If a Person’s Liver Was Damaged, Would They Get Sick From Just a Few Alcoholic Drinks?
Question by Caitlin Buelt: If a person’s liver was damaged, would they get sick from just a few alcoholic drinks?
The person in question is a guy who started drinking at 20 years old, escalated while he was 21, and while 22 and 23, for about 2 years, he severely abused alcohol in very heavy binges. He did take a complete 90-day break when he was 22 and a half. By the time he started drinking very heavily (22 and 23), he often would go 3 weeks or so without drinking. He was *not* a daily drinker, but an episodic binge drinker. However, when he binged, he did so very hard. Sometimes 2 or 3 days in a row. Then, when he turned 24 he drank very heavily, daily, for about 3 weeks. After that he got cleaned up, started eating good, gained 30lbs and as off to a good start. However, in between then and now, a course of about 2 years (until about a year ago) he had heavy, severe binges about every few weeks or once a month, followed by eating very healthy and trying to redeem his health. A year or a little more ago he quit drinking soda, started eating yogurt, granola and berries for breakfast, cut back on carbs majorly, started eating more fruits and veggies, and at the end of last year quit smoking. He takes a multivitamin everyday and has the past few years. Now he drinks a fe days a week in small, normal amounts. He doesn’t even really get drunk. He’ll drink 3 drinks on average, sometimes just 1 or 2, sometimes up to 5 in an evening. He usually drinks while eating or eats before he drinks. He doesn’t drink 5 drinks very often, but when he does it usually takes him 5 or 6 hours to drink a bottle of wine (which is 5 drinks exactly). His drinking now is about 1 drink per hour when he drinks. He used to drink an entire half pint or more of hard liquor in an hour! I don’t know how he did it, but he drinks normal now and says he has no desire to get drunk. I’m just surprised he doesn’t get sick or hangovers because I would have thought his liver is damaged. He seems healthy though and eats well, excercises some, etc. He’s not fat or anything, not skinny. Actually he’s in good shape. What do you think??? Could his liver be damaged? But if it was, wouldn’t he get sick off even just 2 or 3 drinks???
Mum Mum- we had thought he was surely an alcoholic because he couldn’t control his drinking and supposedly alcohol isn’t curable. However, he hasn’t had problems for a year now and the few days per week he does drink, he typically has 2-3 drinks. I asked him how he can control it now when he couldn’t before and he says he doesn’t know why he couldn’t control it before, but says that he doesn’t even have to try to “control it now”. Anyway, so I’m thinking if it’s true being an alcoholic isn’t curable, then he must not be a true alcoholic. Supposedly an alcoholic can never learn to control their intake or go back to drinking like a normal person, but this guy has! It’s perplexing and I am confused. I just don’t want to see him go back to how he was or hurt his health.
nickipettis- well, we got him to the dentist. Next up is the doctor for a full exam and check up. He’s going to tell the doctor he’s concerned about his health and try to explain how hard and he had binge drinked. Some people have a hard time believing he drank as much as he did or they think it’s not as bad as he thinks it is – but he drank very heavily.
On the flipside, a guy from alcoholics anonymous said he drank “a fifth a day” of whiskey for 20 years then quit and said he’s never had any health or liver issues. That guy drank daily and my guy I’m talking about was a binger, but I don’t know which is worse and some sources say one is worse while others say the opposite!
Baa Baa- Thanks for the information. It is helpful. I’m hoping that his 2 or 3 weeks of not drinking between binges throughout most of his drinking “career” gave him time to heal up each time any minor irritation or damage might have occured. However, I still feel like the liver is like a rechargeable battery in that it can only redeem itself and “recharge” only so many times, only for so long.
abijann- Thanks for the info. The biggest question I have about what you said is: will the blood test detect actual permanent damage to his liver even if it is just a little bit of damage and if his liver is not inflammed and he hadn’t been drinking like a month or longer before?
Best answer:
Answer by Mum Mum
He has liver damage, and is an alcoholic.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
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