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question
by Trig, Mar 16, 2001 12:00AM
i have been a big drinker for more than twenty years, and have had fatty liver for the last fifteen. i have lately started to get a swollen left leg and have been sweating profusely in hot weather. i had to have a blood test recently and was told i had 5 times the normal level of ggt. not sure what ggt is. does this mean that i am an alcoholic?
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As to whether a blood test might indicate that you are an alcholic, I don't know. Do you think that you are? That's the main point here. My liver function tests were abnormal for years before I got really concerned enough to cut out alcohol. But by that time I was in serious trouble physically. J.B.
Gamma glutamyl transpeptidase or GGT is an enzyme produced in the bile ducts. Measurement of the GGT is an extremely sensitive test and may be elevated in many types of liver disease. Many drugs, including alcohol, cause an elevation of the GGT, and its activity may be increased in heavy drinkers even in the absence of liver damage or inflammation. An important feature of GGT is that it can detect the presence of alcohol, even after a small amount of alcohol is ingested. Thus, the GGT test is important in the evaluation and management of alcoholism.
Because GGT is not increased in bone disease or bone growth, it can help differentiate liver disease from skeletal disease when the ALP is elevated. Both the ALP and the GGT are increased in a number of diseases that affect bile drainage, such as gallstones, tumors blocking the common bile duct, alcoholic liver disease, or drug induced hepatitis that blocks the flow of bile in smaller channels within the liver. However, the ALP is found in other organs and tissues, such as the bone, the placenta, and the intestinal tract. Therefore, the GGT is used as supplementary test to verify that an elevated ALP is due to disease or injury to the liver or biliary tract, rather than disease affecting other organs.
I do not know about the relevance of the swollen leg and sweating and GGT.I think they should look into that and if you have not already STOP drinking.
Part of the reason why I don't worry about whether I cark it or not is that I think there are just too many people. We are buggering up the environment at a hell of a rate- what will it be like for your kids and grandkids with heaps of pollution, loss of land through sea rises, a vast divide between our fellows in Africa or China in terms of wealth and education - these things seem to me disastrous and something I do not want to be part of. Does this seem intelligible or not? I am sorry if they are not, but they are sincerely held views.
cheers
trig
Have you thought about attending some AA meetings? J.B.
cheers
trig
why do they do this? take care all
Dee
Peace and good fortune to all.
Dee
cheers
trig
Dee,
Just remember you can get off of the oxy's. It's very scary but it can work. I went from 300mg a day straight into detox. I don't think anyone should try to detox at home. You will be in alot of pain and you will be tempted to take a 20. Give it a shot! You never know, you may like it.
Patrick,
Thanks for saying "wuzz uppp!" I look forward to hearing from you!
Everyone,
Did any of you see the NBC nightly news last night? They are talking about weaning everone down off the oxy's by October. They (perdue) are trying to fight it. They also said that no new patients will be issued oxycontin scripts. What the hell are all these people who really need this medication going to do?
Thanks for reading......If any of you would like to chat one-on-one you can e-mail me at ***@****
I look forward to hearing from you..............CHAD
I am saying that your addiction is your addiction and whoever or whatever resolves that problem becomes your next dependence.
If I am so wrong how did such a happy couple as you two come to NEED drugs in the first place?.
The pillars of a stable relationship stand apart,yet share a common temple.
As you learn and grow, things will start to change for you. We addicts hate changes so just try to be open minded and as patient as you can be. It's a selfish program if you are willing to go to any lengths to stay sober/clean. Just do the work at hand and keep continued sobriety as your #1 goal each day! J.B.
Chad
Thanks for letting me share!!! I'm an addict called debra
JB: Please let Marty know that she is in our prayers as she undergoes her latest challenge. JB, I know if you love her like I love my Bobbie and that you must be sick with worry. I wish I could do something to relieve your concern but I know her well being is always in the forefront of your mind. Please tell her that her name is in our prayers and we won't be satisfied until we hear that she has gotten through the treatment OK.
Marty and JB, Bobbie and I send you both our best wishes for a happy outcome. I feel I have come to know you over the months, and know you to be kind and decent people. JB, I know how important Marty is to you. Your are both in our hearts and we pray for both your recoveries. God bless you both, my friend. Let us know how she comes through the chemo. We care about you.
I know AA and the twelve steps have saved many, many lives. I personally know many people who have embraced 'the program' and it has literally saved their lives if they were honest and worked the program. I think AA and NA works for the people that AA and NA works for. I think humans are so complex that not any one approach is going to work for everyone. I know that AA and the 12 steps and getting a sponsor, etc. have definitley been the most effective, as far as numbers, as compared to other things such as therapy, white knuckling it, psychiatry, aversion programs, attempts at moderation, etc. I live in a community of about 100,000 people. Because of the field that I am in and the position that I hold in this field, it is VERY, VERY important that my anonymity and confidentiality be honored. I began trying to get sober about 6 years ago (drug of choice was alcohol until about 2 years ago when I changed to prescription pain-killers) I could never get more than 6 months sober before relapsing. When I first started trying to get clean and sober after having reached my rock bottom, I went through treatment and then into AA...and then treatment again, back into AA....and so on. You get the picture. After so many relapses, I had such an absolute level of self-loathing and shame that I attempted suicide several times. More hospitalizations. Treatment for depression pharmacologically as well as counseling. More AA. I got to a point where I was actually really opening up and spilling my guts in these meetings. Then my confidentiality was broken on two seperate occasions which almost cost me my job at the time. I just can't trust, in my community anyway, that my anonymity will be honored. And I simply cannot take the chance of losing my job. I know the ADA laws and that supposedly you can't lose your job because you are an alcoholic/addict if you seek professional help. But things can certainly happen to one's credibility at work which can lead to a glass ceiling and people making your job so miserable that you are "run off" so to speak. I just don't know if I can face that. Again, I am in a field that most definitely should, but isn't sensitive to addiction (in my particular agency anyway). Therefore, I feel so isolated. I do believe in my Higher Power and the 12 steps make perfect sense to me. It's just that, one of the most important, if not THE most important aspect of 'the program' is the fellowship. That is something I feel is impossible to attain in my current community. These breaches of confidentiality came out of "closed" meetings by the way. That's why it is so helpful to at least be able to come here and have contact with you folks. I hope I don't sound whiney and like I'm just coming up with excuses and rationalizations as to why I don't embrace AA or NA like I should. I don't know. Any feedback, ideas, even criticism would be appreciated. I'm just so tired and sick and alone. Okay, yuck, that sounded pathetic. Just some feedback please?
hope
For my own part, I have had the odd criticism here and there for being drunk or very drunk at "camp in conferences" organised for work purposes - I am only required to work from say 9am to 6pm each day and if I choose to get full at the end of that day, I am inclined to regard that as my choice and nobody else's business, although that is sometimes not the way they see it. I suspect that spook disagrees - and I should say I guess that spook has good reaon to - with the approach that I take, but I love the booze. I think AA is a bit like the television evangelist programs like Jimmy Swaggert - I just can't handle it - it just seems to me like absolute bullshit. The human being is a complex animal and I think we are a long way off from having even the remotest understanding of the various nuances/idiosyncracies/eccentricities that it involves - one thing I am sure of though is that condemnation of a person on the basis of their perceived failings isn't the track that we should be moving down - there has to be a better way of harnessing positive energy, which I believe that everybody posesses - that is a serious problem with AA in my opinion - the problem is that the philosophy starts from the basis that there is disease and sin...probably completely irrelevant to what you were after hope, but a contribution nonetheless.
luv
trig
cheers
trig
Thanks for letting me share!!! I'm an addict called debra
Q:10 minutes or 30 years,whats the difference .PLEASE EXPLAIN,I am totally lost on this one?.Does it maybe take you a long time to learn to love somebody?.
Ans: I have done cocaine 17 times since 15 years of age and am now 37
Ans:of course I am not jealous; my last lover(about 12 months ago) incredibly beautiful,sexy caring and a drug addict,like you,drained every last drop of semen from me and "I" left her,because I did not want to have children with a woman with an IQ under 160.even though I loved her unconditionally,my children(future)cannot choose ,so I must!.(genetic reasons),I know it sounds selfish But If I ever do have children ,I want them to have a BRAIN.
ANS:I have 3 PHD`s the last obtained 2 years ago.
Q:Who said(not implied,like I did?!)that you did not do drugs for feeling High?,you did!,implication,you feel LOW and need drugs even in such a Heavenly blissfull relationship(oh and of course your have absolute access to your Subconscious and know ALL the underlying motivations for everything you do in life,Doubt it!).
Ok fine,if indeed you are really the /a perfect Woman like Cindy---IS?>(cindy makes a perfect Cindy)maybe you will not leave Chad from Philly/crack,etc/cheeseburgers and all, for whatever takes your fancy,(one day in many years time,maybe sooner or later),remember a Women does what she want`s to do and no man will stop her,already you are trying to CONTROL him,by preventing him going out and getting drunk,if you were so `perfect` I know were I would be staying,in your arms,comforted by "OUR" embrace.
Unconditional love is usually the constructive or Psychological product of a subjectively and objectively emotively satiated woman(great kids), that they have with their offspring and since you are not Chads mother but try to play the part I forsee problems,for YOU ,not him,you have to suffer the guilt of `using`(care to ellaborate) somebody rather than accepting them as they are,he will learn to love unconditionally(the only REAL Love)but first he will start with himself,he will succeed and make a good Father.As for you, well is it not time you defended yourself again?.
How are your Children?
By the way I am not coming of a 25 year drug spree,I am my own God and you Dear Debbie are Dependent on CHAD and OXYCODONE,
good luck and God forbid only a fool would be envious of that predicament.............
ABSTRACTED:QUOTE
"Maybe YOU should take a look at CHADS own life instead of your own without passing judgement on others".
cheers
trig
cheers
trig