Afraid of hepatic, gallbladder and pancreatic conditions

[Junot]

Hello,

Two to three years ago I had an abdominal ultrasonography done to see how my liver, gallbladder and pancreas were doing.

The results were not 100% perfect. My liver showed moderate steatosis (fatty liver), my gallbladder was distended and its walls were thinned (no stones) and, finally, my pancreas had an heterogeneous echotexture, however no signs of nodules or other tumoral masses were present.

At that time my GP just told me to lose weight. I told him that I would, but I was on antidepressants, and those damn pills made me eat all the crap there is to eat (pizzas, fatty burgers, candies, cakes, cookies and so on - I could eat like two packs of chocolate cookies while watching TV lying in bed and at night). So, only in June this year, when the scale hit 120 kg (265 lbs), I had an epiphany and I told myself: from this moment on I will exercise and have a healthy diet. Thankfully it's working and I'm losing weight.

This said, should I ask my GP to refer me for this exam again? I'm afraid that the condition (fatty liver, distended and thinned gallbladder and heterogenous pancreas) has deteriorated in the meantime, and that my liver/gallbladder/pancreas are in a worse condition and progressing towards hepatitis, cirrhosis, pancreatitis or even cancer. I've been thinking about it and maybe that could explain the slightly elevated liver enzymes and lymphocyte count results I got in the blood tests I had done this month. Could it be the initial stages of something of the sort?

My GP thinks that I am hypochondriac even though he hasn't verbalized it yet but it's very clear what he thinks of me and I'm afraid that he dismisses this liver enzymes results as something transient.

Would you ask your doctor for this ultrasonography again or rather wait until your doctor remembers (if he ever does) that you've done it and maybe it's time to repeat it?

Thanks for reading.

---------- Post added at 12:48 ---------- Previous post was at 12:29 ----------

The same goes for an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy that I had done a few years ago and that showed an incompetent cardia, that is, the sphincter between the esophagus and the stomach is not working as it should and allows reflux. Should I repeat this exam to see if the stomach and esophagus are okay despite the malfunctioning sphincter?

[Junot]

Steatosis is reversible if the underlying reason is eliminated, so by losing weight you are definitely doing the right thing and there are many reasons for the elevated liver enzymes though the test could be done again to establish a baseline and then when you have lost a substantial (lots!) of weight it can then be repeated.

And what do you think of the heterogeneous echostructure of the pancreas? It says it's a bit heterogeneous, however no tumoral masses. I don't have any physical symptom of pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer, but is this something to worry about and to have rechecked? Could that heterogeneous echostructure be due to diet as well?

As for the liver enzymes, lately whenever I had blood tests done they came back a bit higher than they should or on the borderline. I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke, I just had a very bad diet and no physical exercise up until June - oh, and lots of antidepressants for almost 8 years now (stopped them a few months ago), benzodiazepines when needed and a beta-blocker that I started taking about one year ago. Could it be the bad diet/pills combination?

Thanks.

[Junot]

I had an appointment today with my GP/family doctor. I asked him to refer me for an abdominal ultrasonography again and he acceded due to the slightly elevated liver enzymes, mainly ALT (95 U/I) that showed up on the blood tests. But now I am afraid of having it done because I fear to find out that the moderate steatosis has worsened or that the pancreas has become inflammed or even cancerous. Especially because I've been experiencing a dull pain that comes and goes in my abdomen since last week - it's a bit above and on the left of the umbilicus. I've lost 31 lbs since June 26th until now, I don't know anymore if it's due do the strict diet and physical exercise I've been on since that day or if it might be due to a serious pancreatic condition. I never thought that I would be this scared of having a test done.