All I can say is that my liver is presently fine, but I am sure that I was not extrending my life. I hope that I have not caused irreparable harm. I am 42 now and my body seems to be responding to the treatment!
How can you get good grades and be successful while drinking? Alcohol severely impaires judgment and slows the thinking process.
I don't know but I am proof that it can be done. People around me at the time who struggled used to ask me this. But one of the things I have learned to do is forgive myself for the past squandered opportunities. I chose to keep half my brain tied behind my back. The lost chances are gone and not to be recovered. I can only change today and tomorrow.
I think the answer would lie in one's definition of "heavy drinker".
Some people drink constantly, but in small doses. THEy drink to get a slight buzz, and no more...but they need to be in that state AT ALL TIMES. That would be considered heavy drinking, even though never actually being drunk.