Finally had followup with Gastro

[ThyroidDeb]

We went over blood test, fibrofast and fibroscan. Fibrofast was F3 with moderate to advanced steatosis, fiberscan was F4 same steatosis. They are going with Fibroscan no biopsy. He told me he knows of nobody who has reversed any stages, that you cannot turn fibrosis or cirrhosis around. Best you can hope for is to stop progression. I asked if there were test you could run periodically to be sure you are going in right direction, he said not really. I told him about Liverfast he said that pretty much is same info as fibrofast which is numbers being entered to come up with the best determination. He asked why I thought it was better to be an F3 or F4, would I do anything different. I said no but I don't like the C word, at F3 there is something worse. He said to let myself go through the adjustment then try to live as good a life as possible, quality if life is most important. I showed him my diet diary he said it should be called sugar liver because it is more about sugar than fat. He was impressed with weightloss. He said this didn't happen in last 2 years it has been a lifetime. His plan is blood test and ultrasound every 6 months for the rest of my life checking for cancer although not the norm but enough so they watch it. He suggested we would get to know eachother well. He said I have a fully operating compensated liver right now to watch the diet and exercise. He did refer me to a dietician. I guess it's good but I felt he could have been a little more encouraging, maybe that's just me. Glad it's over, my primary referred me for a second opinion a few weeks ago with Henry Ford Hospital here in Michigan. They have a liver speciality building. Waiting for that.

[AllHis]

Stay positive, stay strong, & stay with us for inflammation & diet. Have you found a good Rheumatologist? I found one who prescribed Plaquenil (Treatment for RA, Sjogren’s and Lupus Patients) I just want to comment that it is much more friendlier on the liver than methotrexate & prednisone. Make sure you share your liver findings with the other specialists.Hugs! You’re inspiring me. I have only lost 10 lbs, and even that is jumping around and not staying put…

[nash2 Partner]

Hi Deb

I'm glad you will be able to see a hepatologist. So many gastro docs don't keep up with liver disease. You are getting the standard care protocol so that is positive as far as it goes but the advice docs give frustrates me. If you would like to do a bit of research do this search on Google

pubmed Regression of Liver Fibrosis

this will list a few of the current scientific papers about fibrosis regression. While it is true that you will never get your baby smooth liver back it is simply wrong to suggest that no progress is possible.

Wayne

[ThyroidDeb in reply to nash2]

Thanks for this Wayne, I did look it up and read, very interesting and gives hope. I agree, there were a few questions I had from articles read from various schools about the fibroscan. In every one of the reads it said the same thing, that there are several conditions in which the scan could give higher fibrosis scores than what is correct and I fell into two, he said I would have to ask those schools. I understand you can't give false hope but of course people are looking for something, especially when it's a disease they are saying can't regress, no way to watch and know whether you are being successful in stopping and there are no symptoms until it's too late. Wow, really, maybe at least say..hey let me look that up maybe there's something there I don't know. If you are going to treat it I would think you should keep updated on everything that has to do with it!