Stage C Liver Disease

[Rugby200423]

Hi, my friend is currently in hospital and has been diagnosed with Stage C Liver Disease. She is an alcoholic. This is her 4th time in hospital in 2 years. I took her to A & E as she was jaundiced (has been on and off for 2 years). However this time her stomach had started to swell and now all her legs and feet are swollen. they are unable to drain the fluid as it’s too dangerous so she needs to loose 12 litres of fluid by taking diuretics. She is covered in bruises, has had 2 blood transfusions, is there any coming back from this in anyone’s experience, thanks in advance.

[AyrshireK]

There is no doubting she is in a bad way just now with the symptoms of decompensated cirrhosis/liver failure. Medics will do all they can to get her as stable as possible but she is very poorly and sometimes at this stage other organs such as the kidneys also start to take a battering. Hopefully they can get her stable ........ I am sure we've had other forum members who have come back from the brink. However, the problem will be the future. If she can not conquer her alcohol addiction and continues to drink there will be no coming back. Often by this stage the only treatment option will be transplant but there are very strict criteria as to when someone with alcohol related liver disease can be assessed for transplant and even then there is a need for sobriety support and life long abstinence demands.

Hopefully she takes heed of this situation and it's provided the wake up call that she needs help and needs to remain sober. Sadly, the previous hospital admissions don't seem to have broken the cycle.

Take care of yourself as this can be a hard time for those witnessing such a decline.

Katie

[Rugby200423 in reply to AyrshireK]

Thanks so much for your reply Katie, she has now also tested positive for C Diff Infection, its one thing after another, as you say its very hard watching the decline

[DogLover1888]

Hi. I was in hospital for 7 weeks in June last year. I was jaundice and couldn’t eat or drink. I am an alcoholic and was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. My stomach, legs and feet plus my face was so swollen I couldn’t walk properly. They couldn’t remove any of my fluid as it was so close to my organs. I was on drips for almost 5 weeks with fluids, antibiotics and vitamins. Once I got home, I was so weak and couldn’t walk properly hardly walk or hold up my head however I stopped drinking alcohol, started eating healthy and building up my muscles and I’m living my life again.

I do get days where I am so so tired but I need to push myself and it helps.

I hope your friend stops drinking alcohol and I don’t see any reason they can’t fully recover like myself. I’ll never be totally over it as my joints are tight but the doctor did tell me one more drink WOULD kill me so that’s all the needed to stay sober.

Hope this helps and I’m here if u need to get anything off your shoulders as I know it’s hard especially for you feeling hopeless to your friend.

Lisa x

[Rugby200423 in reply to DogLover1888]

Hi Lisa

Thanks so much for sharing this with me and I am so happy to hear that you are managing to live your life, you should be proud of yourself. It goes to show that there is hope, Thankyou x

[Roy1955]

I was very much involved in the 2008 publicity that forced the clean up of hospitals due to the high instance of the hospital aquired infection---- C.Diff.

I went on to run the American C.Diff support site untill 2022.

I expect she is being treated with vancomycin.

Watch out for the C.diff seemingly to be gone while on the meds only to return a few days after finishing the course.

She is very sick and the complication of C.diff makes it MUCH harder to recover.

The latest and superior medication for C.diff is fidaxomycin and its expensive so NHS often try cheaper meds first.

Not the greatest of ideas!