I went into hospital with severe pain on right side near rib-cage. CT scan showed fatty liver, but consultant hid this from me......said pain was related to fibromyalgia. I am morbidly obese, but I am dieting to try to loose the weight. As I am disabled, the exercise is a problem. Blood tests were raised, but Dr won't explain the levels, just tells me to diet and that the raise may be due to pain medications/obesity.....I tried to find out what stage the fatty liver was, but she said whether stage 1 or 2 dieting is the answer. As the CT showed fatty liver, should I be reffered to a specialist or is the diet sufficient? I have been on healthy foods for 3 weeks, but the pain is still there on my right side.......Dr said there's usually no pain experienced with fatty liver......although peoples experiences say different.......so why don't drs acknowledge this? I feel like I'm being fobbed off....does anyone have any advise?
Dr. Hid diagnosis of fatty liver...bla... - British Liver Trust
Dr. Hid diagnosis of fatty liver...blamed pain on fibromyalgia. Found out by accident.
Being morbidly obese will cause you lots of health problems, not just to your liver, so docs are right that you need to lose weight. Its not just eating healthily, its eating less that will help you. I believe portion control is a good way, each meal should be no bigger than the amount you can hold in a cupped hand. Has it been this amount and is it this amount now? And no snacking in between! A lady I know who is obese had severe pain on one side and was found to have a bowel blockage, has this been checked out for you.
And yes doc is correct pain is not a main symptom of fatty liver but an enlarged liver pressing on other organs, or a blockage in your gut will cause pain. So could gallstones and many other things. Have you had an abdominal scan?
I think portion control is a good comment..... I am trying to eat a lot of fruit/vegetables......been having smaller meals throughout the day. I will look to reducing the amounts. I'm not crash dieting, I am trying to re-educate myself to eating more healthily.... I have nearly lost a stone...I hope to have lost 2 more by Christmas. I do get IBS, but haven't had an abdominal scan......I will go to my gp and ask for one if this pain persists. Does this show up differently to the CT scan? Thanks Bolly for your response.
Be careful with the fruit if you have IBS. No more than 3 portions a day. 1 portion is one apple or 2 plums or a handful (back to the handful as a measure again!) of grapes. Dont eat too many what they call 'resistant' starchy food which your gut will take a long time to digest, ie. avoid pulses, whole grains, sweetcorn, green bananas and muesli that contains bran, oven chips, crisps, potato waffles, fried rice – (choose baked potatoes or boiled rice), part-baked and reheated breads, such as garlic bread, pizza base, avoid processed food such as potato or pasta salad, or manufactured biscuits and cakes, ready meals containing pasta or potato, such as lasagne, shepherd’s pie, macaroni cheese. Avoid fizzy drinks and foods containing sweetners. Well done losing the weight, slowly slowly is the way.
Gee Bolly, really limiting my diet....I've been eating sweet corn, pulses etc. so will have to watch them now. I have jacket potatoes and rice. I've cut out bread. I'm drinking chamomile tea instead of coffee. It's hard though.....I'm also taking milk thistle and garlic tablets. Not tried my dandelion tea yet......Are there any other things that I should be doing/taking? ( I did a liver flush at the start.)
Hi again. As you have diabetes, and fatty liver, and IBS which combined give you conflicting nutritional dos and donts I would get yourself referred to a trained nutritionist/dietician to get the correct support and advice. Doing this by yourself or with the advice of amateurs such as us is probably doomed to either failure or sending your blood sugars all over the place.
It doesn't sound like you're being fobbed off but that the weight and The diet have to be dealt with first. If they're the cause of liver problems they have to be dealt with, even if they're not they'll make liver problems and the knock on effects much worse. I can understand why they're prioritising it.
Best of luck, maybe time to dig deep inside and do what you can to beat this.
I agree MisterX...I am trying to dig deep.....it's hard, because my body is crying out for sugar....the ME specialist says it's because of reactive hypoglycemia which results in low glucose levels....I'm trying to offset this with small amounts of fruit throughout the day. Thank you for your response. I'm just worried about this persistent pain.....hopefully in a few months with more weight loss I'll see a difference.
I am so sorry to hear of the way you have been treated.
You have a right to know your blood test results. They should have been forwarded to your GP, so ask at your Practice for a copy of the results - they have to give you a copy, although you may be asked to pay a small copying fee (mine don't usually bother). Once you have the results you can ask you GP to explain them to you. If this is the same 'Dr' you refer to in your post (I was assuming at first you meant the hospital Dr) and he won't explain, then you could post the results on here (remember to give the units they are measured in, and the 'normal' ranges = the figures in brackets after the readings for each chemical tested) and I'm sure someone should be able to explain them to you.
It may be that the bottom line of the advice is correct and that dieting is necessary. But, have they given you helpful and comprehensive diet information? If not, ask for it - firmly. These are your rights.
Also, it could be fibromyalgia, but again, if so, they should have offered help, advice and possibly medication. Have they given you anything for the fibromyalgia??
As a disabled person, are you entitled to help with exercise, and free admission to local Gym classes etc.? Even just a 6 weeks free referral to a local gym, as someone who is ill - I know they do this where I live - would be a great help. My cousin, who is disabled, benefits from such exercise concessions, and is determined to keep her weight - and all the health that is still in her control - as healthy as possible.
It is hard, but exercise is so wonderful, and it makes you feel so good. Often I make myself go to the gym very grudgingly, but I feel amazing after. So do try to explore all possible helpful avenues - but take expert advice, don't rush into binge dieting or frantic exercise without guidance.
Otherwise, take care, look after yourself, and treat yourself (just not with chocolates!!)
Thanks GrittyReads I've managed to get the go to do a repeat blood test as it's been a while since the last one. I will ask for a copy of the results...then I don't think that I will be in the dark so much.
I'm on various pain meds.... Which have contributed to the weight gain. I worry these may be a factor causing the pain......going to try to reduce them gradually if I can. My health isn't good enough to go to the gym, but I do hope to start swimming when I've lost a little more weight. ooooh chocolate....I've not had any for three weeks....let's not go there.....Thank you for your encouragement.
Your pain could well not be related to your liver. I have just been diagnosed with cirrhosis caused in no small part by years of heavy drinking but also because of the drugs prescribed to treat a long term arthritic condition that has worn joints in my spine. I have for years suffered from pain under the right ribs and towards the centre of my abdomen that I have now found can be totally relieved by some basic stretches of my spine. Maybe the fact you have been overweight has put strain on your spine, I know that long periods of sitting at my desk/ in the car, do for me. Just a thought, may be a red-herring, but you never know? Good luck with the weight loss.
You are being fobbed off and treated with no respect. Ask to see a liver specialist for reasons I’ve written about here loads tonight. Just follow my threads and you will see why. I’m too tired to explain it all again.
Hi there. Here is what happened to me.
In 2013 I started to have terrible debilitating pain on the right hand side of my upper abdomen. The pain came and went. It would be completely random and without any apparent cause.
The worst episode ended up in me seeing a gastroenterologist. He sent me for an abdominal ultrasound as he suspected gall stones.
No stones were found but the sonographer noted that my liver was slightly fatty.
The specialist then ordered an endoscopic exam. After performing this he concluded that I have GERD and that was that. So I followed the reccomendations he gave me. Note that I was not overweight at the time.
In 2014 the pains had become a daily occurence. After any meal i would have pain. After any prolonger fasting period i woyld have pain. It was a throbbing burning pain that took my breath away. Always in the same spot (close to the gallbladder). I noticed too that I had started to really gain weight and dieting as well as excercise was not having any effect.
By 2016 I was in terrible shape. I was morbidly obese, having sleep "attacks" and unable to enjoy even a salad without being in excruciating pain. I faught daily battles with joint pains, infections and a barrage of other seemingly unrelated symptoms. My period would dissapear too and my hair was falling out. I had boils on my skin and I lived with a fever almost ever day. I was so fatigued that I mentally and physically just checked out of my life. I became severely depressed.
With all of this I would still go to work every day, be a wife and mother, a daughter and friend.
Work was a constant stress. I was being exploited for my skills but not being paid for them. It caused me a lot of anger and unhappiness. This had been going on since 2007, getting worse as the years went by. I found that when I was away from work, my symptoms subsided quite a bit.
In early 2017 after another ultrasound, my GP told me I had fatty liver disease. She advised a raw foods eating plan, moderate excercise such as walking or weight training and that I take liver supplements. She also advised the use of a good quality, pure Milk Thistle supplement.
She told me that I needed to lose weight but that because of the fatty liver, it would be extremely difficult to do so. She said I must not have unrealistic weightloss goals and that losing it slowly was the best way to go as this posed little to no risk of incurring further liver damage.
She exolained that because my liver was struggling so much it was affecting my immune system, my cognitive mental state as well as my hormonal function. My thyroid was struggling as a result of my poor liver function and my blood stream was being contaminated by toxins that my liver would normally have eliminatex from my blood stream. Now tbese toxins were causing havoc with my other organs, most notably also affecting my brain. My sudden sleepiness waz actually my brain going into a mini coma every so often because of my toxic blood.
The good news is that the damage to my liver is fully reversible but it will take time. Around 7 years to be precise.
She also advised that I try and get of of the stressful environment I was dealing with at work. Stress and anger increase the production of cortisol and an overdose of cortisol, along with yo-yo dieting and putting my body through 3 pregnancies in a very short space if time have all contributed to the state my liver is in. She said the weight gain was typical of a fatty liver as my liver can now not effectively drive my metabolism. Hence I am constantly fatigued and my skin and hair is dry and dull.
So it's a year later and following her advice has been a life saver. I still get tired but I have not had a sleep "attack" since last year. The pain has also gone and I only get it if I slack off on taking my meds.
I take phospholid tablets and milk thistle capsules every morning, noon and night time.
I try to eat a carb restricted diet. I do not eat anything with cane sugar in it. I avoid fatty foods, vegtable oils and salty foods. I avoid gluten but not entirely as I still eat toast once or twice a week and pasta two to 3 times a month.
I try to stick to chicken, eggs and fish as proteins and limit potatoes, rice and corn.
I still eat fruit as I really enjoy it and it gives me quite a bit of energy and strangely enough staves off inflamation.
I try to drink a good amount of water each day as this helps give a mode of flushing out excess toxins.
I have lost only a very little bit of weight but I have had to accept that this will be a slow process and I am doing it to heal my liver and not to fit into my jeans. It is tough going because I am used to seeing fantastic results from previously having lost weight after my 1st 2 pregancies. So it is very frustrating that my body just does not work the way it used to. But I have to focus on reversing the damage to my liver more than my desire to be back to normal size again. Very hard.
I hope my testimony here can help you in some way.
May the Lord bless and heal you.
Dear SouthAfrikaaner,
Thank you so much for posting your experience. I share the same diagnosis but I have not been prescribed any med or being told how to diet. And pains are getting worse, together with reflux and weightgain . Would you mind telling me in details what it is you are taking and the tye of diet you are following please, to see if I can apply it to my case? Thank you very much and may God bless you and heal you too, because He will.
just one more question 
Working on reversing fatty liver but still can’t help but feel like it’s more than that.
anyone with fatty liver with physical signs of it on abdomen?
Does a ct scan show all liver conditions?
Joint and muscle pain etc...
