ImReadyToQuit

The yo-yo life of drinking and not drinking.. ahh.. The thinking about alcohol all the time when you are not drinking.. Then, when you are drinking you think about quitting.......

ScottFromWI

Drinking causes all kinds of physical problems. And yes, it's very common for them to return or get worse if you start drinking again. Did you honestly expect a different result?

Kllme

Yes, I did if it was revealed there was no damage. I did have an enlarged spleen; not sure how much that effects everything. Will call Dr. if doesnt go away within a week. After hopefully it goes away this time, I guess that means something is/was wrong and not to tempt fate

biminiblue

For as worried as you were, you certainly have a short memory.

I hope you stop before you do some irreversible damage.

Not everything can be healed, and you don't always get a warning.

Kllme

I know, dumb decision. Haven't made a good one in 10 years

biminiblue

Still time to change that, my friend!

ScottFromWI

So just to be clear, you drank to the point of having an inflamed liver, and quit for 3 weeks and it cleared up. You then proceeded to start drinking again and have the same symptoms. Have you seen your doctor? Have you stopped drinking?

newman23

I'll never forget when I came here with similar concerns. I was told "we alcoholics don't scare straight", and boy, were they ever right. At least in my experience. I drank when my AST and ALT were in normal range, and when they were both in the 200s. I drank with no health concerns, and even when I thought I had cirrhosis. "Well, I'm not yellow, so I must still have some time to drink before it gets too bad". Or after a little time, I get thoughts in my head that it won't be that bad if I just drink again, one more time. It's been my experience, any health scares I have alone haven't been able to keep me sober which is scary as hell.

Are you currently working any programs or outpatient or counseling or anything?

Kllme

Yes I have stopped drinking.

No, I have not seen my Dr or made an appt. for this. Last time a month ago when i had these same symptoms, it went away on its own once I dropped alcohol and cleaned up diet.

Now I am wondering if he will tell me the truth if i see him for this. Last time he said everything was fine, I drank.

Here is what I think occurred in this. When i originally saw him, I had a fatty liver although blood tests only showed elevated bilirubin. I then quit for 3 weeks and had MRI and everything came back clean because fatty liver healed during that time.

This just all sucks. My life is falling apart and then even if it comes together I wont have crap to do or ever date. I have never met or dated a girl sober since high school. Everyone knows, sure you could go to that Halloween party full of drunks and tempt yourself, but nothing is worse than being sober around a bunch of drunk girls.

Kllme

The thing I am keeping an eye on is at a certain point before, when i was sitting down and tried to flex my non abs, I would have 2 lines on each side. This time I only have 2 lines on my left side and none on my right where my liver is. But this Day 4. Last time, I think it took 7-10 days to start showing some effects of going away.

KateL

Waheyy great news xxxxx

Kllme

No, not good news. I am not talking as in abdominal muscles. I am just saying sort of an outliner of fat. They were on non liver side but wouldn't show on liver side likely due to inflammation.

I drink only because of anxiety and stress. I can't listen to bad news voice mails without drink or open my bad news mail up or return bad news calls.

ScottFromWI

First off, I think it's good that you stopped drinking again.

Second off, i think you need to perhaps see a different doctor. And you need to be brutally honest about everything you have shared with us here - tell them specifically that you have concerns that you might have done damage to your body and tell them exactly how often/much you drink/drank. If you want an honest answer, you need to give them all the facts.

Lastly, as we mentioned before no one is going to be able to diagnose you here. And you won't be able to diagnose yourself based on what the outside of your abdomen looks like. If you have a medical concerns, you need to see a doctor. Go to the ER if you feel it's pressing enough of an issue. Knowing exactly what is going on will help lessen your anxiety.

Kllme

That is another thing, I just got a bill for $1,600 for 2 dr. visits although I went when insurance was in effect and when it wasn't for blood tests, I paid in cash.

I honestly don't think I can remain sober long term until I have a real job again and money.

ScottFromWI

Sobriety doesn't cost anything. In fact, the opposite is true - it costs much less to abstain than purchasing alcohol.

biminiblue

Wow. You really need to stop drinking. Your thought processes are so distorted from drinking that you are not even able to make sense of the simplest things like dating or bad phone messages.

Life is not that difficult. There are lots of girls who aren't drunk. Phone messages and mail have to be dealt with - good or bad. Jobs are not necessary in order to stop drinking. Doctors aren't mind readers. Abs that appear a certain way don't mean liver problems. If you are sick, you find a way to pay medical bills.

Kllme

Oh yeah, I am screwed up. Things used to be great for me but have slipped to being 3rd world country living in my dirty villages basement sleeping with goats and using dirty underwear as a blanket.

Freshperspective14

What your posts say to me is that when you drink, your body hurts. When you stop, so does the pain...after about 3 weeks or so it seems. Do you want to get to the point that not drinking is not enough to fix your body? I'm sure that there are plenty of folks here that wish they had had the same signs as you and paid closer heed to them so that they had the certainty of fully reversing the damage that alcohol had done to them. I'm one of them.

Take care of yourself KLLME

ImReadyToQuit

My doctor told me once.. "Your liver is like a car without a gas light, you will be driving along just fine, and then it quits without warning."

Kllme

2nd AA meeting tonight. I liked this group more than the 1st. The 1st one was full of hardcore felons. They meant well though.