I am an ultrasound technologist and I am here to tell you that my liver in February of last year was normal. I have checked my own liver out or had one of my coworkers scan me for the last 10 yrs due to meds I take. It was absolutely normal--now it looks like a liver of someone who drank a fith of jack daniels every day of her life!
The inflamation is a type of hepatitis--biopsy neg for lyme, blood work neg for hep A,B and C. Had one test that came back stating that 75$% of people with this elevated could have autoimmune hepatitsand /or cholangitits( gall bladder problems. My GI doc is puzzled and was waiting on the report from my LLD--went to LLD today and now they want to talk with my GI doc to see if they should continue treatment.
My opinion it is iatrogenic caused by the abx--what do you all think?????????
In the meantime my spleen and left side is starting to bother me as well. I have seen some reports that spenomegaly and hepatomegaly can be caused by lyme disease. My question is is it the antibiotics that has thrown my liver for a loop or is it the disease?
I am PCR positive for lyme as well as erhliciosis and babs--been through the mepron and proper abx.
Now a year later I am sleeping 18 hours a day and cannot do much of anything. I was doing better b4 treatment started with fatigue. I need to loose weight to help with the fatty liver, but having a tough time doing that without being active--my metabilism stinks--much exercise a lot to loose weight--been there and done that 3 times with varies surgeries.
anyway if any one else knows something about the liver turning on them after iv treatment let me know. any input is welcome.
Meanwhile I am feeling soooooooooo fatigued and my abdomen is distended to the point that I look 7 months pregnant. It is very sore and uncomfortable. I feel like I am in limbo without the instruction manual!~!!!
Cathy
What abx were you on?
Why is your Doc puzzled?
Are they doing anything to detoxify (or help)
the liver?
(Sorry you're having to go thru this.)
Barb
Infections and abx will cause elev. enzy.
No one escapes. Same here.
Check lymeinfo.net for abstract on liver and lyme; sky high liver enzy for lyme.
Erhlichosis, I think does same for liver.
One positive way to look at this is that, there are two cases where labwork would indicate no abnormal lft. The first being a perfectly healthy liver, not even affected by "life," never mind an infection(s), and in the second case, one's liver is terminally damaged, such that it will not register abnormal lft, because a dead liver cannot make proteins and liver enzymes are proteins. A dead destroyed liver will make nothing indicating that its under stress.
I think of the first case this way: the normal range of liver function indicators just means "normal" damage due to "life."
If there were no damage due to "life," then the liver would not produce enzymes that are not supposed to be registering in the blood; else, why have a liver function test?
What is pissing me off is the NP I saw yesterday is acting as if 47 weeks of antibiotics could not due this damage to the liver--yet is is documented in articles all over the net, reputalbe ones that a non-alcholic fatty liver can be caused by toxins and antibiotics are first on the list even before cancer drugs--------UGGG
My husband is having a colonoscopy on Monday and we have the same Gi doc, I will talk with him on Monday.
No they are not recommending any type of detox. I talked with someone I trust about this and I am still on about 4 medications and it is dangerous to do a detox with one of my meds--antidepressants.
Quite frankly I am thinking of seeking some homeopathic or naturepathic help as soon as I can get on my feet. So far no one I have talked to knows anything about lyme.
Cathy
Sorry you're having problems with your liver. My husband's uncle had non-alcoholic cirrhosis or fatty liver due to exposure to cleansers/chemicals for equipment he used on his Dairy during his entire life.
There is only 1 doctor in the north Texas area that treats this. If you want his phone number to see if he knows a good liver doctor in your state, just page me.
I understand you can't do any detox right know but you might find this book interesting for "research purposes only:"
The Liver Cleansing Diet by Sandra Cabot, MD from Australia. She explains everything about liver problems, supplements, etc. and gives you recipes to help you. It'a a great book.
None of us can fight this infection without a detoxified liver.
I just found her new website. It does have a section about fatty liver.
It's at:
http://www.liverdoctor.com
I have even ordered her products, but the book & website is the most important thing you can review.
When your doctor releases you to do some detox, don't forget R-Lipoic Acid (it's the stronger form of alpha lipoic acid), but I would only do it under a doctor's supervision, as it also pulls out heavy metals which may tax your liver too much.
Anyway, I have heard of a story where a young teen who drank toxic amounts of poison mushroom drink. He needed a liver transplant.
The physician had some alpha lipoic acid in IV form and saved the liver and the young teen. What a great doctor.
Anyway, you can protect your liver by cutting out sugars and bad fats. The book explains all this.
Hope you'll at least try to get this book; I think it would be a great source of information from a Medical Doctor who knows the liver.
Best Wishes,
Jan
[This message has been edited by Recipegirl05 (edited 28 March 2005).]
I keep my liver enzymes down with Dr. Zhang's Hepa Formula 2. It costs a bundle, but it does work. He used to have the ingredients on his website, but alas, it looks like they've been taken down. Also, try N-acetyl choline to see if it helps you.
The elevated liver enzymes and spleen problems also turned out to be major co-infection indicators. Forty-seven weeks on IV is a lot without checking for these--and often, you have to go on clinical presentation, because the tests for babesia and bartonella aren't great.
The best way to check for babesia is to try artemisinin and see if your symptoms change. As someone who just started bart treatment, I can say it's hard to distinguish from Lyme, but here are the main symptoms:
sinus headaches
insomnia
swollen, distended glands
sore throat
systemic inflammation
Lyme abx don't work