Last 7 years have been a blur. Who am I? A 26 year olds path to liver disease.

Alcohol has been apart my of life since birth essentially. My dad and many relatives struggled with alcoholism. Before I ever started drinking I’ve witnessed first hand the dark side of alcohol.

only at 21 in college did I ever start to drink in general. I was just floored by the amount of drink choices inside of liquor stores. I thought it was harmless and fun. A lot of parts of drinking were actually fun. I was warned many times about genetic relations with alcohol abuse but I ignored every one of them. Within a year I was an alcoholic. Using vodka to get rid of anxiety and the amount of dopamine released from it in my young brain was astronomical.

I would spend the next 6 years drinking more and more until it was a daily habit. It ruined every aspect of my life and relationships with friends I had built. It stripped me down to nothing leaving me with no identity or no sense of who I was anymore. Last May 2022 over the course of a week I had finally drank myself into liver failure. I woke up and was yellow in my eyes and all over my chest. I kept saying to myself this day would come but I never thought it would be this soon. I was devastated. I realized I had just taken what would be my last drink the night before. I struggled getting myself to the car. Once I did i was off to the hospital. I was a mess. I spent hours in the emergency department where they medicated me for withdrawals and preformed a series of tests including ultra sounds and a full MRI.

By the end of the night I was diagnosed at 26 years old with advanced cirrhosis and end stage liver disease. I was told there would be no way to tell whether I would be making it out of the hospital alive other than being monitored 24/7 until the inflammation of alcoholic hepatitis started to trend down… which after a week stay in the hospital it finally did. I had made it through the first step. Now it became the time to fully stop drinking and slow the progression of cirrhosis. I quit drinking the moment I went to the hospital and remain to be 530+ days sober.

I have to get imaging and blood work done multiple times through the year to check for worsening signs of liver and now liver cancer. A few months ago they found a lesion on my liver small in size. I just had a another imaging session Monday and the mass has now doubled in size. They believe it’s benign but no way to tell. While I feel much better since the hospital stay and have addressed mental conditions treated with medication I still have to be on my toes and do what I can to fight this. Will I need a transplant? They aren’t sure since it’s too early and I’m only 28 years old. Is there a chance I can live a long life in my current state? Yes.

I’ll be heading to the Mayo Clinic in two weeks for the first time since I requested a year ago. Further testing will be done and I’ll get advice from top hepatologists. There’s not much more that can be done besides maintaining sobriety and attending regular appointments.

This type of health problem is not one that a responsible alcohol consumer has to worry about in their lives, but rather applies to the heaviest and longest drinkers. If I was older I wouldn’t even bother sharing this story but the fact I was 26 at diagnoses absolutely hurts me inside. I never want to see this happen to anyone let alone a person who has their entire lives ahead of them.

Either way this isn’t intended to be a cringe “alcohol bad” post. I’m just dumb lol and wanted to share that it’s real and honestly the only thing I would ever recommend doing as you get older (drinker or not) is just getting simple blood work done every once in awhile. It’s such a simple in and out thing I could’ve done to avoid this it just makes me wonder what I was so scared of.

Is being alcohol free nice? Lmao no. Obviously drinking is fun as hell… I mean how else am I supposed to watch the Vikings blow ass every Sunday? But since I literally can’t drink due to idk.. not wanting to die it’s made it easier lol