Newly diagnosed NAFLD

[Belleanne]

Hello,

I’m newly diagnosed with NAFLD and am a little concerned that I may have caused this myself through taking co-codamol on a regular basis for quite a few years through having a slipped disc.All my tests point to this being very mild.Evidently my fibroscan and NAFLD fibrosis score were very reassuring but my bard score was 2? Recently I have been having some back pain ( middle right side )..This is causing me to become quite anxious as my mother passed away at 62 with NASH. My liver specialist feels that my condition could be related to my familial hypercholesterolemia but I’m worried that the pain relief may have caused my problem.😢

[Hidden]

Based on my readings it's unlikely that your regular long term use of painkillers was the cause of your NALFD. Some drugs can cause NALFD but I've not seen the one you mentioned as being one of them. Like you I've consumed painkillers on a regular basis for many years. My liver function tests were normal until several years ago when I started to get different values just out of the normal range (which my GP made light of) & then around 11 months ago I experienced symptoms of hepatitis bad enough to make me fear that I might have cirrhosis. An ultrasound and FibroScan cleared me of both fibrosis and cirrhosis but I've yet to have a normal blood test despite living clean of painkillers for 11 months. My continuing hepatitis would be classed as chronic.

If my painkiller intake was the sole cause of my inflamed liver it should have gone away by now. The ultrasound I had found no obvious excessive fat in my liver but because my blood tests show continued mild inflammation of my liver I suspect that I may have mild fatty liver with inflammation i.e. NASH. The only way to confirm that would be through a biopsy. The only additional thing I can do on top of what I'm already doing to help my liver is lose some belly fat.

If you are overweight, sedentary and have high cholesterol then that's more likely to have been the cause of your NAFLD than the painkillers although they may have played some part. Getting your body mass index and your cholesterol down into the normal healthy range should be your main focus. Any weight loss needs to be gradual because rapid weight loss can make NAFLD worse. A low fat diet should get your cholesterol down. Ask your specialist about continuing to take the painkillers. I suspect that you may be able to continue to take them in moderation without worsening your condition.

[Belleanne in reply to Hidden]

Hi Edward.

Thank you for your reply..my weight is fine at 61kg with a BMI of 24 and my cholesterol is at a good level now.I have to go and have an ELF test soon..I think this determines how likely it would be that I would get a fibrosis..My specialist said that paracetamol would not have caused my problem but i omitted to ask about the codeine .I spoke to the Gp yesterday and asked if this middle back pain im experiencing was to do with my liver, he said not..

I will definitely speak again to the specialist when I next see them.Thanks again

Belle