Referred for a list scan.

[Lilianadaisy99]

Just realised my error in the title. That should be a liver scan.

I'm so scared. I had an operation and the surgeon noted that my liver looked fatty. GP has arranged the scan following this. He's never asked me about alcohol so doesn't know that I'm abusing it 😔 Even knowing that my liver is suffering isn't enough to make me stop. I can barely remember last night.

I'm not a daily drinker. I average about 3 nights a week, but really binge. I can drink up to 20 units easily.

I've tried to stop by myself so many times. I need to do this now. I just hope I haven't permanently damaged my liver.

I'm not sure what I'm asking for... advice and tips to stop, I suppose. I have a young child who deserves the best of me.

Sorry to hear this. You need to be firm with yourself right now. Take one step at a time. You say you don't drink every night, this shows you have the willpower to turn this around. Immediately, stop buying it from this moment on. Instead buy non alcohol drinks (if need be) or an alternative soft drink you enjoy.

You owe this to yourself and your young child. The liver can repair itself but only if you allow it to have the chance to do so. So start right now! I can assure you won't regret doing it! Because believe me there is nothing better than having a clear head in being able to create and remember the happy days you'll have with your child that will lie ahead. I wish you the best of luck going forwards and stay strong. You got this!

if you can afford it, look into naltrexone therapy. It’s got a great success rate and is supposed to be really effective

I believe that the liver is an organ that is able to recover , so I hope that gives you some comfort.

Please be absolutely brutally honest with your GP. They’re not going to judge you, they won’t be shocked, they will want to help you. The support is there if you can take the first step, good luck.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond and give advice. I really hope that this is the push I need to finally give up alcohol. I've drank since my teens, so it's no surprise that it's catching up on me now.

Are there any other support groups that you'd recommend, other than AA? Thanks.

I’ve only had experience of AA and it got me sober - and so far has kept me sober for 12 years.

can I ask why you don’t want to consider it?

I'm definitely considering AA. I've already spoken with them and received details. I was just curious about other options.

12 years, that's an amazing achievement!

AA did nothing for me and I don’t agree with the mindset of being an addict for life.

Read Allen Carr’s Easy Way, and look at other Quit Lit to see what resonates. I’m two years sober and have never looked back. I don’t crave alcohol or miss it. I just had to understand it.

Once you understand what alcohol is, why you drink, and what it does to you in terms of making you believe you need it, you can just walk away. It becomes easy.

Look into Bee Sober. There is an online group nearly every night and it’s pretty much only women if that’s important to you. It’s much more social than AA would typically be.

I promised myself that I was done with drinking after Saturday just gone. I've managed one day. It's too hard to do this alone. I'm going to spend some time tomorrow researching support groups.

As i have the liver scan soon, i think I'm looking at this week as my last one with alcohol, assuming that there is some damage. This makes no sense and sounds so wrong, but i need there to be a problem in order to shock me into stopping. I think that's the only thing that'll do it. I'm so embarrassed.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply to my message.

Good luck for your scan 🧡 keeping everything possible crossed, can you not just try and mentally bottle the worst pain you’ve been in? Don’t wish the worst on yourself just yet.

“The mind is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master”

They can do some amazing things and I sincerely hope you get to use the worry as the greatest gift going forward xx

I am confused as to why they have ordered a scan?
I had a routine abdominal ultrasound and they found ‘very mild fatty liver’ but he just said it’s really common and a lot of people have it without knowing, and it’s found in 80% of people inadvertently whilst looking at other organs.
I was told not to worry and it’s due to lifestyle choices not just alcohol, food and diet and weight.
They told me to improve my diet and cut out fatty foods.

🤔

Do please try and find a support group to help you quit.

Did you have any liver function tests yet? They are blood tests to show how the liver is doing. I'd imagine the GP would order those along with the scan? I think the scan maybe a Fibroscan which specifically checks the liver.

If your op was in your abdomen, were there any pre op tests like abdominal scan beforehand? Maybe not if it was gynae related. Anyway, wishing you the best in your journey to wellness and sobriety.

It was emergency surgery so no tests beforehand. The surgeon just told me that the procedure was very difficult and that this was partly due to the condition of my liver. I don't get the chance to ask more about this. When I mentioned it to my GP, he just referred me for a scan. I've not had any liver function tests.

Regardless, I'm aware I'm drinking too much and need to fix this.

I've contacted an organisation for support today. I've been sent lots of links that I'm reading through. I'm really keen to sort this. I know I can't moderate my consumption, so I'm going to aim to not drink at all.

Yeah, I am aiming never to drink again, never mind complete spring sober next month and use what happened recently as the biggest gift, if I ever feel the urge I’ll take myself back to the 27th April when told if we don’t get to theatre this infection is travelling up to your lung along with a whole other load of grimities. They lost me at nerve damage alone. I got out of hospital remaining a mystery (nothing but stabs in the dark and why only one leg affected) when I don’t know how many full blood counts they took. A district nurse yesterday was like there is nothing so quire as the body.

Doing the right thing getting advice to read for sure.

Will you keep us updated 🙏 again all the luck in the world for you.