Nash

[Jadin32]

Good news guys! I have now lost 41lbs and my cholesterol has went down 100 points. Also my liver count is still high but steady. So that is all good news for me! I guess I am starting the new year off on the right foot!
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GREAT NEWS!!!
So glad your New Years is starting out good and here's hoping it continues to do so throughout the year!!!!!!!!

 

[operafan]

Good news guys! I have now lost 41lbs and my cholesterol has went down 100 points. Also my liver count is still high but steady. So that is all good news for me! I guess I am starting the new year off on the right foot!
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This is great news. You've been a very good boy!

 

[NedNickerson]

dddog71, I think I have the same thing you have...

I had to go in Wednesday for a liver biopsy... My liver enzymes have been elevated for years...

I went in two weeks ago to see a gastroenterologist to see if perhaps I had reflux that was causing my breathing problems. I've been out from work on short term disability since November. My customer service job requires me to talk on the telephone for eight hours a day. I had a bad case of bronchitis in October that left me experiencing shortness of breath and hoarseness after talking a few hours on the phone. I constantly feel like I have a cement block laying on my chest and that all the air is being squeezed out of me... I finally started missing so much time from work that my company put me on short term disability.

Since I have a history of heart disease in my family, I was given a heart scan and EKG. The EKG showed thickening of the left ventricle, but I was told that would not necessarily make me be out of breath. My doctor put me on blood pressure medicine. My asthma and allergy doctor thought I might be having reflux, so I went to a gastroenterologist.

He performed an endoscopy on me. He didn't find any sign of reflux, but he said I did have a hiatal hernia (which I hadn't know about), but that it wouldn't cause me to have trouble breathing either. I mentioned my high liver enzymes and took a copy of my last bloodwork to show him. He nearly jumped out of his shoes when he looked at it. He got right in my face and said, "How long has this been going on?" I replied, "Years..." He asked if I had ever been tested for hepatitis. I told him no. They tested me for hepatitis and the labwork came back negative for that. So then I had to go in last Wednesday for a liver biopsy to find out what's going on with my liver.

They only gave me a local anesthetic. I was fully awake the whole time. I felt the sting of the anesthetic needle, then the the insertion of the big needle. Wow, talk about pain...! Then he showed me what they were going to use to remove the samples. It essentially was a hypodermic needle with a spring trigger on it. He said they'd insert that needle inside the needle that was already in my liver and then release the trigger. It'd made a snapping sound. (He snapped it so I could hear what it sounded like.) The needle would punch the liver and take about a half-inch core sample about the width of a straightened-out paper clip. They'd have to do it three times.

The samples they took from me weren't from the right side of the ribs, though. Instead, he took three samples from about five inches below my breastbone. I was awake while they did it. It was just about the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. Not only did it hurt, but it felt like the breath was being knocked out of me each time. The third time they did it, for a moment I felt like I was going to die, and I told the doctor, "I can't take it any more." My belly was jerking and I was fighting nausea. He said he was finished anyway. The nurse helped me sit up and I had to walk down the hall to a bed where I lay for 2 1/2 hours to make sure my liver didn't continue bleeding.

A neighbor drove me home and I stayed in bed for two days. The pain didn't go away for nearly three days.

The doctor called me this morning and told me the biopsy came back negative. "You've got a "fatty liver." I need to lose weight, he said...

Well, I already knew that...

Wednesday I have an appointment with a pulmonologist...


Here's some pictures to give the rest of you a better idea of what dddog71 and I have been talking about...

 

[Golliwog]

Thank you, Ned, for sharing this matter with us. I appreciate the matter-if-fact tone of the presentation. You are a strong man, not only to bear the pain and anxiety associated with the biopsy, but to keep such a level head about the whole matter, being willing and able to share private information with others who may be going along similar paths. I am so hoping the pulmonologist's findings will clear up the missing pieces in the puzzle of your health.

I do wonder why you were not eligible for the kind of anesthetic which lets you be only semiconcious, enough that you can follow istructions during the procedure, but leaves no memory of the pain, or even the experience. I have had this kind on several different occasions. Again, I have only a layman's background, which does not qualify me to ask such impertinent questions of the medical profession.
Still....there ought to be a more humane way to get from A to B.

Bless you, strong friend. So glad the liver findings were not as dire as feared.

 

[dddog71]

Ned,

Sorry I did not see this sooner.

Wow after reading your post I see so many things that I had before I got tested. I was tested for reflux also with pain in my chest. I was short on breath sometimes not a lot. I had a weird pain in my side a lot of the time.
DId the doctor tell you if you had the start of chirrousis? I have the start of non alcoholic chirrousis. I guess the only thing they did not do with me was the heart test! I also have a history of heart problems on both sides of the family! All my dads side have died for a heart attack and all but my mom on her side.
Well I will tell you I have now lost 43 lbs and I ma feeling better! I do not have the pain in my side all the time now.
I will tell you what when I woke up during my biopsy it hurt like hell! I would tell them if you do it again to put you out! That pain was bad and they should put anyone out for that! My liver hurt for at least 3 days!
If you need to talk you I am here for ya! Listen to the doctor and try hard to lose the weight. All I can say I did it and that says a lot! I have no motivation what so ever! It is all mind over matter! cut down on your portions and walk when you can!
PM me if you need to talk and take care of yourself!
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[belamy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3Fx63F91u8

 

[dddog71]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3Fx63F91u8

SO what are they singing about liver disease?

 

[belamy]

SO what are they singing about liver disease?

I don´t know, I haven´t actually watched the clip, not even listened any of their "performances", I only know that they are around and find them sickening... sickening to the liver if you want... and in a very professional musical way

 

[cocktales]

Wow!

Ned, man you d man! I don't know if I could have taken all that pain!

Both of you guys got our attention with your liver sickness and we all wish you both get well wishes, if that's possible!

Hang in there and keep us informed of your status....

 

[dddog71]

Well guys my liver count went down on one test and the cholesterol went up. I have to go every 3 months for lab work. The last test I had my liver count went back up and my cholesterol is high again!

I have had to file bankruptcy from all the medical bills I had. I had lost 43 lbs and during this process of bankruptcy I gained 20 back! I was so depressed it was crazy! I lost my car but I did get to keep my house. Thank god my partner has a car and we work at the same place!

I am trying to get back on track and start losing weight again! The bankruptcy is over now! I want to focus on my health. The pains have came back since the weight gain. The doctor tells me my liver is very swelled and that is why it hurts!

Ned if you read this I have been thinking about you! I am wondering how you are doing?