imkindly

Hi mab
Here is a list of what my husband takes everyday:

Furosemide (Lasix) 20 mg. every 8 hours

Spironolactone (Aldactone) 50 mg. every 8 hours

Prevacid 30 mg. once per day

Mag tab (Magnesium) 84 mg. twice per day

Noroxin 400 mg. once per day

Enulose (Lactulose) 2 tbs. twice per day

The Noroxin is an antibiotic, and they want to keep him on it, until he gets his transplant. The reason for this is, he has had two episodes of "spontaneous peritonitis" (infection in the ascites fluid in his abdomen). He has two umbilical hernias (from pressure in his abdomen), so they are afraid the infection could re-occur at any time.
So, he takes the above list everyday.

He had a tooth break off, and we went to our local dentist. We told the dentist about my husband's condition, and had him explain what exactly he'd want to do to my husband's tooth (but did NOT allow him to do anything that day---just basically had him look at the tooth). The dentist wanted to do a "root canal", and then install a "crown" (fake tooth).
We gave the dentist our hepatologist's phone number, and told him that he needed to get it all "okayed" before we could get this done.
A few days later, the dentist called us and told us that our hepatologist had recommended that my husband take
Cephalexin 500 mg. twice per day ,
for 5 days
(beginning one day before the root canal----and continuing 4 days after the root canal).

(mab.....I have to admit, I called the hepatologist myself and double-checked on the dentist....to make sure the cephalexin would be okay, and to make sure that he really got the okay from the hepatologist.)

So my husband had the root canal done. They gave him Novacaine (which the dentist told me that he had an okay from the hepatologist for that too)---- but I hadn't asked the hepatologist about the Novacaine. WELL....that's another thing that seemed to have a big effect on my husband. (Hindsight is 20/20, isn't it!) His mouth swelled up huge (the night after the root canal), and he wouldn't get out of bed the next day. (He felt alright (no pain), but he acted like someone on sleeping pills or something.)
I called the hepatologist about that too. He said that if my husband didn't snap out of it by the next day, to call him again. Thankfully, my husband did snap out of it (got out of bed the following day.)

The dentist said there was no way that the Novacine put my husband to sleep for 36 hours.
I think it did though!

We went back to the dentist a week later, to have the "crown" (fake tooth) installed.
(No Novacaine necessary on that visit).
Again, we had to take
Cephalexin 500 mg. twice per day ,
for 5 days
(beginning one day before we went----and continuing 4 days after after we went).
THAT is when he prescribed the "oral rinse" that was full of alcohol.
So my husband uses the "oral rinse" that night, and won't get out of bed for the next two days. (And had pain under his ribcage the following day.)

The dentist doesn't think that any of this is due to anything he does (first the Novacaine.....then the mouthwash).

I see things differently! I see my husband everyday, and I can tell when something "new" is going on.
The dentist has an attitude that "well, he has liver failure...." (like all of this is due to plain old liver failure.)

I'm just glad my husband has his tooth done now, and hopefully we can stay away from the dentist for a while!

I should say that we live in a very small town----a rural area----and the dentist (along with the "local" doctors) scare me to death.
(We travel 130 miles to see our hepatologist.)

I'm just a housewife, mab, that spends alot of time on the computer trying to learn all I can about what to do, and what not to do, with liver failure. (I don't have a career.)
I believe that the local doctors here caused my husband's liver failure.
So in the past 13 months, I have spent ALOT of time educating myself on how to not let anyone harm him any further.
(He's my best friend!)