Me and my liver
X-posted from FB….
For those who want to better understand what’s going on with my health issues, here’s the Cliff Notes version:
~4 years ago, when I was going through infertility treatment, my fertility specialist sent me to a GI doctor because my AST and ALT (liver) tests were a little abnormal. The GI doc ran some more tests and determined I had a fatty liver (to go with my fatty ass). He pretty much just told me to go on a diet and that was that.
Fast forward to this year and I’ve been having stomach issues off and on for about 3 months. GERD-related pains in my stomach and a weird piercing pain on the right side of my chest. Plus, frequent diarrhea and occasional vomiting. So off to a GI specialist I go again. This doc also says I have fatty liver, but he’s not sure how/if it has progressed.
Basically the liver cells store more and more fat until they explode and die. If it gets bad enough that the liver cells start dying off at a faster rate than new cells are developing, that becomes fatty hepatitis. Build up enough scar tissue from the dead cells and that becomes cirrhosis. Fatty liver and fatty hepatitis are reversible; the only cure for cirrhosis is a new liver. So you can see why it’s important to know how far along the damage is and how my liver is functioning. Hence, the liver biopsy a week ago. Results of the liver biopsy: Basically, I have about 3 years to lose all my excess weight or I’ll likely need a liver transplant. In fact, the word the doc used was “skinny” (HA!). 12 pounds down, only 100+ to go!
It’s also hard to pinpoint what is causing my stomach issues. Could be the GERD, could be an ulcer, could be my gallbladder or something else. He won’t know until he looks inside. And since I have a family history of pre-cancerous polyps in the colon, he wants to take a look at both ends just to be sure there’s no problems. Hence, the colonoscopy and endoscopy yesterday. All is well on both ends (ha!). I had a polyp removed that they’re sending for testing just in case. A little too much bile in my system (ha!) so the doc is giving me more meds.
So that’s my story so far, kids. I’ll keep you posted.
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