Living with nafld

[jan-ran]

The most frustrating thing about being diagnosed with fatty liver or NASH is the small amount of information and advice I have had from past gp's. I was encouraged not to worry too much, and, importantly, I was NOT told to lose weight. But I did worry, as others have, and that sent me on a search for more information. There is plenty of that on line, and I was pleased to find books,and forums where I could share my experiences and worries if I wanted to. My biggest frustration is actually that I know for sure that diet and lifestyle changes can make a huge difference to many present day ailments. Doctors generally (though I may be generalising a lot here) do not give advice about healthy diets, or insist that their patient are made aware of what their 'bad' diets (and bad habits) are doing to them. I know there are gp s who do actually give the correct advice and do try to change their patients' habits. There is an excellent tv programme called "gp's behind closed doors" which demonstrates very well how difficult it is sometimes to get the message across to some patients. The problem is that their patients just don't want to know about these things, and won't change their habits. I am sure that is a big factor. Also, there seems to be a widespread belief that, as diabetes ( and by implication, nafld) is a progressive disease, the best treatment is to start medication and just keep adding to it as the years go by, as the disease gets worse. And it inevitably will, so they think. The pharmaceutical companies like to keep that status quo, as we use more and more of their pills. ( I must add, I am taking a lot of tablets, so I do appreciate what modern medicine can do to improve our health.) I must stress again that I am talking only about non alcoholic fld.

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Great post Jan-ran, very helpful perspective. Perhaps people are reluctant to make lifestyle changes and doctors get a bit tired of talking about it, but when people hear the same things from lot's of people they might be more likely to do something...so then the community really helps