is there a doctor in the house lol

Gee kathy, I believe that you can heal much damage don to a liver-but damage done by cirrhosis is not reversable. It can stop progressing however if you stop drinking. My uncle has this and was told it was not reversable for him.

Someone correct me if I am wrong please. I am just a mere mortal, not a doc :)

No, you cannot reverse cirrhosis, but if it hasn't progressed too far, you can keep it from getting worse. The "scarred" tissue on the liver does not operate correctly, but there is usually good liver tissue between the scar tissue - these cells continue to function. This is why you can sometimes have normal blood tests with cirrhosis.

If you find out that you have it, it's very important to modify your diet so that your liver can process toxins more easily. I don't know all the "in's and outs" of this stuff, but I've done some reading and I've been on the cirrhosis board of DS. It's a great place for information.

i guess what i was asking is what you answered..stop progressing..i don't know if i have cirrhosis or not but i'd like to think that stopping drinking stopped any progression..thanks kk

your right jacker i'll check over there too thanks

If you are really worried, go for a CT Scan or an Ultrasound. That will show any obvious problems. My liver was giving me problems last year, but I feel great now. It's the most regenerative organ in the body (short of cirrhosis) and even with cirrhosis, the good cells can regenerate. Don't be worried! Just be sober okay? You'd be surprised at the extent to which your body can heal with some good treatment.

So true jacker. My uncle was diagnosed with this and stopped drinking and got so healthy and back to life! Then he started drinking again-waiting for that call now sadly that something has happened to him.

I know from a friend on here that what Jacker says is very much how it is

I was lucky to have no signs of cirrhosis despite the years of drinking but others inc my friend have not been so lucky

Do everyhting you can to avoid this

thanks everyone..i don't have a desire to drink or especialy not to get back into that rut or lifestyle

Hi kathy,

See link on info regarding this or google "cirrhosis"

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cirrhosis/DS00373/DSECTION=symptoms

This is more motivation for me to not drink!

Damn (sorry for the foul language haha) kath. I was just reading online a study of people who had various stages of fatty liver and cirrhosis and things they gave them that were successful in reversing not cirrhosis but advanced stages of liver problems.

It's kind of funny. I have this morbid fascination with the effects alcohol has on my body so if you go to my google and type "a" you get a list of horrid alcohol related searches, "l" for liver problems and even "bright yellow diarrhea" which I learned was alcohol ketoacidosis. Every time I have some symptom, I look it up and research and see if it's drunk related. If it's intestinal or head related, it usually is!

thanks rick 8..good site

Rick, that is a good site but I think I had about 2/3 of those when I was drinking anyway! Bruising? Check. Lack of appetite, no interest in sex and nausea? Check. Peeing Pepsi? Yeah, not quite there on that one yet thankfully.

bruising (falling down alot and blaming it on my boyfriend)..lack of appetite (food takes up to much drinking room)..no interest in sex..(interferes with drinking and passing out)..nausea (don't waste the alcohal) dark urine (not checking while drunk)..i realy used to think that way..baaaaaad memories

Serisously - look at the Cirrhosis board on DS- you'll learn alot. I had fatty liver, and it gave me a pain in my side, tingly feet, and the palms of my hands were red. They diagnosed it 7 weeks after I quit drinking completely, and all the web research says that it should leave "within a few days or several weeks'. I was freaking out!

It went back to normal though- no special treatment other than sobriety. I exercised, but I do that anyway.