The Tipping Point

A drink is always welcome, but just how much alcohol can the body handle in a lifetime?
Thirty-five-year- old Anusha Sangwan would go out five nights a week and end up drinking anywhere between 2-3 cocktails per night. “We’d party a lot in college and having two drinks every night didn’t seem like a lot of alcohol intake,” she says. Recently she was diagnosed with jaundice and her doctor told her that she had consumed more alcohol than she should consume in an entire lifetime and told her to keep off it. If she didn’t now, the doctor said, it would result in liver failure.

Statistics published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse show that the number of women in their forties dying of drink-related illnesses had doubled in the past 15 years. Current safe drinking guidelines recommend a weekly 14 units of alcohol for women and 21 for men. “If an average bottle of wine contains nine units of alcohol, a large glass of wine will contain as many as four. If you drink at least two glasses of wine every night, you will end up consuming 56 units of alcohol every week,” says Dr Anoop Mishra, Internal Medicine, Fortis. And this is the case with a type of alcohol that is considered to be safer than the others, such as vodka or whisky. A 700ml bottle of vodka may contain 28-30 units, while the same amount of whiskey contains 38 units.

Symptoms and signs of liver damage are not really visible till the time the damage is permanent. So, keep a tab on the amount of alcohol that you consume every week or month and if the result is worrying, visit a doctor. “If you think you have been drinking a lot, get in touch with your doctor before it gets too late. If you don’t, it will lead to permanent liver damage,” says Dr S K Aggarwal, internal medicine, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals. “Since the liver does everything from producing antibodies to fighting off infection to the processing of food to detoxification, one should really take care of it. The liver has so many vital functions that its failure mostly results in death,” says Dr Mishra.

However, unlike other organs, the liver has the ability to regenerate after suffering damage. “Unless you are suffering from something as serious as cirrhosis (a chronic liver disease), going off alcohol will make your liver get back in its healthy form,” says Dr Aggarwal. So, if you abstain from alcohol for two years, your liver will almost repair itself from all the alcohol damage.
____________
source: The Indian Express

More Treatment & Detox Articles

How many alcoholics who get help stay sober?

It’s hard to say. Data on the effectiveness of treatment programs is scarce, but Idaho has just started to track some patients. Reliable information is practically nonexistent on whether alcoholics who go through treatment stay off alcohol in the long run, says Patrick Neeser, coordinator of a Boise outpatient treatment center. “There’s very few long-term….

Need for Senior Addiction Treatment Centers on the Rise

Increasingly, the need for specialized treatment centers for seniors becomes more and more important. A growing number of seniors are struggling with a range of addictions such as alcoholism, addiction to prescription medications and various other addictions. Because seniors respond differently to drug addiction treatment and have varied reasons for using drugs the need for….

Hells Angel Finds God at the Bottom of Bottle of Booze

Former Hells Angel Richie Kane, 52, says he found God after bottoming out on alcohol and now has a second chance at life. For most of his years, Richie Kane struggled through a living hell of physical and sexual abuse, alcoholism and membership in one of the most notorious gangs in the country. But now….

UTPA students learn about the dangers of drinking

University of Texas-Pan American freshmen Iliana Cantu and Baldomero Perez giggled while taking a survey about alcohol use. The 18-year-olds said they don’t really drink and prefer to focus on their studies. “We’re geeks,” Perez joked. But they said they have friends attending schools beyond the Rio Grande Valley where binge drinking and heavy partying….

5 Signs Your Teen Needs Eating Disorder Treatment

Eating disorders frequently appear first during the teen years, but may develop during childhood or at any time of life. Eating disorders can be caused by genetic, biological, behavioral, psychological, and social factors. Girls are more than two and a half times as likely as boys to have an eating disorder. Common eating disorders include….