Any medical people on ?

I have a question about liver function. We're getting conflicting information from doctors & nurses and thought I might get some insight.

What I want to know is approximately how long can a person live and what damage is done to organs if a liver isn't working? There is a machine that is currently working as the liver but how long can that go on?

Re: Any medical people on ?

I hope you found the answer you were looking for.

:huggy
:

Re: Any medical people on ?

The liver is very important, it takes toxins out of the body, if it is not working correctly and it goes undetected for MANY years it can cause irreversible damage.

Re: Any medical people on ?

it realyl depends on the diagnosis. If its acute liver failure, then there's hemodialysis (which is similar to renal dialysis, but with less effect)- it's only been around for a few years though, and -where kindey patients can be on dialysis for years- this will probably only work for a few months, at most... to buy a little time in waiting for a liver transplant. There's a few different forms of this, but the problem is that albumin (a protein in the blood) attaches itself to the liver, and since its not water soluable, the 'dialysis' machine can't properly filter it (that's why liver patients are usually put on a low protein diet).

Unfortunately, the liver really is like the 'Power house' of the body- its responsible for So many processes (hormone production, bile production, stores energy, filters toxins)- so the damages will spread to different systems, btu the one that it would most likely affect first (and most) are the kidneys.

Re: Any medical people on ?

Thanks for responding. Unfortunately it is acute liver failure and a transplant isn't an option. Right now her blood won't clot. She has internal bleeding & they can't operate. They've been pumping the blood out (and in).

From what they're saying everything is on hold until her liver kicks in. I wish that were the only problem. My other SIL just called to tell me that she has a strain of shingles that is attacking her organs. not sure if it means if the liver is under attack.

Sigh...

Re: Any medical people on ?

My grandmother just got shingles and i looked it up. Thisi s what i found:

Shingles is caused by the varicella zoster virus, or the chickenpox virus. This virus lies dormant in the body near the spinal cord and the nerve ganglia until something, usually severe stress or a weakened immune system, reactivates it. Once reactivated, the virus travels along the nerve paths, destroying these paths as it goes, to the skin where it erupts into a rash

People over the age of 50 - The immune system is weakened with advancing age, allowing the shingles virus to become active and grow. Seventy percent of shingles cases occur in patients over the age of 50 while 50% of those age 80 and up will develop shingles. Stressful situations are usually the trigger for these outbreaks.


People with weakened immune systems- Patients with HIV infection or AIDS (who are 9 times more likely to develop shingles), some cancer patients, cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, those with lymphoid malignancies (especially Hodgkin's disease), organ transplant recipients (especially those receiving bone marrow transplants) and people being treated with immunosuppressive drugs such as corticosteroids are especially at risk for developing shingles because their weakened immune systems can't fight off the dormant virus. Shingles and shingles-related complications can be devastating for people with immune deficiencies since it can affect internal organs and may even cause death as a result of a secondary bacterial infection or viral pneumonia brought on by shingles.

Re: Any medical people on ?

Re: Any medical people on ?

sending some


to your SIL

Re: Any medical people on ?

Re: Any medical people on ?