My liver thankfully is staying steady but I get so exhausted and breathless. The doc said that the heart can be affected by liver problems. He mentioned something about the blood crossing the valves without enough oxygen.
Anybody out there have information about this type of thing?⁉️😕🫁🫀
Your heart is a muscle so in cirrhosis you need to fuel properly to ensure you maintain muscle mass because it's not just your legs and arm muscles that the body will rob for fuel but things like the diaphragm and heart which can weaken. If your heart becomes weak it will pump less efficiently and that's where you won't get a full and effective pumping of oxygenated blood etc.
You need to make sure you eat protein rich foods as well as your carbs because when your liver is poorly it will devour your muscles for fuel if it isn't getting adequate foods in.
I'll ping you a wee diet thing that hubby was provided and it goes into the whole fuelling to prevent muscle wastage etc.
Katie
That makes perfect sense ☺️ my diet hasn't enough protein! I have a history of eating disorders and that lingers. I need to listen to my body's voice. Xxx
Enquire about seeing a liver specialist dietician, I understand you are under t/p hospital so they should be able to sort this for you. If you can't physically eat enough protein they can prescribe protein rich supplements to help rebuild lost muscle. If you were ever to get to t/p assessment stage they will want you to have a healthy heart and lungs or you could potentially be deemed too poorly to be transplanted. So, it really is something you need to work on - along with everything else.
Katie
3 times they have said that I will see a Dietitian but haven't. Physical side of me is generally ok, I was a dancer by profession so I keep up exercise, that's second nature to me. I was thinking that it was my meds ( for depression, epilepsy and migraine plus the carvedilol) combo. I haven't thought about food. I love fruits the most and porridges. Sometimes we need a push in the right direction xx Michelle
Yeah when I went decompensated I lost 4st! Wondered where the muscles went. No Dr tells you these things. Or the itching,I thought it was washing powder. Thankfully we gave the internet. What did people do before technology!!???
Liver disease can affect the heart, although this is mainly a complication of cirrhosis.
One symptom is abnormally high blood pressure in the large vein that brings blood from the intestine to the liver (called portal hypertension) this can cause widening of blood vessels entering the lungs which can compromise oxygen exchange.
Cirrhosis can also cause something called systolic incompetence, especially under the stress conditions (even light exercise) So this is when a cirrhosis patient's heart valve regurgitate a bit - it is basically the leaking of the aortic valve that causes blood to flow in the reverse direction when pumping from the aorta into the left chamber of the heart.
These complications are rare.
In fact a lot of liver disease patients simply have shortness of breath because their liver is not as good at producing the energy they need quick enough when they are active.
Obviously only your Dr knows your situation, so I'm just saying it's a thing. And although extreme protein insufficiency can be a problem with advanced cirrhosis and poor diet (and degrade your muscles) you should keep an open mind about what your Dr was saying until you can get clarification. As suggested above, seeing a dietician is always a good idea for people living with liver disease.
Thank you, you have made that clear. I am grateful 😁🐈⬛
You're welcome. It's a bit tricky to explain but it sounded like what you said your Dr was saying.
Always feel you can push them for further clarity.
Very Best Chris
Yes , falls in line with the brief info he gave me ( we giggle too much so end up running out of appointment time)
🤓
My Partner has cirrhosis and during transplant assessment was found to have pulmonary arterial hypertension, this causes high pressure in the lungs causing the right side of the heart to work harder, symptoms are breathlessness on exertion. It is caused by portal hypertension, it was picked up by a scan that showed an enlarged pulmonary artery. It is often misdiagnosed as asthma, Copd etc.Worth asking about as it is quite rare and requires treatment from specialist centres, there are new medications to treat it but they have to be prescribed by specialist.
Thanks, I am taking carvedilol. I thought it might be them. We need a medical degree to be a recovering alcoholic!😉
He is also on Carvadilol, and yes so many problems caused by Cirrhosis, He has had it 20 years now and definitely eating well and no Alcohol is the way to go.
Xx
Do you feel stigmatised by your liver condition?
