Does this mean my liver's getting worse?

[Guest guest]

It seems like every time I get sick my PCP is out of town and my

hepa is on vacation!!! Well it's happening again, lol.

I have been having different epigastric pain and discomfort for a

while. Thursday morning I woke up and was in so much pain I nearly

went to the ER. I decided to eat something and take a pain pill

though and it became manageable.

This morning I woke up though to something new (gross alert!). I

went to the bathroom and when I did the bm looked like coffee

grounds. That's something I heard that was bad so I called my

doctors and found out that they were out of town. I was able to get

in to see a resident and on my way there (gross alert #2) I had to

pull on the side of the road and started throwing up and when I did

it was bile I think. It was a bright greenish yellow NASTY

substance.

The resident, bless her heart, really didn't know what to do. She

did labs and they aren't too bad. My ALP 255, AST 59, ALT 69 and

I'm a little anemic. She also did clotting test which were normal.

My hepa will be calling me monday and the resident suggested getting

a upper endoscopy next week sometime.

Does this mean things are getting worse? It scares me. I am always

worried that they will miss something and I'll get really sick, you

know. I wasn't given any medications or anything but I've been so

tired that all I really do is sleep and drink water.

I guess I just need to vent or talk about it. No one else

understands. Thanks guys!

PSC & PBC

[Guest guest]

The " coffee grounds " you passed are most likely blood (as I'm sure the

resident mentioned). It's hard to tell where it's coming from, but if

it's coming from varices in your esophagus this could be very serious.

There are several of us here (including me) who have come close to dying

from bleeding varices. They can start bleeding very fast and you can

bleed to death within a short period of time. An upper endoscopy is

what you need to diagnose this, but if it was me I wouldn't be content

to wait 'till next week. When I had my bleed I went straight to the ER

and they moved me in front of all the other people waiting and got me to

an upper endoscopy and did sclerotherapy and banding to stop the varices

bleeding.

In your case, it sounds like you aren't as bad right now as I was. The

fact that your clotting time was good, and the fact than when you

vomited you didn't see any blood would suggest that it's either not

varices or that they've stopped bleeding for now, but that can change

very fast. If you do decide to wait 'till next week for the upper

endoscopy, watch for any new symptoms or any more of the ones you've

already had. If you pass more blood in your stool, (mine was more like

blackish purple syrup than coffee grounds) or if you vomit blood, or if

you start feeling dizzy, especially when you stand up, it's likely

you've lost a lot of blood, and should really head for the ER. Actually

my first warning sign was just feeling sick... kinda like the flu. I'd

feel OK when I was lying down, but as soon as I'd get up I'd start

feeling really sick again.

Hope you feel better!

athan

[Guest guest]

Not to alarm you (LOL) but coffee ground stools can mean a serious

bleed in your intestines or colon cancer. Old blood is passed as a

black tarry stool which means the bleed is a bleed in the upper gi

tract, but this still needs addressed by a gi doc. Bright red blood

in a stool is a lower gi bleed. But if you start vomiting blood or

pass any more coffee grounds to to the er and ask to be seen by a gi

doc.

>

> The " coffee grounds " you passed are most likely blood (as I'm sure

the

> resident mentioned). It's hard to tell where it's coming from, but

if

> it's coming from varices in your esophagus this could be very

serious.

> There are several of us here (including me) who have come close to

dying

> from bleeding varices. They can start bleeding very fast and you

can

> bleed to death within a short period of time. An upper endoscopy

is

> what you need to diagnose this, but if it was me I wouldn't be

content

> to wait 'till next week. When I had my bleed I went straight to

the ER

> and they moved me in front of all the other people waiting and got

me to

> an upper endoscopy and did sclerotherapy and banding to stop the

varices

> bleeding.

>

> In your case, it sounds like you aren't as bad right now as I was.

The

> fact that your clotting time was good, and the fact than when you

> vomited you didn't see any blood would suggest that it's either not

> varices or that they've stopped bleeding for now, but that can

change

> very fast. If you do decide to wait 'till next week for the upper

> endoscopy, watch for any new symptoms or any more of the ones

you've

> already had. If you pass more blood in your stool, (mine was more

like

> blackish purple syrup than coffee grounds) or if you vomit blood,

or if

> you start feeling dizzy, especially when you stand up, it's likely

> you've lost a lot of blood, and should really head for the ER.

Actually

> my first warning sign was just feeling sick... kinda like the flu.

I'd

> feel OK when I was lying down, but as soon as I'd get up I'd start

> feeling really sick again.

>

> Hope you feel better!

>

> athan

>

[Guest guest]

Oh

I feel that I am gently tiptoeing into the shallow end of the PSC

swimming pool, learning to swim as I go, but you have been bundled up

and bodily thrown in the deep end, trying to survive and learn about

PSC at the same time. I do hope you are feeling better and your

problems have been resovled.

Best wishes