Hi. 23 hrs in

#11

I found out in emergency. This may be TMl. I went there because I had severe stomach cramps and hadn’t shat for over a week, I thought I may have had a blockage. Also had fluid retention in my legs. Bloods and more bloods and an MRI with contrast. No blockage found, however suspicious shadow in the bowel (had to have an endoscopy for that later, turned out clear) He gives me thiamine pills and feels my abdomen. Comes back and says I have cirrhosis. I was jaundice, had ascites and edema and my bloods were all over the place. Gives me a letter for my doctor and lets me go. I gained 10kg of fluid in a week.

Went home and thought about it over a few glasses of wine ( as you do) Quit drinking.

That was October last year. Have had ultrasounds and an ecg. Lucky for me all my other organs are fine. Liver is fairly scarred. Within 2 months of no drinking and eating right I went from decompendated to compensated. No fluid retention and bloods all back to normal.

I can’t fix the damage that has been done, but i can stop more occurring and stop side effects.

Just sometimes the demons come calling and i feel so good ( a few won’t hurt, they whisper ) I believe them. And so far a few have been ok, even my Dr knew i was having a few and said it was ok if i could control it)

They just won this round. I even cancelled my hepatology check up to play with them.

I hope that was not too long winded and I hope it makes sense ( only have a little screen on my phone to type in )

My suggestion to you is to try and take a decent break from drinking, eat well. Get a hep screen done if you haven’t.

@Ninetales

#12

Thank you so much for telling me all of that. It is amazing to know that after you stopped drinking you stopped having symptoms and your blood work went back to normal. The liver is an amazing organ. I hope you continue to stay strong and be nice to your liver.
Do you remember what your blood work numbers were like when they were “all over the place?” I’m interested in understanding just how serious my elevations are. I’m talking about ALT, AST, and Gamma GT.

#13

I don’t have the bloodwork from the hospital. This is my bloods from a week after I stopped. GGT 161 Alt 21 Ast 70 Bilirubin 43. Yours could be written differently, I’m in Australia.

Btw ty. This is keeping my mind off having a drink. 4 days and counting :slight_smile:

#14

Thanks, seeing the numbers helps me a lot. My doctor told me that when you have cirrhosis, you can’t eat much protein at all, and you can’t drink much liquid. Is that true for you in your current condition? Or has your liver recovered so well that you don’t have to limit protein and liquids?

#15

And I’m so excited for your 4 days. I just finished my third day.

#16

My albumin was super low so I was encouraged to eat good quality protein to build it up. Low albumin causes ascites (fluid in the abdominal cavity) I have read a lot of people say they have to limit their protein, but it wasn’t so in my case. What do your lft results look like, if you don’t mind me asking.

Seems like your doctor has explained a bit about this to you, so they must be concerned.

#17

Congrats on your 3 days.

#18

How are you doing? Staying strong?
I don’t have my numbers here at work with me, but I’ll share them with you later. I wanted to touch base.
I’ve never gone on a week-long binge like you just had. Part of me feels like that would be so fun, and part of me feels like that must have been so scary to come out of. I hope you’re able to keep from doing that in the future. Doesn’t sound good for your liver!

#19

Labs differ a little, so I don’t know if our numbers are directly comparable. I’m in the US. At my doctor’s lab, normal ALT = 14-59, normal AST=15-37, and normal GGT=5-36. My first blood work in September was ALT=94, AST=49, GGT=54. That’s when I cut back, a lot, and my numbers went steadily down each month. In December, before holidays, ALT=56 &AST=29, which were in normal range. But then holidays happened, and I’ve started to lose the feeling of gravity I felt in September, and in Feb ALT climbed to 70, but AST was normal at 35 and GGT was normal at 35 too. My bilirubin has never been elevated. I’ve read that you’re in serious danger when your AST is twice your ALT, and my AST has never even been higher than my ALT.

#20

Honestly… fun, scary, crazy, hyperactive. First day coming out was shit, started eating again day 2. Just need to convince my brain that life can be good on this side. Staying strong. Saw my Dr, she wasn’t super concerned, told me to apologise to my liver and move on. Will check my bloods in a month or so, no point doing them now.

#21

Ok Norms here GGT (0-45) mine was 161 Alt (0-45) mine 21 normal. Ast (0-41) mine 70.

My Alt has never been elevated.

“Alcohol abuse is a consideration however, less likely because of the AST/ALT ratio. In alcoholic liver disease the AST is higher than the ALT.” quoted from some web page :stuck_out_tongue:

Have you been tested for hepatitis? Is anything else remarkable on your bloods?

I hope you are staying strong :slight_smile:

Just wanted to add… before this binge my latest bloods were GGT 29 Alt 15 Ast 32. That doesn’t fix my liver, it just means that the part of it that still works is processing normally. So it is totally worth it to abstain, especially if you are lucky enough to have not done some unrepairable damage yet.

#22

I don’t know if I’ve been tested for hep, but it’s very unlikely. Much more likely that my drinking habits are responsible. I know I said I’ve never gone on a binge like you described. But I was drinking daily, and this last year I was probably averaging 6-8 drinks a day, weekends more like 10/day. Today is the first time in over a year that I have had zero alcohol for 3 days in a row.

#23

@Misty
You ok? Haven’t heard from you in awhile. I hope you’re ok.

#24

Hi. Thanks for asking :slight_smile: I am doing well. 7 days 6 hrs :smile: Been keeping busy.

How are you going?

#25

Thanks for sharing. Your experience is really helpful for me. And congratulations on 7 days! :blush::blush:

#26

I’m so glad you’re ok. Good job keeping busy, looks like it’s working! Congrats on 7 days. I’m still sticking with it, 6 days 11 hours. The weekend is making me nervous.

#27

Thank you.

#28

@Ninetales. You can do it!

#29

I’m so happy you’re doing better. The liver really can bounce back once you give it a fighting chance.

#30

Thank you.