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Worried about liver disease or possible cirrhosis

I'll caveat this by saying I'm a bit of a hypochondriac.  I'm a 38 white male who is suspecting some type of liver disease.  I've been a drinker since college and have occasionally binged drank.  According to alcoholic stats, I'm considered a heavy drinker.  During 2009-2011, I took about 13 months off from drinking to get back in shape, but since 2012, I have still drank heavily....sometimes during the week as well.  Way back in 2008, after a night of drinking (usually beer) I would find a strange bruise or two.  Originally, I chalked this up to banging into things while drunk and not remembering, and the fact that alot of alcohol thins the blood and make it easier to bruise.

Since then, I haven't noticed any real issues.  I stay in moderate shape, but haven't really watched my diet and the drinking has made me gain about 20 pounds.  Last year, I had a knee replacement, so I didn't drink for a few weeks because I was on the narcotics.  After quitting the pain pills, I started drinking again (mostly for recreation).  During the past several months, I was drinking more heavily, mostly due to stress at home and work.  Occasionally, I would wake up after a heavy night of boozing to find random bruises again, mostly small 'impact' looking bruises usually on my legs or arms.  This happened two weeks ago with a small bruise on my forearm and another little one on my knee.  I've become obsessed with thinking I had a serious issue with my liver and can't stop reading these posts and it's really bothering me.  I've always had moderate anxiety which causing me to obsess over things.

Background:  I've researched a lot of liver disease and paid attention to these posts.  I've compared CBC bloodwork that I had in 2005 and again in 2015.  According to these multiple CBC's, I DO NOT have anemia, high sugar, leukocytosis, low magnesium, low potassium, or low sodium.  I also DO NOT have fatigue, have NOT noticed bleeding easily, skin sometimes itch, but not in excess and I've always had dry skin.  I have NOT noticed any jaundice, loss of appetite, nausea, edema, weight loss, confusion, spiderlike blood vessels, or other classic signs of liver disease.

What I have noticed is after a heavy night of drinking, I wake up to a random bruise or two that I cannot account for.  I have also become convinced that my palms have become more red.  My wife thinks I'm crazy and just being a hypochondriac.  I am pretty pale, but in the mornings, my palms seem less red, and then they get more red as the day goes on.  I do have high BP, probably due to bad diet, and drinking, and I know that can cause it. Again, I don't know if I've always had red palms, as I never took noticed until I started reading these threads.  Sometimes I also feel a small pain or pressure under my lower right rib cage.  This seems to be intermittent.  I don't have problems sleeping (outside of some anxiety if I don't drink) and I have no issues working out.

I still work out 3-4 times a week, pretty strenuously and haven't noticed any problems.  I'm still 20 pounds heavier than my athletic days, but I think that's due to overeating/overdrinking.  I don't seem to have any cognitive issues, and appetite is still good.  I do have symptoms of IBS and am sometimes gassy, but I think that may be due to a bad diet.  Could that be causing the discomfort under the right ribcage? When comparing my CBC in 2005 and 2015, I did notice two anomalies.  In 2005 my Monocytes count was 12.6 (High).  In 2015 my Monocytes count was 14.1 (High).  In 2005 my MCH was 32 pg (High, but without limits) In 2015 my MCH was 33.9 pg (High).  These are very concerning as they refer to some type of infection and due to my drinking habits, have me very worried.  However, UA shows only .2EU/DL Urobilinogen in both 2005/2015, which is almost perfect.  Furthermore, both UA samples show negative results for Bilirubin.  

I just got done with my physical, which includes CBC, and am waiting on the results.  I'm terrified that something might be wrong, and consumed by anxiety, especially since it's been 3 years since I was last tested negative for Bilirubin in my urine.  I've never had liver enzyme testing and prior to a few months ago, I never thought about Liver Disease.  The combination of unaccounted small bruising after drinking, the slight pain under my ribs, and the perception of redder palms has me scared out of my mind.  But, I can't find anything really out of the ordinary with the two CBC results, outside of a slightly high Monocytes and MCH count.

Any comments, help, advice, experiences would greatly be appreciated.  I feel like I'm going crazy with anxiety.

Thanks,
KO1980
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Avatar universal
I have similar issues. Mostly just pain, no other symptoms. Wonder why no one answers
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