Oh I didn't know you had the results of the CT scan. Yes THAT is more reliable then the ultrasound and probably would have shown any nodules. They may di an MRI next, that's also supposed to be good
Yeah, I got the results on Wednesday! They said everything looked good, no gallbladder issues, no gallstones, ducts are all clear etc. Liver was mildly enlarged and my doctor just said the spleen is "quite big."
I guess Imaging method cannot tell if you have cirrhosis. I had liver biopsy looking for cirrhosis. It did not show on my several MRI, CT and liver ultrasound.
I hope you do not have it!!!!
Good luck
Well yes and no.if its advanced they can see the nodules on image studies. IF she has low platelets and an enlarged spleen from cirrhosis the it would be advanced enough for a CT scan to show some abnormalities like nodules etc
Imaging method cannot tell if you have cirrhosis. I had liver biopsy looking for cirrhosis. It did not show on my several MRI, CT and liver ultrasound.
I hope you do not have it!!!!
Good luck
Do you have cirrhosis? I don't remember if you have said you do or not, just curious if imaging came back negative and biopsy came back positive. I know I was reading somewhere online a lady was talking about her husband that tests kept coming back that he didn't have cirrhosis for about 4 years and then all of a sudden a biopsy finally came back that he had it pretty severely. Don't know if it progressed fast or what. I don't know how these things work but dang yeah I agree, I hope I don't have it! Not really worried about it yet but this stuff makes my head spin.
Do you have cirrhosis? I don't remember if you have said you do or not, just curious if imaging came back negative and biopsy came back positive. I know I was reading somewhere online a lady was talking about her husband that tests kept coming back that he didn't have cirrhosis for about 4 years and then all of a sudden a biopsy finally came back that he had it pretty severely. Don't know if it progressed fast or what. I don't know how these things work but dang yeah I agree, I hope I don't have it! Not really worried about it yet but this stuff makes my head spin.
No. Fortunately, I do not and i hope i will not have it.
If you google chirrosis imaging studies and blood tests you will see that while nothing is 100% without a biopsy, there are some very clear signs and changes that are visable in MRI and ultrasound as well as blood tests, once advanced. In early stages its usually not visable. BUT I believe that if someone had low platelets and and enlarged spleen as a result of chirrosis then it would mean the disease is advanced and surely at that point other things would be visable on imaging studies. I bet your enlarged spleen is the result of some autoimmune disorder.
The spleen will often enlarge with a virus or infection.
Last edited by Hypochondriacyy; 11-10-2012 at 12:28 PM.
From what I've read about autoimmune hepatitis is that they try to keep from giving meds for as long as possible just due to the side affects of the medication. So I guess it's good that it's not progressing that fast! I'm assuming you already knew that though hah.
And hey, it seems like your gastro doc has got you on a path to getting you answers! Let us know how your tests come back!
I will. I was somewhat astonished to read that someone mentioned a person having had cirrhosis for 4 years and not finding out until it was severe. That is my worry. This has been going on with me for 10 + years but my biopsy in 04 showed minimal inflammation of my liver, hopefully it is not progressing. Its just one of those things where you feel like you should be doing something but there is nothing you can do but wait and see what its going to do. Hope that makes sense! Ill def update after my scan on Monday. I am sorta nervous about getting that scope down my throat. Although I will be sedated just the thoughts of it is enough to unnerve me lol
I will. I was somewhat astonished to read that someone mentioned a person having had cirrhosis for 4 years and not finding out until it was severe. That is my worry. This has been going on with me for 10 + years but my biopsy in 04 showed minimal inflammation of my liver, hopefully it is not progressing. Its just one of those things where you feel like you should be doing something but there is nothing you can do but wait and see what its going to do. Hope that makes sense! Ill def update after my scan on Monday. I am sorta nervous about getting that scope down my throat. Although I will be sedated just the thoughts of it is enough to unnerve me lol
I don't do well with anesthesia so I'm hoping I never have to do something that involves me being sedated! The one and only time I was put under I had a difficult time waking up from it. I'm perfectly fine watching anything medically related, like when they show surgeries on tv and such but when it comes to thinking about myself having anything done, it makes me weak at the knees haha.
I keep telling my husband that although I wouldn't be surprised if in the end this winds up being AIH, I really hope it's not. I understand what you mean that it's just a thing where you sit and wait and wonder what is going on while they hold off treatment. Yet I am really more afraid of the treatment for it! I know meds like prednisone can cause weight gain and though I know it is what I would need, I am afraid of it triggering my eating disorder. I still struggle daily with the mental aspect of it all. But in the end I know whatever is going on and whatever treatment it requires I need to accept so I can be here for my daughter.
I don't do well with anesthesia so I'm hoping I never have to do something that involves me being sedated! The one and only time I was put under I had a difficult time waking up from it. I'm perfectly fine watching anything medically related, like when they show surgeries on tv and such but when it comes to thinking about myself having anything done, it makes me weak at the knees haha.
I keep telling my husband that although I wouldn't be surprised if in the end this winds up being AIH, I really hope it's not. I understand what you mean that it's just a thing where you sit and wait and wonder what is going on while they hold off treatment. Yet I am really more afraid of the treatment for it! I know meds like prednisone can cause weight gain and though I know it is what I would need, I am afraid of it triggering my eating disorder. I still struggle daily with the mental aspect of it all. But in the end I know whatever is going on and whatever treatment it requires I need to accept so I can be here for my daughter.
lol I can understand where you are coming from then if you battle with an eating disorder, I have a daughter that does also. Myself, I have the opposite problem I need to shed quite a few pounds. I know that my weight likely contributes to my issues as well. With me its much easier said than done. I am a stress eater.
I have had several surgeries in the past, the only thing I worry about is being one of those freak accidents where you hear someone is not asleep but paralyzed and they feel everything going on but cannot let the docs know. Its never happened in the past but it does cross my mind. One time I failed to start breathing and they had to shake me and tell me to breathe afterwards. So, I am a bit uncomfy, but truthfully the thought of enduring that scope while awake and me being claustrophobic worries me almost as much as the actual being put under does.
I certainly do not need the extra pounds the treatments can cause either and am not rushing them to do them for certain. It just worries me that the wait and see approach might end up being weve missed something along the route and by the time we figure it out its too late. Im probably just panicking here but thats how I see it. :-)
lol I can understand where you are coming from then if you battle with an eating disorder, I have a daughter that does also. Myself, I have the opposite problem I need to shed quite a few pounds. I know that my weight likely contributes to my issues as well. With me its much easier said than done. I am a stress eater.
I have had several surgeries in the past, the only thing I worry about is being one of those freak accidents where you hear someone is not asleep but paralyzed and they feel everything going on but cannot let the docs know. Its never happened in the past but it does cross my mind. One time I failed to start breathing and they had to shake me and tell me to breathe afterwards. So, I am a bit uncomfy, but truthfully the thought of enduring that scope while awake and me being claustrophobic worries me almost as much as the actual being put under does.
I certainly do not need the extra pounds the treatments can cause either and am not rushing them to do them for certain. It just worries me that the wait and see approach might end up being weve missed something along the route and by the time we figure it out its too late. Im probably just panicking here but thats how I see it. :-)
Nah I don't think you're panicking, I feel it's totally logical to think of it that way. After all, it's not like you have a picture of your liver day by day to see if or how fast things are progressing.
My husband had woken up during one of his knee surgeries, but he said he didn't feel anything.
I've gone from heavy restriction to binging so I have a very unhealthy relationship with food. I am currently a bit overweight and its so hard for me to lose weight. Over the past 3 weeks or so though its been increasingly difficult for me to eat. My appetite is shot, I rarely get hungry and when I do, it takes a ridiculously small amount of food to make me disgustingly full. Tonight I served myself what would be my normal portion of dinner and after 1/4 of it my stomach felt so full it hurt. Not heartburn kind of hurt, but over-eating kind of hurt. I managed to get in about 900-1000 calories today, but I did drink some orange juice and had a little bit of candy so that brought my calorie count up. It's just weird because typically I'm capable of eating like a very hungry man, and now it's like a yogurt fills me up.
Re: Elevated liver enzymes, pain under right rib cage, coarse texture on ultrasound
So I'm just waiting for my doctor to receive my lab results. In the meantime, I have a question.
Lately I have been getting kind of dizzy and/or nauseated. This morning I kept getting waves of nausea. Then a little later I felt dizzy so I figured I better eat something (it was around 10am, I hadn't eaten yet) and I had a small bowl of cereal.
I was feeling better and we went to Target. On the drive there I started feeling nauseated again. I was feeling rather weak and when we got into the store and started walking, I was getting dizzy. The spinning subsided but as we kept walking I felt like I couldn't comprehend where I was. Basically everything was crystal clear in terms of my vision but in my head, it was all a blur. I started feeling very weak and shakey and at that point, I almost started panicking because I was scared to death. I told my husband to just keep talking to me, to ask me questions and make me talk. I felt like I was fighting to stay conscious.
It lasted maybe 3-4 minutes and I finally started feeling better. I was still very shakey and had a hard time keeping my footing for about 10 minutes but by the time we got in the car to leave, I was fine and I have been fine since.
Everything came back fairly normal except for my platelet count, which was low.
The PT did come back as 11.7, which the normal range says 9.0-11.5
Platelet count was 107, normal is 140-400 thousand/uL
My white blood cell count is 3.9, normal is 3.8-10.8.
I tested negative for the ANA, hemochromatosis, and Wilson's disease. Iron and ferritin were normal as well.
My GI doc is sending me to the Center of Liver Disease through University of Miami to see a hepatologist. He said he has no idea what is going on but it is something and I need to be seen.
I'm having a heck of a time trying to get in to see these people though. They don't accept share of cost until that share of cost is met elsewhere. How the heck am I supposed to do that? Nobody accepts it. They won't let me make an appointment until they tell me how much it will cost and I agree that I can pay it. When I ask how much it costs they just tell me they need to call me back. Ugh. I'm so stressed.
What would "slight heterogeneity in density" of my liver mean on a CT scan?
I'm asking because I got some copies of my records and on my ultrasound it says "heterogeneous and coarsened liver echotexture." On my CT it says "unremarkable surface contour" but "slight heterogeneity in density" regarding my liver.
My understanding is that my liver density is not the same throughout? But what would that indicate? Neither doctor has mentioned it but I'm curious.
What would "slight heterogeneity in density" of my liver mean on a CT scan?
I'm asking because I got some copies of my records and on my ultrasound it says "heterogeneous and coarsened liver echotexture." On my CT it says "unremarkable surface contour" but "slight heterogeneity in density" regarding my liver.
My understanding is that my liver density is not the same throughout? But what would that indicate? Neither doctor has mentioned it but I'm curious.
Heterogenous means more then one kind. Its usually seen when there is fat cells mixed in with normal liver cells. Coarsened means not smooth, this COULD be indicative of cirrhosis, but I believe that ultrasounds vary so much from operator, to radiologist, to the actual machine. I had a normal ultrasound on a portable unit done at my doctors office, then a few months latter at NYU Medical Center in NY where they have have a $100,000.00 high frequency unit, it showed this: "mild heterogenous echo texture possibly indicating mild patches of fat".
I would think that your CT scan would over-rule your ultrasound. I believe the CT is more accurate and would be better at showing anything serious like regenerative nodules (cirrhosis). Also, the unremarkable contour is good! You certainly dont want a coarsened nodular contour. They say an MRI is even better.
I like to subscribe to my grandmothers advice who lived to 101 who always said "if you keep running to doctors looking for trouble you will find it"
Heterogenous means more then one kind. Its usually seen when there is fat cells mixed in with normal liver cells. Coarsened means not smooth, this COULD be indicative of cirrhosis, but I believe that ultrasounds vary so much from operator, to radiologist, to the actual machine. I had a normal ultrasound on a portable unit done at my doctors office, then a few months latter at NYU Medical Center in NY where they have have a $100,000.00 high frequency unit, it showed this: "mild heterogenous echo texture possibly indicating mild patches of fat".
I would think that your CT scan would over-rule your ultrasound. I believe the CT is more accurate and would be better at showing anything serious like regenerative nodules (cirrhosis). Also, the unremarkable contour is good! You certainly dont want a coarsened nodular contour. They say an MRI is even better.
I like to subscribe to my grandmothers advice who lived to 101 who always said "if you keep running to doctors looking for trouble you will find it"
Thanks! I was given a copy of my records to bring to the next person I have to see. My GI doc referred me to a hepatologist, but I can't get in until January. I was reading my CT results and this was something that wasn't brought up to me and I didn't exactly understand it when I read it in terms of the "density". I figured if it was a big deal that my doctor would have told me so I wasn't necessarily worried, I just like to know what these things mean. We still have no idea what is going on. Honestly, I am done with doctors. I'm so sick of going but my GI doc said I need to figure out what is going on. He said I may need a biopsy. I can't imagine what in the world it could be and what a biopsy would find that blood work and imaging can't, but maybe that's why they're doctors and I'm not! I even asked my GI doc if this is something that I can kind of blow off and he said no, that regardless of how much it costs (which a consultation with a hepatologist without insurance very well may cost me $600) that it will be well worth it to figure out what this is. Makes me want to pull my hair out...I just want to feel better. It's frustrating, but hopefully one day I will have an answer of some sort.
Just curious, did your Dr ever run a mitochondrial antibody test on your blood? That is often present in autoimmune hepatitis, and I haven't seen that lab test mentioned as being done. If they are suspecting AI hepatitis, that test would be helpful to confirm it. Just to help you understand the pain better, the liver is surrounded by a capsule like coating, and when liver enlarges, the capsule gets stretched and it hurts. Also, there is probably inflammation in liver which can be painful too. The 2 tests being run to show inflammation are the CRP and sed rate.
Last edited by ladybud; 11-27-2012 at 12:26 AM.
Reason: added info
