How long can Lactulose work for someone with end-stage liver cirrhosis?
Lactulose is used to get rid of ammonia for people with cirrhosis. It will work as long as the patient takes it. The ammonia is removed through bowel movements. High ammonia levels can cause a condition called encephalopathy which causes confusion, memory loss, behavior changes, hallucinations, and even coma and death if the levels get super high with no treatment. Of course, Lactulose also can cause a lot of diarrhea since that is the side effect. If your grandfather has continued bleeding day after day, he could get anemic from the blood loss. Cirrhosis causes lots of problems with bleeding. Unwanted veins grow called varix that can leak and bleed. Blood doesn’t clot like it should. Any bleeding can be hard to stop. They bruise very easy. It’s all part of the disease which is especially true when a person is in the end stage of the disease. Your grandfather can take the Lactulose as long as he is alive. The doctors usually increase the dosage if the ammonia levels continue to go up.
