Multiple weird symptoms - could alcohol be causing them?

Hi all,

I've been having some terrible symptoms for the past 6 years, and I think it's connected to alcohol use. I wanted to post just in case someone else has had something similar / has heard of something like this, in order to help me get a diagnosis.

I started drinking in college, 17 years ago. It was binge drinking, 3x/week for 5 years, and then after college it was 2x/week until about age 32. At age 32, I started getting some pain in my abdomen, right near the liver. It wrapped around to my back, around toward my right shoulder blade. I cut back on drinking but did not stop. About that same time, I started to get unbelievable bouts of weakness/fatigue, noticed my hair was starting to fall out (probably 40-50 strands of hair on my desk every day at work), started getting thirsty all the time, sweating abnormally with any amount of exertion/heat, and getting random bouts of chills/cold intolerance. I also experience extremely rapid muscle fatigue - just walking up steps will make me feel like I just completed a full leg workout with the heaviest weights I've ever used. I also get some blood when I wipe after a BM (occasional), frequent diarrhea , and nausea (no vomiting). I do not have any jaundice. I did have some itching when the pain first onset, but that's somewhat subsided.

I noticed that my symptoms - especially the pain - are worse after I would drink and/or eat poorly. Now, I rarely drink because I'm terrified of how it's going to make me feel. When I don't drink, my symptoms are still around, but at a far lower intensity. But, for instance, I will take a month off drinking, and then when I do - 2 or 3 drinks won't make me feel anything (though I should start to feel drunk quickly, right?), and my symptoms will come back quickly and last for weeks at a time. They are so debilitating.

My CT scans have been fine. My bloodwork has been fine, aside from two recent tests showing elevated (11.5) AFP serum. I also had a HIDA scan, which was fine. 2 colonoscopies have been clear.

Even if my liver is technically OK from a workup standpoint, it feels like introducing any kind of toxins cause my body to go into a downward spiral that lasts for weeks at a time. And, after I recover from this and then experiment with a couple of drinks, the symtpoms will come back stronger than the last time, and last even longer.

Can anyone relate to this or have any ideas?

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