Long story short. I have been a heavy drinker pretty much all my adult life, without ever being dependent. Mainly weekends, although occasional periods of "bottle of wine a day" drinking for short periods.
During lockdown, I was emergency admitted to hospital with acute pancreatitis caused by gallstones. I had my gall bladder out, with no complications. Didn't drink at all for 3 months before and 6 months afterwards.
Recently, I have experienced some discomfort in the same area, usually during the night after drinking a few glasses of wine, or after 3-4 coffees in the morning. I have had the pancreas bloods done 3 times, all normal.
I was sent for a abdominal ultrasound scan to check things further. They showed everything normal but "there may be evidence of liver scarring" - OK, that's a new one. I was subsequently sent for a much more comprehensive set of blood tests, focusing on the liver, which have all come back totally normal again.
How can I now find out definitively if I have scarring, what stage it is at and what to do about it ?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Written by
zimbra
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Does your health board area have access to a fibroscan machine? (worth asking the question).
With evidence of some scarring/fibrosis showing on your ultrasound it would be worth having a fibroscan which is similar to an ultrasound but it takes 10 readings across the liver to reveal a median score or a kPa figure which can score the amount of fibrosis (0-75 kPa) and stage your fibrosis from F0 (normal liver), F1 (mild fibrosis), F2 (Moderate Fibrosis), F3 (severe fibrosis often with bridging fibres also known as incomplete cirrhosis) or F4 (cirrhosis of the liver). All stages of fibrosis including even early cirrhosis are now deemed reversible with zero alcohol (your liver evidently doesn't like it if you are getting pain after only a few drinks) and healthy eating and exercise.
Fibroscan can also give a CAP score to reveal if there is any fatty change within the liver.
With normal bloods it sounds unlikely that you have ongoing inflammation so any results from a fibroscan should be fairly accurate (it has a tendency to over inflate the kPa figure if there is ongoing inflammation and give a false high reading).
If you have fibrosis then you need to take steps to try and reduce it a.s.a.p. before it becomes more severe and gets to the stage of irreversible full on cirrhosis.
By way of an update - I went back to ask my GP for the fibroscan and was told that would have been predicated on the blood tests coming back abnormal. The tests, in fact, came back with "no further investigation required" printed on them. Should I go private?
Hi, I saw consultant last week who said that blood tests do not show the extent of scarring and reassured me that I would be offered a fibroscan within six weeks (NHS). When I asked about nutition, he said that he was not concerned about diet (apart from the need to follow general "healthy" guidelines(!)) Good luck pursuing the fibroscan!
My GP didn't seem phased - Said the ultrasound said they "may" be scarring and the blood tests were totally normal, so no need for further investigations or a referral. I'm still thinking of doing a private fibroscan tho', just in case.
I'd move to a fibroscan... They also have the fibrosure blood test, I did it and it matched but for some it may not. Fibroscan is the way to go personally. It's none invasive, I'd say that's the next logical step. Also, I'm sure you know this already, but stay away from the alcohol, you could have some scarring but not enough that it's cirrhosis. Want to try to reverse as much damage as possible at this point.
Don’t just trust blood tests. If the ultra sound showed scarring and they won’t do the test because your blood work is normal I would def go private if you want to know more about the damage to your liver. Also quit drinking, it sounds like you dodged a bullet in regards to cirrhosis. You don’t want it I promise.
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