Medical mystery.......

[beanie792015]

Just wondered if anyone might be able to give me any clues..

I thought I had gallstones, I went to A&E with the intense pain, they did my LFTs and ALT was up at 200 so got referred for an ultrasound which showed there were no stones, and in fact no gallbladder....very odd indeed! So they sent me for an MRI to have a better look, still no gallbladder.....by this time my ALT was up to 400.

Next step was an endoscopy just to check there wasn't anything in the stomach, and re-do bloods, now ALT 506 and AST 527....

My consultant thought maybe autoimmune hepatitis after ruling out anything alcohol/drug/viral.....

So I went for a liver biopsy, and what do you know, there's a gallbladder there, its only little but its there, and there was a wee little stone in there too. It was the same radiologist who did all the imaging and he was most confused at the disappearing/reappearing gallbladder. Still awaiting the liver biopsy results, but I just wondered could I still be looking at something as simple as gallstones, could that make my enzymes that high? I don't get pain very often now (not for weeks and have been eating normally).....

Any ideas anyone?

Thank you in advance

[beanie792015]

Oh and bilirubin is 49 by the way......

[grace111 in reply to beanie792015]

i think thats a little high. mine went down to 13 and they said they were really pleased that was after 3 lots of anti biotics. dont quote me im sure this is what they said and i also had to have a stent fitted to the bile duct to let the flow of bile out as this is what was causing the high readings. they could not remove the stone as it was calcified. it sounds like some kind of infection. how were your white blood cell counts as if they are high then there is some kind of infection or battle in the body. love grace xoxoxo

[fkbkgo]

Likely they were checking for pancreatitis as gallstones can cause it: "Blood tests showing high levels of pancreatic enzymes (amylase and lipase) usually indicate a diagnosis of pancreatitis. Elevated levels of the liver enzyme alanine aminotransferase (ALT) are very specific in identifying gallstone pancreatitis." quoting from New York Times Health Guide. Hope you are feeling better now.

[beanie792015 in reply to fkbkgo]

Thanks for the reply, they haven't looked specifically for pancreatitis as the first two imaging results showed now gallbladder (and therefore no stones) so the biopsy was looking to confirm autoimmune hepatitis. Its not long to wait until monday to see my consultant again, but I am just curious if anyone knows more about the very high ALT and AST. I don't know what my amylase and lipase results were, though I am sure that these were checked. My consultant did huge numbers of blood tests which pointed her towards AIH.

[grace111 in reply to beanie792015]

sometimes when you'v had an infection with maybe having a stone in the bile duct it atrophies your gallbladder which should be the size of a pear. when they went to take out my gallbladder it had shrunk to the size of a thimble. also 1/4 of my liver is also shrivled up. my liver reading were through the roof i cant remeber what they were now, they didnt take out my gallbladder on that occasion. iv since had it taken out it was stuck to my liver and had to be cut out. also i'v had to have my bile duct reconstructed with bowel tissue and attached to my jejunum. with is the lower intestine. usually if there is a stone in the bile duct the biliruben is sky high. i hope you get all this sorted out. all the very best to you. love grace.xoxoxo🤗

[Bob275]

Hello, At least they tried to find your problem. When I first started getting pain it would only happen now and then but over the last couple of years it has increased to nearly constant. The gall stone problem can cause all sorts of strange things to happen so it could well be the gall stones. Best of luck.

Bob