'Liver cirrhosis from binge drinking made me look pregnant '
‘Liver cirrhosis from binge drinking made me look pregnant ‘
‘People think I’m pregnant but I’ve got liver failure’: Woman has 23 LITRES of fluid drained from her abdomen every 3 WEEKS after binge drinking wrecks her body
- Jo developed liver cirrhosis after drinking three bottles of wine every day
- Excessive drinking has made liver so damaged that fluid – containing toxins and nutrients the liver would normally process – has built up in her abdomen
- Every three weeks she is admitted to hospital to have it drained off
- Now her only hope of survival long-term is a liver transplant
- Jo is one of many people featured on new BBC series highlighting how alcohol is giving many people in their 20s and 30s the body of a pensioner
PUBLISHED: 14:48, 21 October 2013 | UPDATED: 20:02, 21 October 2013
When Jo goes on a bus, people give up their seat for her and strangers stop to ask when her baby is due.
Aged 35 and appearing heavily pregnant, it’s easy to see why.
But the story behind Jo’s large stomach is more sinister – alcohol addiction.
Excessive drinking has caused her liver to become so damaged that fluid has built up in her abdomen.
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Excessive drinking has caused Jo’s liver to become so damaged that fluid has built up in her abdomen and she looks pregnant. Hers is one of many disturbing stories appearing on a TV show airing tonight showing the horrific damage young people all over the UK are doing to their bodies through excessive drinking
She is suffering from cirrhosis of the liver – where healthy tissue becomes replaced with scar tissue.
The condition has caused Jo to develop a side effect called ascites – fluid retention that makes her look pregnant and makes veins bulge from her stomach.
The fluid contains nutrients and toxins that the liver would normally process.
Every three weeks she must travel to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough to have several litres drained off – a painful procedure where a needle and catheter are inserted into her body.
Her only hope of survival is a liver transplant – and there is no guarantee she will survive that.
Jo’s fluid retention from drinking is so bad then when she goes on a bus, people give up their seat for her and ask when her baby is due. Her only hope of survival is a liver transplant – and there is no guarantee she will survive that
Jo fell victim to alcohol addiction after working in a bar for several years. Surrounded by alcohol all day, her drinking spiralled out of control in the last five years and she ended up getting through three bottles of rose wine every day
Jo is one of many disturbing stories appearing on a TV show airing tonight. Called Old Before My Time, it shows the horrific damage young people all over the UK are doing to their bodies through excessive drinking.
In it, viewers see people in their thirties who cannot walk due to the damage alcohol has caused them.
One of them, Scott, a 20-year-old student, is brought into hospital after drinking ‘only’ three and a half bottles of wine and being hit by a car – something he has no recollection of.
Over a week, her intake equated to 210 units – a staggering 15 times the recommended amount for a woman
Then there is Kate, a 30-year-old mother who had her two young children taken away from her because she couldn’t stop drinking. She now can’t feel her feet or walk properly due to the damage caused by alcohol.
For many of them, the motto is ‘you only live once’ – with devastating consequences.
Hospitals have reported a 117 per cent rise in alcoholic liver disease in the under 30s and deaths from it have risen by 20 per cent in the last ten years.
Every three weeks, Jo must travel to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough to have several litres drained off – a painful procedure where a needle and catheter are inserted into her body
Usually the process of draining around 12 litres of fluid takes a painstaking eight hours. On this occasion, doctors filter off a staggering 23 litres from her abdomen and she is three stone lighter
Jo fell victim to alcohol addiction after working in a bar for several years. Surrounded by alcohol all day, her drinking spiralled out of control in the last five years and she ended up getting through three bottles of rose wine every day.
Over a week this equates to 210 units – a staggering 15 times the recommended amount for a woman.
Usually the process of draining around 12 litres of fluid takes a painstaking eight hours.
On this occasion, doctors filter off a staggering 23 litres from her abdomen and she is three stone lighter.
For many people in the programme, their motto is ‘you only live once’ – with devastating consequences. Hospitals have reported a 117 per cent rise in alcoholic liver disease in the under 30s and deaths from it have risen by 20 per cent in the last ten years. Picture shows a liver severely scarred by cirrhosis
Jo is now sober but the damage done to her liver is irreversible. As the fluid accumulates between hospital visits, she struggles to walk or dress herself.
Now living back with her mother who cares for her, she is forbidden from having a bank card in case she buys alcohol and is locked inside the house when her mother Ann is out.
Ann explains that she was forced to take her daughter in after visiting her flat and seeing empty bottles piled high in the window.
Eventually, Jo undergoes surgery to try and alleviate the fluid build-up, during which surgeons run a tube all the way through from the jugular vein in her neck to her liver
Viewers also meet Max, 21-year-old who, despite suffering from pancreatitis twice, can’t stop drinking
Eventually, Jo undergoes surgery to try and alleviate the fluid build-up, during which surgeons run a tube all the way through from the jugular vein in her neck to her liver. Doctors hope the process will reduce blood pressure in her liver and fluid build-up.
Viewers also meet Max, 21-year-old who, despite suffering from pancreatitis twice, can’t stop drinking.
He was diagnosed for the second time while on holiday in Kavos and was admitted to hospital on the first night. But within days of being discharged, the peer pressure became too much and he was back on the bottle.
Despite the danger he is putting himself in, head admits on his 21st birthday he has no intention of stopping. ‘I have a voice in the back of my head, reminding me how painful it was, but the more drinks I have, I forget about it, he admits. ‘I’m just not going to think like that’
Pancreatitis is a serious and painful medical condition in which the pancreas becomes inflamed – often because of heavy alcohol use – and can be fatal.
Despite the danger he is putting himself in, head admits on his 21st birthday he has no intention of stopping.
‘I have a voice in the back of my head, reminding me how painful it was, but the more drinks I have, I forget about it, he admits. ‘I’m just not going to think like that.’
Old Before My Time starts tonight (Monday) on BBC3 at 9pm.