to treat, but it’s also possible to have more mild liver pain from the overuse of certain medications or heavy alcohol consumption. Abstaining from alcohol, eating a health, well-balanced diet, and drinking plenty of water may help alleviate temporary liver discomfort.

Can drinking alcohol cause liver pain?

Alcoholic hepatitis – If excessive alcohol consumption continues, inflammation levels can begin to increase in the liver. This can lead to a condition called alcoholic hepatitis, Alcoholic hepatitis can have the following symptoms:

pain in the area of the liverfatigueloss of appetite fever nausea and vomiting jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes)

Alcoholic hepatitis can be mild or severe. In mild alcoholic hepatitis, liver damage occurs slowly over the course of many years. Severe alcoholic hepatitis can come on suddenly, such as after binge drinking, and can be life threatening. If you develop alcoholic hepatitis, you may be able to reverse the damage by permanently abstaining from alcohol.

What does liver pain from alcohol feel like?

Is cirrhosis painful? – Yes, cirrhosis can be painful, especially as the disease worsens. Pain is reported by up to 82% of people who have cirrhosis and more than half of these individuals say their pain is long-lasting (chronic). Most people with liver disease report abdominal pain,

Pain in your liver itself can feel like a dull throbbing pain or a stabbing sensation in your right upper abdomen just under your ribs. General abdominal pain and discomfort can also be related to swelling from fluid retention and enlargement of your spleen and liver caused by cirrhosis. Pain can come both from the diseases that lead to cirrhosis and/or cirrhosis can make the pain from existing diseases worse.

For instance, if you have non-alcohol related fatty liver disease and have obesity, you may also have osteoarthritis and cirrhosis makes your bone and joint pain worse. Cirrhosis also causes an inflammatory state in your entire body. Inflammation and your body’s reaction to inflammation can cause general pain.

How long does alcoholic liver pain last?

What is alcoholic hepatitis? – Alcoholic hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that lasts one to two weeks.It is believed to lead to alcoholic cirrhosis over a period of years. Symptoms include of alcoholic hepatitis include:

Loss of appetite Nausea Vomiting Abdominal pain and tenderness Fever Jaundice Mental confusion

Will liver pain go away if I stop drinking?

Alcoholic hepatitis – Alcoholic hepatitis – which is unrelated to infectious hepatitis – is a potentially serious condition that can be caused by alcohol misuse over a longer period. When this develops, it may be the first time a person is aware they’re damaging their liver through alcohol.

Less commonly, alcoholic hepatitis can occur if you drink a large amount of alcohol in a short period of time (binge drinking), The liver damage associated with mild alcoholic hepatitis is usually reversible if you stop drinking permanently. Severe alcoholic hepatitis, however, is a serious and life-threatening illness.

Many people die from the condition each year in the UK, and some people only find out they have liver damage when their condition reaches this stage.

Is liver pain serious?

Why Does My Liver Hurt? 10 Possible Causes of Liver Pain Medically Reviewed by on November 14, 2022 Your is a football-sized organ that sits under your ribs. It works as your body’s processing plant. Among its more than 500 jobs are to convert food from the small intestine into substances that help you absorb fat and fight off diseases, stockpile energy, and filter and clean your,

1. Even though it’s the largest organ inside your body, it can be hard to pinpoint the pain from your liver.
2. It’s easy to confuse it with pain from your, just to its left.
3. Depending on the cause, a liver that hurts may show up as pain in the front center of your belly, in your back, or even your shoulders.

Your liver doesn’t actually have any pain receptors. Usually, the pain happens because the membrane that surrounds it is inflamed from an illness or injury. Viral is an of your liver. The three most common types are hepatitis A, B, and C. They’re caused by different viruses that infect your liver.

1. It can cause pain in the upper right side of your belly, where your liver sits.
2. Other signs of hepatitis include dark-colored pee, yellow skin or eyes (known as ), tiredness, nausea, or vomiting.
3. Learn more about the types of viral hepatitis.
4. Alcoholic hepatitis happens when too much alcohol overtaxes and inflames your liver.

Pain from alcoholic hepatitis may make your abdomen feel tender. You also likely will lose weight and your appetite, be nauseated, run a low-grade fever, and feel tired and weak. Read more on alcoholic hepatitis. Too much weight, diabetes, or a high-cholesterol diet can make too much fat build up in your liver.

• Over time, that can scar your liver and keep it from doing its job.
• Usually causes no symptoms.
• But it can make you tired or give you a constant dull pain either in the right upper part of your belly, or all over it.
• Learn about diet and lifestyle changes that can help fatty liver disease.
• Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome is a rare condition in women that causes sudden, severe pain in the upper right section of your belly that might spread to your arm and shoulder.

It’s a bacterial infection. It inflames the tissues around your liver (your doctor might call this perihepatitis) and can affect the lining of the stomach. You’ll also often have fever, chills, headache, and feel ill. Find out more on Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome.

A bacterial, fungal, or parasitic infection in your liver can form an abscess, or a pocket of pus. The top right side of your abdomen may be tender. Your doctor may be able to feel that your liver is enlarged. Usually, you’ll also have fever and chills. are also pockets of fluid, but they aren’t usually infected.

If they are large, they may make you uncomfortable, mostly because you’ll feel “full” in your abdomen. Cysts sometimes can bleed, which can cause sudden, severe pain in your upper right belly and shoulder. Learn about polycystic liver disease symptoms, causes, and treatment.

• Budd-Chiari Syndrome is an uncommon disorder resulting from a narrowing of the veins that let blood and fluid drain from your liver.
• It can be caused by and swelling in your liver.
• Often, it’ll make the top right side of your belly hurt.
• Your portal vein is the vessel that brings blood to your liver from your,

But if a blood clot blocks the vein, you may feel sudden pain in the upper right part of your abdomen by your liver. You also may have swelling in your belly and a fever. Learn more about the different types of blood clots. Thanks to its size, your liver may get injured after accidents, falls, and other trauma.

1. If your liver is bleeding, you’ll usually have pain and tenderness in your abdomen and right shoulder.
2. You may also have signs of shock from blood loss.
3. You normally won’t have any pain until your liver cancer has advanced to later stages.
4. Once you do start to hurt, it can show up anywhere from your abdomen to your shoulder.

Your doctor may be able to feel a lump by pressing on the right side of your belly. You may also lose weight, feel itchy, have yellow skin or eyes, have a swollen stomach, and feel sick. Find out more on symptoms of liver cancer. Your is tucked right underneath your liver.

• So – digestive juices that harden into nuggets – can cause pain that you might mistake as coming from your liver.
• You may have sudden pain that gets worse quickly.
• Gallstone pain may be located in the center or right side of your upper abdomen, between your shoulder blades, or in your right shoulder.
• See a picture of what the gallbladder looks like.

If your liver pain comes on quickly, hurts too much, goes on for a long time, or keeps you from carrying on with normal activities, get it checked out. Other signs that you need medical treatment right away include:

JaundiceFeverChillsNausea or vomiting

© 2022 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved. : Why Does My Liver Hurt? 10 Possible Causes of Liver Pain

Can the liver heal itself?

At a Glance –

Researchers uncovered the roles that different cells in the liver play in organ maintenance and regeneration after injury. Understanding how these processes work could lead to new strategies to treat liver diseases and injuries.

The liver has a unique capacity among organs to regenerate itself after damage. A liver can regrow to a normal size even after up to 90% of it has been removed. But the liver isn’t invincible. Many diseases and exposures can harm it beyond the point of repair.

These include cancer, hepatitis, certain medication overdoses, and fatty liver disease. Every year, more than 7,000 people in the U.S. get a liver transplant. Many others that need one can’t get a donor organ in time. Researchers would like to be able to boost the liver’s natural capacity to repair itself.

But the exact types of cells within the liver that do such repair—and where in the liver they’re located—has been controversial. Some studies have suggested that stem cells can produce new liver cells. Others have implicated normal liver cells, called hepatocytes.

1. The liver is composed of repeating structures called lobules.
2. Each lobule consists of three zones.
3. Zone 1 is closest to where the blood supply enters the lobule.
4. Zone 3 is closest to where it drains back out.
5. Zone 2 is sandwiched in the middle.
6. While hepatocytes in zones 1 and 3 produce specific enzymes for metabolism, the function of those in zone 2 has been less clear.

To investigate liver cells more closely, a research team led by Dr. Hao Zhu from the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern Medical Center used 14 different lines of mice, 11 of which they created for the new study. Each mouse line was engineered to have different groups of liver cells express a fluorescent marker.

• Those cells could then be tracked over time, before and after damage to different parts of the liver.
• The study was funded in part by NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Results were published on February 26, 2021, in Science, Zhu and his team found that normal hepatocytes—not stem cells—in zone 2 did the bulk of the work of normal liver maintenance. They divided to replace liver cells in all zones that had reached the end of their natural lives.

1. When the liver experienced toxin-induced damage, the researchers again found that normal hepatocytes originating in zone 2 proliferated to replace injured tissue in zones 1 and 3.
2. Cells originating in zone 1 could also be found in zone 3 after cells in zone 3 were damaged, and vice versa.
3. These findings show that which hepatocytes help in recovery after liver injury depends on the location of the injury.

Further work identified a specific cell-signaling pathway that appeared to drive zone 2 liver cells to repopulate damaged tissue. When the team shut down different parts of this pathway, the cells in zone 2 couldn’t proliferate. In the same issue of Science, a second research team from the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology reported similar results using a different method for tracking the origins of new liver cells.

“It makes sense that cells in zone 2, which are sheltered from toxic injuries affecting either end of the lobule, would be in a prime position to regenerate the liver. However, more investigation is needed to understand the different cell types in the human liver,” Zhu says. Understanding how this regeneration works in more detail could lead to new treatment strategies to help repair a damaged liver.

—by Sharon Reynolds

How do you detox your liver?

A liver detox, cleanse, or flush is a program that claims to take out toxins in your body, help you lose weight, or improve your health. You want to do everything you can to take an active role in your health. But if you think you need a liver detox, you should know that there isn’t much it can do for you.

Your liver is one of the largest organs in your body. It helps remove waste and handles various nutrients and medicines. Most people think a cleanse will help their liver remove toxins after they drink too much alcohol or eat unhealthy foods. Some hope it will help their liver work better on a daily basis.

Many believe it’ll help treat liver disease. Like most detoxes, a liver cleanse has specific steps. It may tell you to fast or to drink only juices or other liquids for several days. You might need to eat a restricted diet or take herbal or dietary supplements,

1. Some detoxes also urge you to buy a variety of products.
2. There are medical treatments for liver diseases.
3. But nothing shows that detox programs or supplements can fix liver damage.
4. In fact, detoxes may harm your liver.
5. Studies have found that liver injuries from herbal and dietary supplements are on the rise.

Green tea extract, for example, can cause damage like that from hepatitis. And the coffee enemas involved in some regimens can lead to infections and electrolyte problems that might be deadly. Other things to know about these programs and products:

Some companies use ingredients that could be harmful. Others have made false claims about how well they treat serious diseases.Unpasteurized juices can make you sick, especially if you’re older or have a weakened immune system.If you have kidney disease, a cleanse that includes large amounts of juice can make your illness worse.If you have diabetes, be sure to check with your doctor before you start a diet that changes how you usually eat.If you fast as part of a detox program, you may feel weak or faint, have headaches, or get dehydrated. If you have hepatitis B that has caused liver damage, fasting can make the damage worse.

There isn’t any scientific proof that cleanses remove toxins from your body or make you healthier. You may feel better on a detox diet simply because you aren’t eating highly processed foods with solid fats and processed sugar. These foods are high in calories but low in nutrition.

1. Detox diets can also cut out foods that you might be allergic or sensitive to, like dairy, gluten, eggs, or peanuts.
2. Doctors say liver detoxes aren’t important for your health or how well your liver works.
3. There’s no proof that they help get rid of toxins after you’ve had too much unhealthy food or alcohol.

Ways to help your liver after drinking too much alcohol There’s a limit on how much alcohol your liver can handle at one time. It has to work harder when you drink too much. Over time, this can lead to inflammation, scarring, or cancer, If you’re going to drink alcohol, experts recommend no more than one drink a day for women and two for men.

A drink is 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or one shot of liquor. Your liver can heal minor damage from alcohol in days or weeks. More severe damage could take months to heal. And after a long time, it may be permanent. Give your liver a break by avoiding alcohol at least 2 days in a row each week.

Your overall health and your genes affect your liver. So do your diet, lifestyle, and environment. Liver detox programs don’t treat damage or prevent disease. Ways to prevent liver disease Lifestyle changes can help keep your liver healthy without detox programs.

Limit the amount of alcohol you drink.Eat a well-balanced diet every day. That’s five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables, along with fiber from vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Be sure to include protein for the enzymes that help your body detox naturally.Keep a healthy weight, Exercise every day if you can. Check with your doctor first if you haven’t been active.Cut down on risky behavior that can lead to viral hepatitis:

Avoid recreational drugs, If you do use them, don’t share needles or straws to inject or snort them.Don’t share razors, toothbrushes, or other household items.Get tattoos only from a sterile shop.Don’t have unprotected sex with people you don’t know.

A few studies have linked liver cleanses with weight or fat loss, but they’ve been low-quality or looked at only a small number of people. Other research has found that a detox program’s low-calorie diet may lead to early weight loss, but people tend to regain the pounds as soon as they go back to their usual diet.

Eat a healthy diet with plenty of water, fruits, and vegetables.Exercise regularly.Follow guidelines on alcohol use.

Milk thistle is an herb that contains a compound called silybin. Some people claim that it helps your liver work better and can help treat liver disease. But just as there isn’t enough evidence that liver detoxes work, there isn’t enough to show that milk thistle or extracts make your liver healthier.

1. Some studies say compounds from milk thistle have helped ease the symptoms of certain types of liver disease.
2. But no research shows that it treats the disease itself.
3. Turmeric, sometimes called “the golden spice,” can give your body a boost and may help protect against liver injury.
4. But there’s not enough research to support using it regularly for prevention.

Dandelion has also been considered a natural remedy for various conditions. More study is needed to prove that it works. Remember that FDA rules about supplements aren’t the same as for foods or medicines. There’s no guarantee that that they work the way they say or that they’re safe.

How do you know if your liver is struggling?

by Themis Kourkoumpetis, MD Jan 17, 2022 The liver, about the size of a football, is the body’s largest internal organ. It sits on the right side of your body just under your rib cage and acts as a filtration device, removing harmful substances from the blood.

A general unwell feeling, An underperforming liver can’t filter toxins out of the bloodstream, resulting in fatigue, headaches and skin problems. Jaundice or yellowing of the skin and eyes Frequent gassy sensation, When a damaged liver doesn’t secrete digestive juices to break down food, you may experience routine bloating and stool pressure. Confusion, When the liver isn’t working properly, toxins can build up, causing brain fog. This is called hepatic encephalopathy. You may also be confused and disoriented. Fluid retention : A weak liver can result in swelling due to fluid retention, especially of the feet and ankles Dark urine : Urine that is darker than usual, accompanied by white stool Loss of appetite and sudden weight loss Vomiting blood Itching Loss of muscle and muscle weakness

The main causes of liver disease include viruses like hepatitis, alcohol use disorder and fatty liver disease. Despite the great strides in curing hepatitis, liver disease is more prevalent than ever. Excess alcohol consumption can lead to liver disease, including fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, cirrhosis and eventually liver cancer.

Cirrhosis is a common cause of end-stage liver disease. Often, a liver transplant is needed when cirrhosis progresses to the point that scar tissue replaces healthy tissue and the liver stops functioning. While alcoholic liver disease typically follows years of heavy drinking, binge drinking can result in rapid progression of liver disease.

The other contributing factor to the rise in liver disease is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. “It’s because of our lifestyle,” said Themis Kourkoumpetis, a transplant hepatologist on the medical staff at Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center – Fort Worth.

• We aren’t getting enough exercise, we’re drinking too much soda and we’re eating a large amount of fast food.
• A growing portion of our population has diabetes, high cholesterol or obesity.” But the good news about this type of liver disease is that is 100% reversible, according to Dr.
• Ourkoumpetis.
• And so is alcoholic liver disease, which is the third leading cause of preventable death in the US,” he said.

By making healthy food choices, exercising and avoiding alcohol, damage done to the liver can be reversed. But without those lifestyle changes, 1 in 10 liver patients will go on to develop cirrhosis, liver cancer or liver failure and may need a liver transplant.

How do I know if my liver is working too hard?

17 Signs You Suffer From Liver Stress – PharmEasy Blog Our liver is the most hardworking but undervalued organ in the body. Everybody talks about having a, weight loss, glowing skin and so on. However, it is our liver that works the hardest in the body and performs approximately 500 or more functions from storing sugar, minerals and vitamins as fuel for the body.

• It also controls the production and excretion of cholesterol etc.
• The liver contains bile stored in the gallbladder, and this helps to break down fats.
• Just like the heart, the liver also gets stressed, but unlike a stressed heart, the symptoms of a distressed liver show up very late.
• Stress in the liver shows up when the liver is overworked and sluggish.

This organ filters out all foreign particles such as food additives, tobacco, alcohol and environmental factors. So how do we know if our liver is in distress? Here are seven crucial signs of a stressed liver that we should never ignore: Liver stress sign #1 Your skin colour changes Have you noticed skin discolouration? If yes, then it is the first sign of a liver in distress.

• If your skin colour changes to jaundice yellow or pale with a blue tinge, or if your nails or fingertips turn yellow, or if there is yellowing of the eyes there is trouble brewing.
• This change in colour happens because the body is unable to flush out the,
• When these toxins accumulate over a period, they cause bilirubin to develop under the skin causing discolouration.

Liver stress sign #2 Suffering from digestion problems Feel bloated frequently and suffer from constipation too? If you face everyday indigestion issues, it is a sign of a stressed liver. With bloating, you may experience gas and stomach pain as well.

This happens because the bile is unable to break down the food and lubricate the intestines. Liver stress sign #3 Pains and body aches The liver purifies the blood and produces new blood as well. But when under stress, the liver is unable to provide new blood to the muscles, tissues and tendons. This harms our flexibility, causing pain in the upper back and even dry eyes.

Continuous pain of this kind will result in fatigue. Liver stress sign #4 Fatigue Do you feel tired and drained out all the time? This can be chronic fatigue and a clear indicator that the liver is under stress. The liver feels stressed as the body works very hard to repair the damages.

As the body works overtime, it can stress the other organs too and therefore; it results in tiredness. It is best to get your liver checked at this point. Liver stress sign #5 Darker urine Is your urine darker than usual? If yes, then you may not be drinking enough water, and it may cause your stools to be darker too.

It could also have blood spots in it. But if you start drinking water and these change, then all is well. If not, seek medical help right away. Liver stress sign #6 Mood swings Mood swings occur when we are unhappy or stressed. So, when the liver is stressed, it can disturb our,

• Liver stress sign #7 Look out for these signs
• A stressed liver impacts the overall body functions – it may cause ringing in the ears, insomnia, dizziness, blurry vision, allergies, no sex drive, internal or intestinal bleeding, sensitivities to chemicals, PMS, drastic weight loss and spider veins.
• Liver Stress sign #8 Loss of Appetite

Another warning sign of liver distress is little to no interest in food. Loss of appetite is always a sign of some underlying health condition and should never be ignored.

1. Liver Stress sign #9 Irregular Sleep Cycles
2. Although irregular sleep pattern is a common occurrence amongst millennials due to a stressed lifestyle, a study found that liver cirrhosis was responsible for unusual sleep patterns in many patients.
3. Liver Stress sign #10 Failing Memory

When you are suffering internally from liver fatigue internally, the organs are incapable of detoxing the blood. When toxins are not timely removed from the blood, it leads to hepatic encephalopathy which is a kind of build-up in the brain triggering memory loss. Hepatic encephalopathy could also make it difficult for you to concentrate.

• Liver Stress sign #11 Skin Itchiness
• Abnormal skin itchiness is a sign of liver cirrhosis.
• Liver Stress Sign #12 Sudden Weight Gain

When you have liver cirrhosis, it gradually develops in your body, replacing the healthy liver tissue with damaged ones. This inhibits blood flow from the lever and makes it difficult for the organ to function properly. Liver Stress Sign #13 Palms Turn Red Experts believe that when you develop nonalcoholic fatty liver disease your palms start to turn red an outward indicator of the distress inside of you.

1. Liver Stress Sign #15 Easy Skin Bruises
2. Liver damage often surfaces in the form of easy and sudden skin bruises.
3. Liver Stress Sign #16 Swelling
4. Another sign of unexplained liver disease is the sudden swelling in regions around your ankles and legs.
5. Liver Stress Sign #17 Chills

Experiencing chills is often a natural response of the body when the mercury drops or when you are developing a fever. However, if none of this fits the bill for your sudden and regular chills it could indicate cholestasis during liver disease. If you have faced any of these symptoms or are unsure as you encounter some of them, do seek medical help.

Consult your doctor today or a liver specialist. Also, it is best to make regular health check-ups a habit. Please note Images are used for editorial representation only. Source: Google. Disclaimer: The information included at this site is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment by a healthcare professional.

Because of unique individual needs, the reader should consult their physician to determine the appropriateness of the information for the reader’s situation. : 17 Signs You Suffer From Liver Stress – PharmEasy Blog

How many years can you drink before liver damage?

How long do you have to drink before liver damage? – People with serious liver damage have usually been drinking for 20 or more years. But complications can develop after 5 to 10 years of heavy drinking. Again, this can be highly variable between individuals and is likely genetic.

Can you make liver pain go away?

– Many conditions can cause liver pain, so it is important to find out which one is present. A doctor will carry out a physical examination and look at the person’s health history. Other testing options may include:

blood tests to assess liver function or identify specific liver problems or genetic conditionsimaging tests, such as CT scans, MRIs, and ultrasounds to assess for liver damagetissue analysis, which involves taking a tissue sample from the liver for a lab test

Sometimes, liver pain will go away after making some lifestyle changes, such as abstaining from alcohol, losing weight, or following a healthful diet. Other problems may require medication or surgery. If there is liver failure, a liver transplant may be needed. What are some other causes of abdominal pain? Find out here.

Can you take ibuprofen for liver pain?

Can you take ibuprofen if you have liver disease? – For people with liver disorders, ibuprofen use has adverse effects. The medication could worsen liver disease since it impairs the liver’s ability to detoxify toxic compounds from the bloodstream. The time it takes for liver damage to manifest can range from days to months, so it’s important to perform frequent blood tests to check for potential harm when on ibuprofen medication.

How long does a sore liver take to heal?

The liver’s healing process – One of the most incredible facts about the liver is that it is self-healing, just like your skin. For example, if you cut yourself, the wound eventually scabs over as it heals and possibly leaves you with a scar. The same process happens in the liver.

• As cells die, scar tissue develops.
• This is known as liver cirrhosis.
• If excessive alcohol use and scarring continues over time, eventually the liver can become too scarred to function properly,
• Some alcohol-related liver damage can be reversed if you stop drinking alcohol early enough in the disease process.

Healing can begin as early as a few days to weeks after you stop drinking, but if the damage is severe, healing can take several months. In some cases, “if the damage to the liver has been long-term, it may not be reversible,” warns Dr. Stein.