Staying sober has so many benefits, both for your physical and mental health, and especially for your liver. When you stop drinking, your liver begins a remarkable journey of healing and regeneration. Within just a few weeks, the liver can start to repair itself, reducing fat accumulation and inflammation. Additionally, abstaining from alcohol allows your liver to focus on its essential functions, such as detoxifying your blood and aiding digestion, which contributes to overall better health.
What does the liver do?
The liver has many important jobs in the body:
- Stores iron and converts hemoglobin into iron—which is essential for new red blood cell production
- Removes toxins, drugs and infections from the body—which can help protect against disease
- Removes bilirubin from cells—if bilirubin accumulates, your eyes and skin turn yellow
- Converts glucose into energy—glucose is the primary fuel source for your cells, providing the necessary energy to power all bodily functions like breathing, muscle movement, brain activity and maintaining body temperature
- Produces bile which breaks down fat—fat is basically stored energy. When your body isn’t getting enough energy from food intake (glucose), fat acts as an energy reserve
What happens when your liver gets damaged?
There are three stages of liver damage:
Stage 1: Fatty liver
When alcohol breaks down in the body, it causes an accumulation of fat in the liver. Fatty liver can happen if you drink a large amount of alcohol, even for a few days. Luckily, fatty liver is easily reversible if you stop drinking for at least a few months.
Stage 2: Alcoholic hepatitis
If you continue drinking, your liver cells get inflammation and lab testing results will become abnormal, for example: AST (Aspartate Aminotransferase) and ALT (Alanine Aminotransferase) which are enzymes found primarily in the liver.
Mild/early-stage hepatitis can be reversed if you stop drinking entirely.
Liver cirrhosis
Cirrhosis typically develops after years of heavy drinking. In liver cirrhosis, liver cells start to die, which causes scarring which in turn causes the liver to become stiff and shrink in size. This can progress to end-stage liver disease and liver failure, which can include:
- Confusion
- Severe skin itching
- Easy bruising or bleeding
- Nausea and vomiting
- Severe jaundice (yellowing of skin and eyes)
- Fluid buildup in the abdomen
- Appetite loss
- Brain damage
- Coma or death
Unfortunately, liver cirrhosis is not reversible. However, it’s helpful to stop all drinking at this point because sobriety can slow the disease progression and prevents further liver damage.
Typically, the only treatment at this stage is a liver transplant.
The great news is that liver cells can regenerate!
If you are in the early stages of liver damage—stage 1 (fatty liver) or stage 2 (early alcoholic hepatitis) —it can be reversed by quitting alcohol.
The liver is the only organ that can self-heal itself. It can replace up to 50 percent of its damaged cells within a few days. Complete liver repair can take as little as a month up to a few years. The speed of healing varies depending on how long you have been drinking and the amount of liver damage.
Signs your liver is healing:
- Improved mental alertness and decreased brain fog
- Increased energy
- Improved appetite as it becomes easier for the body to digest food and nutrients
- Stabilizing blood sugar levels
- Healthier weight
- Improved skin and eye color (decreased yellowing)
- Improved blood clotting and decreased bruising
- Reduced liver pain or ache
- Improve immunity–the liver cleans out your body and removes bacteria, viruses and other infections
Resources to support your healthy liver lifestyle
The liver is an amazing organ, but it’s important to take care of it if you want to improve your quality of life. Staying sober from alcohol can be challenging–support from others can help tremendously. You can find this support through sober-friendly communities such as at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, alcohol-free events, etc.
Attending programs that teach tips and skills to help maintain your sobriety can also be helpful. Pine Rest has many programs to support you on your recovery journey from substance use including detox, residential and day programs.
Building and sustaining your sober community so you can stay alcohol free is so important. Best of all, your liver will thank you!
