Cirrhosis is scarring of the liver. The liver performs many important functions such as clearing toxins from the body. One of it's main jobs is to help with the clotting of blood when we get cut, fall down and bruise, or have some other injury.
When the liver is failing, there is a backlog of flow and the esophagus can from "varicose" veins called "varisces." These veins are just like the veins women get in their legs. The veins in the esophagus are under very high pressure. When they bleed, they BLEED. I have seen more than a few people hemorrhage and die from these varisces.
Since she is also bleeding from the rectum and the urinary tract, her clotting factors must be very low. Eventually one of these varisces will rupture, or there will be an ulcer that erodes through a vessel in the bowel, and she will hemorrhage. She will need multiple transfusions of packed red blood cells, fresh frozen plasma, and platelets. Even this may not be enough to save her life.
She will also become toxic from the blood that is in the bowel. Ammonia will build up in the bloodstream and she will get confused, lethargic,comatose. She may already need treatment for this.
She absolutely cannot drink - how does she get the alcohol? Is she up and about on her own? Please do not be an "enabler" - don't supply her with it. If she stops drinking now, it may be enough that the liver will take over some of its function and she may lead a fairly comfortable life for a while.
http://alcoholism.about.com/od/adult/
Edited by judi1 on September 18 2006 at 12:44 PM
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