Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Alcohol abuse may resume after critical surgery

Alcohol abuse could return after critical surgery .

critical surgery

Life-saving surgery to prevent repeated severe bleeding from ruptured veins in the esophagus or upper stomach may not induce some patients with alcoholic liver disease to stop drinking alcohol, researchers report.

Such a surgical procedure may be necessary to reduce the pressure in the veins of the esophagus and upper stomach among patients with cirrhosis, a scarring of the liver frequently caused by alcohol abuse.

The study group consisted of 132 patients with cirrhosis, including 78 with alcoholic liver disease, lead author Dr. Michael R. Lucey, of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and colleagues report.

The investigators used patient and family member interviews to determine drinking patterns among 132 cirrhosis patients with who had surgically implanted shunts to reduce the pressure in their esophageal and upper stomach veins.

Twenty to 40 percent of patients with alcoholic liver disease acknowledged alcohol use during 5 years after receiving the pump. About one third of those with alcoholic liver disease reported drinking more than four alcoholic drinks per day during follow-up, the researchers report in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

The patients with alcoholic liver disease were twice as likely to drink alcohol during follow-up as patients with cirrhosis from other causes.

Continued alcohol use among patient with alcoholic liver disease was associated with a 153 percent increase in gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), a liver enzyme indicative of liver disease. These patients also had a significantly increased risk repeat hemorrhage and death.

Lucey and colleagues conclude that a “substantial minority” of patients will return to drinking alcohol after experiencing a life-threatening complication. They recommend that patients with alcoholic liver disease should be encouraged to abstain from alcohol.
____________
source: American Journal of Gastroenterology

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Drinkers Warned About Risk Of ‘Shakes’

People who consume three alcoholic drinks every day double their risk of getting the “shakes” in later life, researchers have found. Essential tremor, a common neurological disorder, affects an estimated 650,000 people in the UK. Although there are a number of factors which can cause the condition including an overactive thyroid and Parkinson’s disease, alcoholics….

Teen drug rehabilitation

Teens are very prone to addiction or drug abuse. It may start with trial of excitement or fun with friends, but they may never know when they get addicted to such a harmful thing. The habit of taking drugs, can largely affect the performance of the teen in the school and also at sports, hampering….

What’s So Special About Christian Rehab Centers?

Alcohol and drug addictions, in particular evolve out of the physical effects of ongoing substance abuse. While the substance and the physical effects it produces do account for the damage to a person’s life, the reasons that make him or her susceptible to addiction may very well lie at a deeper level. Christian rehab centers….

Naltrexone: can a pill cure alcoholism?

Naltrexone is cheap, effective and requires no costly rehab. So why do so few doctors endorse it? Mrs M, as she asks me to call her, isn’t sure exactly when she last drank herself into a comatose state, but she knows it was about five years ago. At that time she got through a bottle….

Sign of the high times

Obama’s decision not to prosecute medical marijuana users and sellers suggests the war on drugs is ending Ships of state tend to change course slowly. Policies set in place over decades, and implemented by large, self-perpetuating bureaucracies and enforcement systems are pretty hard to dismantle. Fundamental change rarely happens overnight. Much of the criticism that….