Im sorry in advance for the long post. I've been reading all the posts here related to liver pain and alcohol and was hoping if I could get some feedback on my situation. I'm a 31 year old male, 6 foot 2, 200lbs and exercise 2-3 times a week. and have been experiencing a very dull ache and a feeling a fullness (almost like someone blowing up a balloon) in my upper right hand area of the abdomen and especially my back for the past year and a half. I would consider myself a moderate to heavy drinker, drinking anywhere from 200ml to 400ml of vodka 5-6 days a week.
The pain first happened when I was vacationing with my wife in Cuba, and I suddenly woke up to my liver area feeling very tender. It would hurt when I pressed it, the pain being relatively dull but noticeable (about a 6 out of 10). The pain at this point did not radiate to my back and was fairly localized. I kept the drinking to a minimum the rest of the vacation, only having 1-2 beers a day thinking that it was a digestive issue.
5 days later after I arrived back home in Canada and went to the hospital to get checked out. The doctor ran a blood test and gave me an x ray (xray not sure why). The results came back normal. I went back to my regular routine of drinking thinking the pain was muscular or digestive. Weeks went by and the pain didn't subside, therefore I had an ultrasound which came out normal as well. I pushed my GP for a CT scan which also came back normal. My GP assured me I was fine and i used this as an excuse to continue drinking (I'm an idiot).
The pain slowly started to move, from the front of my body, to now in my back which is where 90% of it is felt. My GP referred me to a gastroenterologist, who gave me an endoscopy of my stomach. It came back normal. I was also given a fibroscan which came back at a reading of 6.0 which I was told is also normal. A few months ago I read an article on liver cancer which totally freaked me out, and I went back to my GP who did another ultrasound and ran blood test and told me everything looked normal on the ultrasound and blood test (AST ALT BILIRUBIN).
Again like an idiot I used this as an excuse to continue drinking. About 3 weeks ago, I had a lightbulb go off in my head and decided to stop drinking all together. The longest I have gone was 4 days without a drink. I am now 3 weeks and intend to stay sober for at least 6 months. The craving to drink has entirely vanished. The feeling of fullness, and the dull ache in my right armpit, and under my ribs on my right side is still there and hasn't gotten better. I'm trying to exercise more and eat healthier. My main questions are,
Is it normal for upper right hand pain to travel? From front, to side, to back over the course or months?
Also, considering I drank 200ml-400ml of vodka 5-6 days a week for the past 9 years, how long would I need to abstain from alcohol to start feeling better? A rough estimation.
And also, I've done an X ray, 3 ultrasounds, a ct scan, a fibroscan, an endoscopy and 3 blood tests all showing normal in the past year and a half. Is there anything else I can do? (GP says waiting list for MRI is over a year for my concern).
Any feedback would be very much appreciated. Thank you so much everybody!
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Hello1988
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Hello hello! Your question sounds to me as though you want confirmation that you can start drinking again after abstaining for long enough for the pain to go? The answer is don't! This is your body telling you it is not coping with the vast amounts of alcohol you have been drinking. You start drinking again and you will be on a slippery slope to addiction and severe illness and disease. Do yourself a massive favour and stay off the stuff for good. You are chucking nothing more than a poison into your system which serves no purpose to your life or health. If as you say you exercise, then concentrate on that and a healthy diet to ensure you live a long, happy healthy life instead.
Hi Laura009, after reading more and more posts on here I do believe that you are correct. I would consider myself a heavy drinker and have a built a lifestyle, work and social life around it. Part of me is waiting for this to get better to try and moderate but as the time goes by I'm starting to realize how much better life is without alcohol. I wake up earlier, I feel like I have more energy and my wallet is fuller. Thank you for your advice
Great stuff, you've made the right decision. On this forum there are many ex drinkers who have reached the lowest that alcohol can take you... so ill that they've needed liver transplants but have had a massive struggle to quit the booze just to get on the waiting list. These brave people would tell you exactly the same to you as l have said ... dont ever drink again. There are other women here too who are going through the hell of living with an alcoholic and many of them, like myself are now widows because of this bloody poison.
I wish you well for a happy booze free life ahead.
I was a heavy drinker and had pains in that general area. The pains took a good few months to go away after I stopped drinking. Doctors weren’t overly bothered (my scans and blood tests were fine) and said many patients with fatty liver have such pains.
Regarding how long you need to abstain, you won’t like this answer. You’re a very heavy drinker and as a result unlikely to ever become a moderate one I’m afraid. It is actually far easier to quit totally than attempt to moderate, though. If you do so, I reckon those pains will be gone within a few months. Good luck 👍
Thank you Cocochannel. So far quitting it altogether has seemed to work better than to moderate. Things like sticking to beer only, or limiting myself to 2 drinks a day haven't worked very well.
I know what you mean. It took me several years of cycling between giving up, moderating and then drinking too much again to realise that moderation for a former heavy drinker is impossible. Once a drinker accepts that and gets past the withdrawal stage, things (and health) get a whole lot easier.
Congratulations on passing all your medical tests and on leaving alcohol without too much trouble. The liver has no pain sensing nerve endings in the organ itself, but "Glisson's Capsule" (the membrane surrounding the liver) does, and this is only supposed to register pain (& pressure) when it is stretched, typically when normal livers suddenly get a bit fatty.
Alcohol is notorious for causing fatty liver, but other things can also contribute to alcoholic inflammation & fat. An increase in simple sugars (especially fructose) is a bad mix with alcohol. Tropical drinks are typically full of high fructose corn syrup, and even a couple nights of these can spike fat in the liver higher. If you had any travel related vaccines prior to your tropical vacation, these can stimulate the immune system, which can inflame immune (kupffer) cells in the liver too.
Alcohol related fatty liver can take several months to subside with abstinence, so you may need to keep clean through the holidays. If your doctor is OK with you testing the waters once you're feeling better, moderation is the key. If those pesky symptoms return, you know what comes next.
You might ask your doc to include a GGT liver enzyme test in your next labs. GGT is the most sensitive marker for liver inflammation (particularly alcoholic inflammatin) and you should not test the waters with alcohol unless and until GGT has returned to normal range. GGT is a cheap test, & your doc should not object to adding this to your next lab order.
Hope this resolves soon, & you're back on an even keel before too long.
Thank you Metanoia, I reviewed my blood work results and did not see a marker for GGT. I'm due for blood work next month and will ask my doctor to include this.
Good morning Hello1988,
Our lovely forum members will give you support re ongoing abstinence.
I have copied in some general information about alcohol and liver disease
By the sound of it, your concern is your drinking. From what you have explained, the doctors have checked you over and you have avoided any serious health issues. My advice would be to seek help with your drinking issue, before you need the advice for liver disease.
Good luck with everything, please put your health first.
Yes you are correct. The lifestyle and occupation I have built revolved around alcohol consumption. Only when I stopped drinking did I realize how much I drank before. I was originally planning on going 3 months sober but now I'm looking to adopt complete sobriety as a new lifestyle.
Thank you for your words of encouragement AmericanDemocrat. It is very much appreciated.
I'm sorry to hear of your poorly state, but may l ask please if you've visited Cuba more than once.
I ask this as it may be possible to have contracted Hepatitis A, due to unsanitary conditions. I would request a check for all types of Hepatitis. The alcohol will most certainly compound the problem, but l think it would be wise at this point just to rule out any other possible cause.
I understand that the Hep A rate in Cuba is fairly high.
If all comes back clear, then it will just be the alcohol issue that needs to be addressed.
That is a very good point, I never thought to consider this. It has been a year and a half, I wonder if he Hep A virus would still stick around in my body without causing other symptoms or throwing off my other enzyme levels. I shall bring this up to my GP next visit. Thank you again.
When I gave up drinking, I did the same as I did when I quit smoking. I didn't count the days/weeks. It didn't matter. I was now teetotal and that is what counts. Please don't think because you can give it up for days , weeks whatever you are in control I am sorry to say in most cases it doesn't work like that. I sincerely hope your health problems will be resolved shortly.
It depends on the individual. I don’t plan to drink again, but when I go to my GP about an unrelated issue, he always seems to ask if I’m still drinking. I find it preferable to say I haven’t drunk for x months. It’s also motivational for some people to “keep” such a record. Also, none of us know the future or what might happen to our frame of mind, and statistics say an ex-drinker is likely to relapse at some point. I’m not arrogant enough to consider myself outside of these statistics, so if I ever do relapse, I straight away will have a target to beat.
Hi there, I too have been having the same kind of pain that you are describing. Ive never been a drinker except for on special occasions. Well anyway, I have been going back and forth to my G.P, she felt my T and said ( Oh everything seems alright ).HUH, She doesn't have X-RAY vision.
Well to cut a long story short. I was admitted to Hospital because one of our Doctors thought I'd had a stroke. But I told him it's not a stroke it's the Fibromyalgia flairup. Sometimes I have a job to move my one leg because it's so painful. But the day i went to get off the bed and i winced a bit because of the pain in my right hand side of my Tummy and the Doctor heard me and asked me what was wrong, i told him and I ended up having a n Ultrasound, then an MRI
A few days later I had an MRCP SCAN WITH THE CONTRAST . DYE.
It turned out that I had an enlarged liver, Cyst on the pancreas, blocked bile duct and gallstones. Since then the bile ducts have become clear and the liver is nearly back to normal which is very good news.
But obviously the gallstones still there and there is a problem with the Gallbladder itself. I am going to see a Gastrointerologist now to see what he can do. The pain you are describing is a lot like what I have, BUT, you said you were quite a heavy drinker. Please stop now because it most probably is because of the drinking. When you have pain in the right side of your stomach, just below your ribs, then going into your back, which can also cause pain in your right shoulder it could be something to do with your Gallbladder. I'M NOT A DOCTOR.
But I'm just wondering if it could be anything like that. But try to think Positive and cut right down on your drnk and see what happens.because excessive drinking can cause so much damage to your body, it's just not worth it.
You Take Care. Hope things work out for you. Gjkas
Thank you very much for your reply Gjkas. I'm happy to hear that you are doing better. You are correct, the drinking must and has come to a complete stop. The idea of moderation is out the window.
You are a very very lucky man. Doctors Do not know every single symptoms. But you as a person you know when your body is telling you that something is not right. Continue to Listen to your body as you have done so far and well done. I am so proud of you. Meg
This post is quite old, so I am unsure if you have any way of receiving this, but I am wondering if you ever figured anything out with your pains.
I’m currently going through some right side pain problems. An ultrasound discovered fatty liver disease, but they say that shouldn’t be causing pain. Recently the pain has moved from upper right side back to all over my back/sides at times, I’ve developed some pain/itchiness around my abdominal/check area as well as my armpits.
I found your post by inputting my symptoms into google. I must say that our symptoms sound pretty similar, as far as areas of the body affected.
If you do by chance see this, can you let me know if you ever found anything and what your status is?
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