THE “C” WORD

[Oztrax]

Before I get kicked off this forum, “C” stands for Cirrhosis.

And yes on my ultrasound report it mentions the dreaded “C” word.

But there really is no difference between Cirrhosis and fybrosis except the degree of fybrosis at some arbitrary stage is classed as Cirrhosis.

Immediately we hear or see Cirrhosis from a Doctor or imaging report, all we can think about as a liver disease newbie is “how many years do i have left to live” and “how long is the waiting list for a liver transplant “

Mention it to an acquaintance and they always say “yeah you drank too much alcohol “,

So you stop talking about it after a while, it becomes your “dark secret” never to be shared with anyone, while you try to make sense of “what did I do wrong”

There are many causes of liver disease, only AIH has a medication regime to reverse it.

Regardless of what caused our disease the remedy appears to be the same:

No alcohol

No supplements

Only take essential medication

Lose weight to obtain a healthy BMI

Eat a healthy diet

Exercise

Am I on the right track here ?

considering long term arthritis medication may of caused my liver fibrosis , it could of just as likely been alcohol if I had been a heavy drinker or overeater of fatty foods.

Different causes same remedy

D

[AyrshireK]

Mostly correct except except your statement on AIH - yes there is a treatment regime that can potentially slow or stop progression (if it's identified in time) but there is no medicine regime to reverse cirrhosis even if caused by AIH.

There are loads of causes of cirrhosos which are non 'lifestyle' related.

Auti-immune causes, genetic/hereditory, viral, drug induced injury through prescription medication and more.

We find ourselves explaining how t-total folk can get cirrhosis because the media does promote the booze causes cirrhosis message.

Hope you don't have it when all your tests are looked at.

Katie

[Oztrax in reply to AyrshireK]

Well it ain’t cirrhosis

My fibroscan yesterday came in at 3.53 kpa