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Liver issues after surgery anyone??



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I was sleeved in May 2011. I am down 65+ pounds and very happy with my sleeve. It is my best friend in the weight loss world! My liver numbers were just fine before I had surgery. Afterwards, they were off the charts. Over the last 6 months I have been getting my blood checked almost monthly to check on the downward progress. They have come down but are still elevated. My GI doc is concerned and I am having another ultrasound next week. Looking for sludge or stones or something. He said that if my numbers get to 120, he will want a biopsy. I am around 50-90 now . 20-40 is normal. The numbers have gone up in the past month Anyone else have any experience with this? I had my sleeve surgery and then 9 days later had to go back and have my gall bladder out. We think my issues may stem from medication injury as the anesthesia (twice) and then alot of vicodin (that didn't help my pain) may have overloaded my poor liver. I dont' drink now and never have been much of a drinker. Just curious if anyone else has had any issues similar to mine.

Thanks my sleevie friends!!

Living the dream,

Laurarolleyes.gif

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Laura, congrats on your weight loss, you're doing awesome!! I'm sorry to hear of your problem, I haven't read of anyone reporting this issue. It very well could be the meds you had to be on. I hope your Dr gets the issue figured out and resolved very soon. I remember your signature quote from before, and I just love it! Sending your prayers and positive healing vibes!!

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Hi Decamom! I am sorry that I don't have anything to add that would be helpfull. But I did want to send you some good thoughts your way that this gets resolved for you soon! I'm sure it must be a little scary not knowing what's going on. Hang in there! I'msure you will get to the bottom of it!!!!!

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My issue isnt the exact same as yours but prior to surgery I had no issues with my pancreas. 4 days post surgery I was hospitalized for pneumonia and pancreatis. I was shocked and definately surprised to have pancreatis. They said my lipids were really high. I have been back for some further testing last week and they did say my lipids were starting to go down, so that is good.

I honestly wasnt aware that you could develop pancreatis or issue livers post sleeve but that has changed. Still dont know why it happened though.

Best of luck to you, I hope your numbers keep going down.

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I had elevated liver enzymes for the past 3 years. I was on prednisone for a whole year which brought my numbers to normal. They started going back up. I was sleeved 6 days ago and my surgeon didn't seem concerned although he did do a biopsy while in there. I had another biopsy before which only showed elevated Iron. They finally decided that i have fatty liver but during surgery the doc said my liver looked beautiful so no fatty liver. Just had a new blood test today to chexk lipid panel. Curious to see if they are still elevated.

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I am one of those oddballs that still produced stones AFTER having my gallbladder out. In my case a year after having my gallbladder out I had produced more stones and they were in the common bile duct and caused pancreatitis and an inflamed liver. My numbers were all over the place. They did an ERCP, saw the stones immediately (they could not see them via ultrasound or CT), cut them out and eventualy I was all back to normal. All this was pre-VSG though.

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Had the opposite experience, a recent CT scan showed clear liver and gal bladder (used to have fatty liver and gal stones).

Vicodin may be culprit as you think.

Good luck on your labs and hope things turn around for your.

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I was thinking gallbladder as well, but then you said you had yours removed. But like someone else stated, you can still get stones, or some could have been left behind.

I just had my gallbladder out 3 days ago, and my liver enzymes were 500-600. I had stones blocking the ducts to the liver.

I hope they figure out what is going on soon! Do you have any symptoms besides the elevated blood levels?

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There are a lot of medications that can affect your liver. Pain meds can definitely send things out of whack. Another common culprit (medication-wise) is cholesterol medication. Even things that seem as innocent as Tylenol can affect your liver. When they removed your gallbladder, did you have stones? An ultrasound may not find these things, unless there is a blockage of some nature. Are you experiencing jaundice? Have they suggested an ERCP? I hope they figure something out for you.

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Absorptioon and liver issues after sleeve. Sleeve in 2007 now have numbness in hands and feet. I am trying to find a doctor to locate cause. Normal tests show nothing.

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May 20th will be 7 months since my vsg & down 92lbs. Started at 260. If they do an ERCP they'll probably find stones. After having my gallbladder removed, I still had problems so they did that test & found stones. After that removed & after this weight loss my liver numbers are great now.

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My liver biopsy came back positive for cirrhosis after my WLS :(

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      · 2 replies
      1. Selina333

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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