My labs went to 'normal' and stayed there. I wasn't taking any meds at all and that is the position I am in now. My MELD is 6, the only thing I avoid is alcohol but my sleep patterns are still completely messed up and I still suffer terrible tiredness.
Other than that, I lead a normal life, normal diet, no doctors visits, no meds etc.
Perhaps you should try giving up you meds progressively over a few weeks, you may be surprised in that you find you don't need them at all.

Craig

I can totally empathize with you. I too have cirrhosis, diagnosed by biopsy etc. but I have normal labs. Last thing I was told by the Hepatologist was to lose weight and my cirrhosis would go away. I am beyond confused. Why are the labs normal but I have cirrhosis? Explain that one to my Lucy.

When I asked my GI if I was 'cured' his response was "No'. He said I will always have cirrhosis (remember cirrhosis is scar tissue) but have enough liver functionality to survive normally.

I think one only needs about 15% of your liver to work in order for it to be able to cope with everything it needs to be able to do.
Once the 'happy' spot is reached and the liver is working ok, one just needs to look after and cherish it a bit for it to see you out! That is the reason why I refrain from alcohol, even though I could perhaps get away with drinking occasionally.

I also now wonder whether the continual tiredness is a sign that although my liver is working ok, it will never be 100% and therefore some symptoms will persist thought thankfully the life-threatening ones have gone away.

Craig

Thanks so much...I think I sort of feel the same way on this one. I realize that I'll always have the disease but honestly would it be so bad to live this way forever? Not really. My fear comes from my doctor becoming too lax because my labs are good for now. The docs at Walter Reed are very good about explaining that though my labs may be normal and even my MRIs may come back normal (at some point!) I will always have this disease and of course anything could happen at any time. So...I think for now I'll be happy with the fact that what I am doing seems to be right and I'll keep taking care of myself but also be prepared incase somewhere down the road things aren't so right (I think a 2nd time around I could handle it better).
Lucy, I feel for you. It isn't easy when the docs tell you to do one simple thing and you'll be "cured". Don't they think if it were that easy we'd all being doing that and get better? I shall keep you in my prayers.
Craig....you know the more I think about it, sometimes I think it might be nice someday to be able to have my favorite Merlot again but then again, it probably wouldn't agree with me and honestly I don't miss the headaches that red wine always gave me so I think I'll stick to chocolate for the rest of my life LOL
Take care

Hi ChelseyAnn,

My labs are normal too...I was told if I never told anyone about my liver disease that there would be no way of knowing except for the biopsy and ultra sound. I too have been told my tiredness is not because i my liver disease and have had numerous test to rule out just about everthing in the world! All I know is that when I get sick...I get very sick and my levels spike. I also know that I am always tierd. to the point where I still nap. We can't all be wrong!! This comes from Layhee...my local guy says it is normal to be tierd with liver disease. so i don't know!

same here. If you get it to stop on time, you should lead a normal life, according to 3 different doctors.

Ok so many of us here have cirrhosis but are blessed with normal labwork. I think that is wonderful but I know I need to do everything possible to make sure that these labs don't become abnormal, right? I have researched the liver and am totally amazed at all the things it does do. My assumption now is that there is enough good functioning liver left to give us these positive results. Now if I could just get my weight under control. Guess I need to go join Spark next.

I haven't been on in some time now but I have been meaning to share with the group for a long time what's going on with me. I finally in Jan. was able to get in to see a Hep/transplant specialist at UAB. I pretty bad acsites still (ick!!). It has gotten somewhat better. Anyway, when I saw the Doc. he too told me my labs were basically normal. I understand the confusion. He also told me my portal vein was occulded. This is not a good thing. He feels the ascites is now do to this. He also told me there were some options available but he didn't want to do anything major at the moment, he is just increasing my diuretic's slowly. I do think though he feels the ascites is probably refractory. This is a very scarey because I am not a canidate for TIPS (which isn't a great option in and of itself unless absolutely necessary) because of the occulded portal vein, and i'm not sure what other alternatives there are. Liver transplant would work but I'm not a canidate because my LFT's - ect are too good. This disease is scary, frustrating and just plain sad.

Hope everyone's doing as well as can be expected.

I'm another lucky one. MELD was at 40 for more time than I was told I had left, then dropped to 25 over a couple of months, then 20 overnight.

It carried on falling to a 9, where it has remained for a while, although I get my next set of results when I go in for my scan.

I now feel on top of the world (far better than I have done in over 15 years) and am loving my life. Tiredness has been beaten (finally) by a proper sleeping routine (which was difficult on steroids) and by CoQ10 (so totally support Craig on that one).

The doctors have gone from saying it was a matter of when I die, to there being nothing to worry about.

That said, who know's what is around the corner? I now do everything I can to look after my liver, but beyond that, every day is a day I shouldn't have had - and, yet, I am leading a normal life :-).

What I have learnt is to make the most of it - and that doctors don't have all the answers (and don't pretend it). And just because one says 'it's a result of liver disease', don't give up. It isn't always the case, and where it is, there are often ways forward.

Also read up on side effects of any meds you are on and ask whether there are alternatives (spironolactone being one where not one of the specialists had heard of the effect of it blocking testosterone - thank god I don't need it any more, but there *are* alternatives).

"Normal" blood tests don't show everything. They may be fine, but always be watchful for symptoms.

By pure coincidence but I had appointments with my Primary and my GI doctors in the same week. Both did bloodwork and everything looked fine, just slightly elevated bilirubin.

Saw my GI late on a Thursday and was in the ER with massive bleeding 36 hours later. Caught everyone by surprise, it just wasn't expected.

Spent a week in ICU, blood transfusions and other IVs, endoscopy, paracentesis, etc. Just swooped in from nowhere.

Normal blood tests are nice, but always be careful and don't ignore any symptoms, this disease can be deadly.

Once again I thank all of you kind people who have chimed in with not only your advice but your personal experiences. I'm ever watchful of how I FEEL...I know when I am too tired or too bloated (though most of that is from the Lactulose) that things aren't "normal". I think the only thing for me to do is address this with my primary care doc tomorrow at my appointment and not let either one of my docs push me aside...I used to be very timid and just take what they said and let them do as they please. Now I know there's too much at stake and it's my life they are dealing with so I speak up. I'll have the thyroid test either by my PCP or my specialist only because one never knows (and my mother has an underactive thyroid too so best to be careful) but I won't be letting things slide. My very best to each and every one of you and I keep you all in my prayers because it seems to me we are all strong people who just got a bad deal...but then again, we're all still here and that's the important thing :)

What symptoms did you feel WIlbur?

The one thing is that when they say normal...they are only looking at the numbers they measure for MELD...other numbers and syptoms may be going on but are not counted. The other thing that I was told is that my liver is like an old toyta truck with 300K miles on it. the body is rusted and falling apart...but for now the engine still runs enough to get me where I am going.....I will keep driving until it does not start anymore...why worry about it!.....I will call a tow truck when the time comes. LIVE Life each day as it is your last....then you will have no regrets or worries!

In response to 'wontquit'

I felt like I had a terrible stomach ache and was extremely thirsty. In the course of about six hours I drank 1 1/2 gallons of lemonade.

I vomited a tiny amount of blood, maybe a teaspoon of the coffee ground stuff you're supposed to watch for.

Silly me, I just thought it was all the lemonade, so laid back down and tried to sleep. (I think mentally I was already in shock from blood loss and not thinking clearly)

Vomited a few more times then something clicked and I realized this could be serious, so off to the ER and ICU.

They apparently gave me blood transfusions, but I remember the doctor coming in to try the endoscopy and my BP being 70/30, so they gave me more blood, three units in total.

When they finally could give me the scope, they told me later my stomach was 3/4 filled with blood, but I had apparently stopped bleeding so was in observation mode.

I then spent the next 5 days on morphine as the blood worked its way through my digestive system. Not sure what the medical reason is, but blood is extremely painful going through the digestive tract, it's not meant to be there.

Two years now without a bleed, but now I know not to ever ignore even the tiniest amount of blood. As I experienced, it was just the tip of the iceberg as to what was happening internally.

Great input Wilbur. Thank Steven you are all right.