The life expectancy with fatty liver disease decreases from 3 to 4 years because such patients develop other chronic diseases such as cardiovascular or diabetes. However, proper and regular follow-up of the disease takes place may decrease the risk of death.
If you have fatty liver disease, the damage may be reversed if you abstain from alcohol for a period of time (this could be months or years). After this point, it's usually safe to start drinking again if you stick to the NHS guidelines on alcohol units. However, it's important to check with your doctor first.
Patients can live for many years with NAFLD, but many – about 30% – eventually end up with an inflamed liver or NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis), and scarring. Of these, about 20% will develop end-stage cirrhosis, which can lead to liver failure and cancer.
The good news is that fatty liver disease can be reversed—and even cured—if patients take action, including a 10% sustained loss in body weight.
It takes upwards of ten years for alcohol-related liver disease to progress from fatty liver through fibrosis to cirrhosis to acute on chronic liver failure. This process is silent and symptom free and can easily be missed in primary care, usually presenting with advanced cirrhosis.
If you've been diagnosed with any fatty liver disease, let your health care provider know if you have any symptoms that mean the disease is getting worse. These include fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss, weakness, fluid retention, or bleeding.
The most effective treatment for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is weight loss, which has been shown to decrease the amount of fat in the liver and the inflammation caused by the fat.
Can fatty liver disease be reversed? The liver has an amazing ability to repair itself. If you avoid alcohol or lose weight, it's possible to reduce liver fat and inflammation and reverse early liver damage.
Both NAFLD and alcoholic fatty liver disease are usually silent diseases with few or no symptoms. If you do have symptoms, you may feel tired or have discomfort in the upper right side of your abdomen.
Avoiding Alcohol
Moderate or heavy alcohol use can cause additional damage and fat accumulation in the liver in people with NAFLD. Therefore, patients with NAFLD should avoid alcohol entirely if possible.
So far, the two best drug options affirmed by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases for biopsy-proven NASH are vitamin E (an antioxidant) and pioglitazone (used to treat diabetes).
First few hours: To be sure, symptoms of a detoxing liver start approximately 10 hours after alcohol abstinence. It is common for a person to experience nausea and abdominal pain. Psychological symptoms begin to appear, including anxiety. In general, a person feels tired but restless.
Fatty liver usually causes no symptoms. But it can make you tired or give you a constant dull pain either in the right upper part of your belly, or all over it. Learn about diet and lifestyle changes that can help fatty liver disease.
Drinking enough water also aids in maintaining a healthy weight which helps to reduce the risk of developing or worsening fatty liver disease.
About 20 percent of alcoholics and heavy drinkers develop fatty liver, or steatosis. In many cases there are no clinical symptoms except for an enlarged liver (hepatomegaly).
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is defined by hepatic steatosis in the presence of alcohol intake within safe limits, defined by guidelines of scientific associations (usually 20 g or 2 units/day in women, 30 g or 3 units in men).