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Comment by yosito | Hacker News Reader

> avoid drinking alcohol for about a decade afterwards

Really? I thought it was advised to not drink alcohol for life if you had liver damage. I thought the damage was permanent, no?

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I had mild minor liver damage due to an illness when I was a teen and my doctor told me not to drink alcohol for year (which I didn't). Forty years later I still cannot drink alcohol beyond a small taste or I get headaches and nausea. I think it is for life.

> beyond a small taste or I get headaches and nausea

Alcohol is a poison. If you didn't deliberately build up a tolerance to it your reaction is normal.

I can't say that I agree there. It sounds like they can't metabolize it well. As someone who's been abstinent for large portions of my life (never been drunk either), it's still not difficult to drink a single serving, and I normally won't suffer for it.

> been abstinent

I read this like you had a chance to build up tolerance earlier

> they can't metabolize it well

Also a possibility orthogonal to tolerance factor.

Unless it is overwhelmingly damaged, the liver is the most resilient part of the human body and is the only organ that can regrow. It's that important.

Just to be pedantic - skin is an organ that can regrow. Blood is also an organ

Just to be pedantic, almost all cells in the body are regularly replaced.

Your skin does not regrow if you chop off a large patch. It can only heal damage.

If I recall correctly, liver damage is often because of the liver's ability to regrow. Small bits of damage to liver cells cause the liver to grow massive amounts of scar tissue which ultimately leads to failure of liver functions.

You're thinking of cirrhosis, which is usually the result of continuously injuring the liver over a long period of time.

Saying the damage is caused by regrowth is silly as without it the liver would have failed at the first injury.

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