Do I have Cirrhosis

[Choochooboogie]

Hi there... just returned from my doctor.. i have an enlarged liver and slightly elevated bilirubin and protein in my urine. I have pain in my upper right abdomen and a lot of gas and heartburn. Can anyone help me??? I'm really scared.

[davianne]

Hi Choochooboogie,

We on here are not doctors, just sufferers of liver disease, and although we cannot diagnose, we can give you our experiences with liver disease. I have F4 cirrhosis, and have quite a few of the symptoms.

What test have you had?, like full bloods, ultrasound and fibroscan, and what did your doctor tell you ?, as we need more info to try and help you.

Take Care,

David

[Choochooboogie in reply to davianne]

Hi David. Today was my first spot. Bloods taken and ultrasound next week.... Any views on my symptoms?

[Choochooboogie in reply to Choochooboogie]

Sorry first appt

[davianne in reply to Choochooboogie]

Hi Choochoo,

It's really too soon to give advice . Gas, can give upper right side pain, and acid reflux could be heartburn. Full bloods and ultrasound results will give you the answer. Please try not to worry too much, as we all know on here, waiting is the hardest part.

David

[AyrshireK]

Hi Chooch, only further medical tests can establish what is going on with your liver - symptoms alone won't tell the full story and you are going to need scans, further bloods and possibly even a liver biopsy to reveal the full story.

Hope your doctor is able to refer you on so you get a proper diagnosis a.s.a.p.

Katie

[Owlie]

Hi, as above we can’t comment as we are not Doctors but I can talk about my own experience. I had all of the symptoms you describe except protein in my urine and I was really scared and totally freaked out...of course it always seems that you get results like this at the weekend when you have no one to talk to which makes it worse. Mine turned out to be non alcoholic fatty liver disease and I had to wait a long time to be seen by a specialist and get ultrasounds etc. If you do a search you will find my first post and see how freaked out I was, and the time, and the very sensible reply I received. You need to concentrate on what you can do to help yourself while you wait. So, if you drink alcohol stop if you can. Eat healthily and cut out any processed food and swap white bread rice etc for wholemeal/brown. Eat veg. Exercise every day. If you already do these things great! if you don’t, then it should greatly help your liver in the meantime. I love crisps, ate badly, didn’t exercise and it was destroying my liver. Now, my liver disease is reversing so it can be done. I understand how hard it is not knowing and how scary it seems but you need to wait and see what the experts say and help yourself. Try not to Google, I scared myself stupid. All the very best to you Owlie x

[tallinn123]

I'm a relatively new poster here, but like you I was worried about certain symptoms I had, so turned to this forum. I'd had a blood test which showed high GGT levels (300) and this worried me. Especially when I quit drinking for a month, took loads of "healthy supplements" and the GGT had risen again! So I went to my doctors, and she prescribed a full blood test and ultrasound. The blood tests showed that I had slightly high cholesterol and wasn't drinking enough water. Also confirmed the GGT level. The ultrasound didn't show anything untoward - no fatter liver, no scarring, plus no other organ problems either. So all the googling and worrying (the night before the ultrasound I couldn't sleep I was so nervous) was for nothing.

So the high GGT is a bit of a mystery, but as I have found out from reading on here - different people have different levels. I've cut down the drinking, cut out the cakes, biscuits and fatty food, and try and walk more instead of taking transport.

I do have to say though, that this lockdown is making things very tricky. So easy to reach for some snacks when you're bored, plus a few glasses of wine in the evening to pass the time.

My advice is to try and place your trust in the doctors, don't over google, and try and do all you can by way of diet, drinking and exercise, to try and help yourself. Eliminate things one by one - are you eating spicy food which can give heartburn? What about the food giving you gases - also spicy food, and pulses. Stuff like that.

Hope you get it sorted! Good luck.