Alcoholism

Excessive alcohol use kills over 140,000 kills over 140,000 people each year in America, and many of those deaths are directly caused by alcohol-related liver disease. If you struggle with alcoholism, HealthScansBCS helps you keep watch on your liver health using affordable, convenient, and noninvasive scans in their Bryan, Texas, office. They send your scan results straight to your doctor. No referral is needed to schedule your scan: You’re in control. Phone the office today or make your appointment online.

What is alcoholism?

Alcoholism is alcohol use that you can’t control. When you struggle to manage your drinking, despite it causing problems, alcohol has a too-tight hold over your life — and it can lead to life-threatening medical complications like liver disease. In fact, more than half of liver cirrhosis (severe scarring) deaths are related to alcoholism.

There’s hope for people struggling with alcoholism. Your physician can recommend effective measures like behavioral therapy, medication, and group therapy. Regular liver scans at Health Scans BCS also help protect your liver health.

How does alcoholism affect the liver?

Your liver converts toxins into waste and works in several other ways to support your immune, digestive, and metabolic health.

But your liver can’t effectively process a high alcohol level over a prolonged period. This can even happen over a few days of heavy alcohol use. The same is true of continually overeating.

Your liver transforms the excess alcohol into fat cells, which it then stores. More than 5%-10% of liver fat due to alcohol use is called alcoholic fatty liver. It affects about 20% of alcoholics, and the risk increases over time. Around 90% of people who consume 4-5 drinks daily over several decades develop fatty liver.

Alcoholic fatty liver happens when you have excess liver fat but haven’t yet suffered physical damage. However, the disease can progress to a type of hepatitis (alcoholic steatohepatitis), in which severe inflammation kills liver cells and replaces the dead cells with scar tissue (fibrosis).

Fibrosis can progress to severe liver scarring (cirrhosis) and stiffening. It can, in the long term, lead to liver failure or liver cancer. This progression is slow; it usually takes more than 10 years. That gives you plenty of time to take action to prevent the worst from happening.

How can I check on my liver health if I’m dealing with alcoholism?

If you’re living with alcoholism — whether you’re in recovery (sober) or still actively drinking — it’s crucial that you look after your liver. Liver scans are a noninvasive way to check your liver status; they’re completely noninvasive and painless.

HealthScansBCS uses the latest liver scan equipment from Echosens (FibroScan® technology) to measure liver fat and stiffness in minutes. This information helps your healthcare provider detect problems, evaluate liver changes, and plan your treatment.

Schedule your liver scan online today (no referral is needed) or call the HealthScansBCS office for help.