gamma reading high from too much alcohol

[tammyscholey]

i really am confused, the doctor who did my liver scan said i had done irreparable damage to my liver, but blood tests show my gamma rating is coming down since i stopped drinking, it is now 379 but was in the 400,s. no one has explained anything to me, i am due a fibrosis scan, are they waiting for results of this before telling me the diagnosis and will my gamma continue to fall with my healthy living, going to carry on looking after my poor little liver. sorry if i have not got all the proper medical words right.

[briccolone]

hi, the fact that the readings are coming down is good news. I've seen GGT readings posted here way higher than that. How long have you been dry? It can take weeks/months to get alcohol out of the system. Don't forget that with long tem excessive drinking you can have high levels of fat in the liver which also gives high GGT.

Even if you have done some damage the liver can recover and even fibrosis can be reversed with abstinence. I had been drinking for years and had levels of GGT at 185-it took me 3 months to get it down to 163 with abstinence. Important to stay dry as going back to drinking at high levels can shoot the GGT up.

I'm not a doctor but are you talking about an ultrasound scan? I think the fibrosis tests would be more of an indicator.

keep us posted-good luck

[MisterX]

Hi,

It's a shame they've not explained things to you - the anticipation is awful.

Without any test results it's difficult to know what's going on with your liver but in a nutshell - if you have caused damage to your liver from drinking then it entirely depends on how much damage has been done.

The liver can recover from quite a lot of damage if the cause of the damage is removed. In your case therefore you MUST not drink at all and you should eat as healthily as possible. Also try to get some moderate exercise. Do this REGARDLESS of what the doctors tell you - you have to. With any luck your liver will slowly recover, or at least retain sufficient function to allow you to live normally.

IF you feel you need help staying off alcohol get it. This is serious.

Other than that, let the doctors do the tests and then come back and let us know what the results and diagnosis were - do make sure to get a copy of all results. Lots of people here with direct experience of what you are going through.

Keep your chin up. The recovery potential of the liver is amazing but you have to be strict in treating it as well as possible.

[tammyscholey in reply to MisterX]

thankyou x yes i did recieve proper help to stop drinking and feel really good, been eating healthy and walking my dogs a lot so hopefully all this will help my liver along

[Hidden]

Hi tammyscholey

Your previous post states you have been diagnosed with fatty liver. This post is saying " irreparable damage to my liver" these are not consistent, irreparable damage would mean Cirrhosis, fatty liver is usually reversible in time and of course not drinking.

the enzymes they are measuring tell them how inflamed your Liver is. since you have stopped drinking the inflammation should go down, which it is doing. The big question is has the inflammation caused permanent damage ? A fatty Liver can pump up the GGT, but so can Cirrhosis.

You need to get clarity on what exactly the situation is, fatty liver can resolved and you can go on to a normal life. Cirrhosis has to be carefully managed and unfortunately a Liver transplant is usually in the future at some point to survive.

[tammyscholey in reply to Hidden]

hi x yes it all started with a fatty enlarged liver so was sent to hospital for liver scan and the man that did it nurse or doctor said there was some irreperable damage but i would have to see my own doctor for full results which i did, she said the blood was pumping fine but to see how permanent the damage is i have to have a fibrous scan which is on the 22nd october, in her words she said this is to see if there is any stiffness, which im assuming is when permanent damage has been done, but i feel great so im hoping its not bad news. will let you know how i get on, yhankyou

[briccolone in reply to tammyscholey]

how well you're feeling is important...the longer you stay on healthy lifestyle the better your liver will recover if not too much damage has been done. I remember when I was drinking loads I used to feel terrible at times-it took the GGT scores to motivate me to make changes-stupid isnt it? If you're feeling alright carry on doing what you're doing and don't over google!