Cliff O.

Liver Transplant

I woke up on Sept 8th 2012 with jaundice & got to see my GP next day. He sent an urgent request to local hospital thinking I had gallstones. 2 weeks later & nothing was happening so I went to a private practice. My new doctor organized a blood test & ultrasound which showed cirrhosis, but my blood results were ignored. The information was passed to another doctor who organized CT. All this time I was yellow, getting weaker, struggling to walk, unable to climb stairs, sleeping 12-14 hours a day, in pain, only eating soup or porridge yet my weight was increasing.
Whilst in London for Christmas 2012, I became so ill that I got an emergency doctors appointment & was immediately sent to Royal Free Hospital. I was given morphine which entered stomach via varices, and I threw up. The next 24 hours was a blur but turns out my ast, alt levels were “off the charts”, I had ascites, SBP, liver necrosis. A biopsy also showed AiH. I had work up for liver transplant but suddenly levels began to fall. I spent 30 days in the hospital & a further 10 months recovering before I could return to working.
I’m watched very carefully now, I’ve only had one bad flare otherwise I’m all OK.

Never give up, you might have to see numerous doctors before getting diagnosed with AiH. It’s a rare condition but you are not alone.
AiH is strange in that patients often have to become “experts” in the condition & become very involved in there own treatment.