Hello all. My Father has some serious health issues going on. He is going through the local hospitals and doctors, but it doesn't look too good and I wanted to get your opinion.
55 years old, for the last 30 years or so has always drank beer at home. (quite a lot, often ~20-30 per night) 2-1/2 months ago he quit alcohol for good, due to feeling lousy.
In a short period of time he started to retain a lot of water, mainly around his abdomen and his legs/feet.
After months of doctors visits and tests, we've kind of been given the run around by the medical community.
The current theory is: His liver is not doing well at all, and because of this his kidneys are having a very hard time and are failing. (something to do with protein in urine)
The pills that were supposed to help him lose all this water weight didn't work, so every week or two he is having to go in and they drain the fluid from around his stomach. Like 4 liters or so each visit. He is probably carrying an extra 60 pounds in water.
He will feel pretty good again until the fluid builds back up in a week. As a last resort they have him on a steroid now that may help get everything going again. (kidneys?)
Meanwhile he's supposed to be getting on a liver transplant list, but because he was a previous alcoholic he won't be very high on the list.
As of now a liver biopsy hasn't been done because they were worried about low blood pressure/clotting.
Of course he isn't on a Raw Paleo diet, or even a Paleo diet. At this point his appetite has been extremely low and he certainly hasn't been getting enough calories. I'm guessing typically under 1000 calories a day, and probably very low protein - He has lost a lot of muscle mass.
The steroids have increased his appetites a little bit which is good.
Thoughts? Waiting on a donor liver does not seem like a good option at this point.
