Liver question

I am sleeved 4 years this March. In November I started experiencing nausea and fatigue. In Dec 2018 I had my gallbladder removed but started experiencing severe pain in my right side of my abdomen. I am now seeing a gastrologist who did a ultrasound and discovered I have scarring and A course liver which may also be fatty??. They are not sure what is caused it (I don't drink much at all if ever) but said all my blood work is great that my liver is not enlarged and the last text I had in Jan 2018 showed my liver was perfect. The doc said they will do follow up but did not go into details on what this would entail. The doc also said my liver would not be causing the pain but nothing else showed on the ultrasound.

I am confused on what may cause this scarring on my liver so quick and if this is something I should be worried about. I don't know how bad the scaring is yet and what my next steps would be. I was just wondering if anyone else went though this with your liver and what your experience was.

Thanks for all you help!

I'm sorry - you're in that horrible period of "having just enough information to get scared," which is a challenging place to be!

I recommend asking your doctor what follow ups will entail, because worrying about this isn't awesome. Remember you can always seek a second opinion and you can ask doctors lots of questions. Do you have another appointment scheduled? When you go to the next appointment, take a list of questions you have and let the doctor know at the start of the appointment, "hey, I've got some questions I want to ask."

I had an experience many years ago, a few years before I had WLS, where I had some weird looking stuff on my liver. I ended up seeing an oncologist, which was a bit scary since oncology = cancer in my brain, but the oncologist was also a hematologist. I had a PET scan, and ultimately it was determined that the weird spots were just like moles - nothing to be worried about. Lots of blood work too during that time period.

Sorry you deal with that. At one time post op I had elevated liver enzymes. I used to drink wine, or mixed drinks a couple times a week. Plus dealing with pain I could only take Tylenol or opiates. I did not take pain pills everyday, but the combination of alcohol, Tylenol, and some other medication caused my liver enzymes to get elevated just enough to notice. 6 months later they were normal.

A lot of prescription medication, or even some OTC stuff, including naturel herbal stuff need to be broken down and disposed by our liver can also caused elevated liver enzymes. A few months ago I decided to give up alcohol. Plus be rather careful with my diet and supplements. Making sure I don't stress my live too much.

I think post op WLS our liver could be more sensitive to medication or alcohol. Normal stomach process part of alcohol we drink. That is no longer true after WLS. Study shows that our bodies post op WLS process alcohol differently, affecting us much more after WLS.

Drinking is not the only cause. Tylenol is a liver toxic drug, although the label doesn't clear say that. Taking 10 doses causes my liver to "kick up".

This link will give you a start, but if you are deeply concerned, please ask for a referral to a liver specialist, for peace of mind. The internet and the group are not subsitutes for medical doctors

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:scDHOP krfwAJ:https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/liver-di sease/nafld-nash+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

My fatty liver was diagnosed in 1984, via liver biopsy. With weight management back in the day, and being careful (never was an alchol drinker much) it was fine till meds put on a lot of weight (resulting many years later in my VSG).

I will say that a liver biopsy, unless they suspect something serious,only confirms the NASH diagnosis,which can be made by a specialist by palpitation and blood levels.

The liver is able to heal and regenerate, and its pretty forgiving. Please don't worry too much. But talk plainly to your physician about your concerns!

Thanks Annie, I have left multiple messages for the gastrologist (who ordered the test)and am just waiting for a call back. I do not take a lot of Tylenol but I do you have a daily headaches that caused me to take Motrin or Excedrin once in while. Because of my sleeve I really try not to take these either. I have a list of questions for the doctor when he calls back. Hope to hear something soon to get some answers but appreciate hearing others experiences.

Have a great day!