Liver Specialist?!
Question: Ive had Hepatitis B core antibody and my doctor want me to see a liver specailist. Has anyone ever gone to one of these and what are some things they will do?
Answers: Ive had Hepatitis B core antibody and my doctor want me to see a liver specailist. Has anyone ever gone to one of these and what are some things they will do?
There is one of two types of doctors you
may be referred to: a gastroenterologist which deals with the entire digestive system or a doctor that has specialized in the liver
field known as a hepatologist.
First it would be good to gather information,
as much as you can on yourself:
past hospitalization, past conditions,
your family medical history, medications
you are on, testings you have had done and
the results if you had them, past childhood
conditions, etc. It is very important that
the doctor knows all the drugs you are using:
this includes over the counter, herbs, herbal
teas, vitamins, minerals, and medications
prescribed by your other doctors. This is
because most all medications are processed through the liver before going to
the rest of the body. It would also be good
to give him a listing of all doctors and
hospitals you are connected to and the addresses and telephone numbers of how
to reach them. With the medication, it
is good to write out all the medications,
how often you take them, how many you
take at one time, who prescribed them,
and what the reason is for you to be on them, what pharmacy you got them filled at
and the phone number of the pharmacy.
Usually, they will talk with you first and try
to get this medical history from you. The
information you can provide them in
writing will give you more of a chance to
get to what is wrong then just learning about
your past medical info that may not be
listed,to fill out,on their new patient forms.
He may then do an examination where you
will lie back and he will feel your abdominal
area. He is feeling to see if your liver is
enlarged and your spleen. The right lobe
of the liver is located in the upper right
section of your abdomen, under the rib cage..the left lobe extends out toward the
middle of the upper abdomen. The liver
is normally soft and smooth textured. If
there is inflammation, the liver will enlarge
and feel spongy. The doctor can sometimes tell this by pressing in this area.
In some patients that have a liver problem,
the spleen, which is located on the total
other side of the body under the rib, may
swell also. If the doctor thinks the liver
is swelled, he may do a ultrasound or Ct
scan to look at this area. From an ultrasound, he can see if the shape of the
liver and if it is enlarged, if there are any
nodules or tumors and also how the blood
may be flowing through the liver. These
are non invasive tests and there is no pain,
except if they use contrast where they insert
the contrast into a vein in the arm through a
needle.
He may do more blood work that will show
him more like the genotype and viral loading. Most liver patients have blood work taken frequently.
The most informative test to be sure about
the liver is the liver biopsy. This will show
them more than any other testing cause
they will have a sample of the liver tissue
itself and not just pictures of it. It is
an invasive procedure, you can ask to
be sedated....they numb the area with medication and then use a spring loaded
needle to take the sample. The needle
goes into the liver and out very fast. It usually takes longer to prepare for the test,
then the testing itself.
Here is a link that has many pamphlets to
look at, even one on the liver biopsy.
http://www.gihealth.com/html/education/p...
This site is the very best on the web for
those who have Hepatitis...it is for
Hepatitis C here, but is terrific for patient
who have other types and also those
who have developed cirrhosis.
http://www.janis7hepc.com/
Since yours is Hepatitis B, here is a
website that is good for that:
http://www.medicinenet.com/hepatitis_b/a...
Don't be afraid to ask the specialist any
questions you may have. Sometimes it
is good to write them down and take it with
you as being in a doctor office, it is easy
to forget things you wanted to know.
I gave you a general overview...I hope it has
been of some help. Hepatitis B can usually
be treated and I've heard of others going
into remission with it.
Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver
cells. There are many things that can cause
inflammation like this, a virus...like Hep A,B,C, etc., is just one of them.
Cirrhosis of the liver is when the liver
develops fibrosis that leads to scar tissue
inside the liver and death of the liver cells.
Inflammation of the liver can be treated and
reversed in many cases. If inflammation is
not treated, it can progress to the liver
cells dying.
I hope things work out for you. Best wishes.
I haven't seen a liver specialist. I was supposed to after contracting Hep V, but by the time I could get in my liver had improved dramatically.
Now when I have a yearly check up, there is no damage showing on my liver.
The reason for this - your liver is the only organ that can regenerate - after doing a lot of study I found that green veges will help it to heal. so eat lots of greens and stay away from alcohol for a while.
good luck