So scared

Hello all.  My journey with all of this started the beginning of October when my husband became jaundiced.  He drank moderately to heavy and was diagnosed with acute alcoholic hepatitis.  He was in the hospital originally for low sodium level.  He was home for about 10 days and then back in.  He was dehydrated and his kidneys stopped working.  Last week at this time, he was given about 10 days to live.  His kidneys are back to normal and I brought him home last night.  He sees a apecialist tomorrow am.  He just turned 47 Oct. 8th.  I am sooo scared.  The specialist who saw us before he was discharged told us that we need to wait until the dust settles to see where the liver stands.  I am just praying and praying!  Has anyone dealt with acute alchoholic hepatitis?

Hi Marmel,

Welcome to the forum. Emma is right, many can get better if they simply stop drinking.

There is a great post from a member who was diagnosed with Alcoholic Cirrhosis about 4 years ago, A Ziffle. He has described how the disease progressed for him and what he has done to save himself. And how he felt about that along the way. They gave him little time to live, and he took the NO ALCOHOL seriously. He has had problems, but he is alive to tell the tale and has not needed a transplant.

My partner, Mike, had Alcoholic Cirrhosis, Hep C, and Liver Cancer. He was given 3 months to live in October 2010!!! And here he is today...alive and not perfect. But he is sober, has a new liver, and his cancer free (at the moment). Hep C is a blood borne diseae so he still has that and it may be his undoing AGAIN.

But the folks with Alcoholic Cirrhosis and NO Hep C, well they do pretty well if they have not let it get too far. And they have a much better progosis after transplantation if that becomes necessary.

Please put this fact in the front of all we say here.

NO US TRANSPLANT PROGRAM WILL DO A TRANSPLANT IF HE IS NOT ALCOHOL FREE FOR 6 MONTHS OF DOCUMENTED SOBRIETY...THAT MEANS REHAB, OR COUNSELING, OR AA OR ANOTHER PROGRAM. You make a diary, or calendar with spaces and have the leader, doctor, whatever sign each session.

They had mike to an ethanol blood draw once a week to make it to transplant.

He was hospitalized 5 times between October 2010 and his transplant date May 1, 2011. He was so sick, but he lived more than 3 months alcohol free, though he was a really sick man. His hospital stays were for acute kidney failure, sepsis, high ammonia levels, more kidney failure, acute pancreatitis...the guy was a mess.

Can he come back? Some do. And we have some sad stories also..the disease was too far along.

My recommendation is that you find a major medical center with a transplant program ASAP. Make an initial consultation, don't stay with a community GI doc, get the specialists on the job. If he wants to get well, wants to live, wants to be sober, those guys can help him?

Where do you live? Where is the nearest major medical center? Can you get there in less than 4 hours. If yes, call today~!!!!!

Best,
Mama Lama from Florida

Wow! you have all been so wonderful with your replies. I did not mention he has been alcohol free since Oct.4. The thought of it makes him gag. He was so close to death last week that I know he is so scared and wants to live! He is retiring from the state police in March 2013 and just retired as a lt. col. in the army. He did the both jobs at the same time and used alcohol as a way to destress. And YES, all alcohol is out of the house...first thing I did...for my sake as well. Thanks to all of you here and I am not to proud to ask for your support...I need it, as we all do in this journey.

Hello Marmel and welcome , As my fellow Healingweller's mentioned that it's not only possible but I stand as a witness to having survived some of the worst problems associated with Alcoholic liver Disease .

Your husband has/had some seriously stressful jobs , I didn't have nearly the stress he did but still needed the alcohol to shake off the job and etc. constantly bombarding me . I'm glad to see he has decided to put his health above the alcohol and hopefully will find a better way of dealing with the stress , This disease by itself provides more of that than most can bare .

He needs to get in to see a Hepatologist and that may be arranged by a G.I ( Referral ) if necessary . Gastro doctors are great but they don't have the knowledge base that a Hepatologist has in dealing with specifically liver related issues . Finding out the extent of damage done is a must .

If you have questions don't hesitate to ask someone here , We have a great group of folks that have seen this disease from various perspectives and degree's .


A. Ziffle

Hi Marmel,

The sodium thing can be complicated.

Generally with liver disease they tell you to reduce dietary sodium and drink drink drink.

That is the easy one. Drink lots of water. Reduce sodium -- watch labels, avoid prepared foods, soups, frozen meals. You should be mindful and avoid salt in cooking too. Lemon and some of the salt free seasonings work fine. We took the shaker off our table too. Avoid fast foods, they are loaded. And he'd be fine.

Diet for liver disease is pretty much a heart healthy diet, lots of fruits and veggies, and stay away from BEEF. It is to hard to digest. White meats are fine. Use beans and lentils inseat of beef. Beans taste great in salads (but check out the salt in dressings or make your own...). We used a lot of Ensure at our house or products like that, check the sodium though.

They want you to stricly limit fluids AND dietary sodium.

Another type of sodium problem is neutropenia.

Here is a good article http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/neutropenia/MY00110

 It is broken into segments by causes and treatments.

It seems like this to me: the body needs sodium at the cellular level. With neutropenia the fluids and nutrients dont circulate correctly through the cell walls bringing fresh nutrients. When you have too much fluid in your body already, your cells hold onto their fluid and dont flush it in and out, thus the sodium and other stuff isn't exchanged. If you limit the fluids, the cell walls release the depleted fluid and the exchange of nurtients is completed more easily. Maybe that is totally wrong and you'll get something more out of the article than me trying to make sense of the science of it.

They will do repeat bloods on your hubby soon and they will evaluate his neutropenia regularly.

Best to you,

Carol

I have reimbedded the link.

If it doesnt work, the way I found it again, was to take of the last part, after the /health and then put neutropenia in the search box.

Sorry.

Quick update...husband is so uncomfortable....he is carrying around a baby he has now named George. However, it is making it hard for him to move around and get comfortable, hense not sleeping. I called the doctor and he is getting the parentethis (? spelling) done tomorrow afternoon! Hopefully that will make him more comfortable. He says he feels ok otherwise. He has had this done while in the hospital before.

Thanks Connie! He has had 2 naps since my last post! YEAH! He found he could sleep in our daughter's bed. She went back to college 2 days ago because she is graduating in December. My son, who is a Marine deployed in Bahrain is home until next week. The Red Cross got him home when Shawn was not given many days when his kidneys shut down. They did say now that that was due to dehydration.

A. Ziffle...thanks for the advise. I will have him try that. Btw....you are an inspiration to us and I cannot thank you enough for sharing your journey. I keep rereading your posts and it gives me a sense of sanity and hope!:)

Update...took hubby to er this morning...he could not wait for the tap appointment...was in so much discomfort and hard to breath. He is now baak in ICU and has pneumonia and gillian barr virus. They also now think that he has an underlying autoimmune disorder that weakened his liver to beging with. They called Eistein in Philly and they will take him. His meld is 32. They will transport him as soon as he is stable enough. He also this evening presented with vomiting blood so they are doing an emergeny endoscopy procedure. I just got home...husband made me...apparently I look as ehausted as I feel! I am lying in bed praying for my husband to make it thru the night and would like to be so bold as to ask all of the faithful members of this wonderful forum to please pray for him! Thank you!

Praying in Calif. get some rest and stay in touch hope all turns out well.

Praying in California for both you and your husband.
Emma

Thanks everyone for the thoughts and prayers. He was transported by helicopter from Reading hospital to Einstein hospital in Philadelphia. They agreed to take him and perhaps evaluate. When we got to Philadelphia...he looked just soooo sick and he is. On a breathing machine since they scoped him last night...of which they found only very small varices in the esophogus and the doc was puzzled as to where the blood is coming from. He also has a suction tube which is gettin out the blood from ??? Again, I just feel so lost and hopeless, but I know I cannot give up hope, he just looks and is so sick right now! Hopefully with the finding of autoimmune problem, he may not have to wait the 6 months...I am not sure he could make it that long. Please continue to pray for him, as I have been doing for all of you here who have quickly become my family!