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Posted 9/17/2010 9:12 AM (GMT 0)
confused  hi there. my mum has become very swollen from her tummy to her toes.what i need to know what happens if she does receive not paracentesis.doctors have given her spiratin and furesomide tabs for now but not helping.your response on this will be highly appreciated

 

Posted 9/17/2010 3:49 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Cindy,  paracentesis  don't come without their own risks of infections, is why they try to wait as long as possible in between drainings.  Patients get extremely uncomfortable with all the pressure on their organs.  Especially their lungs.  It becomes very difficult for them to breath. 

How many drainings has she had?   Has the doctors ever mentioned the TIPS procedure?   They usually don't consider that until the drainings start failing to to be effective as that comes with it's own risks too. 

The whole treatment for liver disease is a big balancing act.  It's very hard to keep a patient on even keel throughout the journey.  Lot's of bumps and turns in the road for both the patient and caregivers alike. 

Take care.......thoughts and prayers.......  

 

Posted 9/17/2010 5:34 PM (GMT 0)

Hi, Cindy.  It's Furosemide (Lasix) and spironolactone (Aldactone.)  Those and many other words associated with liver disease are in the Medical Words list at the top of the main page.  It's important to have the spelling correct in order to communicate with medical personnel and to do research on the Internet.  I take both of those meds, only 2 x a week now, but I have been as swollen as your mom.  I never was drained.  The meds worked for me.  I was also told to elevate my legs higher than my heart several times a day for at least 20 min. each time.  See if you can get your mom to do that (a recliner would be perfect for this), as it should help reduce the swelling some.

As PG said, frequent draining and even the TIPS procedure carry risks, so they will wait as long as possible before doing those things.

Hugs,

Connie


Posted 9/20/2010 5:21 AM (GMT 0)
good morning and thank you so much for the info.she has not been drained as yet.she has been to the er yesterday and the doctor increased her furosemide to 2 tablets*2 times a day.she fell yesterday as her bp went low.she still abit yellow but she is a fighter cos she says she will get better and the doctor at the er did blood work and they say her liver functions has picked up abit but her kidneys are starting to fail so he said she needs to come in to the hospital to check her kidney function.
i got the results with the bloodwork if anybody knows what it means please let me know.
total protein =51g/L
albumin=26 g/L
total bilirubin=38 umol/L
alt=33 U/L
alp=41 U/L
ggt = 24 U/L
ld = 594 U/L

thank you pink grandma anf hep 93 for you replies and support.
much appreciated
Posted 9/20/2010 11:43 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Cindy,  your welcome.   I am just getting ready to go out of the door to work.  If you check in the resource thread there is information about the tests and what their purpose is.......take care.....thoughts and prayers.........
Posted 9/20/2010 5:55 PM (GMT 0)

Hi, Cindy.  I'm not sure what some of those values are, or I'm not having them done.  I can tell you her AST is lower than mine (I have hep C) and her bili is much higher than mine.  Unfortunately, the diuretics do affect the kidneys.  That's why I decided to decrease mine.  The things to watch regarding kidneys are her creatinine and BUN.  Right now, she needs the increased doses of diuretics, but periodically check to see if her kidney function is elevating a lot.  She may end up on dialysis.  I'm sure the doctors will also keep an eye on her kidney function.  Regarding labs, they generally will note if they are low (L) or high (H) and give the normal values next to your mom's.

Hugs,

Connie

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