Death by alcohol induced liver disease - what happens in the final moments?

A 38 year old woman I know has just died of alcoholism, after various stays in hospital. Her last stay of 10 weeks ended with the disease getting the better of her. According to mutual friends, she spent her last moments convulsing - and now I am completely haunted by these images. What happens to the body in these final stages of liver and kidney failure?

actually, in most cases end stage liver disease causes the person to enter into a coma like stage. they usually are not aware of what is happening after this stage is present.

as for convulsing....sometimes this happens as the body has already died. it is simply the nerves reacting.



as far as the disease progression -with liver disease is that the toxins the liver is unable to filter will cause kidney failure and in turn the chemical buildup in the blood will cause severe bloating-so much that the skin seeps fluid. this is when the body enters the coma stage. during the release of fluids, the person is alternating between the coma like state and awareness stages.

your friend did not feel a thing.

i hope this puts your mind at ease.

if you ever need to talk, holler...heppystephy (yahoo messenger) Report It

You die.

shakes and shivers

There is no simple answer to this question. Your friend was relatively young to die of cirrhosis due to alcohol alone. It is possible that she may have suffered from Hepatitis C Virus as well as the effects of alcohol. Each individual reaches their end in a personal fashion. As liver failure ensues there are elevations in ammonia - and this leads to dysfunction of the central nervous system - including seizures and coma. Your grief over seeing this is quite normal.

It is different for every one but in the end the body shuts down, killing the person.