Liver Pain - Normal LTFs and Ultrasound - Fibroscan 5.0kpa and 246 cap. No other obvious symptoms

[FootyBeatles]

Hi Guys looking for some advice. I’ve been having pain in my upper right abdomen for a couple of months now. My LFTs and ultrasounds were all normal. I read that they can be normal even with liver problems so decided to get a fibroscan where I got a score of 5.0kpa and 247 cap so a mild fatty liver. Can a fatty liver cause pain? What else could this pain be? Sometimes it’s a sharp shooting pain and other times it’s a dull ache, sometimes the area can be tender to touch. No other obvious symptoms apart from a bit of fatigue but I think that may be from all the worry and stress. Really nervous and don’t seem to be getting any answers from doctors. I’m currently working on improving my fatty liver.

[JJgut]

From what I understand, fatty liver can cause the kind of pain that you are describing.

Is your pain constant? Or intermittent?

Was the Fibroscan ordered by your doctor? If so, I'd ask this at your consultation where you discuss the results. It's strange that they are not answering your questions, if that is the case. (I'm not sure how going for a medical test on your own works in the UK or other countries - in the USA, it's rare for people to self-refer).

[FootyBeatles in reply to JJgut]

Hi thanks for the reply. Yes the pain is intermittent and I can’t really work out a pattern of when it comes on. It seems to be in the rib cage quite a lot if that’s normal? I’m in the UK and I self referred myself for the fibroscan. I spoke to the consultant who did the fibroscan and he said overall it was good news I just needed to make changes in my lifestyle such as reducing alcohol, better diet and more exercise to reduce the fatty liver. My GP seems to be dismissive because the tests are coming back normal which is obviously a huge relief but I can’t help but worry about what this pain could be caused by. I have another ultrasound coming up at the end of the week.

[JJgut in reply to FootyBeatles]

What you are describing sounds like symptoms of fatty liver. Of course, I'm no expert - I'm just reiterating what I've read others say.

As long as you trust your GP, it sounds like you just need to make the lifestyle modifications. You've basically gotten the same news from your GP as you did from the consultant, but see what the consultant says for your upcoming ultrasound. Odds are they will say the same thing.

[Amethyst91]

I’ve been suffering the same pain since May. I’ve had tons of tests done as I’m convinced it can’t just be simple fatty liver. My lifts are normal but have honestly slightly been rising to the high side of normal since May. I’m surprised by this since I’ve quit drinking & smoking and I’ve been more active and eating way healthier by cutting out any and all bad foods for the liver. My pain is intermittent but all the time and even hits my low back and neck and hip. My fibroscan in September was kpa 3.8 and cap 246 and the dr said I’m pretty much fine even though I keep telling him I’ve never felt this miserable before. I’m now getting bad bile reflux issues as of the last week and going back to see my dr about it next week. I think I’m going to see if they will give me an MRE as things are just not getting better in any way.

I wish you the best of luck with everything and my advice is if your not feeling better then don’t them brush you off because I’m the last 7 months I’ve learned they can be very good at it. I’ll keep you posted if I find out anything as our symptoms and current diagnosis seem very similar.

[FootyBeatles in reply to Amethyst91]

Thanks for the reply. I hope you’re starting to feel better soon. Yes, we do have similar symptoms and a diagnosis too. I too have recently started eating better and exercising so I’m hoping that’ll make a difference but I’m very worried and nobody seems to care at the moment. I can’t stop stressing thinking they may have missed something which is doing me no good whatsoever.

[Amethyst91 in reply to FootyBeatles]

I’m so confused it hurts. My bilirubin is elevated at 1.4 while I e been working on things and my ALT is 35 with my AST is 26. I got an ultrasound today and they could not detect any fat on my liver and they said it measured at 15cm which to them is considered normal and they had no response when I mentioned the first ultrasound I had in May was measured at 13.9cm with mild fat deposits. This test literally gave no more clues but only more questions.

[NCanning in reply to FootyBeatles]

Have you got any further forward with this? I'm similar to you, fatty liver and similar symptoms - but very much thinking something must have been missed on the ultrasound. Anxiety is ridiculous.