Eyes yellow after 11 years sober.

[acjb007]

In 2012 I was in hospital with alcoholic hepatitis. For 11 years I've been sober and my health has gone from strength to strength. But, this morning my eyes are badly bloodshot and yellow. Should I be worried?

[VeeWat]

have you been getting regular ultrasound scans?

[acjb007 in reply to VeeWat]

Yes, all has been fine. I feel fine too.

[RugbyMama]

Are the whites of your eyes completely yellow? Or is it just if you pull lower lids down?

[acjb007 in reply to RugbyMama]

All yellow but worse when you pull the eyelid down. Also very bloodshot at the bottom of the eyes.

[AyrshireK]

Get some bloods done to see if your bilirubin is elevated.

[Grassroots112]

Hi and sorry you are going through his. But well done on turning things around and staying sober so long, that’s amazing. I was hospitalised March 2023 with jaundice and ascites and said I had alcohol hepatitis, but likely decompensated cirrhosis. Now they say I have moderate fibrosis after my last fibro scan went down from 22.2kpa to 9kpa. Did you have a fibro scan and what other symptoms did you have when you had alcohol hepatitis? Also apart from quitting the booze, what else did you do to turn things around? Sorry for the many questions, but I don’t know many people who had alcohol hepatitis and turned it around. Regarding the yellowing of the eyes, it could be anything from your diet, medications, bile duct issues or Gilbert’s disease. Fingers crossed for you and good luck and take care.

[acjb007 in reply to Grassroots112]

Thanks for your kind words and I am sorry to hear about your health. It's great that your scan numbers have go e down. Mine was 75kpa and is now 18kpa. Obviously I don't drink but I put my improved health down to healthy living and a plant-based diet. Also I recommend milk thistle and an ALA supplement. I wish you well and hope you're health gets even better.

[Grassroots112 in reply to acjb007]

Thanks for your reply and indeed kind words too, sorry to ask but does that mean you have cirrhosis and again sorry to ask, but are you symptom free apart from yellowing of eyes? They say I have moderate fibrosis, unlikely to be cirrhosis, but that my liver is still scarred which is what fibrosis is, but I have spider nevi and terrible alcohol neuropathy. I’m coming up sober 15 months and this is the best I’ve ever felt mentally, I know it’s always going to be a struggle when it come to alcohol, well whiskey for me as that’s all I drank, but with every passing day I feel stronger and better and I have this huge burning appetitive now for life and any challenges that come my way. I feel blessed ag how lucky I’ve been as it could have been much worse. Your story gives others like me hope after your own experiences to go so long sober and despite your high fibroscan score initially which is the highest it can go, you’ve lowered it so much and are alive and hopefully we’ll. again good luck and take care.

[Greengal314 in reply to Grassroots112]

Are your platelets in normal range ?

[Grassroots112 in reply to Greengal314]

Hi there, yes, they have always been normal as has my INR and white and red blood cells which I believe is one of the reasons why my doctors wanted to delay diagnosing me one way or another as they thought, despite my liver presenting as decompensated cirrhosis, with time to heal and a period of abstinence, it may remodel itself snd not be that and that’s what it did apparently, much to the amazement of my doctors and of course myself as I though there is no way it would heal the way it seemingly has given I was at death’s door almost when I was hospitalised. I’ve since learned the key was my diet and of course quitting booze which will always be the number 1 reason for my liver getting better. But I was so malnourished and weak through lack of food, minerals and vitamins, my body was shutting down, a month after leaving hospital my appetite increased massively and rather than stuffing my face with junk food to fill me up, I was doing it with healthy food only. I also believe me getting mobile helped, even when I couldn’t lift myself out of bed as I had no real strength, I tied a rope to the bed board at the front of the bed and used it to pull myself up, I’d also try and stand for a minute at a time every hour or so.

[acjb007]

My bloods came back all clear which is very strange. I've got an ultra sound scan tomorrow.

[Grassroots112 in reply to acjb007]

That’s good news. I was told earlier on in hospital when I asked how long it would take for my jaundice to disappear that it could take months (it took about 2 to fully clear), but alarmingly that I’d be more susceptible in the future of it coming and going, especially if I drank which I will of course never do again. They also scanned me and were interested in particular with my bile ducts which are now all normal I believe. I also had gallbladder issues which I’m told can cause jaundice so maybe they want to check that over. Fingers crossed it’s nothing and goes away naturally. When I started turning yellow that’s when it dawned on my I’d damaged my liver and my alcoholism was going to kill me and the only way to prevent that was to seek help, medically and with alcohol and addiction recovery, and to stop full stop! The shame was awful and I’d use my wife’s makeup to try and hide it. My kids quite enjoyed calling me Homer Simpson though ha ha.

[D6C2L30E-48]

We're you ever told you have cirrhosis on a ultrasound

[Grassroots112 in reply to D6C2L30E-48]

If this is directed at me, no, I’ve never been told face to face I have cirrhosis other than from my GP who just assumed based on my stay in hospital and some doctor while I was in my hospital bed, who out of ear shot, or so he thought, said to nurses and other junior doctors about me, “whats the point of doing a fibroscan, he clearly has cirrhosis” after they failed to get a reading. I wasn’t happy of course and let it be known to the doctor who kind of half heartedly backtracked and said well we don’t know but you’re an alcoholic and it’s not looking good which in reality it wasn’t, but as a senior doctor he should know people do make recoveries and should have not said what he did which obviously upset me and made me even more depressed than he was, thankfully the nurses were brilliant and said even if I did, they have patients who have had it for over 20 years and people who have a transplant regularly live 20 plus years post transplant.