some advice and insight regarding alcohol liver disease please

Hi folks just wondering if someone can offer me an insight into what might be or might not be going on with my liver . Very long story short ive drank alot over the last 15 years and took some drugs to , around age of 18 - 20 usual parting with friends most nights , drinking and drugs . Over the 15 years i have always enjoyed a drink on a few occasions way too much but have had many days , weeks or months in this time not drinking to . Since around 2004 - 2012 drinking probs around a bottle of wine a night , chilling in house with friends or girlfriends . Just going about my merry way then in may 2012 started to get pains in liver area . I also have a few spider naevi but ive had a couple of these throughout my life to , one quite big one on nose , one on eye lid and 2 or 3 on backs of hands . Anyways in 2012 i went to docs regarding pain in liver area and was total honest about my drinking , they ran blood tests , chest x ray , full abdominal ultrasound and everything was ok , the sonagrapher lady said she couldnt even see any fatty spots on liver and everything was tip top . I was atleast expecting some fatty liver . Only thing that came back in bloods was slightly low platelets but acceptable and slightly enlarged red blood cells size but every blood test ive had shows same thing so docs said thats just how i am . Anyways it all kinda scared me so i cut down from then on to a couple of glasses of wine a night with my meal as usual . The pains went away but sometimes a slight niggle , i dont have any other symptoms i can think of only thing i have now that bother/worry me and after googling about them kinda scare me is the spider things , i have a few on backs of hands and still this bigger one on my nose and one on eyelid , thing is ive had them for years , 5 years + atleast... so im thinking if it was my liver and from what ive read they are sign of later advanced disease then id be dead or having more symptoms by now ??? my diet has always been superb , loads and loads of fruit n vedge etc , hardly ever eat junk food or fatty foods even but i do smoke . I kept worrying more and more as all drinkers do we have a lot of guilt etc so around jan/feb ish i asked doc for another blood test , again everything was fine but my usual platelet and red blood cell thingy but this time my albumin was ever so slightly raised to 52 , from what ive read albumin is low with serious liver problems ??? ive still been drinking my 2 -3 glasses of red a night but think im gonna knock it on the head for a while cos im notice what seems like very tiny new spiders on my hands . What do you guys think of all this ?? thanks alot in advance

Hi John82, Welcome to the forum.

We are a group of patients and loved ones who are affected by liver disease. I'm glad you reached out to us, as alcoholic liver disease can be serious.

Like Ziff says, it takes a long time to destroy a liver, but once destroyed, there is no treatment bar transplantation.

Research shows some but not all people who drink alcohol get cirrhosis and destroy their liver. Just the lucky ones I guess! And who knows which side of that statistic you are on.

My partner had a transplant in 2011 after years of drinking as you describe...drinks now and then, sometimes a lot of drinking at a party, wine with dinner, etc. BUT he also had Hep C and was one of those folks with the propensity to drink alcoholically...so that wine bottle was always emptied and he eventually got really sick.

He did not have the naevi you describe, but he had every other symptom, gray stool, low platelets, elevated liver function tests, edema in legs and feet, coke colored urine, some jaundice, always cold, always tired, muscle wasting, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea chronic pancreatitis, episodes of acute kidney failure, large red blood cells like you, and periodic hypo-natremia (not enough sodium in cells). Plus the ever popular Hepatic Encephalopathy where the toxins build up in your blood until it causes changes in brain activity leaving the patient confused, irritable, and sometimes comatose. He also had a cancerous tumor in his liver towards the transplant time.

I say these things to make sure you understand that there is a fine line between social drinking for a normal person and alcoholic drinking for the unlucky ones who have the propensity for cirrhosis.

Mike does not drink anything at all any more. He was so sick that the only course for him was a transplant. But before he could get a transplant he had to have 6 months of documented sobriety (he went to AA). Even moderate drinking would be a problem for him now. He still has Hep C.

Have you been tested for the Hep A, B, C, etc viruses?

I think it is good you are concerned, and considering making life style choices that are more healthy. Let us hear from you as you get more tests.

Carol

John welcome to our forum. I believe that the answer to your question is nope. The biopsy is the defining test. I commend you for having such insight and for cutting down your drinking. You are gong in the right direction. You know the situation and you have to make decisions regarding your health and treatments. I'm glad you came along. Others will respond to the question about the biopsy also.

Welcome to our lil corner of the Healing Well Forum!!

Sandia

In other words, don't drink, at all.

Sounds like your spider angioma are just benign and occured for a non liver related reason, this does happen. i have had a couple due to liver disease, one went away on its own and the other I poked with a sterile needle in the center, draining it. This is an accepted treatment for them. It diappeared afterwards. You can also have laser surgery to remove them.

As always when in doubt speak to your Dr.

-K

I think you know what I meant.

Advertising is considered spam on this forum. Thx Ziff for being an early bird. Same poster showed uo on other parts of HW also.

We have some Super Mods who lurk and purge overnight. I otook out two last evening and then this one today.

Carol