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Prevention
By Mayo Clinic staffYou may reduce your risk of alcoholic hepatitis if you:
- Drink alcohol in moderation, if at all. If you choose to drink, limit yourself to no more than one drink a day if you're a woman or two drinks a day if you're a man. The only certain way to prevent alcoholic hepatitis is to avoid all alcohol. If you've ever been diagnosed with alcoholic hepatitis, don't drink alcohol.
- Check the label before mixing medications with alcohol. Check the label of over-the-counter medications for warnings about drinking alcohol. Ask your doctor if it's safe to drink alcohol when taking your prescription medications. Don't drink alcohol when taking medications that warn of complications when combined with alcohol. This includes over-the-counter pain relievers such as acetaminophen (Tylenol, others).
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Protect yourself from hepatitis C. Hepatitis C is a highly infectious liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus. Untreated, it can lead to cirrhosis. If you have hepatitis C and drink alcohol, you're far more likely to develop cirrhosis than is someone who doesn't drink. Because there's no vaccine to prevent hepatitis C, the only way to protect yourself is to avoid exposure to the virus.
In the past, many people with hepatitis C became infected through blood transfusions before improved blood-screening tests became available. Today, contaminated drug paraphernalia is responsible for the majority of all new cases of hepatitis C. Don't share needles or other drug paraphernalia. Hepatitis C can sometimes be transmitted sexually. If you aren't absolutely certain of the health status of a sexual partner, use a new condom every time you have sex. See your doctor if you have or have had hepatitis C or think you may have been exposed to the virus.
- O'Shea RS, et al. Alcoholic liver disease. American Journal of Gastroenterology. 2010;105:14.
- Carithers RL, et al. Alcoholic liver disease. In: Feldman M, et al. Sleisinger and Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/linkTo?type=bookHome&isbn=978-1-4160-6189-2&eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-6189-2..X0001-7--TOP&uniq=200844987-3. Accessed July 14, 2010.
- Alcohol-induced liver disease. American Liver Foundation. http://www.liverfoundation.org/abouttheliver/info/alcohol/. Accessed July 14, 2010.
- Hacker JF, et al. Alcoholic liver disease. American College of Gastroenterology. http://www.acg.gi.org/patients/cgp/cgpvol2.asp#Alcoholic%20Liver. Accessed July 14, 2010.
- Cirrhosis. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/cirrhosis/index.htm. Accessed July 14, 2010.
- Milk thistle. Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed July 20, 2010.
- SAMe. Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed July 20, 2010.
- Hepatitis C FAQs for the public. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/C/cFAQ.htm. Accessed July 20, 2010.
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