W2782

Hello all, I am posting my results and experience at the doctors office to perhaps help others with using myself as an example.

I posted not too long ago about my physical withdrawal symptoms and desire to quit.. that thread was filled with helpful people such as the great Dee and others, which this forum is not short of in any capacity.

I truly thank you.

I went to my doctor and he did blood work… nothing happened for 2-3 weeks. I continued drinking, like an idiot.

I went to my Dr. again to follow up because they never called, and I was feeling sicker (big surprise.) He did more blood work, stating that the first time he took blood my "Liver enzymes were elevated." He also took Hep A, B and C blood work to make sure.

Just one day after, I got a phone call.. (I was at a bar.. lol.) The head nurse was on the phone and said my liver enzymes were above the normal range now and I needed to come in as soon as I could for a follow up to schedule an ultrasound. She said Hep A, B, and C, were neg. Hooray for small things, little did I know about what was going to happen next…

So I go get an ultrasound of my upper right quadrant where they checked everything… no problem with spleen, pancreas, gall bladder.. but liver.. here is the diagnosis:

Steatosis aka in this case Fatty liver disease.

He said to me in no uncertain terms: If you take one more drink, you are dangerously close to cirrhosis, and you can reverse what you have, if you follow complete abstinence.

Folks,
I will die if I continue to drink. I can only speak for myself but to say, if there ever was a wake up call, it was this.

I hope this story helps someone else, because your life is just as precious as mine.

~W

Raider

Wow. Ok what's your plan.

Stoogy

Thank you for your update, and I'm glad you are okay, a wake up call for many of us here.

Take care of yourself.

SoberLeigh

Sorry about your diagnosis but glad you were given a wake-up call, W2. I echo what Raider asked. Do you have a plan in place?

IOAA2

Hi. Good you followed through with the tests. I assume you'll stop drinking now. I'll suggest you, under all circumstances, remember this wake up call when you have ideas that "just one won't hurt." That's the one that is the KO for so many.

BE WELL

AnyLengths

Thanks for sharing that. I've known at least four men over the years who had the exact same diagnosis but continued to drink anyway, either right away or after the shock wore off.

All four of them died eventually from liver disease or other alcohol-related health problems.

Let the wake-up call be the wake-up call -- now take some action.

least

Wow!! That's one hell of a wake up call. I hope you can stay sober from here on out for your well being.

Sudz No More

Glad you have fair warning to right the ship. Don't get complacent in your recovery now, there is no turning back. You have used up all your free passes.

You can do it

Hevyn

Thank you for the update - It's good you got checked out. This is the incentive you need to stay on course.

MesaMan

This quote is attributed to the hard-livin' Charlie Sheen, and I sho can relate to it:

'I had 40 years of Drinkin' in me, but I used 'em up in 20.' So did I.

Glad your Wake-Up Call came when your Cellphone was not on 'Vibrate' so you could hear it well. So to speak...

ImReadyToQuit

I hope it helps you quit.. But I also hate when doctors flat out lie.. One more drink will give you cirrhosis with a fatty liver? These are the same doctors that know for a fact that 90% of overweight people have fatty livers.. And 98% of drinkers have them too.. They would never tell the fat guy, one more burger and your gonna die...

JMO..

robgt350

yea that is a wake up, but hope you stop drinking.

Gottalife

Same here. That would be the sane thing to do.

However, when I was given a similar warning from a doctor, I got drunk that very night. That was not the sane thing to do but it is what an alcoholic would do.

I needed a drink to help get my head around the state of my health. I drank for another year after that doctors warning, and almost died.

afloatsober

Its a warning of what is to come if you continue to drink.
Wake up calls never kept me sober but they did scare me for a while, and they certainly ruined my 'fun' drinking.
I stopped when the pain of drinking became worse than the pain of living and i had run out of choices.
I believe that no matter what our age or experience with booze, there is a point before the 'line is crossed' where we may exercise our will and stop.
I hope that you are at that point, because when that line is crossed into suicidal drinking you will experience hell beyond you worst imagining.
Don't go there.
Stop now and be well.
G

Kllme

How long have you been drinking? I feel I am in a similar situation. I freaked out a month ago because I woke up with what I thought was ascites but I think my liver was just swollen. Had slight jaundice. Had blood tests and an MRI. Everything came back fine with only elevated bilirubin. I have been drinking hard for 3 weeks again and now feel the same way I did before. I can feel my liver swollen currently and am going through horrible withdrawls right now. All I can do is pace the floor. How can you go from just a fatty liver to cirrosis with 1 drink though like your Dr. said?

Kllme

I honestly wonder about Dr's diagnoses when it comes to alcohol. It just feels like if you go to 4 different Dr's, you will hear 4 different things. When I went for first Dr. visit in April, upon physical examination, Dr. said I was in early stages of cirosis, the blood tests come back OK except elevated bilirubin and MRI apparently showed liver was fine. I assume Dr. can read MRI but different Drs would probably order different blood tests.

ScottFromWI

You probably can't, but that's not really the point. We don't even know those are his doctors exact words or paraphrasing as he hasn't replied.

The reality though is that's if you are drinking to the point of causing problems with your liver, you need to stop drinking immediately. And we all know that there is no such thing as one drink to an alcoholic, so in a sense his doctor is correct.

W2782

Hey guys,

Like the "Thats great but now whats your plan?" responses.

I got annoyed at first because the sheer concept of drinking again I felt was lunacy and any fair minded person should know that! But then I saw the wisdom in those words. Especially the poster who said 4 men they knew got that diagnosis and continued drinking and they are dead. When the initial shock wears off, the rhetorical and perhaps real question is to when I will pick up again, and what can I do to prevent that from happening.

I was an amateur bodybuilder who had won some shows.. sorry I have to be anonymous here. Alcohol wasn't a discussion, a factor or even an issue, and it was a strict enemy and only became an issue for me later on in life when I had a very busy career and no more time to work out which has since changed.

My point is, for everyone their plans are different and It is what works for the individual, so my plan is resuming my physical fitness. Today I just shelled out $1350 for my gym starting a new membership, went down to GNC and bought my usual supplementation, and was thoroughly excited walking down the aisles and looking at the new things they had, and such keeping in mind liver toxicity.

Im home, now after a grueling workout as I used to do, my arms couldn't even turn the wheel of my car lol. I feel great, energized, healthy, and alert.. something which was the complete opposite of how I felt two weeks ago. Im excited, and motivated to continue on. For the year, i'm not concerned.. and you can rest assured, I may come back and post here if I'm welcome to, BEFORE I have any slippage, if it so happens.

So, thank you for those who provoked a plan of action... very worthwhile. It got my butt up and out into the world, doing something I rediscovered for many many reasons, and fulfilled me.

Now to address the questions about the Dr. lying about cirrhosis:
I was paraphrasing, but he said the general gist of that. He didn't literally lie and say if I take one drink I'll have cirrhosis... thats silly to even consider, and Im sorry if i made it difficult to interpret.

His words were more like that if i take one more drink I am on the pathway to cirrhosis, which is very true, and not incorrect. I already have fatty liver, and theres alcoholic hepatitis and then cirrhosis after that if I recall correctly.. but its still already along the pathway. I guess I didn't want to consider (for myself) that there was a grace period window to allow a few more drinks.

Regardless, I think clarification is a very good thing, but devaluing the message is not, although I do understand a middle ground many times can't be met.

I don't want people to think that its OK to drink when you get a diagnosis as mine. ITS NOT. So even though you very well could SURVIVE if you drank 100 more drinks and may or may not have it progress to cirrhosis, the scope of my post was to emphasize the seriousness of such a condition.

I can only speak for myself to say that I am terrified of having another drink knowing the damage it has clinically done to my body. You only get so many chances in life, and heres my chance and reminder.

Thanks all for the support!

~W

zeldachan

This is happening to me too! I got the diagnosis a week ago. I'm only 33. We can't have one more drink! Not one more! We can reverse this if we eat well and if we never have another drink as long as we live. We have to do what is necessary to get there, whatever that is.

ImReadyToQuit

W2782, just a heads up.. I used to be a workout buff.. And I can tell you that just the diet of body building will hurt your liver overtime. Too much protein will affect the kidneys and liver quite a bit. Mix that with a lot of supplements, same thing. If you add drinking to the mix.. The results can be disastrous.

Best wishes