sorry dont buy this. there has to be more to it!

cirrhosis does not happen simply by gorging on fatty or high carb foods, unless there are already underlying liver problems and even then its questionable. if that were the case every overweight person could/would have cirrhosis.

has she ever had any form of hepatitis - that could cause an enlarged liver.

what is the dr. comparing her enlarged liver to - was there a previous scan to compare to - what about her liver enzymes were they elevated!??!!

there arent actually any fat cells in the blood - a lot of this sounds like BS scare tactics.

if you have cirrhosis it would require serious treatment and dietary restrictions - cirrhosis is not something that will go away after a while - once you got it you got it forever - it is a progressive disease.

Ps. the major function of the liver is a filter for toxins and with an inflamed appendix i would expect her appendix was infected (duh! hence the need to treat with antibiotics) and spewing all kinds of toxins in her body which probably caused the enlarged liver. think about it people die from ruptured appendixes all the time - the reason they die is from the toxins created by the infection entering their blood stream. you can live without your appendix but you can not live with a raging infection in your blood stream.

i'd tell my sister to get a 2nd and 3rd opinion and see if that appendix needs to come out anyway.

My dad had liver problems the same as your sister. His doc told him it was his diet, however two months later it was found it was his drinking water which was contaminated. There can always be more than one factor in things such as this....

Dear Jedswife,

I am myself a lowcarber and I have carefully researched this matter. My sister is in the hospital and has been seen by three doctors already. She is being observed in the hospital (thrid day). I am by no means implying that all people who are overweight have cirrhosis. As a matter of fact she was told by the doctor that the Atkins diet is good if you follow it carefully and binge eating is not something anyone should be doing. All I stressed in my post is the importance of drinking plenty of water. My sister's water is bottled and if it was poor water it would show in her kidneys...so far...Thank God....her kidneys are good.

As far as her appendix, the doctor noted that she needed more roughage it gets glogged with fecal matter. I am merely noting the advise of the doctors who are investigating my sister's condition. I am not trying to be an alarmist or posting fear based messages...just this as an experience I am going through with my sister. Plus I am hoping that people who have suspicious symptoms should not feel they are alone. Maybe my sister is not typical, but I would like to know if there is anyone with similar concerns.....because I would like to avoid it before it is difficult to treat. I would love to jump up and down with great results, but this is the other side of this diet and I would like to hear other points of view...that is all.

peace

I looked at some of the other threads and there was some posted on "sugar alcohol"

(duh! hence the need to treat with antibiotics)......Please do not reply to me like I am ignorant....I know why a person gets antibiotics. I think my concerns need to be validated with an appopriate response. I would appreciate it. Thanks

Toonlite, it's never a bad idea to drink plenty of water but I seriously doubt that your sister following low carb had anything to do with her having cirrhosis (if that's really what she has). A CT scan can definitely show that the liver is enlarged, but can't definitively show why; blood tests, a laparoscopy and/or biopsy are further tests that may need to be done to confirm cirrhosis is present. This link gives the causes (both common and uncommon) for cirrhosis of the liver. Diet is not one of them, nor is lack of water:
http://www.gastro.org/clinicalRes/b...sis.html#Causes
Please also note that burping, flatulence and pain on the right side of the body are also not symptoms of cirrhosis, which often has no symptoms until it is fairly advanced. However...they are often symptoms of gallbladder disease which could lead to liver problems if left undiagnosed and untreated. Gallbladder problems often occur when someone loses weight quickly (on ANY diet) or after prolonged low fat dieting.
I think you mean well, Toonlite, but I think you may be working with incomplete information here as well as some misinformation.

You can have liver enlargement for some fairly benign reasons....and it will go away.

When my son was a baby he had to be given a medication that was normally only for adults. Several days later he developed a rash..and they found his liver was enlarged...turns out the rash and the enlarged liver were both due to the med he's taken. It caused inflammation in the liver as the liver tried to clear the med from his blood. Once cleared, the liver inflammation and the rash went away.



If your sister is taking antibiotics, that could cause liver inflammation. Toxins are basically filtered by the liver, and/or kidneys. If your body reacts to the toxin, (which is what your body thinks an antibiotic is....or it would try to NOT excrete it) then the filtering organ can get inflamed.

Having appendicitis I imagine could also cause liver inflammation in some....after all, bacteria are considered "toxic" also, so the liver and/or kidneys would try to filter out any dead bacteria or bacteria pieces that is in the blood (if there was any...did they say your sister was "septic" or have "septic shock"?) I don't remember appendicitis being linked to liver enlargement, but we're all different, so I wouldn't be surprised.

Now, most people handle meds and often other toxins without any problem. Some people have violent reactions to certain toxins. And some people have mild reactions.

Your sister might have eaten something....or touched something...or even inhaled something that caused a reaction in her liver. This may have happened before....or this might be the first event....or the only one!

If the liver is failing the Liver function tests will be elevated....most likely significantly. If the LFTs are normal, or close to normal, then it's more likely to be a reaction to something.

Or, she could just have a liver that's larger than "normal".

Oh yea....my son was seen by 3 "experts" (actually 5 altogether....one office 3 docs saw him) and they had no idea what was wrong with the kid. But the local family practice guy, out of school for just 3 years, knew what it was at first glance! And yea, this was a major high tech medical center (think Boston) where my son was seen.

Wow. I never knew that bread, pasta and sugar helped flush toxins from the system!! WOW! That is some MAJOR news. Why isn't this being published in a medical journal somewhere?

I'm sorry... what other "toxins" are your sister consuming that she did not consume previously? For your theory to prove true, you'd have to be saying that the ABSESNCE of bread and pasta and sugar CAUSES toxins. The Atkins diet does not introduce anything NEW to the human diet, so there is really nothing to "flush out" that wasn't there before.

Soo.. exactly which PETA chapter are you from?

Wow - I'm suprised at the immediate 'attack' nature of the responses to the posting from Toonlite. I read it as more of a 'hey, this is what's happening drink LOTS of water' type post than an attack on Atkins, or how it works. I don't see anything in there that is so far out of the information given to most of us - other then the cirrhosis stuff. The absence of bread and pasta DOES produce toxins. The medical profession calls them toxins. I think they are neat little things - burning my fat for fuel. But they are called ketones. And do not normally occur in a high glycemic/high carb diet. Unless you've got something else wrong with you. All of us have been told or have read how important it is to drink lots of water to keep your system working at max capacity, which is to maximize the flush the ketones that your body emmits through your urine while your in ketosis. If you are not drinking enough water, the ketones WILL build up in your liver - And ketones can be toxic if allowed to accumulate.

I'm not a doctor, or in the medical field at all, but that's information I got off of the lc boards, and the book. The REALLY scarey thing is that if she IS drinking enough water - and they contribute the enlarged liver to Atkins diet - and it ISN'T - she's being improperly diagnosed and could have a more severe issue that's undetected.

Please also note, unless I missed something, that she didn't say that her sister was diagnosed with cirrosis. If the doctor DID mention cirrhosis in conjuction with Atkins - I'd RUN as far as I could to another doctor - Cirrhosis is usually caused by high alchohol consumption or Hep C - there's the usual 'hereditary' stuff - but can't imagine why he would mention cirrhosis in conjuction with the problems she's having, unless they are unrelated, but just now being diagnosed.

Just my 2 cents.

Toonlite, sorry you have been jumped on here like an enemy, but remember, it is the war zone
Maybe another thread would of been different, many who read here only come for a fight so they would of overlooked your parting comment which is a very true statement.



Pretty much as Atkins has taught us, but some just don't get it.

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Cheers Kathy

Rhalvahn,

Where did you get this information? I have never seen any articles that mention ketones building up in the liver or them being toxic. Perhaps you are referring to diabetic ketoacidosis. This does not occur unless you are a Type 1 diabetic and do not take insulin. It has nothing to do with drinking water or a low-carber being in ketosis.

Wow, we have some very rude and ignorant people on this site!! This person was simply noting a loved one's experiences, and sharing those, and was certainly NOT bashing our lifestyle in any manner...grow up people, and act your age!!!!!

Quoted from Toonline "Plus, since we have just finished with the Christmas feasting the onslaught of gorging also will cause the liver to become sick with cirrhosis."

sorry if you think i was being rude but i think it is very irresponsible to make statements like the above as if they were fact... it is not a fact that gorging on food will cause you to have cirrhosis. it simply does not happen like that.

this is the war zone and as such i think that toonlite put the post here for a specific reason - for a reaction.

it is statements made without any basis in fact that give low carbing a bad name and it is completely irresponsible not to mention dangerous to espouse misinformation like this.

This is a gross misappropriation of the original poster's words. The original post didn't include a "theory" nor did it say anything about the merits of high glycemic carbs.
Atkins highly recommends drinking alot of water. So does the first post. There is alot of medical advice given on this site, and a lot of it is probably wrong. Hopefully the individuals reading it know not to take serious health advice from a stranger on the internet. That said, I think most of the advice given comes from true concern, (ex. toonline's post) and doesn't deserve backlash of a personally insulting manner.

Toonlite - i invite you to show us the research that backs up your statements.