drinking beer only 6pints a night ....

[chinadoll]

Drinking beer only....average 6pints a night 4-5 nights a week....over 10 years ....is that going to impact on the body to the extent that the liver is going to be damaged....and would a simple blood test suss out if there is any damage?

[Scarlett]

This is excessive. The liver is already working way overtime to process that amount of alcohol.

[Corkyb]

Having recently lost my partner due to alcohol related liver disease, I'd say that on 30 pints a week for the last 10years or so, you are well on the way to the same problem.

 

Suffering this type of illness is not pleasant, either for the suffer or their family, and knowing that it could have been prevented is even harder to cope with.

Unfortunately it not just the liver that gets damaged, the stomach and kidney do too, giving you ulcers, jaundice etc, oh and if it gets really bad, alcohol induced dementia as well!

 

You have the chance to change your behaviour, don't throw it away.

Good luck

[spudalicious]

Blood tests that will tell you are FBC - full blood count - and LFT - liver function tests. The FBC shows something called MCV which is basically the size of your blood cells. There is a certain range and yours will almost certainly be raised (problem number one). In LFT's the major indicator is something called a serum gamma gt, again this is indicative of alcohol intake - and thats something you can't cheat on.

I'm a doc and I can tell you that this kinda of drinking will have to some extent impacted on your liver - without any question. Thing is, you can do something about it. The complications of alcoholic liver disease are awful to watch. I work on a GI ward where most of my patients have alcoholic related conditions and there is a very high death rate, think about it.

[smudge]

chinadoll - I don't wish to appear patronising, but IMHO the best thing to do is to phone Alcoholics Anonymous - I'm sure they will tell you whether you have a problem or not & offer you sound advice. Good luck..

[AB Editor]

For all medical questions, we strongly advise you to seek professional advice from your doctor or a healthcare professional.  Please do not rely on, or wait for, advice from Answerbank users.

[krissy04]

Wow after reading this post im very concerned for my father. He drinks 4-5 beers a night, everynight...so im going to tell him to stop and how much he is killing his liver :/