long shot and I know there is no definitive answer

[Chris-harris]

I know a question that is dependant on a million things but in general how long doesn't take to start feeling a bit better? I was hospitalised at the beginning of December with phumonia and liver was on the brink of giving up. My wife was told that I could go at any point and my levels were all crazy numbers. spent around 6 weeks in hospital and been home since. I don't know all my stats but.lasg test docs seemed happy. bilirubin level around 100 which I know is very high but started at 400+ and improved every test. I have stopped drinking (around 8 weeks) and will both a having another one ever. I guess I just want to feel better now but for every good day I seem to have a bad to even it out. consultant says US bloods etc show no scaring although he has found a couple of vacies that may need attention in the future. feeling a tad sorry for myself and it's so hard watching my family go through this when I have caused it myself. im eating well, get out and about most days but really struggling with no sleep. appreciate this is a long shot but I want to try and set myself some realistic goals so i can try and stop being a burden. consultant says in 6 months I will look back and see a different person but on theother hand does not seem to know how much damage I've caused.

thanks to everyone so far who has helped me along this rubbish journey.

[Winnie73]

Hi Chris. Good to hear from you. Try and stay positive. You're doing great. You didn't intend to make yourself Ill. It creeps up on us. I do understand the guilt tho. You're now doing everything you can to get well and it sounds like you're making progress. In terms of timescale, the advice I got from others on here was that you should expect it to take one month for every year that you were drinking to fully recover. Your consultant will have seen many people go through what you are going through now, so I'd go with his estimate of 6 months until you feel better. You will feel better before you actually ARE better tho, hence the one month for every year. I think the ups and downs will continue so try and think of your health improving month to month rather than day to day if you see what I mean.

Wishing all the best in your recovery.

Winnie

[Kristian]

Hi Chris,

Given that you were hospitalised for quite some time with what is a severe infection recovery can take some considerable time. I was in hospital with Sepsis last Christmas and still hadn't fully recovered some 4 months after. Your situation is likely to be similar. A friend of mine also was hosipitalised with pneumonia a few years back too. I think she was in for about 12 weeks and it took her a good 12 months to fully recover.

You're right in that you say - everyone is different. With serious conditions such as pneumonia and Sepsis, with extended hospital stays, full recovery can take a long time. Just be patient with it. You will start to feel better as time goes on and you'll be able to do more and more. Just do what you can and try and keep active. Do a bit of exercise each day and build it up. You don't need to do a long run, just start with a bit of a walk and extend the time and distance as you feel able.