My father was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver almost a year ago. He started self-medicating himself with all types of herbs. This gave him herbal toxicity. He has always taken alot of herbs and health food's his entire life. But now he is being told that the herbs are harmful to his liver. He just found out last week that he has two other liver diseases on top of the cirrhosis. His doctors hasn't given him any medication to take or a biopsy of the liver to see the exact condition. I was on the phone all week this week and I got him into a gastroentrologist (sp?) specialist for the 2nd week of December. I had to call his PCP to get a referral faxed to the specialist before I could schedule the appointment. His PCP asked me why I wanted him to see a specialist. I told him b/c there is medication he can take for his diseases to lessen the damage to the liver and there is a biopsy that needs to be scheduled. I found all this out from 1 day's of research. I was amazed that the PCP even asked why. His response to me was..." oh.. yes... yes.. good. very good." I felt like telling him that he should have referred him to a specialist a year ago or had additional testing done at that time.


My father is getting very weak everyday and is always very exhausted now. Now that he found out about the additional 2 liver diseases he is starting to lose his will to even live longer. He is only 55 years old.

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When it rains it pours... but when the blessings come they overflow!

Oh that's a tough thing to go through.. At least he has you to help him through this...

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" You've Been Thunder Struck ! "

I must say..that even doctors dont know all the treatments available or medications available..I dont trust doctors. Did you know that if someone in your family has liver disease as long as you have the same blood type in some cases you can donate half of your liver to replace theirs and your's will grow back? as will theirs? that is what my girlfreind was told when she was sick with cirhrosis..after a liver transplant though you will be on meds the rest of your life and may even get very sick from the meds..my girlfriend went to the University of Michigan hospital when she was sick and her doctor was a loser..unfortunatley her doctor was also a world reknown expert on liver disease and traveled all over the place speaking on the subject..on one of my girlfriends last visits to see her doctor her doctor told her she was doing fine and that she should get her liver soon..my girlfriend could not even breath without oxygen at this point and I had to push her in a wheel chair into the hospital..I told her doctor she was not even going to make it a month in her condition..her doctor looked at me and told me she was doing fine and to come back in a month..well she did not make it a month..I tried like hell to get that doctor fired even calling the director of U of M..and he told me basically the she is the best in the world and she did no wrong..my girlfriends family did not want to pursue it and I couldnt. I wish your father the best because I would not want to see anyone go through it again..I dont believe in taking lots of meds for things and look for natural treatments..but you never know what harm or good you are doing to yourself either..your dad is way too young to be going through this crap..any age is not good but he is still young..I really hope and pray he gets better.

Hey okcgoddess,

If your father is getting very weak and exhausted, the cirrhosis is probably pretty severe. He probably needs to get a complete workup including liver enzymes! The only solution at this point is probably a liver transplant. But, in the meantime there are several drugs that he needs to be on to lower his ammonia levels and increase the function of the liver he has left. I'd be curious to know if he's showing signs of jaundice.

I would recommend seeing someone at Baptist. That's the transplant center for the region....plus all of the liver specialists are there. Harlan Wright is probably the best around. Anthony Sebastian does the liver transplants. Dr. Wright's primary specialty is hepatology. A general Gastroenterologist probably won't be enough.

Thanks for all the information Patrick. I am going with him to his appointment this Friday to the Gastroenterologist. I will ask the doctor about lowering his ammonia levels and to do the complete work-up on his liver enzymes. Hopefully, the doctor will recommend this before I have to ask him about it. My father already told me he didn't want to take any prescription medications. He believes that all doctor's do is cover up symptoms with medications instead of taking care of the root of the problem. I can't believe I even got him to agree to go to the specialist with me this Friday. I really wanted a biopsy scheduled so we could see the real condition of his liver. I had a doctor tell me a few weeks ago that the only sure way to know the condition of ones liver is to do a biopsy. My dad said he read that having a biopsy done could make his liver worse.

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When it rains it pours... but when the blessings come they overflow!

Mariner - That is so sad about your girlfriend. What a tough time for someone to have to go through. I know it must have meant the world to her to have you help her through that time. Its scary when you feel your doctor's aren't doing whats best for you or your loved ones.

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When it rains it pours... but when the blessings come they overflow!

Thanks Goddess..yah they were some rough times for her to go thru. And I just wanted to see her doctor lose her job. But nothing I can do about it now, I just hope your dad pulls thru it all just fine. I agree with your dad, doctors tend to cover things up by prescribing meds for this and that, I dont trust to many doctors at all. Luckily I have a good doctor who in fact my girlfriend worked for as a medical assistant until she could no longer work.