In sept 2016 I was taken into hospital and subsequently diagnosed with liver cirrhosis F4. I recently applied for my medical history going back 3 years, and am now in position of that. Anyway, prior to my diagnosis in sept 2016 I had undergone a scan in the March. I was told in march by the doctors receptionist that the March scan was marked as "no further action required" by my doctor, BUT having now seen the report from my scan it said that I had fatty liver. If I had know then that I had a fatty liver and stopped drinking, would I have avoided further damage and cirrhosis. I was an alcoholic by the way, though now abstinent nearly 2 years.
My medical history report: In sept 201... - British Liver Trust
My medical history report
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In all likelihood you wouldn't have avoided cirrhosis by giving up drinking 5 months earlier when the scan showed that you had fatty liver. Cirrhosis doesn't happen in only 5 months. You would have had cirrhosis and fatty liver at the time of your scan and the scan only picked up the fatty liver. Your doctor however should have told you that you had fatty liver and suggested that you change your lifestyle including giving up drinking or drinking less. Most heavy drinkers dependent on alcohol however would not give up alcohol after a diagnosis of fatty liver.
It's a pity your doctor didn't order a FibroScan along with the ultrasound because the cirrhosis would have been picked up by the FibroScan & by stopping drinking earlier you'd now have a little less liver damage. In my opinion ultrasound scans and FibroScans should be done together because an ultrasound will only pick up cirrhosis if it's gross & the liver is irregular in shape. A FibroScan would have picked up the cirrhosis that you had along with your fatty liver & by giving up drinking 5 months earlier it would have helped to slightly lessen the severity of the cirrhosis that you are now having to deal with.
Countrywalks in reply to
Im not sure about this i had ultra sound and it said heptamegaly the dr said ohh its just fatty liver .but the fibroscan was low result 4.8 kpa .but i have symptoms like stage 3 chirrhosiss makes no sense at all .i think alcohol makes the diagnosis harder than nafld .
in reply to Countrywalks
After reading horror stories on the forum some people imagine the worst and interpret their symptoms as being cirrhosis despite tests like the FibroScan you had indicating that you don't have cirrhosis or even significant fibrosis.
Consider getting another FibroScan a year after your first & if the score is close to your first score it will confirm that you don't have cirrhosis or significant fibrosis. If the score is a little worse then it will probably mean that your NAFLD is getting worse. NAFLD can be hard to stop the longer it goes. You should be putting all of your energy into focusing on resolving your fatty liver & NAFLD. You could start with a very low fat diet like the one in the link below & doing moderate exercise like walking each day so you gradually lose weight. Hopefully the fat in your liver will reduce as you weight drops.
