Doctors gave me six months to live... so I overhauled my lifestyle
How is fatty liver diagnosed?
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in three people in the UK is now in the early stages of NAFLD.
This means they have small amounts of fat in their liver which may not yet be causing them direct harm but, as those levels rise, will raise the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney complaints.
This build-up of fat causes no symptoms at first – most people get diagnosed during routine tests for something else.
Left unchecked, it turns into a more serious condition called nonalcohol steatohepatitis, or NASH, where the liver becomes inflamed. It’s thought one in 20 people already have NASH.
Over time, this inflammation causes scar tissue around the liver and blood vessels. Yet sufferers may still have no idea because the liver is still able to function normally.
Often, it’s only when things get to the most serious stage, cirrhosis, that the problems become clear. Years of inflammation makes the liver shrink and become lumpy.
By this stage, the damage is irreversible and the chances of liver failure and liver cancer skyrocket. It’s because this process can go unnoticed until it’s too late that experts stress it’s vital to make lifestyle changes earlier on in life.
“That five per cent who get NASH is expected to increase to seven per cent by 2030,” said Professor Jonathan Fallowfield, head of liver research at Edinburgh University.
“By and large most people don’t know they have fatty liver. These are often people who are thin on the outside and fat on the inside. They tend to carry visceral fat around the abdomen and rarely have any symptoms other than fatigue.”
Prof Fallowfield says that although NAFLD is not booze-related, there is a major overlap with liver disease that is caused by alcohol.
In other words, people who have a poor diet and lifestyle are more likely to drink too much as well. And while
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Often by accident – through routine blood tests for something else. Doctors will then quiz you on diet, lifestyle, alcohol intake and what medication you are already on. An ultrasound check – or a test called a fibroscan – is done to check the state of the liver. Some patients also need a CT or MRI scan and possibly even a liver biopsy, where a tiny amount of liver tissue is cut away and then tested. nobody dies from NAFLD itself, once it progresses to the more serious stage – NASH – around one in 12 patients die within seven years.
Prof Fallowfield said: “The best treatment for NAFLD is weight loss. You only have to lose about 10 per cent of your weight to reverse it and possibly even reverse liver fibrosis too, boosting your quality of life.
“It’s a condition that is very reversible. However, we know about 85 per cent of people are unable to lose and maintain even 10 per cent weight loss. They find it too difficult.
“This explains why drug firms are very excited about a possible future role for drugs in treating NAFLD – although there’s nothing available at the moment.”
Healy said: “It’s vital we alert people of all ages to the risk factors so they can make simple lifestyle changes.”
WHEN doctors told Deborah Watson she had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, she was baffled.
“I’d never heard of it,” says Deborah, 39. “Yet I was told that if I did not completely change my lifestyle, I could be dead from liver failure within six months. “As soon as I mentioned it to people, they assumed I had a drink problem. But apart from the occasional social tipple, I don’t consume much alcohol at all.”
Deborah, who is married to Alan, 46, had led an active lifestyle, enjoying walks and going to the gym, until her weight crept up in her mid-30s.
Standing 5ft 1in, her weight climbed to 15st 7lb.
Putting on weight was a vicious circle – she stopped exercising and became depressed about her looks.
“Alan and I got married in 2017 and on the honeymoon a stranger asked if I was pregnant,” she said. “That really hit a nerve.” A few weeks later, Alan insisted on taking her to a walk-in NHS clinic when he noticed the whites of her eyes had gone yellow.
“Within an hour I was on a ward undergoing all sorts of tests,” she said. “Next day the consultant confirmed I had liver disease and if I didn’t do something drastic, I might not be alive for long.” But it gave Deborah the incentive she needed. She started to eat more healthily and began walking, then running.
In the past two years she has run a half-marathon, numerous 10k events and has joined a local jogging group.
“The effect was incredible – I lost 6st in a year,” said Deborah. “I have regular liver tests that show it is back to normal and I no longer have NAFLD.
“I want everyone else to know they can do something about it. It was scary and I genuinely don’t think I would be here now if it wasn’t for Alan, the love of my life, insisting I get medical help.”
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WHAT DOES THE LIVER DO?
THE liver is the largest solid organ in the body – it’s the size of a rugby ball. Astonishingly, it is responsible for more than 500 key functions that help to keep your body in balance.
One of the most important is to break down food and convert it into energy. For example, when we eat carbohydrates, such as bread or potatoes, they get broken down into glucose and stored in the liver to be released when we need a burst of energy.
But it also fights infection, filters out toxins from the bloodstream and controls cholesterol levels.
Sudden liver failure kills up to 90 per cent of sufferers.