Reader’s Digest UK – July 2019

READER’S DIGEST

Common Drugs Can

Affect the Liver, Too

Francisco Cantos Pérez thought

nothing of the nip he got from a

playful little dog, but not long after

he developed a fungal infection

that spread over his hand. The

doctor prescribed two Lamisil, a

common anti-fungal medication,

every 12 hours.

After ten days Francisco, an active

36-year old who lives in Malaga,

Spain with his family, began feeling

slow and tired. Within two weeks

his urine turned dark and his stool

almost white. When his skin and eyes

turned yellow and he began to itch,

he drove to Hospital Universitario

The prerequisite for the transplant

was abstaining from alcohol for six

months before surgery—to prove

you were worthy of this gift of life,

which otherwise could have been

given to someone else. Richard was

fully compliant. He gave up drinking,

traced his low self-esteem issues to

his childhood—and better manages

his bouts of depression. “It was a

form of rebirth,” he says. “I wrote a

letter to the donor family thanking

them for this gift.” He also began

volunteering with the British Liver

Trust, a charity that works to increase

awareness about the skyrocketing

liver disease rates in his country.

Since the 1970s, the UK’s deaths

from liver disease have jumped

400 per cent, spiking nearly five-

fold for those under the age of 65.

This amounts to 300,000 hospital

admissions and 10,000 deaths a year.

In Europe, alcohol takes a

commanding seat in the list of liver

offenders. Europeans drink the

largest amount of alcohol in the

world. “Alcohol is so blended into

the identity of so many European

countries,” Professor Karlsen says,

“that it’s even more challenging to

battle than tobacco.”

Occasional over-indulging is less

damaging than regular continuous

drinking because liver cells have

time to regenerate. But not all heavy

drinkers develop liver disease, while

some people who rarely drink might,

and there’s no way to know who will.

JULY 2019 • 43

PHOTO COURTESY OF FRANCISCO CANTOS PÉREZ

Francisco was hospitalised when his

liver was badly damaged by an excess

of a prescription drug