Normal blood work and scans with cirrhosis?

Not sure if you got my last reply " doesn't look like it though! By scans I meant ultrasound, ct , MRI ?its not verry common but there are a small number of patients that have normal blood work and imaging studies that come back normal " wich sucks bcuz they end up being diagnosed pretty late in the disease ! Doctors will rely on symptoms alone in these cases but due to all of the medical conditions that are out there wich have similar symptoms "it's kinda hard to get sent to a hapotologist until it's an obviouse sign like bleeding or ascites or something really late in the disease that makes it more specific .

By scans I mean " us" MRI" ct" and so on, just trying to see how many peeps out there have gone through this.

Sorry for question,If I remember correctly , u where hospitalized with due to. Bleeding veriacess right?

So sorry about last question! Please disregard! I'm bad with remembering

I'd want an ultrasound, that is best for checking the liver, regardless of what you may read on the internet. A radiologist can actively monitor what he/she is scanning and go back, go to areas of scan and keep going until they are happy with the situation.

I have had CT scans as well, but it always seems to come back to the ultrasound. I think a skilled radiologist will beat a CT/MRI anyday.

I was hospitalised because of jaundice and suspected liver failure. I had gone to the GP feeling unwell, and that my legs were failing, I could hardly stand up, let walone walk.

I was diagnosed with an acute cerebral haemorrhage (bleed on the brain) and 6mm midline shift.

I did have oesophageal varicies because of portal hypertension and i was monitored for possible bleeding and had a gastroscopy under GA along with many other things, but they never actually bled.

I no longer have portal hypertension or oesophageal varicies.

Wow! Good to hear you've improved quite a bit! I have had us mri and ct with contrast and all come back normal. Does your ct show the monster too? How did u break free of portal hypertension ?

Are your problems alcohol related?i drank from 14all the way up to 32 and it was fun while it lasted, how ever I'm 38 now with 3 kids one1year old and seems I won't get a chance to see them grow, any advice on home remadies that have worked for you would be apreciated, thanx

I've yet to look properly at my CDs, I have two, one from the first hospital, that mainly did the CT for the neuro problems which turned out to be a bleed on the brain. And then the second hospital where they did everything under the sun to me, but always under GA, because I was probably a difficult patient, who kept trying to leave the hospital, even though I had a catheter on me and an ascites drain attached.

I've mainly looked at the CDs to study the brain scan. The portal & varices went, by not drinking, taking the medication, specifically for that was carvedilol, omperazole and spironolactone (sp?).

Yes, alcohol, I drank fairly heavily on a daily basis from 25 to 48, about 6 pints a day in the evening. Only thing I have done is drop the alcohol, take the medication, I take a lot of special vitamin stuff as well, and also lactulose to keep away hepatic encephalopathy, plus stuff to keep my blood pressure low so I don't have another stroke.

I try to eat well, but just the normal stuff, fruit, vegetables, dairy and a variety of protein, fat and carbs. I am told that I'm Child-Pugh A.

O" I see , I also stoped but symptoms just gotten worse! U ever have itching? What wheir your symptoms? My enzymes wheir just a little high when I was drinking alt 76 ast 63 but have been normal for six years now!along with ct MRI and us all unremarkable

Never itched, never had a problem until that day when I was sent to hospital. My GP spotted jaundice and my eye had started to become bloodshot, I mean red all over, so much so, that in a few hours, there was no white to see, but remember I was having a bleed on the brain as well.

Never had any tests prior to that. I used to function fine, did my job, came home and drank, eat like a normal person and felt fine. I can't remember what my Alt/Ast were without digging out my hospital records, but the first day I was in hospital, my GGT was 1502.

My US shows everything, my scarred liver, marginally enlarged spleen and gallstones. My LFTs are normal now, because I am no longer drinking, but the damage is clear to see on an US.

Wow.. I guess it's different for everyone .. Do ct scans ever show anything. I only had an ultrasound show fatty liver but cleared a month later with diet and excercise! That was when I was able to excercise" th

They say it's reversible in stage 1 so that's goo news for you ! Hope u do well! It's verry hard for me because I still luv beer and BBQ and gathering with friends and stuff , I still do everything except the drinking part! Sum times I'll just have a 6pack of non alcoholic becks" sum times a 12 pack but oh don't think that is good for u either and I wouldn't recommend it! It does help me fight cravings though" I need to stop that as well , wonder if canabis would b good for us

I'll have to dig out my scans and have a look, but the ulatrasound has always been the one that the gastro has used.

I take it you can't exercise any more because of liver damage and feeling fatigued most of the time.

I don't know if you are UK or US. But in the UK we don't call it stages. It is fatty liver, fibrosis cirrhosis and cirrhosis is measure on the Child-Pugh scal of A, B & C and each one of those has a score in each category.

Cirrhosis is non reversible. You have compensated and decompensated cirrhosis liver. If decompensated, that is your liver can no longer do all the functions. Compensated is where th good part of the liver takes over, that is what I have, the good part of my liver has recompensated.

In the UK we have a non alcoholic beer called Bavaria WIT which actually tastes decent for a non alcoholic beer, it must be the WIT, not the standard non alcoholic Bavaria. The difference is, most non alcoholic beers are brewed as normal, then have the alcohol boiled/distilled out of them and at the same time, the taste bolied out of them. Wit is brewed as a normal beer, but stopped before the alcohol brews, thereby no alcohol, but no boiling the taste off.

There is an anti-craving medication called Campral which stops most of your thoughts about alcohol and has no side effects.

Where are you on the scale of cirrhosis, have you been given a prognosis and what is yout doctor doing for you?

All my doctor does is send home with what he thinks is normal health,but warns " I could still have it "and he can't do nothing about it because everything looks normal despite, light colored stools, dark urine, rashes- hyper pigmentation,frequent urination, brain fog , fatigue , nausea ,itchieness,and the list goes on but I had another doctor send me to a hepatologist for a biopsy and it was canceled after closer review! Meanwhile the symptoms just keep pilling up! It's been six long years of this , actually feel like I died along time ago when this started! Not able to work and just waitng to see what kind of symptoms the next will surely bring!

Yes we have non alchlc beer but you are right, it does contain 0.5 percent alcohol , regular beer has 5.3 - 5.6 something along that line! So drinking 12 of my becks is like drink 1 whole beer can. My doctor tells me not to drink more than 2 . Anyway I had inflammation in the colon called elieitis recently and they gave me some ibuprofen and antibiotics and it's been a month since I stoped taking them but I haven't been the same since! My itching increased from off and on 2-3xin neck, arms and back " to every day from top of head to bottom of my feet!increased brain fog and light headedness! Nausea ! Spirited is just starting to come back! Lost 13lbs in two weeks,. But anyway , if u don't mind me asking" what kind of prognosis did are your doctors estimating , ??? I've heard of people drinking cups full of lemon with sea salt and being sent back to regular doctors 7years after having end stage complications.

hey james did you ever get a diagnosis for cirrohsis or liver disease kinda in the same boat !

James, I have been itching for 3o years and I finally got diagnosed that I was allergic to wheat, eggs, milk, soy, and peanuts. It first started with I became allergic to aspiran, My liver is not process well and things come through my skin. Benedryl helps. Hasimotos disease is part of this. You need to be tested and your thyroid. I have a great doctor.