Hi I’m desperate to get answers what are your symptoms of liver disease and how to get diagnosed

[Charlotte222]

What are symptoms of liver disease and what’s the best way to get a diagnosis

[velvetunderground]

Hi Charlotte - we're a really friendly bunch here and you'll get loads of support, but you're probably not going to like my answer ...

Liver disease had a huge range of symptoms, and is often incredibly difficult to diagnose. Many people (including myself) have no symptoms and discover liver problems 'accidentally' . My personal path to diagnosis started with a health check I decided to have done as I was passing a 'certain age'. I felt completely well and wasn't expecting anything.

Giving a list of potential symptoms isn't going to help as everyone's experience is different and many symptoms can have very different underlying causes.

All this means that if you have any concerns you should get yourself to your GP and have a good open conversation about your concerns - they will be best placed to run tests if that's appropriate.

All the best

Paul.

[Charlotte222 in reply to velvetunderground]

Thank you for your response

[AyrshireK]

As velvet underground has explained many people don't know they have a liver issue at all until its quite advanced, liver ill health is often 'silent' in that things can be going on before symptoms arise.

In my hubbies case his GP had actually signed him off work with depression and anxiety rather than looking into the physical things he had going on. By the time it really came to light that he had liver ill health he was showing signs of decompensated cirrhosis.

If you have a concern at all about your liver health, visit your GP, discuss your concerns and get the ball rolling with tests. Liver blood tests would be a good place to start.

Katie

[Landon11375]

My first symptom of cirrhosis was a bloody nose. I never in my entire life got a bloody nose before. That made me go to the doctor and set the ball rolling for my cirrhosis discovery. Ascites, muscle loss etc., followed.

[Peppy05 in reply to Landon11375]

Hi Landon11375, I had a terrible nose bleed last month, I went to hospital and they told me it was a blood vessel burst that was the first time I ever had a nose bleed I have cirrhosis since 2015 I asked the doc if nose bleed was because of my cirrhosis or bleeding inside. The only thing he said was why would I think that. I'm confused, any insight, what if I get another nosebleed. Thanks for listening peppy05

[Landon11375]

Hi Charlotte -

Is your doctor a hepatologist? Just curious.

My nosebleed was a signal to me that I needed to get checked out since it was completely out of the blue. I hadn’t had a physical in years. When my blood results came back I got a call from my doctor telling me I needed to stop drinking completely because I did serious damage to my liver. He took a blood test two months later post abstinence from alcohol and my results were still the same which indicated a problem. The cirrhosis was confirmed later on with an MRI requested by a hepatologist that my primary doctor sent me to. At that point I had bleeding gums on top of it. I would wake up and my pillow would have blood on it. To my understanding,nose bleeds, bleeding gums, unexplained bruises (which I also got) are symptoms of a low platelet count. A normal count would begin at around 150 and my count was under 45.

P.S. when I got that Initial call from my doctor telling me to stop drinking I never picked up another drink again.

Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have about my own experience. I’m here to help! 😊

Patrick