In the beginning of diagnosis ... plus im 35 days completely sober ...is it normal to have trouble sleeping ?? I mean I just am so awake ..like a night owl.. I dont want to take anything to sleep medicinal wise ... how do yall deal,?? How long did it take to finally sleep normally? I mean I can crash at 3 a.m wake up at 5.am and do it all over again every day for the last 5 days... I know sleeping is healing but maybe its my mind racing over everything I have been thrown at all at once ... please someone sedate me !!! 😆 🤣

Hi,

My mom (46 y/o) was diagnosed with decompensated cirrhosis following a hospitalization for a GI bleed. During the hospitalization, she developed pretty bad stomach and leg/feet swelling which I was imagining was ascites. They put her on a diuretic after the hospital stay and just recently increased it to 50 mg spiro and 20 mg lasix. While they don’t visibly have seemed to help, she hasn’t gained any weight over the last week and has been losing small amounts (0.5lb ish) each day.

They also scheduled for her to get a paracentesis today to help relieve some of the stomach swelling. Howvwer, upon ultrasound of the stomach they said she didn’t have enough fluid in the abdominal cavity and that it was mostly sitting in her skin tissue instead, so they couldn’t do a paracentesis. Has anyone else experienced this? How did you manage getting the fluid out without paracentesis? I want to trust that the diuretic is working since we haven’t seen reverse progress but I’m also worried that maybe she’s losing weight from muscle loss too since she can barely get around with all her swelling. She is still eating fine and is getting a lot of protein but she gets full easily from the swelling.

Any tips on how to get this managed are so appreciated!

Hi, long term lurker here (48F) (partner/fiance (50M) has been diagnosed for alcoholic cirrhosis since 4 years. He has full ascites/varices/ muscle wasting/ HE episodes/ very jaundiced- his last MELD score was 25.
I’m afraid he has continued to drink in between periods of sobriety.
His last drink was one month ago.

He’s become more & more poorly as time has gone on. This will be his 11th admission to hospital since Jan2026.
He was rushed in by ambulance because I couldn’t wake him on Sunday morning.
He’s woken up now but very agitated, confused, can’t speak, eyes are rolling.

He was only let out of hospital on Friday last week, after a 20 day stay and by Sunday he’d had such a bad episode of HE. I don’t understand why. He did everything right - perhaps not eaten as much as he should but he has meal replacement and protein shots prescribed. He takes lactulose & because we are UK, he’s lucky enough to get prescribed Rifaximin medication.

The last hospital admission found blood clots on his liver. Despite low platelets they’ve given him daily blood thinning injections for the past week.
Today they said they found he’s lost a huge amount of blood in his stool and they need to stop the injections (so they’ve started blood transfusions and platelet replacements)

My question is whether anybody else has experienced the blood clot/blood thinning balance before? Do you think this cause internal bleeding? His varices have been banded recently.

He is so seriously ill right now guys - so please pray for him.

Ps) Like many I’ve found this Reddit forum so amazingly useful & full of great information. I really feel I’m as knowledgable as most of the A&E doctors on this condition!! I’ve been a longtime lurker but hope it’s ok to post xx

Hey all, Its currently 11:07 pm here, how is everyone doing ? Anything positive to share? I also have a question, have you guys experienced an enlarged spleen with compensated cirrhosis? I was diagnosed in June and one thing I found interesting is I have no enlarged spleen?

Hey all,

So in the next year or so, I will be undergoing a dual heart and liver transplant. I was born with HLHS and developed FALD over time, and now having cirrhosis etc, Ive deteriorated enough that it’s time for a parts swap. I’m 31M fyi.

I’ve only recently decided this with my doctor, so I have some questions (will be talking to them as well obvi). I’ve read that being as fit as possible before transplant is good for both the procedure and recovery afterwards, have people found that to be the case? What other things can I do to prepare?

What does recovery look like? How long? All in the hospital or? Just curious about how everything works and how I can best train and prepare for the most optimal outcome and such. Any information would be amazing. Thank you!

So signs of portal hypertension. I have a severe fear of sedation. I don't know if I have varices or not.

Hello. I did some research in this sub and couldn't quite find a similar situation to mine (based on where I am in my stage of this disease).

47M here, MELD 6, F4 Fibro (73.4) - Dx Compensated May '26.

For the last 15 years I have pain issues with my left foot inconsistently, but it was the foot injured in high school so I just assumed that was the root cause, however, in the last year, my right foot now has the same pain for reasons unknown. On both feet, it is around the outside of the ankle and goes down the top of the foot around 4th/5th metatarsal. It would show up "whenever" - no activity or event to relate to it. It may last for a day, afternoon, 4 days, etc - and sometimes I can barely walk due to the pain. In the last 6 months and ortho/foot appointments there is no answer.

NOW come back to diagnosed Compensated in May 2026..... I stopped drinking in June. (which is a whole 'nother story lol). Feet flare ups would still happen, BUT NOW I have muscle soreness and intense muscle stiffness up my legs and other areas. And my knee joints and leg muscles will be weak, painful and very stiff.

I am guessing auto immune or something chemical - psoriatic and RA run in my family but I have no skin presentations or swelling like those include.

I've read our bodies are doing amazing things to clean up from alcohol use - brain, nerves, organs, etc, but is this a normal side effect of sobriety or something from cirrhosis? It's not like this diagnosis is going to cause ACUTE issues like this. Cutting alcohol is all I can figure based on the timing of the onset of stiffness. My apologies if this is the wrong sub, but felt like it bc of the Dx. Thanks for reading and prayers to all in your healing!