Swollen liver and breathing

[btsmith]

  Is there a possibility that my swollen liver is crowding my diaphram which makes it hard to breath.  My red blood cell count is 4.14 with a range of 4.5 to 5.9 so oxygen is getting around.  The breathing is just worse than normal.  Anybody?
BT Smith

[btsmith]

  An hgb of 11 is high for me, it usually runs around 8.4 for the last year or so.  I come off the pred in 3 days and will have my appointment in 6 days.  I can hang onto then.  They have talked to me about bringing me up (anemic wise) befor they take me down. (It is amazing how much you and others on this forum know about this stuff,  I don't think I have had one piece of disinformation, and I thank you).  I know I am in bad shape and not sure what the outcome will be.  I have had hep c for 35 years and drank most of that time. The hep wasn't discovered until 5 years ago and the doc. didn't seem to worried about it then, so I didn't.
thanks for the concern
btsmith

[nygirl7]

Sorry BT - when I started on this forum years ago before treatment we didn't have trackers so I never ever think to even look for such a thing!  The forum was quite different then.

I would go to the ER as well - obviously something is wrong and I still think honestly it's the hemo of 11 that would do it (especially if it went down quickly...it's not just the "number" but also how quickly it goes down that affects how you feel)...if you have a hemo of 11 pretreatment - I would imagine they will have to do something to raise it BEFORE you start.................

and prednisone is NOT a good med to take on treatment it CAN cause relapse so unless it is completely necessary to do you want to avoid it.

Perhaps your doctor can start you on procrit before hand - or can you go to a hemo specialist before you do start? I would really worry about that low number and do whatever you can do BEFORE hand

(Not to say we haven't had people with a version of anemia called Thalessemia start treatment before but history they have really suffered through hard - you'd like to do whatever you can so you can avoid transfusions and things in the future).

BEST of luck - we are all here to help even if it is just advice or support or knowledge or to have somewhere to vent to - believe me during treatment sometimes to me the venting was more important than the meds!

Debby

[btsmith]

   Yea I have stage 4 cirrhosis.  I have had breathing problems all along but it is getting sever.  I have an appointment with my doctor next monday.   I was real bad once and took an ambulance to the E.R..   They did very little just gave me some oxygen and 20 mg. of prednisone.  I had that at home.  My problem is that I don't sit down I have to do something all the time.  The computer is about it for things as my breathing is fine now, it is only when I try to do something is that I have a problem breathing. One of the problems, if you notice is my platelets jump around alot.  I already have had one doctor who said he wouldn't treat me.  Can you tell me how I can view my whole tracker at the same time.  So far I can only see segments of it.  Are their any FAQs for it?.
  Thanks much for your time and imput.
Btsmith

[Bobby1952]

  You haven't started tx yet ! Do you have cirrosis ? I noticed that your platelets are low and your HGB is only 11. That is low and you haven't started on interferon and riba yet.

  If you are having tbl breathing and haven't started tx yet I would go to the DR right away. Maybe even an emergency room.

Bobby

[btsmith]

  Sorry for not enough info.  My tracker is up to date if you want to look at it.  It has everything. I'm Suppose to start treatment next week. Tracker is Bttrack and is open.
thanks
Btsmith

[nygirl7]

Your liver is about at the bottom of the right side of your rib cage - so I seriously hope not.

What is your hemoglobin count?  If it is in the range of ten then it's probably time to start procrit if you are on treatment - red blood cells not carrying enough oxygen is a very common problem. Sorry but you didn't give enough info here for me to be sure.