🧵 Alcoholism and the science and medicine of liver disease
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 11:58:29 UTC No. 16153081
Why is the science behind liver disease seem so muddled.
I've read statistics as low as 5% on the low end of heavy drinkers to 10% to 20% on the high-end.
10% is the most commonly cited.
How much of this is scare tactics because 1 out of 10 heavy drinkers is not a high percentage, yea it's a risk, but I hear doctors talk as if every heavy drinker is going to get cirrhosis.
Why are their racial disparities with hispanics and blacks more likely to get it then whites. I never see stats on Asians.
It's also interesting that women are more susceptible to liver disease and cirrhosis but men are more likely to get it because there's a bigger drinking culture around men, although after graduating from college and seeing how some of those girls drink? I think that stat might start changing.
I read genetics factor highly into cirrhosis, does that mean if someone has a history of alcoholism in their family and no one ever developed advanced liver disease that that person is less likely to get it, versus someone who is an alcoholic and has a history of liver disease in the family?
It's weird that I read in some case studies that cirrhosis is reversible and other case studies that say it never is.
Are blood panels and liver function tests effective at detecting liver damage?
No, I'm not worried about myself, but my father who has been a heavy drinker all his life. He's in his 60's and his father and his father's father have all been alcoholics and none ever developed cirrhosis or liver disease and lived to be in their late 80's/ early 90's. I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject because I'm worried about him but there seems to be a lot of conflicting data that I can't make heads or tails of.
I also read that drinking coffee regularly and taking milk thistle can help fight the onset of liver disease, it won't sober you up, but it will help prevent damage.
Any med students or doctors or people who specialize in the liver who can help me parse through this data?
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 12:00:17 UTC No. 16153082
>>16153081
Also is it true that if you do develop end stage liver disease that there's better outcomes if you can find a living donor versus waiting on a list, 1) because you coukld die while being on the waiting list 2) There's certain anti-rejection procedures they can do with living donors, by taking some of the white blood cells from the living donor and injecting tem into your system. I read a study on that.
https://www.uclahealth.org/news/mak
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 12:10:40 UTC No. 16153091
stop drinking faggot
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 12:54:08 UTC No. 16153136
>>16153091
It's my dad I'm worried about and I'm interested in the science and medicine behind liver disease.
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 13:03:41 UTC No. 16153142
>>16153091
Have you never ever met an alcoholic before in your entire life.
Just saying
>stop drinking faggot
would never work. First it takes quite a climb to even get someone to admit they have a problem. It's a whole other problem to get the to quit. Often they will need to see a therapist, get on Naltrexone or sometimes go to rehab.
I've seen alcoholism first-hand exhibited by friends and family, it's never as easy as saying "just say no" or "just quit".
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 13:09:19 UTC No. 16153146
>>16153081
alcohol is terrible for your body
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 13:24:47 UTC No. 16153155
>>16153091
Asking for a friend
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 13:26:07 UTC No. 16153157
Frustose is as bad for you as alcohol
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 13:31:17 UTC No. 16153162
>>16153142
The problem was some sort of liver/kidney issue, it felt very scary and that day I had my last drink. I just stopped drinking. It wasn't hard at all, mind you I wasn't chronic alcoholic with years of experience.
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 13:48:08 UTC No. 16153171
>>16153157
Wait i caan't have Cokes?
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 14:04:26 UTC No. 16153190
What is worse for your body in the long run, heavy drinking or heavy smoking?
There was an article about Ian Fleming, the author of James Bond, he smoked several packs of cigarettes a day and drank a whole bottle or more of alcohol a day.
His doctor got him to cut back on the cigarettes saying they were worse for him, but medicine has advanced some so I don't know if that's still true.
the man loved nothing more than
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 14:45:05 UTC No. 16153227
I really want to know why and how Milk Thistle helps to fight liver disease.
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 15:18:56 UTC No. 16153255
>>16153146
It's scary how much my HRV drops even after a couple drinks. Not to mention the last time I drank I'm fairly sure I went in to afib briefly, time before that was during a job interview. So in my simple mind, alcohol consumption stresses my heart out equivalent to a job interview.
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 17:09:36 UTC No. 16153358
>>16153190
You're not likely to have a "long run" if you consume both in that amount, as did Fleming. He didn't even manage to live to 60, and he was a rich fuck living stress-free in Jamaica and having everything else about his life in order.
Whether smoking or drinking is worse depends on your individual physiology, how quickly you break down alcohol for example, or how athletic you are/were at a young age, which gives your heart and lungs a bit more leeway before becoming irreversibly damaged.
But if you have to do one thing, rather go for the drinking because at least that makes you feel good and your liver can repair itself as long it's not abused chronically. Smoking just feeds a pointless addiction.
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 18:16:18 UTC No. 16153483
>>16153358
Can't the lungs heal themselves?
Anonymous at Tue, 30 Apr 2024 18:22:58 UTC No. 16153488
>>16153483
much less than the liver. If you get something like COPD you're fucked