'Weight-loss jabs reversed my liver cirrhosis - my doctor said it couldn't happen'

Grandmother of 5 Michelle Hayward was shocked erstwhile she was told she had irreversible liver harm from years of overeating. But wrong months of going connected injections, her wellness took a abrupt turn

A pistillate who says she managed to reverse her terrible cirrhosis by shedding 5 chromatic with weight-loss injections has warned others not to disregard their liver health.

Michelle Hayward, 62, was shocked erstwhile she was diagnosed with cirrhosis connected her 58th birthday. She had been surviving with benignant 2 diabetes for 15 years, but ne'er thought her creeping value and emotion of takeaways would origin specified lasting damage to her liver. Now she's urging different diabetics to heed her informing and get their ain liver checked earlier it's excessively late.

After a Fibroscan - successful which dependable waves are bounced disconnected the liver to cheque its density - Michelle, from Uttoxeter, Staffs, was told by her advisor that she had important scarring caused by a semipermanent build-up of fat wrong the organ. The prognosis was bleak. "She said bluntly I had 12 years astatine the outset," says Michelle now. "I couldn't judge it. I seldom drank, ne'er smoked. She said I had nary accidental of getting escaped of the cirrhosis, but I could stabilise it with manner changes truthful it didn’t get immoderate worse.”

Worryingly, Michelle had had nary informing signs that her liver was becoming truthful damaged. It was lone aft a regular humor trial that her aesculapian squad noticed her liver enzymes were raised, which led to the scan. Her Fibroscan people was 24 - thing implicit 13 indicates cirrhosis, “so determination was nary uncertainty I had it,” says Michelle. She was told she needed a drastic overhaul of her manner - diet, workout and looking aft herself - successful bid to sphere her liver relation for arsenic agelong arsenic possible. With 3 big children, 5 grandchildren and aged parents to attraction for, Michelle was determined to bushed the odds.

Her diagnosis came soon aft she was made redundant, giving her the clip she needed to absorption connected her health. Having worked a stressful occupation arsenic a improvement manager had meant agelong hours retired of the house. “I’d enactment myself astatine the backmost of the wellness queue for years,” says Michelle. “I wouldn’t springiness myself a 2nd thought arsenic I ate a Mars Bar successful the day oregon chucked thing speedy successful the oven aft getting location late.”

She threw herself into eating much healthily, replacing stodgy achromatic buttered toast with Greek yogurt and effect for meal and cutting retired the greasy McDonald's oregon Subway takeaways she'd usually crook to for lunch. Dinner, antecedently food and chips from the shop, a curry oregon yet different takeaway, became steadfast air-fried salmon with vegetables oregon homemade lamb kebabs with rice.

Soon, the fig connected the scales started falling from 18 chromatic downwards and Michelle was retired of her size 24 clothes. The £150 she and hubby David had been spending each week connected takeouts went towards an aerial fryer and a wardrobe of size 14 apparel to acceptable her caller figure. She took up fast-paced walking, marching connected the spot astatine location to 30-minute YouTube videos and wore an Apple Watch to show her measurement count.

When she became eligible for injectable diabetes medications, Michelle took them up, archetypal trying the regular Victoza jab past Mounjaro successful May 2024, and rapidly saw the value melt away. “The Mounjaro helps with hunger and nutrient cravings, and it’s enactment my sugars nether power arsenic well. But I made a real, concerted effort to devour what I should devour - propulsion retired the spot pan, chopped retired the abdominous and carbs - due to the fact that I wanted to beryllium astir for my grandchildren," says Michelle. “When I archetypal went connected it, I couldn’t person eaten a barroom oregon portion of cocoa to prevention my life. It changes your mindset astir nutrient completely.”

Just six months aft starting the injections, successful November 2024, Michelle had different Fibroscan to cheque her liver relation and was astounded to beryllium told determination was nary motion of the cirrhosis. “The sonographer said, ‘you’ve got nary liver harm whatsoever’, and I said ‘no, I’ve got cirrhosis.’ She said, ‘not immoderate much you don’t’, and I burst into tears! My hubby came moving into the country reasoning I’d been fixed atrocious news, and I said, ‘no, these are blessed tears!’”

While precise rare, cirrhosis reversal tin happen, says Philip Newsome, prof of hepatology astatine King's College London successful King's College Hospital, and objective advisor to the British Liver Trust. “We utilized to deliberation cirrhosis was irreversible, but present we realise that if you dainty the underlying origin of liver damage, you tin get singular remodelling of scarring. You mightiness not get it backmost to normal, but you tin spell backmost to a little harmful position.”

Since getting the all-clear, Michelle has been discharged from her consultants and nary longer needs bi-annual scans to cheque for signs of crab - yet different information caused by cirrhosis. But she warns others with diabetes to beryllium alert of the dangers of their condition. “There is simply a nonstop nexus betwixt diabetes, obesity, a fatty liver, and past cirrhosis, but there’s precise small consciousness of this,” she says. “I had nary thought that my value and my precocious sugars could origin this. But arsenic a diabetic your excess sweetener gets stored successful your liver, which creates fatty liver, and implicit clip your liver can’t repair the harm and it causes cirrhosis. But if radical knew this from the opening they’d beryllium truthful overmuch much cautious astir what they eat.”

Three months connected from her unthinkable recovery, Michelle is making plans for the aboriginal - arsenic good arsenic blessed memories with her grandchildren. "It's similar being fixed a caller life," she says. "Hearing I had cirrhosis was similar being fixed a terminal diagnosis. Now I tin bargain apparel I like, I privation to spell connected holiday, I privation to spell out. I’ve got specified a affirmative outlook now, I privation to unrecorded again.”

*Discover your hazard of processing liver disease, and the steps you tin instrumentality to assistance support your liver with the British Liver Trust’s hazard checker: https://britishlivertrust.org.uk/at-risk-screener