liver problems?

Question

my husband is a beer drinker for 35 years now. he wont' stop . or get help.. so now his lver is full of spots.. wont' get biopsy . to find out what it is.

how long do you think he has.?

Answer 1

Up his life insurance and wait!!

Answer 2

I have end stage liver disease caused by an inherited gene that over the years has caused an iron overload. I didn't drink in excess but I had to stop with any kind of alcohol PERIOD! Even though I'd pop a cold one on occasion, when I stopped a few years ago, I had to spend several days in a clinic. That is the first thing your husband needs to do. Stopping after drinking for as long as he has requires round the clock BP checks and other vitals. I did fine but some people doing it cold turkey can have a severe blood pressure change, convulsions and a number of other serious health matters! After being doped for a few days all alcohol is gone from the system. A doctors hands are tied until a patient gets his system clean. Then a biopsy of the liver can be done to see just where he stands. A liver can heal itself unless cirrhosis has caused any permanent damage. That is the stage I am at now.
I have been put on the transplant list but it may be a few years down the road.
If your husbands doctor wants to do a biopsy then by all means do it! The test is nothing compared to the problems I have now.
Plus there is no more guessing.
Good luck to you and your husband! May God bless you.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, your description of your husbands liver having spots is a little too vague. What was done to say that his liver has spots? Any blood tests? It can be anything from fatty liver to cirrhosis and worst case scenario cancer. An ultrasound, CT scan or an MRI would give you a fairly good idea of what the spots are but biopsy would give you a definitive diagnosis. You may want to have a blood test called alpha feto-protein which is usually elevated when you have liver conditions especially cancer although not all the time. If it is cirrhosis, your husbands serum albumin will be low, his prothrombin time will be prolonged and his platelet count will start to go down.

With regard to how long he has, it depends on the diagnosis and the possible treatment. Cirrhosis is kinda like liver failure because you liver tissue is replaced by fibrosis or scar tissue so you liver will not be able to do its vital functions for the body. Really no cure for cirrhosis except maybe for a liver transplant. Depends on how much your husbands liver is affected by cirrhosis and how the remaining functional liver tissue will be maintained. Definitely, stopping alcohol intake will help. Months to years for cirrhosis. Cancer on the other hand is fairly quick especially if the lesion is very big or left unmanaged. So management options are 1. liverresection if the lesion is isolated and small 2. TACE 3. alcohol injections on the lesion 4. RFA 5. Liver transplant.

I cannot really give you definite statistics and figures. Although doctors can statistic and percentages or even a time table on life expectancy, it will never be definite but differs on a case to case basis. Definitely, stopping alcohol consumption will slow down the deterioration process.

Answer 4

No one knows how long anyone has. That is a certainty of life - life is not certain. However, there are liver detoxes that might be a great help to him. Some take a day, some a week - depends on what you want to do. Do a search online for liver detox. Jon Barron has a good site. There are so many attacks on our livers in this society and day. We all need to detox periodically. As far as getting biopsy, I am with him. I don't think doctors have the right idea in the way they treat cancer and I personally chose to just start treating myself as if I had cancer (there was a question after a CT scan) - I will treat myself with natural methods for six months and then go back and see if the spots (lung) have grown or shrunk. If they have grown, I will get more aggressive but I will not have surgery (can't anyway) nor break down my immune system with chemo or radiation. To me that is just crazy.

Answer 5

Don't start to worry unitil he starts bleeding from behind, then he won't have very long to go. Hospitals have a waiting list for people that need new livers but ususally the patient ends up dying before one becomes available. Sorry , sad but true Best of Luck

Answer 6

How do you see the spots? An alcoholic is most likely to have a fatty liver and then cirrhosis.

Answer 7

Well it is up to you now. You can accelerate the process or slow it down.