酒精性肝病：一个男人的故事

他知道拯救他的生命的唯一方法就是放弃饮酒，但他只是无法停止，无论他多么努力。

His name was Bobby. He wasn't my best friend; he was more like everybody's best friend. Everybody enjoyed his company, his sense of humor and his incessant teasing. I don't remember anyone who disliked Bobby. He was one of those people that you immediately felt comfortable around.

每个人都喜欢鲍比。

I don't ever remember seeing Bobby drunk, but I never saw him sober either. You may know what I mean: he could drink all day and you could never tell it by the way he looked, acted or talked. I suppose that was because he drank constantly. Nobody could tell the difference.

它更有可能因为他建立了这样的事实tolerance to alcoholand it no longer had any outward effects on his behavior.

'Quit or You Are Going to Die'

On the way to work in the mornings, he would pull into the backyard of one of his friends, pop the trunk, get his fifth of whiskey and take a long swig right out of the bottle. He'd get back into the car and drive off to work. Every morning.

That's when he was still able to work. When he began having health problems, the doctor immediately diagnosed him with cirrhosis of the liver, a type of alcoholic liver disease. They told him to quit drinking or he was going to die.

Jaundiced and Still Drinking

上帝知道他试图戒烟。他试图工作12步计划again and again, and saw the inside of more than one酒精治疗中心。在没有酒精28天后，均衡的饮食和喵喵叫的维生素，鲍比会觉得更好。他喝酒时，他会庆祝 - 他被释放的那一刻。

Later came the medical hospitals.When jaundice set in他被迫患有完全的输血，这有助于一段时间。六周后，Bobby将回到另一种输血。

他发誓他没有喝酒

在他的第二次去医院和第二输血之后，Bobby来找我寻找工作。他至少在城镇中的每一个汽车经销商和移动家庭批次发射，并有很少的选择。既然他向我发誓他没有喝酒 - 因为他是他的伟大的个性，他是一个伟大的推销员 - 我让他在我们的销售部门找到了一个职位。他似乎做得更好。

一天早上几周后，我在别人之前工作。我在休息室里楼上固定一罐切片，瞥了一眼窗外，看鲍比进入后巷停车区。他走出了车，突然蹦床，得到了他的瓶子，把它变成了。

没有任何改变。他只是想隐藏它，即使是他最古老的朋友。观看你关心的人在他们知道它杀死他们时，看起来很痛苦。

Saying Goodbye to a Friend

最后一次看到鲍比他再次在医院。他的皮肤是完全黄色的，他的眼睛沉入他的头上。“鲍比，你需要赶紧走出这个地方，我想去钓鱼！”我告诉我的朋友超过30年了。然后我把手放在疲惫的头上，告诉他，我爱他，上帝也爱他。我知道我说再见。

When I left the room I called all of his old friends: "If you want to see Bobby again, you better get on over to the hospital. Quickly." Most of them were able to get there in time.

They buried him four days later. He was in his mid-40s. Survivors included a four-year-old daughter.

太多酒精过长了

For Bobby, there was just too少酒对于他的肝脏来说仍然很健康。每年估计每年25,000人死于酒精性肝病。

滥用酒精会导致称为“脂肪肝”的病症或另一种称为“酒精性丙型肝炎” - 这两者都可以治疗，但只有如果酒精消费is stopped. If drinking continues, these conditions will causecirrhosis of the liver。

Hardening of the Liver

肝脏发生了什么开始变硬。瘢痕组织在身体最大的内部器官中发育，阻碍了其过滤血液的能力。当疤痕组织发展到某一点时，肝脏不再可以工作。

The problem is the liver performs more than 1,500 functions for the body, including more than 300 functions that are believed to be critical for life. If the liver stops doing its job, all kinds of health problems develop quickly and death can come rapidly.

健康肝脏的功能

肝脏排毒了毒药，两者都是由身体产生的那些;过滤血液的细菌;调节脂肪新陈代谢;商店和制造维生素;调节和制造胆固醇和脂肪;合成蛋白质;保持身体的水和盐平衡;分泌胆汁消化脂肪;储存能量（以糖原的形式）有助于调节整体性新陈代谢;将浓度毒性氨（通过锻炼和蛋白质代谢产生）转化为尿液中消除的尿素; manufactures lipoproteins for fat and cholesterol transport; and metabolizes alcohol.

如果肝脏停止做任何这些工作，或者众多其他工作，结果可能是致命的。