what were your 1st symptoms of liver mets?

What were your 1st symptoms of liver mets? Did you feel any symptoms? Or how were they 1st detected? by blood test? by scan?

I know Lisa has said she had a pain in her back, which was liver mets. Are there other symptoms?

My recent ct/pet scan didn't show anything. But, my liver enzymes (ALP test, I think it is) has been elevated. And I'm obsessively worrying about it.

Pam,
Linda had abdominal bloating, lack of appitite (this is a big one), lack of energy and finally when she started to jaundice, darkened urine. Lisa has commented about pain behind the right shoulder blade. The problem is with liver mets, you can have a very small part of your liver functioning (10-15%) and still have normal enzime levels. The other problem with enzimes, most of them can change for other reasons, ie taking neupogen. The best way tto know is to get scanned, either ultra Sound or CT.
Good luck,
Al

[michele u]

Pam,
I have had elevated Alk Phos for awhile now. It goes up and down again. What is the highest yours have been? Alk Phos is not very specific at all. It can be elevated for alot of reasons. Mostly from medications. Any meds can make this go high. If your other liver tests are normal, i would not stress about it at all!!

Pam,
My mom's lung and liver mets were diagnosed at the same time through extensive testing. Nothing showed up at all in the blood tests. It was the x-rays and CT scans that showed what was going on. She didn't have any symptoms of liver mets, just from the lung mets, probably because they were more advanced. Maybe she had symptoms from the liver mets but didn't notice them because of the other symptoms from the lung mets.
Good luck!
Penny

Al mentioned Linda complained of pain in the right shoulder blade. I had been experiencing a terrible need to scratch that very spot for a long time before I knew of the relapse. Sometimes I would scatch so hard I thought I would bleed. I also had mets to the lungs at the same time, so it's hard to differentiate the aches and pains. Maryann

Elevated liver enzymes and abdominal bloating can also be signs of gallstones.

[StephN]

I was getting a pain in my side under my right ribs. That was not until already about 60% of my liver was involved in tumors "too numerous to count" as well as 2 very large ones. So, the liver mets really sneaked up on me, and I was feeling well and energetic as it was right after the year-end holidays.

Most of my liver panel were also still in normal range at the time of discovery. They really came on like wildfire as I had been checked every 3 months by the doctor and with tumor marker and blood work. Had also just had a chest x-ray that was clear.

Like some of the other ladies who post here, I was able to kick out the mets and have been off chemo or over 2.5 years now. Just get Herceptin every 3 weeks and Zometa every 6 weeks.

Thank you everyone for your feedback. It's very helpful.

You asked what my highest blood counts had been. I think it's the ALP, (sorry I can't remember if those are the right letters) the highest was 173, last time 150. It's gone up & down over last 6 months. (I think normal is under about 135)

I just finished a year of navelbine & was taking 2-3 neupogen shots each chemo week. (I'm still on herceptin & zometa.) The liver counts didn't start fluctuating until about 6/04. Al -- you said neupogen can affect these counts. I was glad to see that hoping that was the reason. But I tried to find that as a "side effect" on neupogen, but couldn't find anything that tied the two together.

As I said, my pet/ct last month didn't show anything wrong with liver. But I do have a nagging ache in the right side - it's not always in the exact spot. It's sometimes higher or lower along the waistline, sometimes, way off to the right side, sometimes more toward the middle. I don't have other symptoms you mentioned like lack of appetite, bloating.

I see the doctor the end of Feb. Should I push for another test? If so, Which one?

[StephN]

Hi again -
Forgot to add that a pain in the right side can also be related to your bowel. If you have bloating, maybe it is time to check your bowel and make sure you are eliminating properly. Chemo can cause this.

It was my allergist who told me about this cause of pain and my GP confirmed that can also be a cause of pain in the right side. I have a friend with diverticulitis and this is an area that can bother her as well.

I have intermittent pain in my lower right rib caused by a seat belt injury when some young woman ran into the back of my car a few years ago. That nerve can still act up!

Abdominal bloating, pain between my spine and right shoulder blade, and fatigue. I began to develop nausea about 45 minutes after eating, and darkened urine.

My liver enzymes were normal. A PET/CT scan and MRI abdominal series revealed a golf ball sized tumor in the dome of my liver.