Looking for enlightenment!

[Ruthi]

Hello, I'm looking for some help investigating my symptoms. Apart from fatigue (doesn't everything have fatigue?) I am itching intensely without any rash. So far all my googling has pointed to the liver, and my GP thought it likely but my tests have come back normal.

My question is in two parts. First of all I know that there can be a huge difference between 'normal' and 'optimal'. For example I know that when I had a 'normal' TSH I was still very ill, and it took 5 years before my levels were deemed to be out of range. Does this apply to any of the Liver tests? I don't want to lose another 5 years of my life waiting to be really, really ill! Or should I be looking at tests other than the standard ones that my GP has run?

He has tested

Serum total bilirubin - 6umol/L (<21)

Serum alkaline phosphatase - 50iu/L (35-104)

Serum ALT - 15iu/L (<34)

Serum albumin 42g.L (38 - 51)

Any insight would be much appreciated!

[jgelliss]

Are you eating anything that you might have allergies to ? Sometimes we can eat or take nutrients or even meds and suddenly our bodies reject it .

Best Wishes .

[Ruthi in reply to jgelliss]

This isn't an allergic reaction. No rash, no antibodies, no digestive upsets.

And unless it's something I eat daily but didn't react to before it's unlikely to be an intolerance. Everything is possible, of course.

[AyrshireK]

Liver itch is usually due to increased bilirubin but yours is low. Have they ruled out chronic fatigue syndrome (ME) ? What about things like auto immune hepatitis? Though you would usually feel grotty with that when liver tests are inflated. I imagine they have tested for auto immune antibodies.

My hubby has cirrhosis due to AIH, his liver levels are normal despite the cirrhosis and his most obvious symptom is fatigue.

Hope you get some answers. Hubby is stuck in the wheel of living a half life too - too unwell for a normal life yet not ill enough to require transplant.

Katie

[Ruthi in reply to AyrshireK]

Your poor hubby! How did they diagnose?

No, no suggestion of ME, and I'd bite their heads off if it was made! Yes, I'm fatigued, no it's not aggravated by exercise, or any of the other hallmarks. My ex had it, I know too well what it is.

The only tests done so far are what I listed plus IgA.

[AyrshireK in reply to Ruthi]

Sounds like they need to run full auto immune antibody checks.

Sadly my hubby had late stage cirrhosis with symptoms before his liver ill health was actually known about. A liver biopsy proved inconclusive but he does have what his consultant describe as 'rogue auto-immune antibodies'. My hubbies fatigue is day in day out, he doesn't sleep well at nights - he had this before diagnosis. A GP had told him he had anxiety and depression because at that time he was sole carer for his father with dementia - no physical exam took place and it wasn't until he vomitted blood that we discovered he had cirrhosis.

Hope you get answers.

Katie

[Schenks in reply to AyrshireK]

AyrshireK - look up Low Dose Naltrexone.

[Schenks]

Ruthi - do you get night sweats? Like, drenching sweats in the night? And have you any swollen lymph nodes? As though you might have an infection?

[Ruthi in reply to Schenks]

Schenks, no. I'm post menopausal and tend to get hot and sticky when I lie down, but it's not a full blown drenching sweat.