Nash And Psyc Meds

[Warrior]

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH is a common, often silent liver disease.

Could this be rated bc it was caused due to excessive weight gain from hospitalization / psyc meds and or

Hep A&B due to blood exposure in Afgan ?

[Berta]

Although WebMD isnt the best med site on the net. these are the basic causes of NASH"


"What causes NASH?

Experts don't know why some people with a buildup of fat in the liver get NASH and some don't. It could be that something in the environment triggers the inflammation in those people. Or maybe it runs in their families.

Things that put people at risk for NASH and for liver damage include:

Obesity.
Insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
High cholesterol and high triglycerides.
Metabolic syndrome."

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/tc/nonalcoholic-steatohepatitis-nash-overview

This vet was granted NASH SC by the BVA because he showed evidence of this disability in his SMRs.
http://www.va.gov/vetapp14/Files4/1431676.txt

This vet,however, cliamed he got NASH due to Hepatitis and did have treatment for viral hep in his SMRs, but this claim failed.

"ORDER

Service connection for a liver disorder, to include chronic hepatitis, residuals of hepatitis, and/or fatty liver is denied."
http://www.va.gov/vetapp14/Files7/1456825.txt

The association of NASH to diabetes is serious.
http://www.medicinenet.com/fatty_liver/page2.htm

After my husband died , I found something his medical records that indicated NASH , as well as what his autopsy revealed.
I didnt use that for my 1151/FTCA case but
I used it for my AO DMII claim to help prove that he had undiagnosed and untreated Diabetes mellitus.

Much of my strongest evidence however regarded proving

" High cholesterol and high triglycerides.
Metabolic syndrome:" as from the above link from WebMD. And the undiagnosed results of the DMII ( atherosclerosis of heart and brain)

Have you been diagnosed with diabetes? That could be the cause of this disability.

You could search your psyche meds on the net as well, to see if they would cause this problem.

If you still have hepatitis residuals you certainly should claim them and list the NASH as secondary as well as due to anything else you feel could have caused it.

I am not a doctor by any means, and You might well need to get an IMO.

[Berta]

I am glad I took the time to google "Can any meds cause NASH"

If you are not a diabetic you are onto something by asking about the meds you take.

"Drugs. Medications commonly implicated in causing fatty liver include corticosteroids, antidepressant and antipsychotic medications and, most commonly, tamoxifen. In many instances, it is unclear whether the fatty liver disease is a direct result of the medication on the liver or a consequence of weight gain triggered by the medication (as occurs with many antidepressant or antipsychotic medications). Amiodarone and methotrexate are also capable of causing fatty liver disease and hepatic injury that resembles alcoholic hepatitis with fat, lobular disarray, inflammation, Mallory bodies and fibrosis. With these two agents, however, the inflammation and fibrosis generally overshadows the degree of steatosis. Both of these agents can cause fibrosis and cirrhosis.



Differential Diagnosis. The finding of serum enzyme elevations with fat on liver biopsy or imaging suggests nonalcoholic fatty liver, and the role of medications should be suspect if an agent associated with fatty liver is being taken."

http://livertox.nih.gov/Phenotypes_Fatty.html

This site below adds to the causes in the first post I made and even mentions the Hep:


metabolic syndrome
- excess body weight
- insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes)
- high levels of triglycerides (fats) in the blood
drugs
- aspirin
- steroids
- tamoxifen
- tetracycline
pregnancy
toxins
viruses (hepatitis A, etc.)

http://www.healthline.com/health/fatty-liver#SymptomsandCauses2

Also the site states:
"Other factors that may increase your risk for fatty liver are:

excessive alcohol use (drinking large amounts of alcohol can damage your liver)
excessive use of over-the-counter medication (taking more than the recommended doses of certain medications, such as acetaminophen, can increase your risk of fatty liver)
type 2 diabetes (fat accumulation in the liver has been linked to insulin resistance, the most common cause of type 2 diabetes)
pregnancy
high cholesterol
high triglyceride levels
malnutrition
metabolic syndrome"

Just yesterday, the FDA came out with new warnings for NSAIDS.
Acetaminophen is not a NSAID but I wonder if further news will come out associating NSAIDS with NASH.

Of course we claimants can often find excellent articles or treatises on associations of our disabilities to something else, and that we could support our claims with..

The C & P doctors however, are as quick to use Google as we are and can often search until they find something that will go against any medical info we find

[Warrior]

Thank you so much Berta. My husband does not have diabetes . He gained all of the weight from psyc meds the hospitalization weight gain was due to psyc meds as well he is a young vet .he gained around fifty pounds in just a short period of time .

Yes they did what u mentioned above with Google for my husbands sleep apnea claim. He has central which is not caused by weight gain but was caused by his TBI . We filled a NOD on that after seeing a outside doctor and getting a nexus letter from him . Still waiting to hear back on that one .

Berta I have another question for you . My husbands primary care doctor is strongly suggesting he go outside the VA for pain management also referring him to phone consults when he makes appointments. We are not sure what to do ? My husband has a lot of injuries and issues all caused by combat. He is scared if he goes outside the VA too much they will cut his benefits and everything else off and cut him off .