liver pain, not sure

[Xandir]

Hi all. I have a bit of a problem and I am a bit worried. I was diagnosed with IBS this year. In the beginning of the year I was in hospital for an infected colon. My liver function tests were a bit off for a couple of months, but I was on a lot of medication at the time. I think at the worst my ALT was 92 and my GGT was 66. I ended up having diarrhoea for around 9 months, well before I was in hospital. My GP said he thought I might have a fatty liver but was not sure, but when I saw the specialist and my liver function tests came back to normal he said not to worry about it. I have had so many tests done, including a gastroscopy, colonoscopy, 2 CT scans, a labelled white blood cell scan, dozens of x-rays and a lot of blood tests. Everything is normal now.

I have lost a lot of weight, around 29kg (around 64lb) in the last 9 months from being sick and I guess from the diet changes I had to make while I was not allowed to eat many foods. Now I still have a lot of pain and I am very constipated all the time since the diarrhoea stopped. I am not taking any medication. The pain is mostly in my chest area though. Sometimes on the left side, and also on the right side. With the pain on my right side it is mainly focused in my shoulder and underarm but also on my chest too. It feels uncomfortable on the front of my chest but with my shoulder it hurts. Sometimes so much I can't move my shoulder. It is really bothering me but the pain was there when I had the CT scan and it came back normal for my liver. I really don't want to go back to see my doctor unless I have to but I am quite stressed over all of this. Other then this pain I am not feeling too bad now. I am still losing weight but a lot slower then before but I think that is from exercise and diet change. The last liver function test I had came back normal and I have also been tested for hep A B  and C and they all came back normal. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Xandir]

I forgot to ask, are CT scans good at diagnosing liver problems or should I have an ultrasound? thanks.

[Over_Dairy]

Have you considered Gall Bladder disease?  Long ago I had those exact syptoms and they treated me for dueodenal (sp) ulcers and a Hidal (sp) hernia with Tagamet, then Pepcid, then Prilosec, and finally Zantac.  What seemed to solve the problem was dropping milk protein from my diet.  But, when all that was going on an Urgent Care doc told me he thought it was my gall bladder, not really an allergy, since most dairy comes with a lot of fat.  Well, here I am 10 years later traveling the path to validate Gall Bladder disease.  I get the HIDAA on Friday -- my money's on "low ejection factor."  Moral of the story -- check the Gall Bladder and go beyond the screening sono.

[Xandir]

I hope your tests go well on Friday and you find out what is causing your probs.

I have problems with milk too, but I mainly just get bloated from it. I don't have diarrhoea any more though. I have not had diarrhoea in a while. Now I seem to mostly get constipated.

Wouldn't I have already had my gallbladder checked though from my other tests? I had 2 CT scans, one concentrated on the gallbladder as the doctors initially thought I had something wrong with my gallbladder before they found the inflammation in my colon, plus I had the labelled white blood cell scan which was mainly to check my pancreas but I was told gallbladder/liver problems would have showed up on it too as the scan shows areas of inflammation and there was no inflammation found.

I posted the original post a while back so I guess I should give a bit of an update. I did go to my GP recently about the chest and shoulder pain I have and he said he thinks its muscular, though I still have the pain! Its not so bad, but its annoying. I'm not sure if I should go back or not.

Thanks for the reply and take care.

[ccarrick]

I am no doctor but I had an abdominal ultrasound that showed scarring on my liver due to NAFLD, but I am on a lot of medications myself. I was told that I would develop cirroshos of the liver if it did not get under control.