HOW STIMULANTS PRODUCE DISEASE OF THE LIVER.
By Eugene G. Wood, M.D.
THE question may arise in one's mind as to how stimulants and condiments produce disease of the liver. When I say stimulants and condiments, I mean alcohol, its allied products, foods highly seasoned with pepper, spices, etc. This problem is easy of solution if one be familiar with the human anatomy and physiology. The liver is the portal to the house in which we live. All food properties, after going through the different processes of digestion, must pass through this organ before supplying the different tissues of the body with nutrition. Consequently, one can see wherein irritating substances, when taken through the alimentary tract, directly affect the liver. It is one of the functions of the liver to store up these poisonous elements and eliminate them slowly, so as not to throw too heavy a strain on the other organs of the body. How do these poisonous products affect the liver?—First, they overstimulate the liver cells, perverting their function; second, they stimulate the fixed tissue cells around the portal radicals (or the terminals of the veins carrying digested food from the alimentary tract to the liver), causing them to multiply in number, forming an excess of fibrous tissue within the substance of the liver. The liver then becomes enlarged; all its functions are interfered with, and the cells are destroyed by overstimulation and pressure produced by the fibrous tissue formation. After a time the cells undergo fatty degeneration and atrophy. When any tissue cell undergoes fatty degeneration, it is destroyed, and can not be regenerated. The organ then diminishes in size. This condition is known as venous cirrhosis of the liver. The most eminent authorities of to-day agree that alcohol is the most frequent cause of this disease. With this condition going on within the liver, what is the effect produced upon the organism as a whole?—The patient is troubled with gastric disturbances; the internal viscera become congested; vomiting is not infrequent; hemorrhoids are a frequent complication; the body becomes poorly nourished; fatty infiltration and degeneration take place throughout the various organs; persistent headaches, nervous irritability due to auto-intoxication, and general dropsy finally ensue; the glycogenic function of the liver is interfered with; the general metabolism of the body is diminished; and the result is that the patient is being slowly but surely poisoned by his own waste nitrogenous products. This is due to the fact that the liver does not perform its metabolic function. The urea is diminished from 500 grains per day to 300 or less. The patient goes on and on, and finally succumbs to a disease, which is brought about, in the majority of cases, by the desire of the individual to satisfy an abnormal and perverted appetite. What is to be done in this condition? The treatment comes within the province of the physician; but one thing I would say to the individual,—stop indulging in alcoholic beverages, condiments, etc. By thus doing you will remove the cause of the disease. Then13try to right the wrong that has been done. Abstain from the excessive ingestion of nitrogenous and carbohydrate food elements (flesh meats, fats, etc.). Partake of milk almost exclusively as a diet. Encourage thorough action of the skin, by baths, massage, etc. And, if no degenerative changes have taken place in the liver, it will usually assume its normal function in due time. The great trouble to contend with is the fact that the early symptoms do not point toward disease of the liver, but rather to some disorder of the digestive organs. Before the disease is brought to the attention of a physician and diagnosed, destructive changes have usually taken place, thus rendering the disease practically incurable. The one way to prevent this disease is to abstain from the use of alcoholic liquors and stimulating condiments. He who is forewarned is forearmed.
EUGENE G. WOOD, M.D.