Shelly or any one with ideas

Shelly,or anyone who can  be of help. I just can not understand why my ammonia levels have been in 60,80,40,even less than 14 now within two weeks have gone from 85-156. I do not eat meat except occationally chicken, eat lots of fruit and vegetables take my lactulose and other prescribed medications. No longer even tyelenol. And believe me my arthritis is everywhere now and very painful. I can tell when my ammonia levels are high because I get very slow and forgetful. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.       junr

June, another thing could be an infection somewhere, even as minor as a virus sometimes.  You should ask your doctor!!!  Any new medications? 

Pix

June, what did the Mayo doctors say?  For sure, stress (physical or mental) can make it worse, but I don't know if that is why you are worse.  Is there any health professional you can ask?  I wouldn't just let a high amonia like that go on without some action or opinion.!!

Pix

June

I don't know if this is any help but Jerry's Dr. are certain that every time his Creatinine goes up his Amonia also goes up.  Just a thought.  It was good to hear from you.  Seems like it has been a long time. 

JoAnn

Hi June, I'm sorry that you are having troubles with the ammonia levels. As with everyone with liver disese this is a major and life altering problem. If indeed your levels are elevated you need to find out why. It may be a deterioration of liver function but it could be a result of many other things too. Examples would be stress, protein elevations, etc. It's hard sometimes to find the cause but worth the effort. For example; you went thru a really stressful time recently and there are always consequences to high stress, mainly our health. Since you are already compromised by liver disease you are a prime candidate for "low tolerance". All in all you may just be overwhelmed and your body is reacting to that. It may not actually be your ammonia levels being elevated (unless you have labs to back up an elevation). Great stress relievers are simple to apply and you can do them anywhere. One is to take deep breaths thru your nose and blow it out slowly thru your mouth. You need to repeat that cycle 3 times at least. It is recommended by psych docs to do this at least twice a day. If really stressed out do it 5-6 times a day. Just this simple thing brings more oxygen to the brain, lowers heart rates, can lower blood pressure, and has an overall calming effect. Meditation and mild excercise can help too. On a side note you mentioned that  you have arthritis and can no longer take Tylenol for the pain right? I have been doing some research into this and I found that pure emu oil gently rubbed on the skin can relieve arthritis pain. Sounds crazy but evidently the skin (which by the way is the largest organ of the body) will directly absord the oil and one of the side effects or benefits is it relieves pain.My neighbor has rhematoid arthritis and we have been experimenting with it. She has quite a bit of relief when she uses the oil. It's a natural oil without any additives and is odorless. There is a disease called Sjogrens Syndrome (pronounced Show grins) where the immune system attacks the moisture producing glands in the body. They suffer from dry eyes, dry skin, dry mouth, and have alot of aches and pains. This disease can cause exhaustion, brain fog, and generalized achiness. Mostly it affects women and is grossly underdiagnosed. Because emu oil doesn't contain phospholipids it can penetrate the skin barrier and be absorbed. It can relieve pain easily and rapidly. It may be worth a try. It is expensive but you may want to try some. It's also better than any lotions for dry skin.Just a thought! Shelly