Do my symptom sound familiar to anyone? New member

Quick overview,
Got hep c 84 dirty needles, no drugs or alcohol until 89, drank wine every night mext 3 years, 2003 got hundreds of cc's of loose silicone injections, started to become toxic, in 2005-08, drank heavily resulting in 21 day black out, couldn't walk,bedridden in own urine until paramedics took to ER, went to rehab, no alcohol since 08. Have virtially no med insurance in CA. Diagnosed with bipolar in 05, began taking psyche meds since 2011. Severe decline in health in last 9 months, exhausted, unable to work. Any vitamin, aspirin, or constipatio triggers toxic reaction:
Burning throat, eyes, glassy dialated eyes, blurred vision, tremors, chills, sweats, heart arrhythmia, confusion, dizzines, stuttering, memory loss, inability to urinate. Liver and kidney seem to go into a toxic shock until meds or bile is passed which can take days with mass water retention. Thesr symptoms are increasingly getting worse and Im weaker and now losing appetite. My question is, does this sound familia to anyon with cirrhosis?

I agree with David. Get to an ER. They can't turn you away.

Emma

I agree with others. Try the ER. The can at least run liver function tests, kidney function tests, viral hepatitis tests, HIV testing. Is the lactulose helping? There is a blood test for ammonia that can tell you if you have Hepatic Encephalopathy episode. Seems that when the liver isn't functioning well, it builds up toxins, including ammonia, in your blood, which causes forgetfulness, lack of balance, and sometimes coma?
There is a medicine to take WITH lactulose, a pill called Xifaxan, that really helps with HE also.

Would you qualify, in CA, as disabled under the law? My partner, who had Alcoholic cirrhosis, Hep C from drugs in the 60s, and liver cancer did not qualify for disability because he had been out of work too long. He kept getting denied and then he was too long "disabled" to qualify under Social Security as disabled...didn't seem fair, but that's what happened.

Many ERs dismiss folks as they think they are looking for pain RX or benzos to get high. And they sometimes dismiss those with psych diagnoses quickly, thinking those folks are just having an "eposide." But when a person is ILL they are ILL...regardless of mental/nervous diagnoses.

You have to make it clear that you are clean and sober and that you think you have untreated liver or kidney disease.

There is such a thing as Auto Immune Hepatitis, for example, that is caused by neither drugs or alcohol, just some people's bodies attack their livers for no reason. It is in the same family of diseases as MS or Lupis...it just happens. Someone should check you out...maybe if the ER folks could call for a Hepatology consult.

Go to a city or university hospital that is a public hospital that can't turn you away,preferably one with a liver transplant center...not that you need one, I am no doctor, but the good Hep doctors work there !!!!

Good luck,

Mama Lama