Alcoholism, drugs can cause liver cancer

Unlike most week days where work ends at 5pm, Friday is a bit special because many organizations allow their employees to leave work at midday. This culture, which has been in place for a while, was born out of government’s decision to dedicate Friday afternoons to sports and exercises.

Sunday, November 01, 2015
Too much consumption of alcohol increases the risk of liver canceer. (Net photo)

Unlike most week days where work ends at 5pm, Friday is a bit special because many organizations allow their employees to leave work at midday. This culture, which has been in place for a while, was born out of government’s decision to dedicate Friday afternoons to sports and exercises. Ordinarily, every citizen is expected to be working out on Friday afternoons. However, not everyone actually uses that time to gain physical fitness. To some, it is the start of the weekend or time to have fun – smoke, take a lot of alcohol, hang out with a fiancée etc. 

This excitement sometimes leads to drunkenness and unprotected sex. Meanwhile the liver has to process every single drop of alcohol, drug and some of the notorious bugs that one gets through unprotected intercourse eventually resulting into liver cancer in some cases including young men and women. However, alcohol, drugs and sex are not the only causes of liver cancer. As any other cancer, liver cancer occurs when there is an abnormal cellular growth happening or an over-production of erroneously made cells that account for cancerous cells.

Hepatitis B and C.

Many of us have probably heard about Hepatitis B and C but don’t know the actual cause. Beware that those two diseases are acquired the same way as HIV/Aids and can be avoided using the same methods. These viral diseases can cause the body’s defence system to attack the liver and literally kill the liver cells. What you should note is that ‘killing’ in the body goes with repair, and that repair could sometimes be erroneous and later bring wrong cells to wrong places hence resulting into cancer. It should, however, be noted that approximately 8 out of 10 liver cancer patients are alcoholic. This means that if one is disciplined and stays away from overdrinking, smoking and having risky sex, they have a lower risk of getting the disease.

It should also be noted that cancer types in young adults are most of the time benign (not as harmful or less likely to over-develop or to spread out of the liver itself) which means a good surgery can get rid of them definitively.