dunkelheit

Hi,

I got my liver tested at the hospital and I got a physical, but they said it was fine. I've been drinking heavily for about 1.5 years straight, so this is good news. The doctor said I'd built up quite a tolerance to alcohol though. How would he know this, if my liver is "fine"?

Anyway, if my liver is okay, my family doctor wants to start me on a course of drugs to cure a parasitic infection I picked up overseas. The thing is, the drugs kill liver cells, so if there is any unseen damage, that's going to continue for another 3 months on the anti-parasitic drugs.

Will this "alcohol tolerance" thing show up on standard bloodwork to test for liver health? Does that go away after a few weeks of sobriety? Is it dangerous, or just an indicator of substance abuse? I just need to know what it is they were testing for so I can go in, get the liver test when ready, get another clean bill of health, start the drugs and get rid of these parasites.

doggonecarl

Great questions to ask your doctor.

Fly N Buy

dunkelheit,

Thanks for the post - glad you're where with us!
No idea about the whole medical issue. I'm not a doctor and really don't know. Forum rules disallow discussion of medical issue = might do more harm than good and really only your doctor(s) can accurately render info......

Regardless, I do know my liver and all other organs probably get better without daily bombardment of alcohol. Hope that's where you're at today as well.

We have a tendency to worry ourselves silly most have found.
Call Doc or nurse and ask them!!

Keep coming back

ScottFromWI

Agreed, you need to ask your doctor about this. Tolerance to alcohol involves more than just a simple liver test.

Anna

Yes, please ask your dr and get the answers to your questions.

Andante

Just to clarify, alcohol "tolerance" has more to do with your brain than your liver.

Tolerance to alcohol means that progressively more alcohol is required to achieve the same feeling of drunkenness because, roughly speaking, the receptors in your brain become desensitized to it over time when you drink too much too often.

Tolerance usually goes hand in hand with dependence, in which your body (and especially your brain) becomes accustomed to the presence of alcohol and screams bloody murder when it is withdrawn.

dunkelheit

Okay, I'm just trying to figure out what the test results mean so I don't go in for my real test too soon. I already have the anti-parasitic drugs at home, I just need an "okay" that my liver is in good enough shape to take them, because it even says on the drug's website, "daily consumption of alcohol could increase your risk of serious side effects," by which they mean organ failure. I was drinking daily for years, so I just got a pre-test done before the real test.

Thanks a lot everyone.

I always check medication websites before I agree to take any type of drug in case it causes liver damage. A lot of the time, I end up choosing not to medicate because I know I must have some damage already.

ScottFromWI

I would strongly suggest you see a doctor and not a website to determine whether or not you can take a prescribed medication.

doggonecarl

Are you sober now?

skg

Just an observation: Most normal folks don't test their for alcoholic drinking... Just saying... *I* did, of course, but I was different...

FLCamper

If you can't reach your dr., I've found pharmacists to be very helpful answering these types of questions.