Liver pain AFTER giving up alcohol

[DerbyAndrew]

Hi all - wonder if someone could advise please? I gave up alcohol at Christmas after years of binge drinking. Strange thing is I now have upper right quadrant liver pain (dull ache) that wasn't there before. Sometimes but not always it radiates to my back. It's worse when I bend forward or reach up. Question is - is it my liver and if so why now, after I've quit? To be honest it's really worrying me now. Thanks in advance.

[Hidden]

Hi and welcome Andrew,

It's really great news that you have managed to give up alcohol. We would suggest you could see your GP for an assessment of symptoms and possibly a liver blood test and ultrasound scan for more info.

If you are UK based, our nurse helpline is open tomorrow on 0800 652 7330 Mon to Fri 10am to 3pm.

Best wishes.

[Positive001]

Hi Andrew. I echo what trust1 has said and just want to add, you need to be completely honest with the GP about how much and how often you were drinking so he can offer you the best treatment for any symptoms you have.Best of luck and well done for giving up over the last few weeks, please do keep it up.

Laura

[Kji378]

Hi 🙂

Fab you have packed in the booze! Stick with it. 😃

Being non medical experts, we can not give professional advice. However we can say Ooo, I felt like that etc. So my advice to you is to go to your GP, explain all, ask 'perhaps' if it could be anything like Gallstones or the Gallbladder. They may suggest an Ultrsound. Or you could try to eat minimal fat, start a diary of what you eat and when, see if any patterns form with the pain, or if any triggers it off?

But please go to GP before any assumptions are made. It's only a thought, something to rule out.

Hope this is of some help.

Take good care 😊

[theoldboiler]

Echo the above. Get it checked. My own experience though is the same, when I was drinking it didn't hurt, when I stopped it did. I kind of felt the alcohol was giving a fake feeling of wellness

[DerbyAndrew]

Thank you for the replies - I will contact my GP, I guess like a lot of people reluctant to do so in case it's something I don't want to hear. Stupid really as it's obviously not going away.

[Aotea2012 in reply to DerbyAndrew]

It’s better to know so that you get the appropriate treatment. To be honest, worrying about what it might be is often worse than what it is!

[Kji378]

I put off going to my GP as I knew something was definitely wrong, I knew it was alcohol but also felt ashamed, guilty, embarrassed, worried I would be looked at with disgust, all those kind of emotions and feelings. I WISH I WENT SOONER than I did.

Please do go to them, be honest, a good GP should not judge you, they may have their own personal opinion but that should not affect how they treat you.

Go, be strong and don't feel ashamed, you are not the first and won't be the last.

Let us know how you get on.

Take good care 🙂

[LillieLiver]

How did you get on with GP? I stopped drinking at Xmas for 4 weeks also. Have restarted and now feeling acute pain in Liver area. I also need to go to GP, but wonder what tests/ Diagnosis you had...

[DerbyAndrew in reply to LillieLiver]

Hi - for me it turned out to be problems in my upper GI tract, more than likely caused by alcohol. We automatically think 'liver' however alcohol does all kinds of damage to our digestive system and pain can refer and manifest in all kinds of ways including pain and dull aches in the liver area. Good luck.