Diagnosis & Treatment
Diagnosis
Your doctor will conduct a physical examination and ask about your history of alcohol consumption. It is important to be honest in describing your drinking habits. Your doctor might ask to interview family members about your drinking.
To test for liver disease, your doctor might recommend:
- Liver function tests
- Blood tests
- An ultrasound, CT or MRI scan of the liver
- A liver biopsy, if other tests and imaging don’t provide a clear diagnosis or if you are at risk of other causes of hepatitis
Holistic Treatment
Treatment for alcoholic hepatitis involves drinking cessation and therapies to ease the signs and symptoms of liver damage.
Drinking cessation
If you’ve been diagnosed with alcoholic hepatitis, you must stop drinking alcohol and never drink alcohol again. It’s the only way of possibly reversing liver damage or preventing the disease from becoming worse. Survival rates for people with alcoholic hepatitis who stop drinking are significantly better than survival rates for people who continue drinking.
If you are dependent on alcohol and want to stop drinking, your doctor can recommend a therapy that’s tailored for your needs.