Cirrhosis or fatty liver help please

[puresilver]

2 years ago I was diagnosed with cirrhosis in hospital,I was in for 2 weeks for alcohol,all I can remember is having a camera down my throat I don’t know if they did ct scan mri or ultrasound,I had an ultrasound about 4 months ago and it came back with fatty liver,when I asked my doctor do I have fatty liver or cirrhosis he said I have both,but wouldn’t the ultrasound of shown up cirrhosis???

[Hidden]

Hi puresilver. Are you still drinking or have you definitely and honestly stopped? Either way the chances are the alcohol will have caused damage to your liver. If you stop drinking permanently there is a strong possibility your liver can recover. However if you continue to pour the poison into your system your liver will become so severely damaged it could fail to function and cause on going health problems to the rest of your organs and even your mind.

Listen to your doctor, hes the expert and can make the diagnosis, adopt a healthy diet and lifestyle including plenty of fresh air and exercise.

Take care and good luck

Laura

[puresilver in reply to Hidden]

Not drank for over a year,gym nearly every day and healthy eating

[Hidden in reply to puresilver]

Great stuff👍

[puresilver in reply to Hidden]

Thank you,hope your well too

[Hidden in reply to puresilver]

Thank you yes I'm very well.. I'm not a sufferer of any of the illnesses many on this forum sadly and bravely have to endure

[puresilver in reply to Hidden]

So do you have relatives or partner that has a liver problem then ?

[Hidden in reply to puresilver]

My husband was alcohol addicted and died 8 years ago

[GrandmaDylan]

My cirrhosis was found on ultrasound. The sonographer just told me that I had fatty liver but "so do half the population". So I was surprised when the report came back with cirrhosis. I'm tea total by the way.

[Barnetaccounts]

Hi, I have a fatty liver and non alcoholic steatohepatitus (NASH) which means I have Cirrhosis caused by a fatty liver. This is not attributable to alcohol, but I am a recovering alcoholic, approaching my 16th year of sobriety. A fatty Cirrhotic liver is the perfect breeding ground for cancer. If your liver is permanently damaged you can still help yourself by avoiding alcohol at all costs. It is dangerous to focus on “surely this should have shown up during xxx”and get on with “what do i need to do to help myself”. Avoid alcohol, eat healthily and listen to the experts.

Ray

[puresilver in reply to Barnetaccounts]

Not drank for over a year,gym nearly every day and healthy eating

[Hidden]

Hi

I cant answer directly but my experience was (ps i agree with laura009):-

I swelledup like a hydrogen ballon about 3 years ago - at least 1 year after completely giving up alcohol). I was taken straight into a bed - i had hung on like an idiot waiting for my scheduled liver clinic appointment. Despite my wife being told i wouldnt make it i did thanks to great care ar Derby Royal. 3 weeks later i was back in the real world 😀.

However periodically thereafter i would get toxins in the brain due to liver “issues” and always ended up in hospital. The last time I was in an ambulance in the snow apparently, i didn't know anything about it oh dear haha.

Anyway when i came round i was told i had to go for another ultrasound scan to look for a potential blockage in the portal vein ( I know nothing, as Manuel would say, having never done Biology at school). Anyway the scan was inconconclusive as they couldnt get a good view. The ward consultant said i could go home. At this point I surprised myself (because i had read the notes at the bottom of the bed and knew it was a fairly important question from my own consultant) and told him not being able to see a blockage because of a blurry scan was not the same as a blockage not being there. 4 hours later i was told i had to have a CT scan! Two days later after fidgeting in bed in a boring 😀 hospital bed lo and behold the CT took place and again lo and behold my consultant was right. That changed things but it was a two and a half year long haul before i got on the transplant list (more and yet more tests since i was over 60, i was 64 more or less when i got on the List - follow that logic?). Still i tried not to whinge because i know they were trying to protect me.

After getting on the list, despite it being inferred that since i looked good, my bloodgroup was as common as common, I might be in for quite a wait, i had at the second attempt a transplant after only two months. The care at Birmingham hospital was truly fantastic!

BUT despite being told at one of the assesment clinics before the op by a former transplantee (?) that it was pain free i can say, for me, that was just not true! It hurt like hell for at least 3 weeks but after 4 weeks (now) it is calming down a bit. Bear in mind you leave the hospital after less than 2 weeks.

So after all that verbiage i am really trying to say dont touch acohol and try and follow dieticians advice. I.e. do everything to help your liver help itself...

All the best for the future!

[puresilver in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for that twosmiles 😀😀 I hope your doing well now,I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol in over a year,I eat really healthy and I do lots of cardio at gym I’m down to my bmi now and staying there, I got diagnosed with cirrhosis 2 years ago ,I use to live in Yorkshire and I had an appointment to see a liver specialist I was going for a fibroscan but I moved to Manchester so I couldn’t go,just after Xmas this year the doctors in Manchester gave me an ultrasound at the surgery because I was itching all over but I though I was going for a fibroscan which I told them that’s what the specialist was going to do in Hull hospital,the results come back fatty liver,then in March I got an appointment to go back to Hull hospital,I rang them and said I was in Manchester so they said they will email my doctor to send you to a specialist in Manchester,my doctor got the email and said I don’t need to now you’ve had an ultrasound,so I rang hospital in Hull and they said your doctor is wrong you are under a specialist who is he to say,I was getting stressed with it and thought I’m feeling ok I’ll get on with life and change doctors,and hull hospital advised me to do that,then a month ago I was jogging on treadmill and I started itching again pain below the liver and I started getting dry skin on my face and constipated and really tired all day everyday and still am and down in mood,I’ve not been to gym at all,went to doctors they gave me cream For itching and drinks for constipated and the was it no lay on the bed and check up nothing,so before I wrote on this forum yesterday I went to doctors I was peed off I went to doctors to receptionist and said I want all hospital scans and reports for the last 2 years and I’ll pay for them,she told the doctor today and they rang me saying they want to see me tomorrow first thing,so hopefully I’ll get an answer,when someone trains nearly every day and this happens wouldn’t they think something is wrong

[Hidden]

Ultrasounds dont ahow fibrosis usually. So unless your in a far stage of cirrhosis no it wouldnt show. But id get retested for cirrhosis anyways since I truly believe doctors arw to easy to diagnose it when its nit always the case

[puresilver in reply to Hidden]

It was when I was in hospital for 2 weeks that I got diagnosed for it,I’m defo asking for another test pal

[farranccc in reply to Hidden]

I don’t think ‘ultrasounds don’t show fibrosis usually’ is quite true is it?

Very mild fibrosis can be tricky to diagnose via US but generally it is quite reliable.

[Hidden in reply to farranccc]

No not always. Nodular regeneration and shape changes yes but regular fibrosis markings no

[Danubian in reply to Hidden]

glad I had the MRI with contrast then! Dude, if you opened a liver consultation office then the honeys would be playing your close like butter play toast

From the Mississippi down to the East Coast!

I've gotta get a grip mother. If I don't know now , then I known n*****!

It's still all good!

[Hidden]

Hi puresilver

Gosh i feel for you and can tell how frustrated you are. I had a fairly similar thing between Derby (but they are great most of the time) and Birmingham. Birmingham are internationally famous for liver transplants and they don’t mince about, what they say goes! Since my home hospital is Derby and my GPs in Derby I try and ensure (faint hope 😉) that they all know whats been going on. I made a costly £200 mistake by going to a private consultant. Birmingham told him in no uncertain terms, from what i deduce, that they made the decisions, and they do - great ones.

If you could only get in their focus im sure they would sort you out....

I was lucky because the Birmingham liver professor joins the Derby liver clinic about every 3 months and I got to see him and then it was all go. Don’t Manchester have any connection with Birmingham hospital?

Well I really do wish you all the best you seem to be doing everything right (but i know nothing).