What are the symptoms of alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD)?

Do you know the symptoms of alcohol-related liver disease?

Author: Emily Condon - Healthcare writer, BSc Biological Sciences

Published on: 11 January 2018

What are the symptoms of alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD)? Because there are several different progression stages, alcohol-relatedliver disease (ARLD) can present a number of different symptoms. However, ARLD doesn’t often present any symptoms until the liver is severely damaged.

If they do show, early stage symptoms may include:

Abdominal pains
Weight loss
Yellowing of the eyes and skin (jaundice)
Feeling sick

As the damage progresses, later stage liver disease symptoms are more serious and can include the following:

Vomiting blood or blood in the stool
Swelling of the abdomen, legs and ankles
Confusion and drowsiness
Diarrhoea
Itchy skin

As disease progression worsens and more inflammation and scar tissue forms in the liver, the liver will eventually begin to fail. Liver failure is a life-threatening condition which can cause serious complications, including increasing pressure in the brain and excessive bleeding in the body.