cirrhosis early stages and progression

Hello,
I was hoping someone could help me. My husband has recently been diagnosed with cirrhosis. He is 33 years old. We found out in November through an regular blood test that he has elevated GGT around (201) and with further investigation ultrasound showed enlarged spleen and more recently what the Dr. indicates is a lumpy liver. Billirubin is normal so his Dr. thinks liver function is normal still. He has slightly low platelet count. He has no symptoms and this came has quite a a shock to us.

He was a social drinker in his teens and twentlies but no more then any young male, and did take drugs for headaches and such. We asked the Dr. what is the cause and he says we may never know even with his upcoming biopsy. :(  My husband stopped drinking 3 years ago, doesn't take anymore Tylenol etc and stopped smoking.  

My question is: Can one STOP anymore damage to the liver if you eliminated the cause at this early stage?

(I mean is it really possible to halt progression or does it depend on the liver and person in general) "we" think it may be from alcohol has you don't have to be an alcoholic to get cirrhosis. Hopefully we can find the cause. He does not have Hep C. and other blood work doesn't show anything.  

I'm so upset, I want him to live a fairly normal life, he's so young and we have a baby on the way. this is really hard. I keep reading it's life-treating - only if it gets to decompensated "end- stage" cirrhosis. Is this correct? Right now it's early.  can we stop any more damage.

thanks for any advice

[jenS78]

anyone?

[Myown]

So sorry to hear this. I don't have an answer for you, sorry. I was going to tell you to have him get a hepc test, but I see he had it. If he hasn't had the entire hep panel that would include hep B and A - maybe he should have that done? But I can't imagine the doc would not have checked for hep b along with C - but who knows.

What I would do if I was you, would be to post this question in the "expert Hep C forum." Dr. Dieterich is a well known Hepatologist who practices at Mt. Sinai in NYC. I am sure he would be able to advise you. You also may want to post this in the hep C forum because there are people there that do have cirrohsis and even if your husbands problem isn't from hepc, I am sure some of the members would be able to give you some info. And "yes" diet and lifestyle changes can help slow disease progression and that is something that your doctor should be able to help you with. Also if you are near a large 'teaching hospital,' you will be able to find a doctor (such as Dr. D) who is a "Hepatologist," - liver specialist - and in dealing with liver disease IMO you are better off dealing with this type of doctor. You may know this already and maybe your husbands doc is a Hepatologist, but just incase you didn't know of this type of doc,.....

I wish I could have been of more help, but this is really over my head. I have hep c and am on tx, so I know a bit about that, but I don't have any answer as far as cirrohsis. I do know though that you first will have to find out what caused it. You mentioned "Tylenol,",,,,I don't know how much he used to take, but I know some over the counter drugs can be dangerous if taken for long periods of time - which I don't know if that was your husbands case.

Again, so sorry to hear the news about your husband. I know it had to be a shock and 'shocks' are something I am all too familiar with lately - so my heart goes out to you and your family.

I wish you well and I hope others here are able to give you better info than what I did.
Good luck,
MO

[jenS78]

Thanks for all your info. It's hard to know. Yes his Dr. s a Hepatologist. I guess I just want I really want to know if you can actually stop the damage if you eliminate the cause. I've read some reports that claim if cirrhosis is early you can "reverse damage", that I find hard to believe, but stopping anymore damage now is ideal if his liver functions are still normal - what couldn't it stay that way??

Thanks again for all your advice - life is really hard sometimes for everyone. Stay well - the only thing we really can do is stay as healthy has we can, stay positive and pray....

Jennifer

[joshua123]

I am not a doctor but I am pretty confident is what I am saying.  My husband is suffering from Stage 4 Cirrhosis from Hep C.  I know that the Liver is the only organ in the body that can regererate itself.  So if he stopes drinking completly, not even one sip ever again.  And maintains a healthy diet, search the web for more info on things that are hard on the liver.  He should live a long and happy life.  Good Luck.

[nygirl7]

Joshua 123

The liver cannot regenerate the damage that is now cirrhosis.  Fibrosis yes, cirrhosis no.

Stopping drinking will not do anything to help him unless he beats the hepC first - I'm sorry about that - stage 4 cirrhosis means he needs to be at the liver transplant center.  This is as serious as it gets and it means it is too late to stop drinking and eat right to live healthy.

I'm sorry he isnt listening to you - please seek professional help on how to get him to pay attention, he needs help.

[jenS78]

thanks... as far as we know it's in early stages as we only picked up elevated liver enzymes on a routine blood test for insurance. He has no symptoms just maybe more tired, but that could also be that he gets about 4-5 hours of sleep every night. However he is going for a biopsy to see if we can determine the cause. He doesn't have Hep.  He had stopped drinking beer 3 years ago and only drank wine if offered to him at dinner parties, but NOW has completely stopped and does not take drugs of any kind. We have read that in early cirrhosis that the liver can regenerate. (??) So I hope that it's possible is his case. I guess only time will tell. He has completely changed his diet as of this news and I'm praying that his liver is able to maintain what it's doing now and or improve.