If you’ve been covering up for your loved one and not talking about their addiction openly for a long time, it may seem daunting to reach out for help. However, it’s important to make sure you’re getting the support you need as well. Lean on the people around you, and, if you need to, reach out to a mental health professional to speak about your stress and what you’re going through. To diagnose ALD, a healthcare provider will assess alcohol use, ask about symptoms, and conduct several tests. An assessment of alcohol use will establish when alcohol consumption started, how much a person drinks, and how often.

The rate of communication returns to its typical levels once alcohol leaves the body. If a person drinks frequently or more heavily, the nerve cells in the brain adapt by reducing the number of places they can receive these messages. When a person with alcoholism reaches end stage alcoholism, they have reached a point that is dramatically different from the initial stages. During the early stages of the disease, the person may drink heavily and may experience hangovers in between drinking episodes.

Alcohol Abuse Statistics

If you find that you are suffering from the effects of long-term alcohol use and are ready to get and stay sober, please contact Hemet Valley Recovery Center & Sage Retreat for help. We are uniquely equipped to help you recover from an addiction to alcohol or drugs. If you weren’t drinking much before you cut it out entirely, it’s unlikely that you’ll see a difference, but it’s still worth mentioning here. Drinking heavily could make it tough for your liver and pancreas to work well—both of which are essential for your metabolism, Dr. Galligan says.

So, SELF connected with experts to find out what actually happens to your body when you go sober. Professional treatment can help an alcoholic to overcome the physical and psychological dependence on alcohol, and develop healthy coping mechanisms to manage stress and cravings. Underage drinkers are slightly less common among alcohol-related deaths in Washington.

Loving Someone With Alcohol Use Disorder—Dos and Dont’s

Treatment also consists of evaluation for other risk factors that can damage the liver or put the liver at higher risk, such as infection with hepatitis C and metabolic syndrome. In these cases, treatment focuses on preventing further damage and treating other factors that can make the disease worse, such as infection and malnourishment. However, if the person drinks alcohol again heavily, the fatty deposits will reappear. The prognosis for liver failure is poor and requires immediate treatment, often in the intensive care unit. Take the first step toward addiction treatment by contacting us today.

The negative effects of alcoholism on life expectancy can be attributed to several factors. Firstly, alcohol abuse can lead to liver disease, such as alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis, which can be life-threatening. Secondly, excessive alcohol consumption can weaken the immune system, making individuals more susceptible to infections and diseases. Furthermore, alcoholism increases the risk of cardiovascular problems, including alcoholic cardiomyopathy, which can have a detrimental effect on heart function and overall health. Most of them are observational, meaning they can detect patterns in a dataset, but not cause and effect.

Don’t Take It Personally

Reducing weight if you’re overweight, eating a healthy diet, and regular exercise can help someone with early ALD who has stopped drinking decrease their risk of advanced liver disease. Cardiovascular problems are also prevalent among individuals with alcoholism. Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to conditions such as alcoholic cardiomyopathy, which weakens the heart muscle and impairs its ability to pump how long do alcoholics live blood effectively. The reduced cardiac function increases the risk of heart failure and contributes to a decreased life expectancy. A major limitation of this study was the inclusion of patients from inpatient care only, which may have caused selection bias towards AUD patients with the most severe health problems. The study was register-based and lacked clinical data about the type of treatment and adherence.