How I Got Diagnosed With NASH

Hi there. My name is Louise, and this is my story about how I got diagnosed with non-alcoholic liver disease.

I already had some pre-existing conditions before my NASH diagnosis. I have type 2 diabetes, fibromyalgia, arthritis, degenerative disc disease, and an underactive thyroid. So, I already had a significant amount of health issues going on.

Due to my fibromyalgia and arthritis, I was on a high amount of pain medication and had been for the past 5 to 6 years. I also had not been able to exercise as much due to my chronic pain, so my inevitable weight gain mixed with my pain medication, was making my liver very unhappy.

My diagnosis all started with a sharp pain and a dull ache

This pain began in the right-hand side of my abdomen, and I was feeling sluggish and very lethargic. I was also suffering from nausea and sickness. So, I went to my doctor and described the symptoms I had been experiencing, and they decided to run some blood tests.

When my blood tests came back, they showed signs of my liver being in distress, which then led to me having an ultrasound of my liver, which showed it was enlarged, measuring 30 centimeters. The normal-sized liver on average, measures in at around 11 centimeters, so my liver was extremely enlarged at this point, so much so, that it was pushing on my other organs making certain day-to-day tasks hard to complete.

Additional testing

After the blood tests and ultrasound, I had a fibro scan done. If you are unsure what a fibro scan is, don't worry, I was just as confused. A fibro scan is a painless and quick procedure, like an ultrasound. What the fibro scan does is use electric waves that can measure the elasticity and stiffness of your liver. A normal range of KPA from a fibro scan reading is between 2kpa and 5kpa, mine was measuring around 17kpa, which is very high. Anything over 15kpa indicates you have liver steatosis and or cirrhosis.

Once I had the fibro scan done it showed that I had NASH, advanced fatty liver disease. I was starting to become worried and concerned about how severe the scarring was on my liver. After my fibro scan, I was sent for a liver biopsy. Not the most comfortable experience I must say, but it was the next procedure I needed to find out how severe the scarring on my liver was.

Seeing a liver specialist

Two weeks after all the tests and procedures, I was booked in to see my liver specialist so that we could go through the results of my biopsy. I remember feeling very anxious about finding out the results, especially because all the other results from the previous tests were suggesting the worst. The specialist sat me down and explained the results to me, I did have NASH and severe scarring on my liver, meaning liver cirrhosis.

My specialist explained, that if I did not lose weight and stop all pain medication, I would end up needing a liver transplant in the next five years, or even worse I could end up dead. After hearing that I started to spiral, as you can fully imagine.

The specialist also explained that no medication could help me and that I would have to try and repair my liver by myself, so that is exactly what I did.