Most people understand that alcohol can harm them. The occasional drink isn’t likely to cause much liver damage. However, the more regularly one drinks, the more likely serious damage is to occur.

Someone who’s drinking more should watch out for the signs of alcoholism. Physical alcohol dependence is the most obvious one, but there are subtler signs too. Hiding your drinking behaviors from family members and friends, drinking before or during work, and similar problematic behaviors usually indicate a drinking problem is becoming more serious.

Liver damage is one of the health problems associated with excessive alcohol consumption. Some drinkers are curious whether the damage they might do to their livers is reversible. Let’s talk about that right now.

 What Does Alcohol Do to the Liver?

 The liver is the organ that filters the alcohol that you drink. Every time it does that, though, some of its cells die. This is the price you pay for drinking. It taxes the body in several ways, but your liver is the organ that bears the brunt of this behavior.

 Is the Damage Reversible?

 This leads to the question of whether the damage is reversible. The answer is not yes or no. Instead, it’s sort of.

 Think of it this way. Someone who has an occasional drink is not taxing their liver excessively and demanding too much of it. Consequently, the liver is better able to handle the poison you’re introducing to your body when you drink alcohol. The healthy liver should have little trouble processing the occasional drink, and the damaged cells will regenerate.

 If you’re an alcoholic or someone who has engaged in binge drinking for years, that damage is probably permanent. You have damaged it quicker than it has the ability to regenerate. If you have reached a point where you have liver disease, as is usually the case with late-stage alcoholism, then you have done damage that cannot be reversed. 

 What Can You Do if You Have Damaged Your Liver Through Excessive Drinking?

 If you have permanently damaged your liver through excessive drinking, that’s not the best news, but it doesn’t mean you can’t still take steps to get healthier. Just like you can prolong your life by quitting smoking even if you have smoked for twenty years, the same is true with alcohol consumption. Quitting at any time is better than never doing it.

That being said, if you’re trying to quit drinking when you’ve been an alcoholic for years, that’s great for the sake of your liver, but you should only do it with a doctor’s supervision. That’s because if you are physically addicted to alcohol, you must wean yourself off of it slowly and carefully. If you don’t, the sudden alcohol deprivation could kill you.

 In short, your liver can recover somewhat from drinking unless you’re drinking more and faster than this organ can handle. If you want to give your liver a break and prolong your life, then decreasing your drinking is always a viable option.