The primary causes of fatty liver are weight gain, overuse of alcohol, diabetes, and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance means that the body has become less responsive to rising blood sugar levels. to compensate, the pancreas has to make more insulin and send it into the blood stream. Higher blood levels of insulin slow down the normal turnover of triglycerides in liver cells, so they build up.

most often, people with fatty livers don’t have any symptoms. like you, many people are diagnosed when a blood test shows elevated liver enzymes. Or a doctor detects an enlarged liver during a physical exam. sometimes, a large fatty liver is seen on an ultrasound or CT scan of the abdomen when the test is ordered for some other reason.

Untreated steatohepatitis can progress to cirrhosis of the liver — a serious condition where the liver becomes unable to do its job of cleaning toxins out of the bloodstream.

Eating healthier and decreasing alcohol use should help. But in my mind, it’s not enough. I recommend complete abstinence from alcohol and cutting calories to lose weight.

Exercise is a must. You can start slow, but you do want to progress to a minimum of 30 minutes of dedicated aerobic exercise daily. an hour of moderate intensity exercise most days of the week would be best.

I’m not sure if eating artichokes will help. But they surely won’t hurt as long as you don’t dip them in butter or mayonnaise.

(Howard LeWine, M.D., is a practicing internist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Mass., and chief medical editor of Internet Publishing at Harvard Health Publications, Harvard Medical School.)

(For additional consumer health information, please visit health.harvard.edu.)

(c) 2012. PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 23 — Women, but not men, with post-traumatic stress disorder have high blood levels of a stress-related hormone, new research shows.

The hormone — pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) — is known to affect central nervous system activity, metabolism, blood pressure, pain sensitivity and immune function.

In the new study, published in the Feb. 24 issue of Nature, researchers assessed 64 people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and found that symptom scores were five times higher among women with above-average PACAP levels than among women with below-average PACAP levels.

The team also found that, due to genetic variations, PTSD may be triggered by different biological pathways in women and men.

The finding that PACAP levels are an indicator of PTSD symptoms may lead to new ways to diagnose and treat PTSD and other anxiety disorders, the study authors noted.

“Few biological markers have been available for PTSD or for psychiatric diseases in general. These results give us a new window into the biology of PTSD,” first author Dr. Kerry Ressler, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University School of Medicine, said in a university news release.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more about PTSD.

Posted: February 2011

He has been in hospital 3 times in 8 weeks, always with vomiting and diarreah and severe abdominal pain which is in his right hand side and travels to his back. He has lost 5 stones in 3 monthes. He has been on a drip for the past 4 days (nil by mouth) and is still vomiting etc. Has had MRI scan, barium enema, endescope, scans, x-rays etc ALL CLEAR. his CRP blood levels show infection and he does, at times run a temperature. can anyone recognise these symptoms as anything? please help

I think you need to be really careful about asking for medical advice on Y!A. the vast majority of people on here will not be doctors, and those that are shouldn't be attempting to make a diagnosis based on a short case history.

If you want the doctors to check, ask them to. yes, things sometimes get overlooked, but they are the experts. they may well already have considered pancreatitis as a differential diagnosis and rejected it for some reason. If they don't think test are warranted, or they have tested but don't believe it's pancreatitis, get them to explain their reasoning to you. If you're still not satisfied, ask for a Consultant to look at your husband or for a second medical opinion.

pancreas is on the LEFT side, and if he did have pancreatitis it would have been evident in his blood work, long before now. the abdominal pain on the right side, with the elevated blood counts would make me consider the kidney first, especially as he is passing stones, have they done a KUB? have they cultured his stools? and have they drawn a blood culture? It sounds more like cystitis than anything else, or a severe infection of the bowel involving the right ascending colon. Surely the doctors have considered all of these as well. be patient, I suspect they will solve the problem soon.

My sister was in hospital a few weeks ago with pancreatitis, thought to have been triggered by a gall stone. the (large) gall stone showed up on ultra sound when she was first admitted to hospital – but after about ten days – all further tests were clear. We have family history of gall stones – anything in your husband's family?

I have had pancreatitis 2 times , very strong pain , almost taking your breath away, sick about 20 times a day , weight loss, I had all the test your husband had , if your husband drank a lot of alcohol then yes it could be , but not all cases of pancreatits is caused my this , I hope I have help you, and hope your husband gets better real soon , Merry Christmas to you