What’s going on with mums liver

[Ljj1967]

My mum spoke to the liver trust Nurse who said she cannot give medical advice whatsoever and just had a chat with her (emotional support). Nobody is helping my mum understand what is going on with her liver - as we all know the liver is a very complex organ which can be healed. My mum was told that there was no going back from her liver disease but now the doctor says her liver functions are normal. She has had another blood test so what exactly should we be asking the doctor does anyone know please? What will the doctor be looking at her levels?

[AyrshireK]

Many people with advanced liver disease can return near normal Liver Function Tests (my hubby largely does and he has had a cirrhosis diagnosis since April 2012).

The problem with standard Liver Function Tests (as they often get called)is that only the functioning parts of the liver actually give off the things that get measured so whilst your LFT's can return as normal (because those bits that are functioning are doing ok) they don't reflect which bits of the liver are damaged as they are in effect dead cells which don't give off any readings.

The British Liver Trust has a page all about Liver Tests explained plus another new page with the patient charter and questions to ask your doctors.

britishlivertrust.org.uk/in...

britishlivertrust.org.uk/li...

When you have a diagnosis of cirrhosis then the cirrhosis itself can't be treated (you can reverse some liver damage providing you know the cause and the cause is treated either by medication or lifestyle changes). The key thing now is that the side effects of having cirrhosis get kept on top of - i.e. ascites, varices, HE etc.

If you haven't already read up on it have a look at the BLT page on Cirrhosis and you'll see how they came to mum's diagnosis. She is symptomatic of ESLD as you've posted previously.

britishlivertrust.org.uk/in...

The whole of the BLT page is a gold mine of information on living with liver disease, diet advice and more. If you learn as much as you can then you can ask pertinent questions at appointments.

All the best, Katie

p.s. how is she getting on with the fexofenadine and the itchiness?

[Hidden in reply to AyrshireK]

What a wonderful , informative post, Katie, thank you.i have fexofenadine which has helped a bit. You are so helpful to us all. Thank you so much. Love and hugs Lynne xxxx

[Ljj1967 in reply to AyrshireK]

Hi Katie, thank you so so much for taking time out to reply and helping me make sense of what's going on with mum's illness I only wish that the doctors, consultants and nurses were so forthcoming with information - they just cannot be bothered with me and mum and it's not fair and you always feel guilty speaking to them because they look at you as though to say "why are you wasting my time". It makes my mum feel belittled and worthless and it makes me very very angry SO THANK GOD YOU ARE HERE TO GUIDE US AND PUT OUR MINDS AT EASE - the Fexofenadine that you suggested is working well for mum at the moment and again without you would have not know anything about this. Sending love and wishing you well xxx