hi I've just had my blood test back from Medichecks. They give a detailed analysis but no proper explanation of the results. I drink alcohol quite a bit, exercise and have BMI of 28.
results were: Bilirubin 14, ALP 84, AST 82, ALT 120, CK 137, GGT 181. I realise that some are elevated and they have recommended me to stop drinking and see gp in 4 weeks for retest. This is fine, but what in real terms do these results mean. Fatty, cirrhosis or liver disease? Clear as mud.
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djrocco
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They mean you have a bit of liver inflammation. They dont tell you the cause. You will need further investigation for that. However..... if you stop drinking any alcohol, check your diet and make sure it is low in convenience foods, sugar, salt and saturated fat, check your BMI body weight and make sure its in normal range, check your cholesterol and make sure that is normal ..... and if any of those 'lifestyle' things need improving you will probably find the numbers coming back into normal range all by themselves.
take their advice -you have 3 enzymes out of range which means you need to knock it on the head-you're not overweight so almost certainly alcohol related-at this stage looking like fatty liver-I would go dry for 6 weeks and test again-4 weeks may not be enough
Really understand your predicament. Like Bolly & others have said you will need further tests to determine cause. The results reflect inflammation. The are not alarmingly high however I have Hep C 20+ years, NFLAD & cirrhosis and my blood work are in similar ranges.
Seriously no more alcohol. Just read on to see how quickly a liver can deteriorate and the anguish of managing severe & life threatening complications. Is drinking worth the risk.
A few things to consider also..age and how long you've been drinking and how much is a lot? Recent guidelines are 14 units a week....how much over that? To give you an example I started to get symptoms in my mid to late fifties and I'd been a heavy social drinker for the best part of 35 years with a few breaks. My GGT was the same as yours, all my other tests normal and always have been. It took me 3 months to get them to 167 total abstinence. If I had kept on being good I might have got them back to normal but sadly haven't managed that. May I ask if you have any symptoms and what prompted the GGT test ?
You're scores and bmi are similar to mine. I abstained for a week then had 1 bottle of red over the weekend as permitted by my gp. I seem to be following that pattern. Which is a lot less alcohol for me than in the past.
HOWEVER
The problem is that it's all very confusing in terms of scores and advice. HOWEVER 1 thing is consistent, if you stop drinking there's a real good chance your lIver will recover. If you carry on drinking then highly likely is that it WON'T.
I posted a similar question a few weeks ago and am in communication with some lovely people on here who sadly opted not to abstain. They are definitely paying the price for this and have liver complications that have now completey changed their lives.
My aim is to stop drinking all together, but I am not finding it easy. I have drunk at dangerous levels for well over a decade.
It's your call now and yours alone my friend. How much do you want to HELP your liver to recover.
My suggestion is this.
Request (demand) an ultrasound to check for fatty liver etc...
Stop drinking for at least 3 months. Then repeat your blood tests. This will indicate whether your liver is recovering.
Looking at djrocco post I wonder if anyone can help me ? I have AIH and PSC but it is my sister that needs advice. She had a blood test as feeling extremely tired. The only two results she got back were ALT 1100 and bilirubin 75,she was told all others are normal,they have ruled out hep a,b and c and referred her to consultant. I am extremely worried,can anyone advise,thanks
guineapig i recommend you start a new thread as this is a different topic and you may get more replies if you start again. Just to add that ALT is very high but on its own does not say what is causing the inflammation. The docs need to investigate further
If you check out this page on the British Liver Trust website you will see how many liver conditions there are - having ruled out the obvious ones and come back negative the docs will need to work their way through the others combined with her medical history and symptoms.
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