Enlarged Liver?!?!!? Ever Heard of It?

I did some searching and I found this site. I am not trying to scare you, just trying to learn with you. I do pray she is ok.
My best to you and your family. I know the unknown is so scary sometimes. God bless you.
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00638.html
W. from Indiana

1 mom found this helpful

I have not dealt with it with my children, but my husband has an enlarged liver. He has had it for years now. All they have been doing is monitoring it and keeping an eye on it every 6 onths to a year. They say it is no big deal. He needs to change his diet. We do notice that when he eats better the size if it decreases. Good luck we will be praying for you.

L.,
I have no advice for you, unfortunately, but I want you to know you will be prayed for and on my heart. I have a four yr old daughter as well and I can only imagine what you must be feeling. I would be overwhelmed with fear. Please know that the Lord is carrying you right now and you are so loved.

I see now that this post was a month ago, so I hope you have
gotten SOME GOOD NEWS AND RELIEF. i WILL PRAY FOR YOU AND YOUR DAUGHTER.

J.

put in enlarged liver in children or pediatric enlarged liver or yet go to webmd and type that in and read about it.

I'm sorry, I've not heard of this. Please read up on the foods to stay away from for her. Her diet or medications could enlarge her liver. I do know the liver is the only organ that rejuvinates itself with healthy measures. Sometimes the most innocent medicines,even over the counter meds can affect your liver. But, I'm sure you've read up on these things. You have to be your daughter's advocate, so read everything you can and question the doctors on everything! Knowledge is power and it will help you with your nerves. I am not reccomending you diagnose her, just be able to understand and ask whatever you think is necessary. Do you mean he just "felt" with his hand and it seemed enlarged? I'm sorry this is so scarey for you L.....keep your spirits up. I will wonder how she is, and what was diagnosed? Please know that doctor's aren't always right. Please let us know how she is, and God bless you both.

Hi!
According to my mother-in-law, my husband had an enlarged liver when he was a baby. From what she said, all they had to do was monitor it but everything was fine. He's 40 years old and has never had to have any procedures or take any medications for it. When he recently went in for a physical,the doctor poked and prodded around and told him that everything is fine. Hope this helps put your mind at ease a little.

C.

L.,

It appears the other moms have some sound information they have shared with you. I did a quick search and below you will find some site thay hold some info that might interest you.

http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site2019/mainpageS201...

http://www.babyworld.co.uk/experts/az_childhealth/childho...

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/sym/enlarged_liver.htm

I pray it is nothing serious, keeping your family and your little girl in my personal prayers.

http://kinsey.id.au/liverkids/index.php?option=com_conten...

L.,
I prefer Vanderbilt Children's Hospital when my children need to go to the hospital. They are so much better with children and they have the most up to date pediatric information and technology of any of the hospitals in Middle Tennessee.
S.

Everything I know about it, which isn't much, is that an enlarged liver is a result of high cholestorol and can be an inherited disorder or specific to the individual. My husband has an enlarged liver and heart due to inherited conditions. He sees a doctor regularly to have his cholesterol checked and he's on medication. He's already outlived his father. Only the males in his family seem to have it. Unfortunately we have 2 sons. Both are checked thoroughly by the ped. and at 4yrs and 10mths neither has any signs of the conditions. My husband's conditions were discovered when he was 2yrs old when he was thoroughly checked right after his father died. He was monitored but not medicated as a kid. Now he takes blood pressure medicine and otc fish oil. Except for this and being slightly over weight (as most of us are :) ) he is perfectly healthy.
Sorry that's all the input I have and your situation is probably different. Just try not to worry until the test results come back. I know you'll worry anyway but it could just be an abnormality that won't have any effect on her at all. And if its not comfort yourself that she's young and you probably found it early to have successful treatment.

Here is a list of possible causes. I pray it is not any of them. Do know that as soon as I read this post I began to pray for her. I prayed for you too. Hang in there.

Causes of hepatomegaly may include:

Alcohol use
Congestive heart failure
Glycogen storage disease
Hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS)
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Hereditary fructose intolerance
Infectious mononucleosis
Leukemia
Neuroblastoma
Niemann-Pick disease
Primary biliary cirrhosis
Reye syndrome
Sarcoidosis
Sclerosing cholangitis
Steatosis (fat in the liver from metabolic problems such as diabetes, obesity, and high triglycerides)
Tumor metastases

My son has an enlarged liver, but his is do to celiac's disease. My son is 2 1/2. They ran blood work and show extremely elevated liver function tests. In my sons case, when he begins to take in nutrients and his intestines begin to heal his liver will also. The liver can regenerate. I would be worried, but your doctors will help you through the process. Did they do an ultrasound or cat scan?

How nice of the docs to leave you hanging like that, huh? It will depend on how enlarged it is as to the seriousness of it. If it's only slightly enlarged, it may not be a problem. The important thing is that the doctors found out about it, and now they can treat whatever the problem is. You're in my prayers, and I'm sure your daughter will be just fine!

Hi L.,

My son was 14 when I took him to the doctor because he had an enlarged and painful lymph node in his groin. Turned out that he had a big scratch on his knee that had become infected, and that's why his lymph node was large and hurting, the doctor explained. (My son received antibiotics for the infected scratch.) Well, the doctor had him lay down and continued the exam, being very thorough, which I appreciated. That's when he was surprised to find that my son's liver was enlarged. He was adamant that the scratch on his knee and his groin node had nothing to do with his liver. What he did do was take blood to check all his liver functions and his cholesterol readings. I take cholesterol medicine, as did my dad, and my older son had previously had some higher readings, but the specialists say that puberty protects the heart and arteries; indeed, his cholesterol bloodwork came back normal, which I had expected, because previous bloodwork tests looked good as he had come into puberty. Plus he is active, on the swimteam, and eats a pretty good diet.

The part of the bloodwork that tested liver function also came back normal. So the next thing was for us to wait 3 weeks, make sure he got good rest and pull back a little on his sports activities, and make sure he got good protein and veggies. Then we went back to the doctor for another check. He said that if my son's liver was still enlarged, we would take him for a scan to measure the size of his liver. However, everything was back to normal. Because the bloodwork was fine and the follow-up physical exam was fine, we did not do the scan after all.

Still it is a mystery to the doctors and to us why it was enlarged that one time. Everytime we see that particular doctor, I ask him to check my son's liver. He smiles and does it for me. The doctors don't know why this happened, but it stays in the back of my mind now, and I always have them check it when he goes in for a sick appointment or a physical.

Of course, you have a younger child. And of course you are worried. But doctors don't know everything, and they do have to wait for tests to help them figure stuff out. The worst thing they could do is give you a blow-by-blow of every differential diagnosis and send you home to throw-up all night for fear of the many terrible things it could be. They want to study the results and go from there, and the answer could be simple, not terrible, or just a fluke like my son's turned out to be. It has been almost 2 years since this happened with him, and he is just fine. I hope this gives you a little peace of mind.

All my best,
D.