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Nonalcoholic Cirrhosis liver disease

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Posted 3/10/2014 8:47 PM (GMT 0)
Good Afternoon...I'm new to this site and I’m not quite sure how this works. But my husband was diagnosed about 5 yrs ago with non-alcoholic Cirrhosis of the liver. We have no idea how this happened to him. I've been with him 20 yrs and I can honestly say I've seen him take a drink less than a handful of times. about 8 mos ago he started with episodes of Hepatic encephalopathy. Recently he's been hospitalized almost 3 times a month due to sever Hepatic encephalopathy. He takes Lactulose every 3-4 hrs to help. He also takes rifaximin. Each time he’s been hospitalized his ammonia level is close to 200. The last episode his ammonia level was over 300. He was dehydrated and hypothermic. He’s been placed on the liver transplant list. I’m looking for help on how to manage his diet to help control his ammonia level and keep it as low as possible. I know he can’t eat red meat and he’s got to watch his protein levels. But I’m finding it hard to get a good meal plan for him. It’s also difficult to feed a growing 6yr and myself on the same diet. I’m fortunate that our daughter will eat whatever I make for dinner. But I want to make sure she’s getting all she needs as well. Does anyone have a good meal plan or a site that they’ve found helpful?   He’s currently on a low sodium diet but that changes depending on the encephalopathy. He’s up to one Paracentesis a week now, so that’s a huge factor as well.   I feel like I’m spinning wheels because I can’t help him with one thing without affecting something else. Thank you so much for any and all suggestions!  
Posted 3/10/2014 9:18 PM (GMT 0)
Hi tpmkn,

Welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you have your hands full at your house with Cirrhosis and HE! We were in your shoes in 2010 when Mike was in and out of the hospital before his transplant. He is amost 3 years post now and doing pretty well. His last hurdle is that he also has Hep C...and is getting treatment for that now.

I am wondering about your mealplan question. It is an issue as those very ill with Hep C become very picky eaters. Mike hated everything.

But with a young family, you need to feed yourself and the children nutritious meals and maybe think of him as someone you have to cook special for.

I often made soups from scratch that I knew he would eat...low fat, with chicken mostly, and not too many seasonings...with the veggies I knew he would eat. I made it my crock pot and froze it in freezer bags in single portions.

I supplemented his meals with Ensure or other of those type. He like the chocolate ensure and the vanilla Glulcerna. He would eat canned fruit, so I got the kind with juice not syrup...they need to avoid high fructose corn syrup.

He would eat eggs and we found a bread that wasn't too high in sodium...though that is hard..and one he would eat. He was pickier than he is any other time.

I am going to send a note to a veteran member of our team, A. Ziffle, who has alcoholic cirrhosis, but he came back from the brink several years ago with good diet, sobriety, and a lot of will power. They finally recommended a Tips procedure for the fluid as he was getting tapped way too often.

There is a quite a bit of good information in the Resources folder at the top of this forum.

I bet others will jump in with their meal ideas.

Hugs,
Mama Lama
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