My Mom Is Really Sick…?
Question by xmoanix: my mom is really sick…?
but shes in the mainland (i live in hawaii) so i can’t really visit her…from what i understand on her VM she has pneumonia, a swollen liver, and a swollen gall bladder…….im really worried – im afraid its because shes been abusing drugs and alcohol even though she denies it…do you think this could be serious or do you think she might be okay…i know each can be treatable but i dont know how serious it is with her…=
Best answer:
Answer by Skate4Life
My dad had cancer and got pnuemonia and died of it, but idk, she should be OK. Sorry about your mom though.
Answer by abijann
You are right about alcohol and drugs causing a problem with the liver.
However, you mentioned her gallbladder.
In the liver there are tube like structures,
known as ducts. The liver makes bile and this flows from the liver through these ducts
to the outside of the liver to larger ducts.
The bile flows to the gallbladder where it is
stored and concentrated. When we eat
something fatty, the gallbladder contracts and pushes the concentrated bile back out into the ducts and it flows down to the intestines to help digest the fats we eat.
Anything that may be wrong with the bile
ducts can cause a problem. This may be that a stone or many stones have formed in the gallbladder and one of them may have moved into these ducts and blocked the flow of bile. If this happens, the bile can be
backed up into the liver and cause liver cell
damage which would lead to inflammation inside the liver and cause the liver to swell
up. If it is treated right away…the liver cells
can heal…if it is not, it can lead to the liver cells dying, known as cirrhosis. Once the
liver cells start to die off, it progresses because the dead cells turn to scar tissue and block the flow of blood that carries
nourishment and oxygen to the cells remaining and they also die.
There are auto immune diseases that can
cause this also, known as primary biliary
cirrhosis and sclerosing cholangitis. This
is where the body immune system has turned on the patients own body instead of
something coming into the body. It can
cause mal formation of these bile ducts where they become twisted and strictured and the bile also doesn’t flow well.
Your mom is extremely sick right now. The
only way you will know how sick is to talk
to her doctors. Because of the privacy
laws in the USA, a person…even relatives… have to have forms signed for them to do this and also to handle affairs the patient may need to have done: advanced directives or power of attorneys are good.
They have to be signed by the patient.
With all that is wrong right now with your Mom, it would be good for someone in the family to have this done…as if this is liver disease, she may have to have someone to speak for her and handle things for her if she cannot do that herself. If you type in the name of the forms mentioned above and the state you are in, it may bring up some free forms you can have filled out…be sure to get one for what state she is being treated in.
Here is a site on gallbladder and the stones:
http://www.markfuscomd.com/gallbladder.htm
Here is a site on cirrhosis of the liver:
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/cirrhosis
As you can see on these links, that cirrhosis or inflammation of the liver can start from alcohol and drugs….but in your mom’s case,
from what you stated above…it sounds like it is more of a biliary area blockage problem.
No one here will be able to tell you how serious this is. The doctors have done blood tests to determine if there is damaged to the liver cells and how the liver is functioning. They do other tests, like an ultrasound, ct scan, or MRI to see if there are gallstones and whether they can see any growths (tumors) in the liver and if the
bile is flowing. They do procedures (known as a ERCP)where they go through the mouth and down the esophagus and pass the stomach and into the first part of the intestines to the biliary area, where they shoot dye into the bile ducts and if they see a stone can be removed and remove it or observe if the bile area is malformed and can also try to spread the bile duct open.
The best test to have done is a liver biopsy, if the doctors think the liver cells maybe damaged. Until the doctor finds out the cause of the inflammation and how much it has effected the liver cells and that area….they won’t be able to tell you much.
She should be with a gastroenterologist or a hepatologist right now. Having pneumonia on top of this will weaken her much more. This, too, can be coming from the infection in this area developing.
I wish I could tell you more, but this is all I can right now. This may not be serious and can be treated or it may be very serious and something that will cause her to need continuous care. . It will all depend on whether all this is caught fast enough that it can be treated.
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