URQ fullness

[Boss2015]

First of all thank you for this site, it has been of great help to me. Question, about a month ago I went in for a general physical as I was having RUQ “fullness feeling”. I was in the past a moderate to heavy drinker so it made me nervous after “googling”. Had slightly elevated alt and ast. Less than 2x high. Decided to have an ultrasound just for piece of mind. Came back with possible lesion less than 4cm. so I had an mri which came back as mildly fatty liver, smooth contour, no evidence of any lesions, study grossly normal. Is it common to still have that feeling in the URQ? Thanks for any advice or clarity. I am 42, and not overweight. Just worried something could be wrong from my past!

[Kristian]

Hi Boss,

Given the tests you've had, if something was wrong they would have shown up. So its a good sign not much did.

Having an elevated liver blood test is quite a common finding as lots of things can have an impact on the liver. Most of which are short term and easily resolved.

[AyrshireK]

The fatty liver you have will be the result of your past heavy drinking. The liver itself has no pain receptors but is surrounded by the Glisson's Capsule which does. So if a liver is in any way enlarged - by inflammation and/or fatty change it can stretch this membrane and cause some people a pain in the liver area.

The wisest idea would be to maintain your sobriety and eat healthily and exercise. That should stop the inflammation in your liver (results 2x above normal means you have inflammation at present) and should also reverse the fatty liver.

If both MRI and ultrasound show no permanent damage that's a good thing,time to do something now to make sure you tackle this issue before it does start to cause problems.

Katie