Being a non-alcoholic, is it possible to get liver issue?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am a 22 year old female with the history of bronchitis. I was diagnosed with bronchitis at the age of 17 approximately. For five months, I had been facing breathing problem and now I have continuous pain in the right abdomen and occasionally on the left. I also have a type of sting like pain around my left breast. I referred a doctor and he diagnosed me of sinusitis and hence the breathing issue. Recently, the doctor said that my liver is becoming inactive or something. I weigh 90 lbs and my height is 5.1 ft. My weight is constant even after having a lot of food daily as the doctor recommended me. I want to know if there can be any other reason, because I cannot understand the liver issue as I am a non-alcoholic person. And also in my ultrasound there were some small nodes found near my stomach and they were less than 1 cm in size. Should I be worried?

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com. Your breathing problem is due to bronchitis and sinusitis, which most of the time is due to allergy to cold, dust, pollen and pollution. Once the allergen is removed then your symptoms will improve. But, sometimes it can lead to infection in the lungs. You can carry out chest x-ray to rule it out. Pain in the abdomen is not related to bronchitis or sinusitis. It is due to abdominal pathology. I suppose on ultrasound examination you would have been diagnosed with fatty liver (fat accumulation in the liver) since you have mentioned it is becoming inactive. Did you carry out the liver function test? Were the liver enzymes raised? If they were raised, then you have liver injury. Since you do not consume alcohol, it could be due to viral hepatitis, metabolic disorders, eating too much fatty and spicy foods or due to side effects of certain drugs. Small nodes near stomach should be evaluated further. It could be lymphadenitis, which is a benign inflammation due to infection or it could be malignant, which may be the cause of pain in abdomen. Small nodes are usually benign. I would have interpreted better if I had seen the reports. I would suggest you to carry out CT scan of the abdomen to rule out any lesion or growth in the abdomen.