_ I had always been what I thought a basically healthy person. I had psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and very mild type 2 diabetes. I had my gallbladder removed in 1994, but other than that nothing major had ever happened to me. In 2004 my doctor suggested that I have a hysterectomy after finding fibroids. During the surgery (while looking for my appendix) he found that my pancreas was "twisted". He did untwist it. After recovery I went home and back to work as healthy as before.
A few months later I started having problems with my blood sugar. I started using Byetta™ (an injectable medication for diabetes). Nothing seemed to work as my sugar kept climbing. By 2006 I was sick. Most days my blood sugar was over 500. Every few weeks I was back at the doctor each time the diagnosis was “another virus".
By 2007 I knew I was in trouble. I had 3 mini strokes in February. My family doctor did test and my ALT/AST (liver enzymes) were elevated. This sometimes happens from viruses but can be a sign that the liver is inflamed. They wanted me to come back in 6 months to have it rechecked.
By June I knew somewhere inside me that I couldn't wait that long, I knew I was dying. I called my endocrinologist and explained my fears. The first thing he did was stop the Byetta™. They were receiving reports of trouble with the pancreas and he didn't want to take any chance that it might be part of the problem. He also made me an appointment with a gastroenterologist that he knew. My enzymes came down with in a few weeks of stopping the Byetta™ and I started to feel better.
Within the first few minutes of my appointment with the gastroenterologists they told me that I had several symptoms of liver disease. They wanted me to have an ultrasound to see if they could find a cause. I had the ultrasound a few days later, the next day the office called and said there were some abnormalities, and that they wanted to do a liver biopsy.
By now it was September, my family and I bounced around ideas of what we thought was wrong. Of course I was certain then that I had cancer.
The biopsy was done the first week in October and a few days later they told me that I had CIRRHOSIS.No way--I don't drink! My cirrhosis was caused by several different factors:
My Mother had a liver disorder that although I did not have I was more susceptible to liver problems.
I had used a medication called methotrexate for my psoriasis.
The Byetta™use (the jury is still out on this but they are receiving more reports of liver problems).
(and most important) I had uncontrolled type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol this had caused fatty liver that had become NASH this in turn became cirrhosis.
_I was about to learn more about my liver than I ever thought possible!