New - Drink too much
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2020
Posts: 1
New - Drink too much
Hi,
I've just joined hoping to get some advice about liver pain I've been having recently.
32 year old Male, have been drinking regularly since college. For the past say 5 years anyway I would drink typically 5 days a week, sometimes more. I would drink heavily pretty much every friday & Saturday, and also drink 3/4 nights during the week (three double measures of rum on a weekday).
I'm sure there are people out there who drink more than that but I'm conscious I have been a chronic drinker for the guts of a decade, and have rarely ever gave my liver more than a couple of days to rest.
I have known that I drink too often but up until recently it hasn't caused me any outward problems (that were obvious to me). For the past few months however I have been conscious of a 'stiff' feeling in my upper right abdomen. I had a binge period recently where I drank moderately heavy for 10 days straight (at least a few measures of rum or a bottle of wine e.g.) and I woke up with mild pain in my liver.
This has worries the hell out of obviously. I stayed off drink for a few days and felt it progressively better. On the fourth day I ventured a drink again and had a bottle of wine - again waking up with liver pain.
So now i know I have a bit of a problem on my hands, but I just want to know if you guys have any advice from your experiences. I'm panicking I have gave myself cirrhosis over the years without realising. I have read that you can develop it without showing symptoms and only realise too late?
I have no other symptoms apart from the mild liver pain lately (always noticed most when laying flat in bed). No jaundice, nausea, itching, unusual poo etc. Although I have noticed a pretty loud gurgling/percolating type noise from my gut and bubbling sensation in the liver area too.
I figure i need to abstain for a while at least anyway.. aiming to go alcohol free for a month and see how I feel. I should also book a doc appointment and explain the situation I know. I did have bloods taken for an unrelated matter three years ago and do recall the doc noting that the blood sample indicated normal liver function at that point anyway.. I am reasonably healthy otherwise. Okay diet, exercise regularly, good BMI.
Hope someone can shed some light at what I might be looking at here.
Thank you
I've just joined hoping to get some advice about liver pain I've been having recently.
32 year old Male, have been drinking regularly since college. For the past say 5 years anyway I would drink typically 5 days a week, sometimes more. I would drink heavily pretty much every friday & Saturday, and also drink 3/4 nights during the week (three double measures of rum on a weekday).
I'm sure there are people out there who drink more than that but I'm conscious I have been a chronic drinker for the guts of a decade, and have rarely ever gave my liver more than a couple of days to rest.
I have known that I drink too often but up until recently it hasn't caused me any outward problems (that were obvious to me). For the past few months however I have been conscious of a 'stiff' feeling in my upper right abdomen. I had a binge period recently where I drank moderately heavy for 10 days straight (at least a few measures of rum or a bottle of wine e.g.) and I woke up with mild pain in my liver.
This has worries the hell out of obviously. I stayed off drink for a few days and felt it progressively better. On the fourth day I ventured a drink again and had a bottle of wine - again waking up with liver pain.
So now i know I have a bit of a problem on my hands, but I just want to know if you guys have any advice from your experiences. I'm panicking I have gave myself cirrhosis over the years without realising. I have read that you can develop it without showing symptoms and only realise too late?
I have no other symptoms apart from the mild liver pain lately (always noticed most when laying flat in bed). No jaundice, nausea, itching, unusual poo etc. Although I have noticed a pretty loud gurgling/percolating type noise from my gut and bubbling sensation in the liver area too.
I figure i need to abstain for a while at least anyway.. aiming to go alcohol free for a month and see how I feel. I should also book a doc appointment and explain the situation I know. I did have bloods taken for an unrelated matter three years ago and do recall the doc noting that the blood sample indicated normal liver function at that point anyway.. I am reasonably healthy otherwise. Okay diet, exercise regularly, good BMI.
Hope someone can shed some light at what I might be looking at here.
Thank you
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,469
Welcome, and I hope that you decide to stop drinking for good. 
Talking to your doctor would be helpful for you and it could also ease your mind. It helps to come up with a plan for how you will stop drinking and stay sober - what things can you do each day to support your sobriety - that kind of thing.
I'm glad you found us and decided to post.
Talking to your doctor would be helpful for you and it could also ease your mind. It helps to come up with a plan for how you will stop drinking and stay sober - what things can you do each day to support your sobriety - that kind of thing.I'm glad you found us and decided to post.
bona fido dog-lover
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: SF Bay area, CA
Posts: 99,759
None of us can tell you what condition your liver is in. The doctor can run tests to determine if there's a problem.
Quitting drinking "for a while" won't help you if you go back to drinking. Any good you might do by staying sober will be erased as soon as you start drinking again.
I hope you'll use the support here to get sober for good.
Quitting drinking "for a while" won't help you if you go back to drinking. Any good you might do by staying sober will be erased as soon as you start drinking again.
I hope you'll use the support here to get sober for good.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 2,279
Hi Patrick, look at my little 'Five weeks' post on this board. I drank heavily with little consequence for years. In the last year I've lost a business and now my marriage. It caught up with me, I would give literally ANYTHING to go back and address the issue earlier.
(Actually for me that is ********. 'Address the issue' wouldn't work. I needed to get sober.)
(Actually for me that is ********. 'Address the issue' wouldn't work. I needed to get sober.)
Member
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: England
Posts: 645
If the doctor said the following what would you do in each case?
a) "You have cirrhosis"
b) "Your liver is fine right now"
The answers should be the same, in my opinion. I had the liver pain you write about. I stopped drinking, the pain stopped.
a) "You have cirrhosis"
b) "Your liver is fine right now"
The answers should be the same, in my opinion. I had the liver pain you write about. I stopped drinking, the pain stopped.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: NSW - Australia
Posts: 14,540
You are definitely drinking at dangerous levels Patrick. If you continue drinking at this level you will undoubtedly suffer health consequences imo.
If it's not your liver it will be something else. And you are only 35 years of age.
If you want to stop drinking this is a great place to come.
If it's not your liver it will be something else. And you are only 35 years of age.
If you want to stop drinking this is a great place to come.
~sb
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: MD
Posts: 15,960
Woah, 3 double shots is probably equal to 7 drinks (we're heavy handed) and that is just a week night drinking session??????? Wow. Lots of alcohol running around your body. Can you see your doctor to have your liver and kidneys checked out?
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
Stop now, and if that's hard or impossible then I'd suggest getting more help. Right now, here in the States, online meetings and support are the only option in my city (Atlanta) and state. But with zoom and video, I find it almost like being in a room with folks.
This is a great time to put liquor stores or places you regularly buy alcohol if at the grocery stores, on your own non-essential biz list. It's hit or miss here as far as when you can catch food deliv services from Amazon, but our main grocery chain is still doing delivery too.
And yep, it's incredibly scary when we get to the point of even considering damage to our livers. I was terrified to get my labs done and still consider it a miracle I never crossed into cirrhosis, but facing the damage was the only way to know what I had to face.
Good luck.
This is a great time to put liquor stores or places you regularly buy alcohol if at the grocery stores, on your own non-essential biz list. It's hit or miss here as far as when you can catch food deliv services from Amazon, but our main grocery chain is still doing delivery too.
And yep, it's incredibly scary when we get to the point of even considering damage to our livers. I was terrified to get my labs done and still consider it a miracle I never crossed into cirrhosis, but facing the damage was the only way to know what I had to face.
Good luck.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 268
A couple of observations based on personal experience.....
Looking back on it, even when I was "only" drinking four or five days a week, and not drinking during the workday or mornings, I was definitely an alcoholic. I could never just have a couple drinks comfortably. If I stopped, it required enormous effort, and then I really wasn't having fun because I just kept thinking that I wanted another drink (remembering this fact is key to staying sober for me).
On days when I didn't drink, it was like I was really just waiting for tomorrow when I could drink freely again.
So I was never like my wife, who has two glasses of wine and then truly does not want a third. I ALWAYS wanted a third, and a fourth, and fifth, etc. even if I ended up stopping.
And my liver always ached slightly. Sometimes it would become a little more acute and I'd worry like you are. I avoided the doctor because that would require confronting my alcohol problem. I finally did get a blood test a year or so before quitting and my doctor warned me to cut back because of high liver counts.
I ignored him and by the time I finally went into rehab I was in very serious danger of permanent liver damage. My arm was all black and blue from daily blood tests while I was detoxing in an inpatient facility. Nobody else was getting a daily blood test like me, so you know it was scaring the doc.
My liver is fine now, but the doctor was actually kinda surprised that it bounced back.
Obviously, alcoholism can destroy your liver. Although that's only one reason to quit. Waking up every day feeling mentally and physically well, never ever worrying about DUI again, saving tons of money, vastly improved social (and love) life, and a dozen other things are all better now that I've quit.
Looking back on it, even when I was "only" drinking four or five days a week, and not drinking during the workday or mornings, I was definitely an alcoholic. I could never just have a couple drinks comfortably. If I stopped, it required enormous effort, and then I really wasn't having fun because I just kept thinking that I wanted another drink (remembering this fact is key to staying sober for me).
On days when I didn't drink, it was like I was really just waiting for tomorrow when I could drink freely again.
So I was never like my wife, who has two glasses of wine and then truly does not want a third. I ALWAYS wanted a third, and a fourth, and fifth, etc. even if I ended up stopping.
And my liver always ached slightly. Sometimes it would become a little more acute and I'd worry like you are. I avoided the doctor because that would require confronting my alcohol problem. I finally did get a blood test a year or so before quitting and my doctor warned me to cut back because of high liver counts.
I ignored him and by the time I finally went into rehab I was in very serious danger of permanent liver damage. My arm was all black and blue from daily blood tests while I was detoxing in an inpatient facility. Nobody else was getting a daily blood test like me, so you know it was scaring the doc.
My liver is fine now, but the doctor was actually kinda surprised that it bounced back.
Obviously, alcoholism can destroy your liver. Although that's only one reason to quit. Waking up every day feeling mentally and physically well, never ever worrying about DUI again, saving tons of money, vastly improved social (and love) life, and a dozen other things are all better now that I've quit.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: S.E. MI
Posts: 1,025
Originally Posted by patrick62869 
I have no other symptoms apart from the mild liver pain lately (always noticed most when laying flat in bed). No jaundice, nausea, itching, unusual poo etc. Although I have noticed a pretty loud gurgling/percolating type noise from my gut and bubbling sensation in the liver area too.
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
^^^To the point about liver not being the only thing we can destroy....it's easy to forget that our skin is the largest organ. It is so easily destroyed by alcoholism. I can't tell you how amazing it was the first time someone I hadn't seen since I quit told me how incredible the difference was. That was 6 mo sober and it's only improved.
We damage everything we have, in every sense of the word, when we drink.
We damage everything we have, in every sense of the word, when we drink.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 451
Hi patrick, welcome to the site!
I had a similar experience with my liver. I noticed a tightness, felt like a muscle pull, in the my RHS over my ribs and liver area. I had it for years, it started for me in my 40's and I put it down to constantly sitting at a PC for work and often for leisure - constantly sitting with my right hand slightly extended by using a mouse. It was more of a discomfort than an out-right pain.
Anyway, I eventually went to the Dr and due to my age then (late 40s) she asked me for blood and a fibrosis scan. I have been a heavy drinker through stages of my life including around that time.
Turns out the result was some fibrosis (scarring) in the liver so she asked me to stop drinking for 12 weeks and then go and see a renal consultant. By that stage I had decided to stop for good so when I went to see the consultant I had lost 10kg in weight and my liver was fine!
I mentioned to him that I had stopped and he said that I was not required back.
I hope it is the same for you!
I had a similar experience with my liver. I noticed a tightness, felt like a muscle pull, in the my RHS over my ribs and liver area. I had it for years, it started for me in my 40's and I put it down to constantly sitting at a PC for work and often for leisure - constantly sitting with my right hand slightly extended by using a mouse. It was more of a discomfort than an out-right pain.
Anyway, I eventually went to the Dr and due to my age then (late 40s) she asked me for blood and a fibrosis scan. I have been a heavy drinker through stages of my life including around that time.
Turns out the result was some fibrosis (scarring) in the liver so she asked me to stop drinking for 12 weeks and then go and see a renal consultant. By that stage I had decided to stop for good so when I went to see the consultant I had lost 10kg in weight and my liver was fine!
I mentioned to him that I had stopped and he said that I was not required back.
I hope it is the same for you!
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