what to do

[shadowace6969]

Just found out my fiancé has hep c, she has been hospitalized for 4 days now from liver failure. Nearly comatose, and when she does talk it's all negative delusional things that she says. They have strapped her arms to her sides and havn't started any kind of liver treatment, all they have done is give her potassium in her IV. Should I be concerned that they are aware of the very high ammonia content in her body and not giving her anything for it?

[workingonit]

I am just a guy fighting hep c and am not qualified to make judgments. I can only imagine what you are going through right now.Have you spoke to the attending Physician? From what I have read low potassium can be part of the problem with the liver processing ammonia. I would think the Drs are doing what they think is best for her. If it were me and I was worried about the direction the treatment was going I would ask for a second opinion from a specialist.
If you are not listed as a person to be told about her medical condition then get her closest relative or whoever is listed to do it. Good Luck! I hope things go well!

[shadowace6969]

Thanks a lot, been in the hospital about a week now. They are going to re-evaluate her liver and call in a psyc to evaluate her. She is still pretty much unconscious and spacey though.

[workingonit]

hopefully the docs can get her stabilized where she can take meds for the hep c. Harvoni is the current  wonder drug. Side effects are minimal.

[Lynn K]

Have they given her Lactulose? From what I understand that is the treatment for high ammonia levels causing hepatic encephalopathy. Possibly a lactulose enema.

Is on of her treating physicians familiar with treating patients with cirrhosis hopefully a hepatologist?

Has she previously been diagnosed with cirrhosis?

best of luck to you both

[BattleTheBeast]

I agree totally with Lynn; it's hard to be thrown into a situation like this where you have no clue what to do. Basically if her ammonia level is high that will very likely cause her confusion and delusions and once they can get her ammonia level back to where it should be then she should be back to her normal sweet self.

Here's a decent article explaining Hepatic Encephalopathy that's a quick read to bring you up to speed.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000302.htm

Hang in there, if they can lower her ammonia level it should really help the situation.

Mel