I was on my way to a friends this morning and I had a mental blank on which road to take to get to her house. Turns out the road I took was the wrong one. Once I arrived at my friends I didn't think much about it until I was writing down my email for her and I'd written it wrong, twice. I couldn't remember how to spell my street address either.
Is this a sign of liver disease? Although I put on a brave face I've been in tears. I felt like it's the start of things to come. I've been sober 3yrs but have chronic liver disease and cirrhosis. I've got a fibrescan on the 27th. My last scan was 75kpa, the worst score possible.
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acjb007
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These are the types of memory blips you need to bring to the attention of your doctors, it might just be because you are tired but it could also be minor symptoms of HE. At my hubby's transplant assessment we mentioned similar things to the doctors when they asked if he ever gets confused and they immediately put him onto RIFAXIMIN to treat HE along with the 40ml a day lactulose he was already taking.
The types of 'blips' hubby has are things like completely forgetting how to fill in a cheque, asking a friend repeatedly whether she takes sugar in her tea (she doesn't) and then going into kitchen -making her a cup of tea with sugar in it. Also forgetting familiar place names. No way he can make his way round hospital alone - they recently closed off the car park we were familiar with at hospital so we enter from opposite end of building now - completely threw him.
Mention it to docs. you could be having a little bit of toxin build up causing a bit of toxin going to the brain.
Request full set of bloods, don't know whether GP's will do the one for ammonia but think that's the one that causes fuzzy brain episodes.
Our GP wouldn't initially prescribe Rifaximin even though the transplant hospital had put hubby on it (& on repeat) and it was initially a hospital only prescription, however, after a bit of checking GP did start to authorise it. Hubby now been on it since June 2014, can't say he still doesn't have the fuzzy memory, concentration issues but he also hasn't progressed further into the dangerous type of HE symptoms.
ooh so familiar. The worse thing is how self-conscious you get about it. Most people don't notice though. Before my tranplant I couldn.t remember my doctors' names. I used to go home and practice them only to get them all wrong again next visit. I think most people thought it was early dementia. I didn't know there was a drug available to help otherwise I would have tried to get it. In the end I tried not to let it make me feel stupid because all your intelligence is there. I think people thought I was a bit scatty so it didn't botheer me so much and I went with that.
ACJB007 It is not my place to diagnose you with Hepatic Ecapalopathy - it IS a common issue, and you describe it as I and other sufferers have experienced it.
As you can read from posts above, it is not always easy to get GPs to recognise H.E. or prescribe Rifaxamin (which only tends to help rather than eradicate) I had chronic H.E. had to stop driving, and was unable to remember most things! home telephone number, neighbours names, etc. zero chance of remembering consultants name hopeless! IF you do have H.E. and if you meet medics who do not accept it (my doctor was adament I did not have H.E. he is better informed now) you need to get support to "educate" doctor etc. I advocate for ELPA Time to DeLiver initiative where we are working to help clinicians understand better the effects of H.E. see
Sometimes it's so funny not remembering, but often not: I pay so much because forget about the bills... I think there are good news. (My researches are hardened by lack of concentration and forgetfullness though) Yesterday I found this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arginine
"Arginine plays an important role in cell division, the healing of wounds, removing ammonia from the body, immune function, and the release of hormones." It can also improve our energy level...
I get these what i call blank patches/moments and it seems to vary a lot..when i was first diagnosed it was really bad but at that time id had glandular fever and was pregnant and so my system was umder more strain! O get it some of the time now the words just disappear...e.g.it coild be the word tree or ketchup.i couldnt remember my brother in laws name for about a week!!!yhen as i say .ketchup....can you pass the ...
Red stuff in the bottle.
Have you had an infection recently im sure that makes it worse! Have you had a blood test recently?that is probably the important thing that if your bloods have altered a lot.i was told the memory stuff in it self is not too drastic on its own.
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Its a combination .i think if you ask people with dodgy livers how their memories are you would have plenty of company...try not to be too upset by it.i too am stage4liver disease witj varices and portal hyper tension and am in watch and wait land!!we can only be brave and live lige to the best of our capabilities....however do go to docs and get lfts done.from forgetful to absent minded all the best.
Humm,upsetting,I know,I've recently had my bank card blocked once after forgetting a long-established pin.Then,given a new one,forgot it again,so blocked again-sheesh....I think it is liver related,prior to being diagnosed,I thought it was just me,and excessive dope smoking in my twenties.Just as I thought my insomnia was'just me',likewise the muscle spasms/cramps were work related.In a perverse way,at least when you are diagnosed,everything falls into place and becomes explicable.The memory is WEIRD,I have never,ever memorised my Moby no.-can't do it.But I could walk around the average garden and rattle of the Latin binominal names of every plant in it (bloody useful!)-not!Frankly,I wouldn't overly worry about it,but learn to work around it-pre-plan/LISTS!!Best to you.
Just as a afterthought for us peeps with liver ailments,I'm not sure you should go looking for a drug/magic bullet for each and every symptom,you could end up taking another2/3/4 drugs a day-all of which will undoubtedly stress out an organ which is already limping along.
However, IF the memory issue IS an early sign of Hepatic Encephalopathy and something like Rifaximin is enough to keep it at bay or stop its advance toward the serious symptoms which PCBnPBC & Rob have experienced then it is best that it is prescribed - my hubby was only put on it by transplant unit after hearing of his memory issues. HE can be life threatening in its own right, with risk of coma etc.
I take your point,and couldn't comment on specific conditions of course,however,I think it's important to treat every drug/supplement/miracle herb-prescribed,or not,with a healthy dose of scepticism, it all has to be broken down/processed by an already damaged,overworked organ.Given the pressure G.P.s are under,and your average 5 minute consultation,its temptingly easy to write out a script for a specific symptom and completely miss the 'big picture'.On a side note,the way friends/peers/family take paracetemol with gay abandon as if they are ingesting smarties fills me with despair-because harmless sweets they are not.As ever the key is education.Regards.
My gp said he thinks the memory loss and confusion was due to anxiety and me coming off my antidepressants. He's put me on some new ones with less side effects. I'll have to see how I get on. I'm seeing my liver specialist next Friday so I can chat more with her about my experience . Thanks for your help and support
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though) Yesterday I found this: 
Disappearing distended abdomen 
Just some food for thought, and sharing some news
Liver Biopsy
