General Info about Alcoholic Liver Disease

Winston Churchill, the former British Prime Minister said, "Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me." However, unlike Churchill, for many highly talented souls alcohol has been a curse, for once addicted to it, they have lost their brilliant career.

Man has always enjoyed getting intoxicated. Alcohol has always been an important part of all social occasions and rituals. Today alcohol consumption is one of the most serious public health problems not just in our country but in developed countries as well. The ill effects of alcohol consumption is not taken seriously because the enjoyment of alcohol is socially accepted and even encouraged in many cultures. The process by which an occasional drinker becomes an excessive drinker, and then finally becomes dependent on drinking can be gradual.

Alcohol abuse or excessive drinking is associated with a whole range of problems such as - physical, psychological, social, criminal and economical. Another silent killer associated with alcohol addiction is liver disease known as Cirrhosis or Hepatitis. Liver Cirrhosis is the terminal stage of the liver diseases in which the liver becomes shrunk and fibrosis there by losing all its function. This stage occurs after liver has undergone abuse and destruction for a long period of time.