@rowdyramsey Ramona, a hospitalist told me when I was being discharged from an inpatient stay due to HE that they could have a permanent effect on your brain. Not a great thing to tell a person really but perhaps she just wanted to impress upon me the necessity of using the dreaded lactulose to avoid HE. Other people generally seem to not think that though, so it is a very controversial question. I am really interested in what you hear after having brain scans. When are these scheduled?
JK

@rowdyramsey I almost lost my life during the first HE episode. The first 48 hours were just touch and go as to whether I would survive it. I was hospitalized in intensive care for a week then they moved me to a private room for extensive care. I think that would qualify as pretty severe. The next 6 months are a blur, no memory of that time or awareness to my surroundings. Subsequent episodes landed me in hospital a week at a time. I took lactulose (30 ml) every four hours and then I also took rifaximin. I didn't suffer from a lot of diahrea but made sure I drank lots of water to keep hydrated. I now feel a bit foggy at times but my memory is pretty good and I tend to make lists and enter everything into my calendar.