Hi everyone, I wrote on here some time ago regarding my wife's de-compensated cirrhosis diagnosed in March 2019 with severe ascites as well as other compilations ,after leaving hospital in September 2019 I have found this group so helpful. My wife has been doing well since being discharged from hospital , gaining weight back to her original weight having lost two stone when she was really having a bad time . However, it has been a positive year apart from dealing with covid as well , we thought we would never have together, in fact things have progressed so well she has been keen to resume her house hold chores which she has always done well looking after the house , she has always been very house proud but not obsessively so and just lately her renewed interest in doing those mundane jobs like Spring cleaning ,washing curtains ,polishing the furniture etc, which I have been unable to keep up with properly while she was ill and obviously she had no interest in and wouldnt let me employ someone a couple of days a week to keep on top of things , so we have come a very long way in twelve months after being told she would be lucky to make it to xmas 2020 ! Here we are 12 months later living almost a normal renewed life together but a couple of issues worry me in that she has severe pains in her back after doing simple chores but she is so stubborn in not pacing herself so much so that by lunchtime she is whacked and needs to rest for the remaining part of the day. Another issue is the constant itchy feelings with her skin ,especially after having a bath, I would like to know if anyone here has experienced this and if there are ways to cope with the itching its driving her crazy. I am unsure if the back pain is related to the disease or just doing too much after months of being inactive ? There are other issues I have noticed her short term memory and forgetfulness but that is all part of the disease I know.
Thanks and best wishes to you all.
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Dylant12
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She’s doing really well, that’s fantastic news. Well done to her and to you. We’re not clinicians on here so not really supposed to advise on medications etc, so it’s probably a good idea to book an appointment with your GP just to talk this through. I don’t get itchiness, I do have cirrhosis, but I’ve read lots of posts on here that recommend medications that are available. A chat with the GP may help get those prescribed for your wife. Avoid over the counter stuff like calamine lotions until you’ve spoken to the GP. Also it may be helpful for her to use a baby shampoo and soap just to see whether toiletries are making it worse. I had lots of aches and pains just after I was diagnosed. The problem with liver disease is that you put everything under the sun that’s wrong down to it. My aches and pains after investigation were purely down to the fact I was exercising more and my body was adjusting. The physio checked me out and gave me some tips on warm up and cool down exercises and that did the trick. All gone now. So again, worth mentioning it to the GP, the physio assessed my muscle mass and checked out my back and gave me a clean bill of health. Remember the weight your wife will have lost will be muscle mass so it’s fantastic she’s put the weight back on. Hope that helps.
Hi there..I’m new on here and have cirrhosis.does your wife manage to do any exercise as in walking? I don’t seem to be able to walk far which is so annoying, and I usually am very active. Have been in hospital for three and half weeks for kidney stones, so recovering still from that.,
Hi , Yes my wife found it all very annoying at first and she spent a long time doing nothing for best part of 8months recovering after leaving hospital which as you know for an active person it is frustrating, but she loves being in our garden, which had been largely neglected due to me working and trying to look after her but it gave her the incentive to get out there throughout the summer and again recently with the dry weather we have been having ,she has been busy tidying up all around which has been good excercise for her but again, she is impatient and does too much , hence I think the back pain she is having is the result . She went shopping for the first time yesterday for 3 hours by herself ! So that is proof that her overall wellbeing is improving , its just these niggling underlying issue which hopefully we will get sorted soon. Good luck with the walking ! As I keep explaining to my wife the old adage 'Rome wasn't built in a day !' 😀
Thank you so much for your reply, yes I understand you are not clinicians on here but I have fond with everyone sharing their own experiences so helpful since first visiting this site and everyone is so friendly and have one common goal to get well . We have seen the Liver specialist in the last year but because of Covid my wife has been scared to go into our local hospital for any more updates for fear of being infected . However, she had x rays etc with positive results so I am assuming its as you say ,down to the weight loss etc and now she is more active but needs to pace herself which is not in her make up !! We will try those methods you mention, Thank you.
Well done to your wife, It is such a sense of achievement to start doing things around the house & getting back to some kind of normality. I do suffer with backpain, which is to do with losing a lot of weight quickly and with it muscle mass. I just concentrate & do one job a day and rest the back afterwards. I have learnt that there really is no rush to get everything done...As to itchiness, I also suffered from this, drove me mad. Doctor prescribed colestyramine powder, which does taste horrible, but really does help. Infact when I forgot to take it for a couple of days the itchiness all came back and I won't be making that mistake again.
Thank you for this , yes you are correct to take it easy which I wish my wife would do but its like she is on a mission to get things done, its a life long habit we are trying to adapt to now she is feeling much better its just a case of her learning to adapt like you are doing , well done and thank you for your comments. Best wishes
Cirrhosis can result in osteoporosis, particularly of the spinal bones, which would manifest as back pain so it it might be worth asking about this as a possible cause of the pain but negative X rays ( if they covered the spine) would rule this out. Delighted she is doing so well on all other counts.
Hi - I'm cirrhotic, relatively active but living with some niggly problems amongst which is itchiness. In my case I believe this is pruritis caused by dysfunctional liver. Beware that my GP has neither confirmed nor eliminated this in my case. As far as I know it can't be 'cured' whilst the liver is below par. I'm not being given any treatment for it. In some cases pruritis (if that's what it is) can be extreme, quality of life degrading, and intractable. Do some research, talk to your GP and raise a topic on here to see if others have pruritis symptoms that match. Back pains - if upper top right investigate gall stones - another classic cirrhosis problem. Unfortunately it seems that you have to wait until gall stones become an A&E issue before you can get an intervention. Good luck and keep posting, C
Hi Dylan re the itching after a bath-I've had this on quite a few occasions-the skin gets more sensitive. I think its related to a inflamed liver. With me it tends to wear off after a while. Think its inflammation-that could be causing the back pain as well
Hi, Thank you for this,yes I agree my wife says it eases off after a while, she has tried all sorts of creams to help it but we will keep trying to find a solution, she has come a long way and is so much better these are just annoying niggles for her but we are both glad she is alive ! We feared the worst last xmas so fingers crossed . We take each day as a bonus and enjoy as much as we can ,I'm just so glad we have escaped those dark days of old and I have the lady I met and married back , its like starting our relationship all over again ! Good luck and best wishes.
I absolutely blather e45 cream all over myself after having a bath I use the one that says it helps itching and you can buy it in big tubs, gone are the days of using a hairbrush to get some kind of relief from it! Also the back pain could be from ascites putting a strain on her back and not doing much for a long time, I think mine was because although it still hurts after I do things it doesn’t hurt as much as it did months ago,
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