Liver disease and hyperestrogenism

The liver is one of the largest organs in the body. It is damaged by many things--alcohol and drugs included. When a person does thru a period of heavy drining, probably like most of us in our 20's, and thru mid-30's or later, the liver will show some values in the defective range. However when the abuse stops, the values will return to normal. So you'd figure that no damage has occured or that whatever damage has occured is repaired--wrong! Those positive readings are based upon the functioning of the remaining healthy cells, not the entire liver. To what extent is the total liver functioning would require biopies or perhaps more detailed evaluation than the simple blood test. Now the liver does regenerate if the abuse stops--at what rate, I don't know. So this question of aromitization of hormones in the liver can become an important issue in evaluating for hypogonadism. Full blown cirrhosis need not be present to affect this reaction.

You all know than I'm a Headdoc and not a docdoc. So if you need references for this, I will have to dig back into my alcoholism texts to come up with them--in due time.
 
Thanks, HeadDoc.

A good way to think of it is that every time you insult your liver you take a bite out of your health. In the short term, estrogen levels rise, as ETOH also stimulates aromatase. In the long term, you may not have the liver left over to handle, fior instance, needed chemotherapy later on in life. Often whether a patient survives certain disease states is dependent upon whether they have enough "fortitude" going in.

This is much the same as it is with AAS use. Obviously orals "take bites" out of your liver. But for the duration of any AAS use, and for months afterward, is a time when extra plaque is being deposited within the cardiovascular system. Later on, perhaps that extra plaque is what pushes you over the edge for a heart attack you would have otherwise avoided. This is what many of the self-proclaimed "gurus" you hear from on the Boards miss (or do not want you to know).
 
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