have liver damage and swollen spleen, at 20years old…..?
Question by Hannah C: have liver damage and swollen spleen, at 20years old…..?
i have 2 small children so get enough exercise, eat healthy and dont drink or smoke, infact gave up drink and smoking 2 years ago. lead a happy marriage.
have recently been told on a clinical report after blood tests and scans that i suffer with liver damage and a swollen spleen. have been referred to a liver specialist and am undergoing further blood tests for other things to see why this is happening.
can someone please tell me what i should explec and what will happen to me as im very young to be getting this and hep c isn currently the suspect but if have hep c, and my liver is damaged already and spleen swollen, does this mean its passed the point where its untreatable? will i ever get rid of this and will my spleen and liver ever recover?
thank you
Best answer:
Answer by JM
my husband is 25 and not unhealthy and he has liver problems as well. he has non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. it stinks that sometimes you didn’t drink or eat your way to being unhealthy, sometimes people just have problems!
your prognosis will depend on what you have. without knowing, i can’t tell you that you will get better but most likely they will find a way to manage what’s wrong. best wishes
Answer by yesdrdave
Please don’t take any of the following info too seriously as your liver specialist will confirm any issues you may have, I just hope to alleviate a bit of your worry at this point. The prob with medicine is it generates worry when some possibilities are considered. I am in no means implying anything either as I do not know anything more than the information stated above.
Liver damage is commonly caused by alcohol consumption (causing cirrhosis) NAFL or “non alcoholic fatty liver” due to excessive dietry fat consumption. Or Viral infection (hepatitis A/B/C/ rarely D and so on)
Your tests (LFT’s or liver function tests) are to estimate liver function and damage. They will look for protiens that are made by the liver, clotting factors made in the liver and markers such as ALT, AST, GGT which are present in the blood during liver cell (hepatocyte) damage.
These tests will determine liver status, also a possible biopsy.
The enlarged spleen is due to the vascular shunting (increased blood flow to the spleen) it responds to the increased flow that can no longer pass through the liver because of the cirrhotic (scarring) damage. A condition of portal hypertension causes this (where blood by-passes across the portal vein to the spleen) sometimes a distended or full (bloated) stomach can be present, also slightly more prominent veins on the abdomen may be seen.
The liver is a remarkable organ with the possibility of substantial regeneration, If a possible viral infection is the cause, there are options for treatment, “antiviral therapy” is a good option. The drugs commonly used are named “interferon” or “Ribavirin” , your specialist will know full well about these.
As to when you will recover, depends on the cause, if it’s viral you can treat it, the others are dietry so it’s up to you. Spleen is also dynamic and can change in response to vascular flow.
Hope this helps, hope it’s nothing at all. the good news is that you’re young and have excellent recovery ability. Stay strong, Get good advice , don’t panic or worry yourself too much, see the specialist asap.
bye
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