Fatty liver or worse? Any success stories?
 

Hi all, today was a reeeeally bad day for me. My labs came in & my Dr told me I have fatty liver and it's pretty bad. There's nothing she can do, I just need to not drink & it "might" get better. If no improvement in a month, I go to a specialist. Also, my liver enzymes were 300 high today which is waaaay higher than2 weeks ago. I'm confused because I haven't had anything to drink in 11 days but my enzymes are crazy high. Any advise on helping a fatty liver get better & and any success stories would greatly be appreciated:)

Hi, Better.

Sounds like you have a very good doctor. The liver is regarded one of the most resilient organs, if drinking is stopped prior to actual scarring. Fatty liver is a milestone on the path to cirrhosis, so it seems to me you are a very lucky person to have been alerted to this now.

Congrats on the 11 days! I suspect improved enzyme levels are just one of the many benefits awaiting you. :)

I am glad to hear you are being treated for this. A few years ago I had a friend with a fatty liver diagnosis--not sure what his numbers were. Dr told him to stop drinking and he improved. Keep us posted!

Ultimately that's one of the reasons I decided to stop. I haven't had any serious symptoms (that I know of) but I was really worried that I'd do permanent irreversible damage to my body, especially my liver. Can't do without that one and there's no spare!:lmao

Congrats on stopping! Hopefully you dodged a bullet.

Try googling Liver Cleansing Diet by Dr Cabot. May give you some tips.

I remember being with someone in the doctors when they got the news that their liver was damaged. The advice was simply 'don't drink'. This person was just starting their recovery journey. Sometimes you have to look at this on the flipside. If there's any chance that this is going to help you not drink anymore then this, although a bad thing, is actually causing some good to happen.

But the way I see it is.

End up drinking again = Liver gets worse

Stop drinking for good = Might get better.

I know which one I would choose. I hope it all gets better for you.

Natom.

I was just diagnosed with liver disease on 11/21. My dr told me it is early stages and reversible. The main thing He advised was that i should not drink ever. Theres plenty of info online too. Almost 2 months sober. Follow up in 2 weeks. My liver was enlarged and hurts from time to time. Curious to see what doc says at follow up.

The liver is the one organ in the body which can regenerate itself if you stop abusing it.

I was diagnosed with fatty liver a couple of years ago, which was actually a relief because they had suspected liver cancer.

Jaundice - you turn yellow - is a sign of irreversible damage, I've been told, but up to that point your liver can improve if you stop drinking.

The other thing to consider is that in order to qualify for a liver transplant a sobriety period is required; where I live it's two years with zero alcohol. Many drinkers have managed to do that. If they could quit to qualify for a transplant, they could have quit to keep from having to get one.

Thanks everyone for your response I'm going to look into natural remedies on to of not drinking etc.
Halzuzu, congrats on being sober for 2 months after your diagnoses. & I'm glad you can reverse it w/sobriety too! I'm in the same boat, It's scarry! But I have been excited to take my life back, beside my terrible anxiety, body aches & irritability. Have you tried milk thistle? I've been reading that it's a tea that has helped liver reconvery.

Riel thanks, how is your liver now? Are there things that you've done other than drinking to help it heal? Have you been sober that whole 2 years?
Thanks:)

Fatty liver is no big deal. Lots and lots of people have it -- usually people who are overindulging in something, but it does go away with clean living and care. You'll be okay, I promise.

I have chronic Hepatitis C. I got it 40 years ago and it is still in my system. My liver biopsy was normal; no scarring, no cirrhosis or fibrosis. I didn't start drinking a lot until just a few years ago.

I had blood work done a week after I stopped drinking. My liver enzymes were high. They had never been high until I started drinking, even though I have chronic Hepatitis. The nurse told me that it takes awhile for the numbers to come down.

I hope you can quit drinking. It's the only thing that can save your liver.

Hi. I just want to say that jaundice and liver failure can also be reversible - because I did it. My numbers were off the charts, I was neon yellow-orange, eyes and all, and they talked to my mom about "what if" .. including transplant or death..... I stopped drinking immediately.

In hospital, they gave me potassium, vitamins, and lots of liquids, and food (I hadn't been eating) .. After about 4-5 days I was improving, and they sent me home (with follow-up visits scheduled with the specialist). ..... That was over two years ago. I recently had a short, stupid relapse, but am sober once again - and forever I hope ... and my liver tests are now "perfect". No cirrohsis, no fatty liver.

(I have heard that lemon helps cleanse so I drank a lot of warm lemon water. I also read that coffee is good for the liver and other things and I started drinking coffee two years ago too and still do, and eating better and healthier foods.)

I don't know if I got lucky or what, but I am so grateful.... and one thing I can say for certain is that things won't get better, and will in all likelihood get much worse, if you don't stop drinking. Be thankful that you have this "heads-up" and the chance to turn things around. Use that!

Best wishes to you!

I know Im ready to work on sobriety now. I just want to be healthy & happy now. When I think about my fatty liver, it reminds me of my best friends dad who was found dead on the couch at age 35 from liver damage. It's is such a sad story. I added the amount of how much I've spent on liquor over 4 years, it's about 10,000 a year! & thats an under estimate! It's time for me to get it together, my doc said Zero drinking & she'll see me in a month so I'm going to clean up within that time. I just need to get through this awfully bad withdrawals. It's the only thing that makes me relaps when I'm trying. This time I'm stronger though...

What nutritional advice did the doctor give you? Maybe make a phone call to 'em!

My Dr just told me to stop drinking. I kept asking her questions as to what more can I do? And she kept saying there's nothing else you can do. But I've read so many things here that others have done, like tea, vitamins and tons of veggies/fruits etc. My Dr wasnt very helpful.

I was diagnosed with fatty liver about 4 years ago. Had an ultrasound that confirmed it. At that time, I was drinking wine daily, and heavily on weekends, and also quite overweight. I was mostly told to lose weight, advised to "cut down" the drinking. I tried and did not succeed very well at either the weight loss or drinking.

Two years after that, still overweight, and still drinking, I still had elevated enzymes and then my liver was enlarged and so was my spleen. I was also diabetic. Triglycerides very high.

I had a biopsy. I have some scarring, but not cirrhosis. There are grades to it and cirrhosis is after progressing to a pretty severe grade of fibrosis. Now, I was told it was from a combination of the obesity, diabetes, and the drinking. But I know I was drinking way too much(though a fraction of some stories I read on here, just FYI).

Anyway, after about 12 weeks sober, and significant weight loss, and controlling the diabetes with diet and exercise, I got the enzymes close to normal(they were a few points high, but hepatologist called it "essentially normal"). My cholesterol and triglycerides had gotten to the high normal range and so had my blood sugar.

A year later, about a year ago from now, my liver and spleen were normal sized and my liver enzymes the lowest ever, and completely normal.

So, my experience was that you can improve it a great deal.

My physicians have told me you can only know about fibrosis by having a biopsy.

Amazingly, my liver doc said I could have the occasional glass of wine, last year. Well, that ended badly with me having too much. I had stopped so easily when I was "sick" so I really though ti had it under control. I learned that I cannot have just one or just the occasional glass of wine.

So here I am again, on day 16.

But this time for good. I hope I did not do much more damage. I have kept my blood sugar normal and my weight loss off, other than 10 that cam back. I had lost 60 pounds, and now more like 50.

Good luck and I hope you can get things back to normal.

Wow Rochel! 50/60 lbs lost & good liver now. That's inspiring & congrats on the 16 days! I am over weight, I need to loose about that much. I was drinking about a bottle or more of wine every night. Im 28yo & in the 5 yrs I've been a drunk, I've gained 70 lbs (mostly within the last 3yrs) all from drinking! I'm not a big eater at all, & most of my calories are alcohol. I know im only in the beginning stage, but I keep having this thought in the back of my head telling me that when I get better I can drink once in a while. But, I know I can never do that without going too far. Thanks for your story!

there is lots of motivation on this thread, both for your sobriety and your general health.

I think the two go hand in hand. I find that once the fog lifted from the alcohol abuse I wanted to be kind to my body. Early days still, but I'm researching liver cleansing diet and exercise.