My name is Michael Benitez I'm 26 years old. I've had drug induced acute liver failure twice in my life, once at 17 due to taking hydroxycut, then again for taking a supplement called freeform. The dr.s believed it was the green tea extract causing my reaction. My ast and alt enzymes were both at around 3500 and my billirubin was at 38.6 at its highest. I looked like a Simpson. Took about 3 to 4 months for my labs to go back to normal and I still have light tint of yellow in my eyes. Fast forward to now, and I'm really learning to take care of myself the hard way. I had been drinking occasionally like a normal person growing up in his 20s , and 2 months ago I had gotten laid off and started drinking heavily 5 days of the week until I started grtting a pain in my right abdomen and my stomach felt swollen. Now i see i have a problem with alcohol. I'm now 3 weeks sober and plan on never drinking and taking care of my body to be able to watch my kids grow. 2 weeks ago I went in and got my lft panels, tumor marker, and afb test done. Ast came back at 22 and alt at 23 , my platelet count came back at 250. My bilirubin was the only abnormality that came back at 1.5 and the doctor believes I might have a blockage starting in my bile duct or gallbladder and just recommended I change my diet for now. From what I've been through, I have really severe anxiety when it comes to my liver or anything feeling off on my body and my Dr. Prescribed me Xanax to calm down and he's convinced my liver problem is all in my head. I'm still scared and anxious and I'm constantly on the web trying to figure out if anyone has had labs like mine and still have cirrhosis. Anyone with cirrhosis ever experience similar lab results? I also feel like I have a golf ball in my upper right abdomen. Halfway between the belly button and chest. I'm still feeling bloated and have a constant ache as well
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Your AST & ALT figures indicate that your liver function is very healthy. There are a lot of people on the forum that would love to have AST & ALT figures like yours and they are far more important measures of liver health than Bilirubin. Your Bilirubin is only marginally above normal. I'd continue to live clean the way that you have and see if it comes down which it probably will.
Staying aware but not overly alarmed is the path you should aim to follow. Put your past problems behind you but maintain an interest in liver health to make sure you avoid repeating past mistakes in the future. There's a saying 'sufficient care sufficient risk' that you should apply to your life. Take sufficient care to make sure your liver stays healthy but sufficient risk so you enjoy your life and avoid neurotically obsessing about your liver. Taking Xanax will only feed your anxiety about your liver and also stress your liver because it has to work harder to process the drug!
Your heading by the way I suspect may be inaccurate. Based on what you posted this time and the previous time I’m guessing that you had acute inflammation (hepatitis) of your liver as a result of taking the supplements. If the doctors thought that you had cirrhosis they’d have confirmed it by giving you an ultrasound & FibroScan and told you that you had cirrhosis and wanted to monitor your liver for the rest of your life. Cirrhosis is serious usually irreversible liver damage that typically occurs as a result of many years of drinking, drugging etc.
Inflammation (hepatitis) on the other hand can occur slowly or suddenly due to taking supplements or drugs that overwhelm the liver and it can be serious and result in liver failure and death however most people recover from it and the liver fixes itself. Your slightly raised Bilirubin level is probably something that your liver will fix in the future if you continue to live clean. If I’m right then you have nothing to worry about provided you stay away from supplements! You will probably still be able to drink alcohol in moderation once your liver is fully recovered but I'd check this with your doctor first. The doctors that treated you after taking the supplements should have made all of this clear to you.
You're right I didn't have cirrhosis I had drug induced acute liver failure twice due to the supplements, I do suspect I have cirrhosis however because I have been through that twice already . My ast and alts were both above 3000 and bilirubin at around 38.6. I luckily recovered. And then still drank which was really stupid at least 2 tall cans a week. And now lately I have had a pain in my right abdominal area that hurts and over the past 3 weeks it's gotten worse. I can't even go for a jog because of the pain that starts with it now, 3 weeks ago I was running and lifting weights. Now i can't do none of that. I'm going on 3 weeks sober. I feel like the pain might be my liver recovering from all the damage I've done to it(hopefully). 2 weeks ago when I took my labs everything seemed normal but the pain really started after that. I just got a ultrasound yesterday and I have to wait a week for the results. I asked for a CD copy of the ultrasound and am now stuck on Google comparing my liver to cancerous livers. I'm driving myself nuts
I'd leave the Googling & wait for the result of the ultrasound. I'm the sort of person that can do my own research & benefit from it but from what you've indicated you wind up imagining that you might have all sorts of things wrong with your liver when you Google.
In my case I worked out that I had acute inflammation (hepatitis) of my liver but because my ultrasound showed that my liver was normal sized & smooth & my FibroScan result (4.3) indicated no fibrosis I knew I'd be okay if I lived clean of painkillers & gave my liver time to recover.
It took 8 months of living painkiller free for my liver to come good. If my next blood test is normal as I expect I should be able to drink alcohol & take painkillers again if I want. I won't drink alcohol because at my age hangovers knock me around too much & I'll only take painkillers as a last resort if I'm aching badly & can't rest.
I'd be surprised if your liver was permanently damaged even though you've had acute hepatitis twice but it is a possibility & the doctors should have discussed this with you. It's more likely that whatever damage was done the liver should be able to completely repair given enough time. At your age an ultrasound is probably all you need to clear you of damage. You could also get a FibroScan done & pay for it privately if necessary for peace of mind.
The pain you described might be from a flare-up of inflammation of your liver. It could be what's known as 'right upper quadrant pain tenderness' & if it is it's rarely due to chronic liver disease. If the very moderate amount of drinking you described did result in a flare-up of inflammation that's not a good sign and could mean that your liver remains damaged from the supplements you took twice. A blood test would confirm whether the pain that you've experienced means that you've had a flare-up of inflammation of your liver & if it did confirm further inflammation then I'd give up drinking for good.
The following quote from 'Dr. Melissa Palmer’s Guide to Hepatitis & Liver Disease' describes what you had:
"Certain medications and herbs can cause both acute and chronic inflammation of the liver, in addition to other liver damage. This particular type of hepatitis is known as drug-induced or toxin-induced hepatitis. A substance that is harmful or damaging to the liver is referred to as hepatotoxic or as a hepatotoxin. In drug-or toxin-induced hepatitis, withdrawal of the hepatotoxic herb or medication combined with subsequent resolution of elevated transaminases (AST and ALT) is often the only means of confirming the diagnosis."
The above quote does say that medications & herbs can result in 'chronic inflammation of the liver, in addition to other liver damage'. The word 'chronic' suggests ongoing & the 'other liver damage' could be permanent damage. Given your past experiences every time you drink alcohol you'll likely fear that you are doing more damage. If you become a teetotaller then you can stop worrying & get on with your life!
I hope things are better for you. It would seem you are sensitive to things in the supplements you have tried, so it would probably be very good for you to check with your doctor before going on anything even over the counter.
It sounds like you are on a good path toward a healthier lifestyle that will help you be around for your children. I know it can be hard to make an appointment with your doctor to talk over what things mean, especially if you have had a recent appt. It might help you to take a notebook to all future doctor's appointments - write questions you have in it and use other pages to write what the doctor says during the appt. A doctor can really explain what is going on anu ad what you can do that would be of most help to you - it can be difficult to get a doctor to make understandable recommendations so bring resolve with you.
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