Posted by katekite on May 3, 2002, at 20:16:23
In reply to Started on Serzone, LIVER FAILURE?, posted by DebbieLynn on May 3, 2002, at 9:02:26
Well I'm not sure this will help, but the liver is one of the very very few organs that can recover from injury almost completely. For example alcoholics do amazing damage to their livers, they can look horrible, be bright yellow, and feel awful with liver damage, but if they quit drinking toxic amounts of the stuff and get help, they will stop the damage and it will recover to the point that they can lead a normal life. To think that they cause horrible damage over and over for years and years and often survive to a ripe old age still an alcoholic. Yes the liver looks like a cauliflower in an old alcoholic, but often it still works fine. A risk of liver damage is a much better risk than say, possible kidney failure, heart disease, etc.
Secondly, liver enzymes in bloodwork are usually raised before any actual liver function is lost. Liver enzymes are released into the blood (where they are measured in the blood panel) if liver cells break open. Since there are lots of extra liver cells to begin with (because they have to deal with us trying to drink alcohol and other toxic things), losing a few is not dangerous short term. They can regenerate and divide to produce new liver cells at any time (unlike heart muscle cells or kidney cells for which death is permanent). The liver is more like the skin in this regard, so that a wound will eventually heal and leave a smaller scar than one thinks would happen from looking at the wound the first day.
So the risk of liver failure may be the best risk to have if you have to have a risk of some organ having a problem. Risk of something is pretty common with all of these drugs. Take that awful possibly fatal rash with lamictal! A rash that can be fatal! Now that serzone is known to have liver risk doctors will be aware, catch it much sooner, will be monitoring so that if enzymes are raised one could stop it before any actual function problems are encountered.
Having said that, I hated serzone, LOL.... I could barely think and I still wasn't happy.
Oh, and also not saying that alcoholism's effect on the liver is to be taken lightly. And not saying concern over liver effects is silly -- its totally reasonable.
What scares me about these things is more what I don't know are problems with all these drugs. Like if they are just finding out they need to watch liver with serzone, how about even newer drugs or ones that are not used as much?
Anyhow, I am coming at the issue from the other end, the 'what if the worst did happen?' end. Sometimes that helps me, to assume the worst will happen and see if I can be ok with it.
That's awesome you are doing ok getting off of effexor. Its nice to hear a success story with it after everything I see here -- I haven't tried it because I'm too scared of the withdrawal.
Sorry to be longwinded.
Kate
poster:katekite
thread:104920
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020503/msgs/104980.html