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Posted 11/19/2012 8:39 AM (GMT 0)
I posted a few months ago about my dad who has ESLD. I see him about once a month so it is more obvious to me how he's changed. I saw him last week and I feel like he is just looking worse. His eyes are so sunken in, he has some problem with his thumb locking, his nails look very thin and white, the muscle wasting continues and for some reason he eats SO MUCH sweets. It's so hard to articulate what I feel because I hated my dad for the things he did to me and my mom when he was drunk. I swear gin is like poison to him and he would turn into a completely different person. After especially horrific nights of abuse, he would sober up in the morning and cry and my heart would just break with pity. Now it's the same thing. I want to be mad at him, but this "John Wayne" built man is now a shell. He tells me nothing about what his doctor is saying. I was wondering if anyone else has heard of ESLD being associated with hearing loss. Thanks.
Posted 11/19/2012 12:35 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Ava.

I remember your post. I'm sorry your Dad is doing poorly...but his symptoms are not unusual for a long life of alcohlic excess. That you are somewhat removed from his daily decline may be a blessing for you as there isn't much to be done for him at this point.

I see some articles about hearing loss and liver disease, but nothing definitive.

I will let you know my partner, Mike, who was transplanted 19 months ago and is now sober for ovef 2 years for the first time in his adult life, is profoundly hearing impaired. A link to the drinking or subsequent liver disease? I'm not sure.

Best to you,
Carol
Posted 12/11/2012 10:40 PM (GMT 0)
I have read that furosemide (uk) - I think it is LASIx or something similar over the pond can be ototoxic - I.e., can damage the ears.
Posted 12/11/2012 10:50 PM (GMT 0)
Furosemide is the generic of Lasix over here. I hadn't heard about possible hearing loss, though it does seem that my hearing is not as perfect as it was prior to transplant. I'd been taking Lasix for several years prior to transplant, and continue on it 13 months post transplant, at 40 mg/day, or I start swelling.

I do have locking (trigger) thumbs and other bone problems. I attribute them to taking Prednisone for 4 months post transplant. I've been splinting my thumbs, but really need to have the surgery for them.

Hugs,
Connie
Posted 12/12/2012 4:09 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Ava,

The sweets is to make up for the alcohol.  My husband is (mostly) sober for 2+ years now...he has gained weight and eats so many sweets.

Emma

Posted 12/12/2012 12:23 PM (GMT 0)
At translant, Mike had been sober for 6 months.

He is now sober 26 months, but who's counting (that would be me).

Before transplant he was really ILL so I didn't notice any particular cravings.

After transplant he was in recovery mode at first, so no particular cravings.

But as he got better, the candy stuff started.  His sugar was messed up for a while also.

Then after about a year, the sugar cravings got huge.  He started gaining weight.

And now he has put a plug in that jug also.  He has begun to get some exercise, has cut out the cookies, cakes, and candy (all bought by him, not me). And he is losing some weight and feeling much better.

I don't think he attributed his sweet cravings to missing the alcohol in his life. But I am sure that's it.

I can remember days where he'd buy a huge bag of those red twizzlers and eat the whole pound in a day

Good luck,

Carol

 

Posted 12/12/2012 2:21 PM (GMT 0)
Carol, since there is sugar in alcohol, it's recommended that the newly sober eat candy, ice cream, etc., to cope with the withdrawal. However, Mike has diabetes, right? So he should not go hog wild with it, unless he eats SF treats.

Sweets are my downfall and I know I eat too many, though I don't have diabetes. Right after transplant, I didn't have the craving for sweets (and I've been sober for a looooong time, so that doesn't play into it) for about two months. But I gradually started eating sweets again and the result is that I went from a low of 116 (just about right for my height and age) to 121. So I have to back away from the sweets. I felt really good at 116. And Dr. Oz and others say that sugar is an inflammatory substance in the gut.

Hugs,
Connie
Posted 12/12/2012 2:46 PM (GMT 0)
Totally agreed. Mike is off the sugar stuff now. Thank goodness, cause when he brings it in here, I get into it also.

I would love to be 121! Haven't been in the 120's since 1980s!

Mike is not diabetic. Like you he had sugar problems before and after transplant, but leveled off...in about 5 months...way longer than you. No insulin now. No testing at all. His monthly sugars are a bit high...like 105. Not drastic. It will be interesting to see how that is with him off sweets of any kind again...except those in foods.

And I agree about the inflamatory affects on bowel of sugar...and alcohol.
Posted 12/12/2012 7:20 PM (GMT 0)
"I would love to be 121! Haven't been in the 120's since 1980s!"

You're not 4'11," either! For many years my weight was stable at 105 and a size 5. But I think I'd look emaciated if I weighed that little now. I see older women who are skin and bones and it just looks scary.

Hugs,
Connie
Posted 12/12/2012 9:37 PM (GMT 0)
Connie, with your hip replacements and the problems after your transplant, it's not surprising that your weight is more than you'd like. I need to gain some weight again (5 pounds) as I weighed myself at MGH today when i was in for an endoscopy. That's easy for me, as I love to eat. Turns out I have some calcification on my pancreas, which they said is not a big deal.
Posted 12/12/2012 9:52 PM (GMT 0)
I can't really blame it on that, David. It's the sugar. But it doesn't help that I'm still not walking as much as I should. When I'm on my feet too long, my rt. knee starts hurting.

Hugs,
Connie
Posted 12/12/2012 11:11 PM (GMT 0)
David , Did you get a DVD made of the procedure ? I bet you slip that right in your player on those cold rainy nights with you and your sweety cuddled up on the couch munchin pop corn . A fatty in one hand and the rewind button in the other .




A. Ziffle
Posted 12/13/2012 3:38 AM (GMT 0)
No film on this one, but I do have all of my MRIs on discs. What's this about a fatty, I prefer a bowl...
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