Quote:
Originally Posted by Esteban
You know you’re old when you find out recently that you have stage 3-4 fibrosis of the liver. Not sure why. Have had pancreatitis in the past. Triglycerides are high. Don’t drink that much; a few glasses on Friday nights, which I’m stopping as of tonight. Will see my doc at the end of the month and know more after that. It was through a blood test that I'm not sure is 100% accurate. A liver biopsy may be in my future.
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****Fibrosis of the liver and pancreatitis are sometimes/very often related to lifestyle factors.
There are genetic pre-dispositions to them as well but often they are commonly seen in overweight/obese people (BMI, or Body Mass Index over 30, bodyfat over 25% for men measured with DEXA or Impedance, etc.. ), excessive alcohol consumption, over eating consistently to the point the liver develops fatty deposits (NASH - non-alcoholic steatohepatitis) over time, etc..
There are also some medications that can exacerbate the problem in addition to other factors metabolically (high triglycerides, high cholesterol, blood sugar issues, etc..), or physical issues like bile duct obstructions, heart disease, etc.. It's a complicated issue but needs to be taken seriously as it is potentially fatal even though the person feels relatively fine, until they do not.
A good liver workup and biopsy will confirm the diagnosis and a specialist will make the determination as to cause, prognosis, and optimal treatment that will perhaps require significant lifestyle changes (losing weight, exercising vigorously and in a developmentally appropriate manner, greatly limiting or eliminating alcohol, taking medications, etc..)
The good news is for mild to even somewhat moderate (Batts-Ludwig scale, or Metavir Scale) liver fibrosis - it is very treatable and can be partly to largely reversed with proper treatment and aggressive lifestyle factor changes that your health care provider(s) will inform you of.
Hopefully, things work out well and the condition is treatable and reversible for you.