He and liver disease

[Chickenlady34]

I am so scared about damage to my liver , I’m worried I have Hepatic encephalopathy. I stupidly took to many over the counter tablets over a course of a month ( paracetamol) , I ended up in ANE but blood work come back ok and wasn’t ever treated however I’m worried I left it to long to go to the hospital so would of already left my system when they tested , I really don’t feel well , I have had liver function tests showing normal , but I have had had urine infection with blood showing in wee, I have really dark wee , my stools are not normal now and are yellow I generally feel so unwell I don’t feel like myself , I can’t sleep at night and I end up pacing up and down the house in a panicked state having weird dreams and hallucinations, my eyes and mouth are really dry and this is all new. I am terrified . I read if you take lactolose it can improve mental status and when I do it seems to calm me down abit but this then also makes me so worried as kinds of confirms I may have it. The doctors really not listening to my concerns and I think have wrote me off as a hypercondriac , I know something isn’t right . I don’t know what eles I can do but I’m so scared . How does liver disease show up at first ?

[AyrshireK]

Your recent fibroscan and normal bloods all demonstrate that your liver is in ok condition - it is very unlikely that fibroscan would not identify a liver issue if it were genuine.

These additional symptoms that you are now experiencing sound more likely to be health anxiety related.

You almost certainly can not have symptoms as serious as HE and normal bloods.You say you've had/got a UTI - a common symptom of which can be a brain fog type issue. (Indeed a UTI was the first thing they checked hubby for on his recent admission to hospital with acute encephalopathy just to rule that out).

You need to stop obsessing on it and put the paracetemol issue into the past and move on. You dodged a bullet now go live your life healthier and more positively. The BLT has info. on health anxiety at:-

healthunlocked.com/britishl...

Best wishes, Katie

[Roy1955]

How many tablets a day are you calling an overdose?

Lactulose is a laxative so that's probably why your bowels are upset.

[Chickenlady34 in reply to Roy1955]

I took them in one go sometimes ☹️ I wasn’t thinking 8-12 tablets sometimes at once

[Roy1955 in reply to Chickenlady34]

Definatly not your best ever idea but not a severely toxic dose!

99. 9% No harm done but talk with your Dr about why you took so many.

Your here because your asking for help and my advice is tell a trusted person how your feeling and how your trying to deal with it.

[juneblue]

I had to take lactalose to get rid of excess ammonia in the body. Excess ammonia could cause hallucinations but lack of sleep sounds like the culprit. Dark urine could be caused by dehydration so drink plenty of water unless your doctor told you not to. Lactalose could contribute to dehydration also. Try to relax. Definitely go to your doctor and let him know your symptoms but it sounds like you will be fine. God Bless.

[Gardengrl]

Hi Chickenlady34, it looks like it’s been a month since you posted but I just saw this discussion. I think that when you have symptoms like you have had, if you can’t find a doctor to be look further or treats you like you’re making mountains out of molehills then it might be time to seek out another doctor. Someone said you had a Fibroscan that was normal but perhaps that’s not the case , I only saw you say that you had labs that were normal. If you only had blood work that doesn’t rule out liver failure. Liver function testing showing high numbers represents the level of liver cells that are dying (though they can recover depending on the type and level of disease). Unfortunately the tricky part is that if you have cirrhosis, there are few “live” liver cells to die, therefore the labs can appear “normal “ range. Comfort yourself in knowing that there are many who live a long time (years) with cirrhosis but that doesn’t mean your situation isn’t critical either, it is possible to have acute liver failure that can happen quickly - only with a full evaluation from a hepatologist (liver doc) can help you see if this is something serious. I hope are doing better now but if not, I would recommend to seek a liver specialist. Blessings to you!

[normanbyrott in reply to Gardengrl]

What percentage of cirrhosis cases (or even other liver problems) will show normal blood levels.? Is it more like 10% or 50%.Thank you

[AyrshireK in reply to normanbyrott]

This is in the National Institute for Care Excellence guidelines. "Identifying cirrhosis can be difficult, particularly in people with compensated liver disease, and diagnosis is often delayed. Almost half of people with cirrhosis experience no symptoms of liver disease, and liver function tests may be normal or only mildly abnormal. Some people may present with the less specific features of liver disease, for example, fatigue, itch, or loss of appetite"

"Do not use routine laboratory liver blood tests to rule out cirrhosis."

Full document at:- cks.nice.org.uk/topics/cirr...

Katie

[normanbyrott]

If you are concerned about a possible liver problem even with normal bloods (ast/alt between 14 and 20) what would be the best test, Fibroscan or Ultrasound.?

[Fibro2021]

If you suspect hepatic encephalopathy and lactulose really helps you and there is no placebo effect, then you can check the level of ammonia in the blood. Ammonia is elevated in 80% of cases of hepatic encephalopathy; however, in 20% of cases HE it is not elevated unfortunately. My ammonia level is high, although liver stiffness does not show cirrhosis on the fibroscan. I regularly take lactitol instead of lactulose and L-ornithine L-aspartate (LoLa) to reduce ammonia levels.

I hope that you do not smoke as one cigarette increases the level of ammonia in the blood by approximately 10%