Alcoholic Cirrhosis Prognosis?

anonymous · May 2021

My father was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, due to alcoholism, about 2 months ago. And if he let me go to the doctor and/or gave me the explicit details of his condition and/or prognosis, I wouldn't be typing this out right now. He drank heavily for years, had massive ascites but once he was diagnosed, they gave him dieuretics and he has lost about 35 lbs (mostly in belly). He stopped drinking completely once he found out of the sickness. He's 63. He doesn't seem sick and is following the doctor's orders for the most part (I believe). I think he's tired a lot, but I just don't really know what to expect or how this goes. I read a lot of posts about this disease, but was hoping (although, not really hoping) that someone went through this and can relate. What's the prognosis like? Is it fairly promising or am I too optimistic? If you want to answer and I forgot important details that could help you in your response, tell me, and I'll add them to the details. That's all I could think of. I'll be here.

Thank You

Update:

He drank vodka regularly for about 8 years, I'd say...by regularly, I mean probobably 360/365 days of the year

baa-baa · May 2021

I had cirrhosis and a liver transplant. Even though my cirrhosis was not caused by alcohol abuse, the disease is the same disease. Cirrhosis occurs from many years of inflammation to the liver due to something bothering it. Eventually healthy liver tissue is replaced with scar tissue. It's a very slow progressive disease and the only cure for cirrhosis is a liver transplant even though everyone with cirrhosis will not need a transplant.

Since your father already has had massive ascites, he is most likely in the more advanced stage of the disease. That's how I found out I had cirrhosis. The best possible thing he can do for his disease is to stop drinking any alcohol. Cirrhosis is permanent damage that never goes away, so if he would take up drinking again, the disease would continue to progress to total liver failure.

Everything depends on how much damage he has right now to his liver. How much scar tissue is present? His doctor would be able to answer that with the results of a biopsy. Once the disease becomes far advanced, there is just no stopping to from progressing. There could be a big improvement in his health once he does stop drinking. It will at the very least slow down the disease even if it does continue to progress slowly due to it's advanced stage. When I was first diagnosed due to the ascites, my liver was already 90% destroyed with scar tissue and I had to get a transplant. It's good that he is able to control the extra fluid with meds because as the disease gets worse, the meds do not work well as total failure approaches. He could go on for years yet. I'm no doctor but going from my own experience and talking with others. Even when I was at 90% failure, the doctors still gave me an estimate of 5 years before total failure would occur. As long as your father takes his meds and does not drink alcohol, he might do just fine for a long time. I could not stop the progression of my disease not only because of its advanced stage, but because I had an autoimmune disease that would not stop attacking my liver. Your father is able to take away what is causing his liver to be inflamed which is alcohol abuse. That can mean a lot in his survival.

As far as the amount of alcohol he has drank, that really doesn't mean a whole lot since everyone is different as to how their body reacts to alcohol. The experts give an estimate of 10 years of heavy drinking that can cause cirrhosis to form, but that varies so much from one person to another. For one person, it could be much less while someone else can drink 20+ years and still not have it. Your fathers drinking history seems rather short to have advanced cirrhosis, but maybe he was drinking a lot longer and more than you thought. Being tired is part of the disease. Fatigue is often the number one complaint of having cirrhosis.

If your father would need a transplant, he might possibly be able to get one if he remains sober. This should be discussed with his doctor as to whether or not he should be evaluated to receive one. Transplant centers require 6 months detox before they will consider an alcoholic for transplant. They must also go through rehab/counseling and agree to random blood testing to check for alcohol usage. They can never drink alcohol. If they do, they will be denied a transplant. I don't want to overwhelm you with too much information. Right now your dad is doing the right thing in trying to get better. That's all you can ask for at this time. If you have any other questions, you can email me through my profile.