Fatty Liver???

[Frank J. Perrotta]

Three years off treatment and "cured" but still suffering my new Liver Guru has diagnosed me with Fatty Liver with no proof.

My metabolism has seemingly stopped working properly and with various diets, hours of exercise I still am carrying 60 extra pounds since treatment.

My blood tests change weekly but from my last test on 3/20/08 my Triglyceride was normal 103 (88 - 165) and went low from a test done a couple days ago = 73. If I had fatty liver my Tri. would be high, right?

My glucose in March was 105 H (70 - 99) but I bet it has already changed (no new numbers on that). On 8/28/07 it was 102 H (75 - 100). I am told that this is borderline diabetes.

Just as another example of how my blood work fluctuates is Cholesterol. This Guru wanted to order me on chol lowering meds as my Chol in March was 236 H (188 - 234) & LDL 176 H (120 - 163) & HDL 44 (38 - 52) with the 5/1/08 tests coming back Chol 219 (N), LDL 155 (N), HDL 52 (N).

He has prescribed Metformin for Fatty Liver NOT for diabetes. Doing a google it seems that there is no meds for fatty liver and Metformin is for diabetes. He has me prescribed 500mg 2X/day. I am upset that he didnt run another Glucose test or any other for diabetes.

Seems the worse side effects of Metformin is gastrointestinal upset & I already have really bad GERD but have success with generic prilosec. I would hate to create a worse condition with my GERD...

I will meet with my GP in two weeks and have him run some new tests... maybe I should wait before starting treatment???

thanks for any thoughts

[Frank J. Perrotta]

Thanks for all the info desrt,

I am on a pretty good diet and exercising a lot. I just dont believe my blood results any more as they change so often without any change in my diet or activities.

I will discuss all this with the two GPs I trust and see what they say.

thanks again

[desrt]

There are several meds for reducing fatty liver in trials right now, but according to my gastro, to get in you have to be overweight AND show that the steatosis is actually doing damage to your liver. At least this is true in the trial he is involved in.

[desrt]

I just started on Metformin 2 months ago. My post-tx #s have been very similar to yours, also dx with NAFLD four years ago. Metformin is some pretty harmless stuff, especially compared to how liver unfriendly a lot of the cholestral meds can be. The real answer seems to be a lot of the stuff mremeet posted about - I can bring my fasting glucose down to 80s and 90s by cutting out about 75% of my carbs, exercise (weight training can actually teach your body to burn sugar differently), and sticking to a "chef salad" diet - dark leafy greens and lean meat.
Without the diet/exercise, my sugars stay around 100-110, even with the Metformin. I really should have started doing what I'm doing now when I was where you are at two years ago. Instead, like a dummy, I waited till I started getting numbness in my toes = diabetic neuropathy/nerve damage from too high blood sugar.

Post-tx rebound weight gain - it's a killer.