TIPS

Hi,
I'm a 56 yr old happily married man with a wonderful wife and two spoiled weinie dogs! :) My questions are about my 77 yr old sweet mother, She has hep c and has been getting drained for a few yrs now and it's down to once every two weeks, Her doctor says she's a candidate for TIPS, she and I are worried about the confusion {EH}? and such, For now I don't know her numbers {meld} etc, but from what I read if she has this procedure she will need looking after full time or I guess it depends on how she reacts to the procedure! I know as of now the doctor wants her to take some kind of medicine to see how she reacts to it before the next step in this procedure, Her main question is really about the confusion and if it's worth it to prolong her life for 4 yrs or so which only she can decide, and yes I know everybody's different when it comes to this procedure, Just need some insight from all of you TIA steve

I had my tips in 2010. MY HE improved after my tips. I have to have revisions every 6months or so to clear the stent and my edema in my ankles and feet got a little worse.

For me, tips has been a bridge to transplant. I am 51 and am still waiting for a new liver.

Hi David,
She hasn't had the procedure yet, The doctor is going to give her some medicine in the near future to see how she reacts to it, The doctor told her she had 3 months to decide on what to do! :)

Mike had the TIPS done and it improved his life. I too have never heard of anyone needing 24 hour care. It helped so he didn't have to be drained so often.


Sandia

 Hello Steve , I've had TIPS surgery done a few years back . I was getting paracentesis done every two to three days a week with them removing average of 8 liters from my abdomen per visit . It has worked well for me and have no ascites issues since , I still get a little fluid in my ankles if I stand for long periods of time but nothing major . I was told of the high risk of greater HE in some cases they have seen , I have met only one person where this has happened and don't know a lot about the persons background .

 I had HE pretty badly for a few months after my diagnosis of cirrhosis but it diminished with the help of two drugs Lactulose and Xifaxan . I still take both medications as a precaution to this day because HE is a constant threat and I often don't realize I'm having signs of it until it's blatantly obvious . My liver is too far gone and I will likely need a transplant at some point so meds will always be a part of my life until then . Small price to pay for the benefit of living though .

 Electing to do the surgery was a easy decision for me , I had enough of being poked every couple of days and not being able to lead a somewhat decent life . It's tricky surgery and things can go wrong very easily but for me personally it has been a 100% benefit . My thoughts was that if I died on the operating table it would be a end to the pain and misery I was experiencing . If it was severe HE it would be a nursing home and I'd be so loopy it wouldn't matter . If it worked out great I might survive long enough to get a liver and experience some relief in between . Well two outta three ain't bad ........ I'm a lil bit loopy ( But tolerable ) and am glad to say my doctor visits have decreased to a minimum for the time being , Yep I'd say it worked o.k for me . 

 A. Ziffle

      

 Where is the hernia located at ?

 A. Ziffle

I wonder if she is not experiencing HE if that would indicate lower chance of developing HE after. Would be interesting to know?

 Steve , If the hernia is in her navel ( Belly button ) she really needs to be careful . In my case the abdominal swelling got so bad that the fluid actually pushed my intestine through the opening . My once inny belly button was a outty about the size of a ping pong ball , It stayed like that for about 3 months until the intestine decided to really push itself through . The hernia was soft to the touch normally but suddenly got hard as a rock turning reddish purple in color and had a burning sensation . Went to E.R and found my hernia had allowed my intestine to bind up and emergency surgery had to be performed to keep the intestines from rupturing .

 Surgeries prior to transplant are often frowned on due to the risk of introducing infections in a system that is usually to weak to fight of even the slightest problems . I believe I have tried about every type of water pill they had to avoid TIPS but for me none seemed to work and some gave me bad reactions . The down side of these diuretics is the strain they put on the kidneys and they have been known to cause problems in that area . For the most part it's best to avoid the TIPS unless all the medications fail to solve the problem .

 I can't remember the chances of HE appearing if someone only had mild experiences with it prior to surgery so I really can't comment on that . A good question to ask her doc though and please let us know what he says about it . The Xifaxin is also a mild form of antibiotic that helps get rid of toxins also so looking into that even though she isn't suffering from HE may not be a bad idea , Remember her liver is her toxin filter and if it aint workin right she's susceptible to anything .

 A. Ziffle