Liver pain. very anxious

[Carrie8484]

Hi all

I posted in the iBS section last week but I think I have something seriously wrong with my liver.

I've had upper right quadrant pain for 7 weeks now.
It ranges from a stitch type pain to a dull ache to a stabbing pain. it is constant.

I went to a GP who wasn't very thorough but said it could be my liver or gallbladder and is sending me for an upper abdomen US. For adde info i don't drink alcohol except maybe 1 glass of wine per fortnight. alcohol gives me migraines.

Anyway i have recently been thinking about the blood tests i had last year which showed raised liver enzymes. I had a few repeat blood tests and nothing more was said so I left it at that.

Now i'm panicking that the enzymes have sky rocketed over the past year, I have liver cancer and the this what is causing the pain.

My ultra sound is on 22nd March which is a long time for me. I am speaking with another GP on the phone today so I am going to request a blood test.

i have been shaking with fear this weekend . I can't believe i may have liver cancer and nothing was seen sooner.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Since your GP has not booked you in for an urgent ultrasound, and would have surely seen you had those tests too, it suggests they are thinking something else. When were those tests last year? Not long ago or ages ago?

They may be thinking something like gallbladder stones or similiar? The only thing thinking liver cancer is your anxiety which is latching onto that test and joining up some very distance & patchy dots without the benefit of all that medical training & experience of all the other possibilities.

If your GP remotely considered any form of cancer, you would be in for the test in the next week or so.

I'm sure others will have more understanding of the possibilities, I'm not the walking medical dictionary I find many of the members on the HA board are, so hopefully they still spot your post and be able to offer better advice.

My GF had similar pain in that area and they thought it was kidney stones. Hers did develop into me pain that mimicked this. It turned out to be a non cancerous growth that she never new she had and it had started wrapping around her ovary. The consultant said she would have been born with it and could have lived her whole life never knowing and unless it grows & infringes on something else like in her case, they wouldn't even consider removing it.

Neither of us had ever heard of that. Her GP didn't indicate such a possibility either. So, it's important we put faith in the process.

[Kathryn313]

Hi Carrie

Would say that it's nice to hear from you again but on these forums that's not really the case is it?!?

I had this fear too, still do a bit, see what comes of the blood test but remember the GP has all your old blood results so they will have made the non urgent referral based on that info too.

[Carrie8484]

Thanks Terry and Kathryn.
I spoke to my regular GP on the phone this evening and she is sending me for a blood test.
I'll get this done on thursday.
I told my scan is 22nd March and she said 'gosh thats a long way off'.
I don't want to be posting on this section again but I guess it is the nature of the HA beast.
I'm not sure what my pain is but it's easy to think the worst when you have this anxiety x

[Kathryn313]

It sure is. Lots of things before jumping to liver Ca though.

[MyNameIsTerry]

You've got friends on here that will support you, Carrie. If not being on this board is better for you, I bet they will be willing to support you.

I know what you mean about tests. My mum needs an ECG. We have two clinics other than the hospital, one said 5 weeks, the other 4. I think this is why GP's use the urgent referrals if they need a quicker answer aside from the main reasons those referrals are there for. I took this as a good sign given she's mid seventies, on blood pressure meds, has asthma, an enlarged heart and has been struggling to get her breath when walking. GP's are cautious, when they go non urgent for tests I think it's a positive.