Hello Mr Santos,
I am so sorry to hear about your diagnosis. By your description, I understand you have developed "Portal Hypertension" which is a complication of
cirrhosis of the liver. This manifests as either
esophageal varices which can bleed or as ascites (fluid build up in the belly). Liver cirrhosis also prevents some chemicals in the body from being purified and this can enter the brain leading to sleepiness and confusion (
Encephalopathy). Propranalol helps in decreasing the portal hypertension and prevents the varices from bleeding.
Lactulose prevents the chemicals from being absorbed from the intestine and so will prevent the confusion (encephalopathy).
The prognosis of your cirrhosis will depend on the cause of cirrhosis. Unfortunately ir-reversible
liver damage has already occurred to your liver and now the aim will be to prevent further deterioration and prevent complications. If the cirrhosis was due to alcohol, complete abstinence will delay the progression of cirrhosis. If it is due to some form of
hepatitis, unfortunately there is not a lot left to do since anti-hepatitis treatment cannot be given in cirrhosis.
The best treatment for cirrhosis, especially for someone in your stage is
liver transplant. It will not only get rid of the cirrhotic liver, but also treat the portal hypertension completely. I would advise you to actively seek a Liver transplant center and get evaluated for candidacy for a transplant.
Hope this helped and I hope you feel better. Please do not hesitate to contact me personally for any further details - rxsuresh@gmail.com