Severe liver damage

Welp my hard days of drinking have finally caught up to me... ill try to shorten the story.
Long line of family alcoholics. Aunt died with a bottle in her hand. Mom was an alcoholic for a very long time.

I started when I was like 16, pretty much kept it pretty solid till this past Jan 1 when I thought I would do a 'cleanse' at age 41.

Got a call from the doc today based on bloodwork I got done this morning.
"So how much are you drinking these days?"
"uh, I havent had a drink in 45 days."
"Oh my, well you have hepatitis from liver damage."

Im such a pussy when it comes to medical diagnosis type shit... so I immediately got dizzy and pale...

Anyway, looks like my 90 day cleanse may be a life long cleanse.

</rant>

 

On the bright side, your still alive!

 

Don,t feel bad there are some great meds out there this days for hepatitis and most insurance cover the treatment. I was in the same boat went in for a routine check up doc tells me we have to check for hepatitis since the blood count was not right. Long story short I was one of the 5% that caught liver cancer taking the hepatitis meds.

So I had to go in for more test and other BS got confirmed tumor in my liver luckily they caught it early enough and zapped the tumors undies off. That was a 1 1/2 years ago still cancer free. There is light at the end of the tunnel the only advise I can give you is up your insurance to the max and get cancer insurance. Them tests and the mri get expensive specially if something unexpected happens. Good Luck

 

Congrats for taking the first step. At least you caught it before it was too late. Hang in there and get that liver healthy again.

 

My father got a liver transplant few years ago, (very lucky) the wait list for a liver is insane. Its not a fun process. Hit our family pretty hard, He was in ICU for weeks! We had to commute everyday to the hospital to translate and watch over him. Now hes taking crazy about of pills everyday. 8am-1pm-8pm. He's acted different due to the blood transfusion. I hope the best for you man!

 

There is good news.

Hepititis, even C, is much more controllable / curable these days.

You found it fairly early in life.

You know what caused it.

You can stop the cause, or at least from adding to the problem.

Join AA and stick with it. Don't feel comfortable with your group? Try another one. But do no give up.

Like some of my family, 'social drinking' will not be doable for you. Zero intake is your hope.

Best wishes for your success!

 

Yah... I don't think I am a "Ill just have one" type of guy.

 

Any day you aren't pushing up daisies is a good day.

If you aren't the religious/spiritual type, I suggest a non AA/12-step program. They help a lot of people, but they also push away a lot, too. In fact, I would argue that even if you are spiritually minded, an evidence based approach like cognitive behavior therapy has been shown to be nearly universally effective, and CBT methods continue to grow and improve with research.

Find what works best for you.

https://www.verywellmind.com/secular-alcohol-and-drug-rehab-programs-67702

It sounds like you've already made it 45 days on your own. So now all you have to do repeat that, and you're at 90, then repeat that and you're at 180. Before you know it, you're not even counting anymore.

 

along with your habit changes, look into herbal supplement milk thistle. It has healing properties for humans and dogs with liver disease. Hopefully this can be of some help too.