How Long Does It Take Your Liver To Repair If You Stop Drinking?
This is a contributed post.
Taking a break from alcohol can have many benefits (and you don’t have to wait until Dry January comes around again to think about abstaining).
One of the biggest reasons to take a break is that it can give your liver a chance to heal. The liver is a remarkably forgiving organ that can repair itself quickly once alcohol is out of the picture. A healthy liver results in more effective removal of toxins - leaving you looking and feeling better.
But just how long will it take your liver to heal? The honest answer: it depends, but for many people significant recovery can occur in as little as 2 to 4 weeks!
Factors like your age, weight and diet can all impact the liver’s healing ability. Your history with alcohol and how damaged your liver currently is can also affect recovery (although a very resilient organ, the liver does have a limit as to how much damage it can take before it can no longer rebuild itself). Also if you relapse just once, this will stall things.
This guide explains more as to exactly how alcohol affects the liver and the different conditions that can affect recovery. It also contains a week-by-week guide that explains exactly how the liver heals to give a better idea of just what going sober can do - whether you’re planning a temporary break from booze or giving it up permanently.
How exactly does alcohol affect the liver
Your liver is your body’s main filtration system. It helps to break down fat and toxins in your body such as bacteria, viruses, pollutants, nicotine, drugs - and alcohol.
The liver is quite efficient at breaking down alcohol, but has to work hard to process large amounts of alcohol. Just live an overloaded machine, it can eventually struggle to manage the demand if you keep feeding it alcohol. This can lead to:
Fat accumulation (fatty liver)
Inflammation (alcoholic hepatitis)
Scarring (fibrosis and, in serious cases, cirrhosis)
Much of this damage is reversible, provided that you stop consuming alcohol for a while. Keep drinking heavily with no breaks and eventually liver damage will become permanent.
The stages of alcohol-related liver damage
Before we discuss the stages of recovery, let’s talk about the stages of damage. How damaged the liver is can affect how easily and how fast it heals. The three stages include:
Alcoholic fatty liver disease (steatosis): This type of damage is very common among heavy drinkers. Because the liver is so preoccupied trying to break down alcohol, it cannot break down fat properly, and this fat builds up in the liver. Fortunately, this stage is reversible within weeks to months of stopping drinking.
Alcoholic hepatitis: This is the next stage of damage in which the liver becomes inflamed and swollen. Fatigue, abdominal pain, jaundice and nausea may follow due to a backup of toxins in the body. At this point, damage becomes harder to reverse unless you completely abstain from drinking.
Cirrhosis of the liver: Long-term inflammation will next lead to scarring. As the scarring takes over the liver, it stops working completely. Such damage is largely irreversible, but quitting alcohol is still necessary to prevent things getting worse (i.e. death).
What happens when you stop drinking?
The liver starts recovering as soon as you stop drinking. It recovers faster if you have not yet developed alcoholic hepatitis or cirrhosis, if you are relatively young, if you are a healthy weight and if you do not have other unhealthy habits (smoking, drugs, eating junk food).
Below is a timeline of what is likely to happen to most people over time when taking a break from alcohol:
Within 24 to 72 hours
During this period your body is able to clear any backlog of alcohol still in your body. It does not heal during this stage, but stops becoming damaged because there is no new alcohol coming into the body, putting less strain on this organ.
Those who drink heavily may experience withdrawal symptoms during this stage such as anxiety, sweating, tremors and nausea. Professional addiction treatment is often advisable to help manage these withdrawal symptoms - it could be dangerous to suddenly stop without help if you’ve been drinking heavily every day up until now.
Within 3 to 14 days
Stay abstinent for 2 weeks and liver fat will start to decrease - your liver has processed all the alcohol, and can now start dealing with the fat. Most people start to experience reduced bloating, clearer skin, better sleep and a more stable mood during this stage.
For those with alcohol use disorder, withdrawal symptoms should start to subside during this stage
Within 2 to 4 weeks
If you’re able to go a whole month without alcohol, it may be possible to completely reverse mild cases of fatty liver disease. Liver inflammation will start to go down, blood pressure will start to stabilize, you’ll experience better digestion, you’ll experience enhanced focus and you may even start to see weight loss.
Cravings may still be present for long-term heavy drinkers - professional therapy can help to manage these cravings.
Within 1 to 3 months
Keep abstaining beyond a month and you can allow your liver to undergo deep healing. If you were previously a heavy drinker that did not have inflammation or scarring, your liver may be able to fully regenerate within this stage. Your immune system will become stronger and mild fibrosis (scarring) may even start to heal.
Without alcohol to self-medicate with, some people may experience mental health issues during this stage. Finding a new ‘healthy addiction’ is key during this stage to fill the void - whether it’s exercise, craft hobbies, board games, baking or learning an instrument.
3 months to 12 months
If you were a heavy drinker without any significant liver damage, your liver should be long healed by now. However, even those with liver damage may see liver function returning to normal during this stage. Even people with non-reversible cirrhosis may start to see reduced symptoms due to non-scarred liver tissue learning to function better.
Sobriety often becomes much easier the longer you persist. The temptation may always still be there, however relapse rates are known to dramatically drop after a year as it becomes easier to adapt to your new life.
While some people are able to find the motivation to go teetotal alone, it’s important to remember that there is support out there. Services like support groups can be excellent for meeting other recovering drinkers in the same boat, while various forms of therapy can support you with cravings control and mental health recovery.
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