Liver studies on YouTube

[Lara86]

So I've spent my afternoon watching professional medical presentations on YouTube. You can tell what they are because they aren't flashy, they show lots of data and if you have you lab results you can do calculations yourself to come up for "risk numbers". Being I'm not a medical professional I won't use those to determine that I'm at a particular stage, however I have an idea of where am at. It will allow me to ask better questions. I've also learned about diagnostic testing.

I emailed a top liver specialist in my area requesting an appointment l. I will write down some of my questions for testing and clinical trials etc. I've been told I'm healthy for 4 years in spite of 4 years of very pale stool, continuous spiking liver enzymes and all metabolic syndrome symptoms. I've asked for Viral Hep testing and been told I didn't need it. In my country they are suggesting everyone my age be tested! I have no faith in the system and I will be working hard to figure out my next next step.

[Hidden]

Hi Lara, looking online for answers can be a mine field and too much information can be a dangerous thing. May I ask please what country you are in? I ask this as not all countries are the same when it comes to liver related conditions, What they do in say America for example, may be completely different to what the do in say here in the UK, Canada or Australia. And even then care needs to be taken as there can be a rather lot of false news and stories out there.

Just the other day, I happen to read that in Australia, that they recommend a person who undergoes a liver transplant due to alcohol-related liver disease are advised not to drink alcohol for at least a year after their operation. In the UK, a transplant wouldn't have even been considered if the recipient intended to carry on drinking.

So, please be careful when reading up about things on line. We as humans can easily jump to the totally wrong conclusions.

Good Luck

Richard

[Lara86 in reply to Hidden]

I'm in the USA. I understand that reading and watching internet can be very inaccurate, however I'm looking carefully at the sources. What I'm actually watching and reading are university lectures and scientific papers.

I've actually learned about testing methods that are supposed to be very accurate in determining liver stiffening and are much cheaper than traditional testing.

The doctors I've been seeing locally have been very slow to test and have told me I'm healthy in spite of my repeated complaints. I may have been able to turn this around if I had understood it better at an earlier stage. Yesterday I watched a teaching lecture explaining how this is going to be the next epidemic and how doctors should be screening patients. According to his criteria I should have been warned in 2015. I was informed I had fatty liver and that I should lose weight. DUH! I was never ever told how serious my type of fatty liver could be.

I've reached out to one of the top liver specialists in my country to schedule an appointment. They are ranked 7 in the USA , I'd like to go to # 1 but they are too far away. I'm going to see if I qualify for any clinical trials.

The other thing I'm running into is that no one believes I'm sick! My mother keeps offering me candy and junk food. I now have to tell her it is literally poison to me and she is trying to kill me! I am eating meat and vegetables, and vegetables. I'm back on Atkins or primarily Ketogenic diet.