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Cirrosis With Minimal Symptoms

I'm sure my question has been answered several times and on several boards and by many professionals. I'm an alcoholic male in his late 40's and can't see how I don't have cirrhosis. I started drinking(at least like an alcoholic) rather late in life. At 21 I would still be getting a three beer buzz and the six pack would actually get me intoxicated for the entire night. It's difficult to report my history accurately as I stopped once for two and a half years and many other times for reveal months. But for the most part the last 20 years have been as little as a 12 pack per night and as much as a case of beer. I started to show minor symptoms of mild upper right quad fullness in 2001. At which point I was probably being a hypochondriac as all my LFT"S were normal and and ultra sound and even ST scan were both normal. All this told me was it was ok to keep drinking as the GI told me I had an alcohol problem not a liver problem. I kept up this drinking for another 9 years with minor symptoms. Just minor upper right quad pain/fullness and I would always get an LFT 3 or 4 times a year and they were never abnormal. I finally had an abnormal LFT(raised ATL and AST) in 2009. I went to another GI and he did an ultra sound and he said I has a very minor fatty liver and this was probably due to alcohol and bad diet but would reverse itself. Again, this was my green light that my condition was not serious. Here I am 7 years later and have giving up on the LFT's as they are either normal or elevated ALT/AST depending on the day. The Upper right quad is still the same as it was 15 years ago. It calms down if I stop drinking for about a week and is usually gone within two weeks completely with abstinence. The only difference now is i'm starting to itch at times. No jaundice or veins but just the same upper right quad fullness/pain and sometimes itching which is new for me. And I should ad a little nausea and weekness as well but then again i'm almost 50 and not 20 anymore. I keep stopping drinking for a week or two and the itching goes away but the fatigue and nausea might be gone the next day or come back for a half a day a week after stopping. I know the best thing to do is stop drinking and i'm trying. It's been almost a week now but I keep going back saying that it does not matter. If I really were advanced then I would be screwed anyway so drinking one mor time wont make a difference. Also, I keep thinking that perhaps i just have a fatty liver and that will explain the weakness and fatigue and I probably am in the early stages. I know I need to stop but is this enough? Can I just stop and hope for the best? I've never been very sick and have never been jaundiced. Do I really need to get checked out or can I just stop drinking and if I feel fine after two weeks just let it go? If I stop drinking and am well for a year and feel great can I just wake up one day and die from something I stopped a year ago? I know i'm sounding nervous but this is the first time I've every asked a board

Thanks all,

R…….
1 Responses
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18650146 tn?1466647978
Hi Guy,

Sorry for my poor english, It is not my mother language.

I am almost at the same point. I am 50, I started to drink wine about 15 years ago. The last 10 years, I was dring 4 to 8 time a month  2 wine bottles. Some times more.

About 1,5 years ago I noticed that the recovery after have been drunk was longer. 2 or 3 days instead of one. As well , I had some strange feeling (not really pain, as you said some itch) on the liver side. unfortunately I did not take care of this message.

one year ago I started osteoartritis on several joints (knees, wrist, fingers, elbow). So I started to use paracetamol and anti-inflammatory on large scale. Obviously mixing that with the wine. Wine even help me to decrease osteoartritis pain.

6 months ago, 48 hours after a high alccolization, i started nauseas and liver pain. (with may be some gastric bleeding ( dark feces)
The doctor gave me  a diet, some pills for the liver for 3 month and an echography which does not reveal anything wrong. After a week, the nausea disappears and the liver pain after a few weeks. 3 months later blood test just reveled high triglyceride and cholesterol. liver's enzyme was great. (And because of loss of appetite during at least 6 weeks I lost about 10kg. 85 to 75kg)

4 month laters I tryed to drink a little bit. This means one or 2 glasses on meals for about 3 or 4 days. This immediatly wake up the paint and the nausea.

2 months laters, I am still weak with a pain on the liver. The doctor gave me some pills to decrease liver inflammation, and once again an echography into 3 weeks to compare to the first one, the size of the liver. he told me that at the begenning of the cirrhosis, the liver grow up, and then it grow shorter and get hard.

So like you , no jaundice yet, no ascite yet. But may be our cirrhosis is already in action. As far as I read, when it is running, even if you stop to dring, it will continue growing
I hope my situation is still reversible but I am not sure. My work requirre energy. I am an independent worker and I have already canceled several works du to this situation. If I cannot work anymore  or lower, I will be really in trouble. At 50, it is not easy to be able to find a new job. I have a private health insurrance, but  if I cannot get money....

at this point I can tell you:
1- It is better to stop when it is still  reversible.
2- we can continue to exchange our experience to help each other

Good luck!
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