The doctors are stumped. We are bummed. Here we are, nearing retirement age, and all we want for Christmas is his good health back!
My husband (age 58) is not a diabetic. He is not overweight. Never has been. He has only ever been an occasional social drinker. When I say occasional I mean maybe 2 or 3 beers on the weekend if we go out to dinner with friends, but not a drinker in our house, and we don't go out with friends much. He's never been a soda or sweet-tea drinker. Not a sweets-a-holic, but did enjoy dessert after dinner a few nights per week.
About two years ago he cut out drinking and carbs unless it was from a vegetable because foods like rice, crackers, bread, beer, pasta, cereal, corn, gluten made him feel like crap. They became not worth consuming because they made him itch or have to spend too much time on the toilet the next morning.
As the doctor was questioning him about how long he's had high cholesterol, he remembered that he almost didn’t get to play high school football because his cholesterol was elevated all the way back then - 40-some years ago! Who knows how long it was elevated prior to high school because who checks their cholesterol in elementary school?
Here is where your jaw will hit the floor and you will feel so much better about YOUR numbers because, “Wow, that guy is way worse off than me!”
Are you ready for this?
_________________________________________________________________________
Fibrosis Score 0.93 = F4 Cirrhosis [ Range 0.00 - 0.21 = Normal ]
Steatosis Score 0.95 = Marked or Severe Steatosis [ Range 0.00 - 0.30 = Normal ]
NASH Score 0.50 = F4 Borderline / Probable NASH [ Range 0.00 - 0.25 = Normal ]
Bilirubin 3.4
GGT 901
ALT 276
AST 210
ALP 926
CHOLESTEROL TOTAL 635
GLUCOSE 102 (99 or less is Normal)
Everything else on this test is Normal.
He does not have Hepatitis.
Even a Calcium CT Score came back with 0,0,0. No build up or blockages.
They did a Lipid Panel breakdown and while his cholesterol is through the roof, his Triglycerides are normal. His Concentration and Particle Size were, and I quote, "The best we have EVER seen, I mean we never see numbers this good. We just don't understand it. Go see a specialist."
5 doctors later, the current doctor thinks this could be Hypercholesterolemia.
___________________________________________________________________________
CURRENT STATUS:
My husband still works a 40-50 hour work week in sales and management. His work requires travel by air which he still does. He mows our acre yard with a push mower. He does all of our gardening and yard maintenance. He cooks and he grocery shops because he likes to. On really perky days he even bicycles 20 miles on an old fashioned peddle bike (not an e-bike). I don’t know many healthy liver people who do as much as he does.
His biggest complaints are the itching. He itches like a _____ (rhymes with ditch), and not being able to eat an occasional carb.
_____________________________________________________________________________
QUESTIONS:
I guess my questions are:
Could this be a mistake?
I thought the progression of a liver was NAFLD to NASH, then NASH to Cirrhosis. No?
How can a person be only Borderline or Probably NASH, but have Severe Steatosis, and F4 Cirrhosis?
Do you know anyone who has brought their liver back from numbers this high?
_________________________________________________________________________________
If you have read this far, thank you! I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts.
