I'm 46, a social drinker, probably a little bit too much on the weekends.
I took a blood test and my GGT shows 232. This apparently is high. I have no symptoms I've read about - nausea, weight loss, yellow skin - and I don't have Hepatitis (I was tested for B&C).
Obviously I'm a bit worried. The problem is, I don't know what the bench mark is. When the test results say "high", how does 232 compare to someone, for example, who is an alcoholic and drinks a bottle of vodka a night. Would they be 250, or 1000?
I'm having a dry February to try and reduce these levels, and in March will change my drinking habits drastically.
Could there be anything else which makes the levels high? I have been on anti depressants for two years, but my doctor says these shouldn't effect the levels.
My other levels are also high:
Amino Transfer: 78
ALT: 158
I understand that everyone is different, my wife for example has a similar lifestyle, and she has a GGT of 13, but as I said, I am still trying to figure out what is a dangerous level, what causes it, and how I can reduce it. I am an active walker, and am not overweight.
Hope someone can offer advice.
Thanks!
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tallinn123
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Hi tallinn, welcome over here. You'll probably find that folks can't comment on the numbers question however please find here the BLT page on alcohol and liver disease.
Hi. My husband's rose to 80 due to the methotrexate he takes for PMR. 80 was considered high and had to come off the metho until his GGT was to a normal level of 48.
If you quit your alcohol intake, eat healthily and exercise regularly it should overtime return to within the normal range.
Abundant in the liver and also present in the intestines, kidneys, pancreas, and prostate, but not in bone, GGT can be useful in determining whether elevated ALP is of bone or liver origin.
Levels of GGT may be elevated by factors that are not liver-related, including obesity, excess alcohol consumption, and certain drugs. In spite of this low specificity, GGT is one of the best predictors of mortality in liver disease.
More tests required in conjunction with your score considered high by Lab bench marks ranging from 9-74, but mostly 9-52 score for a male, 40 female.
However my Liver Doctor only last week said 150 would be norm for me?
I have spilt more on my boots. Please make your own judgement, but do not label anyone else unless you are qualified to do so. Everyone's different. 🤔
Thanks guys. I've got an appointment with my GP on Friday, and I'll be asking her if she can send me for an ultrasound. I think that's the next step right - to see if i have a fatty liver?
hi talinn-and welcome. As the others say none of us are doctors here but we can give you benefit of our shared experience. I would say you're similar to me. I've had GGT levels higher than yours 250+ and even as high as 400. However, none of my other enzymes were ever elavated other than mild ALT. All caused by alcohol over a number of years. I mean a bottle of wine a day kind of drinking -not every day but most days. Following periods of diet and abstinence got the GGT down to about 90. I definitely had fatty liver confirmed by ultrasound. My advice is go dry for at least 6 weeks and get tested again to see if the levels go down. If you're overweight then try and lose a bit of weight and do some exercise. I ignored this aspect or rather didn't pay enough heed to it and am now paying the consequences. Well done on going dry so far . Keep us posted. cheers
You’re doing all you can by asking your GP about your results.
Just to give my experience, I was a heavy drinker, up to a bottle of wine a night, and always had normal (around 22) GGT. I had a mild fatty liver (found on ultrasound), so the blood tests weren’t much help for me. Now my liver has no detectable fat (from a fibroscan result), guess what my GGT is? Yes, around 22. I’m a similar age.
Hopefully the dry February is going well. I swatted up on the government’s 14 unit alcohol weekly limit guideline as it’s not obvious why that figure is used. It’s actually a very valid figure as drinking over that level increases the risk of certain cancers. If you can stick to below 14 units a week from March, hopefully this GGT will drop.
Thanks for the reply! So if GGT is not a reliable source of info, what about the other two tests I had? Seems they indicate the same thing - googling all three basically all goes round in circles.
Dry Feb is going well. I also did dry October. I drink about 30-40 units a week on a "heavy" week, sometimes I don't go over 20.
As I said, I'm going to start cutting down on the mid week drinking, and just stick to one nights drinking on the weekend.
At the end of this month, I'll go and get those three levels tested again.
AST (Aspartate Aminotransterase) is an enzyme your liver makes. Other organs, like your heart, kidneys, brain, and muscles, also make smaller amounts. AST is also called SGOT (serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase).
Normally, AST levels in your blood are low. When your liver is damaged, it puts more AST into your blood, and your levels rise.
A high AST level is a sign of liver damage, but it can also mean you have damage to another organ that makes it, like your heart or kidneys. That's why doctors often do the AST test together with tests of other liver enzymes.
ALT (Alanine Aminotransferase) This enzyme is found mainly in your liver. Smaller amounts of ALT are in your kidneys and other organs, too.
Your body uses ALT to break down food into energy. Normally, ALT levels in the blood are low. If your liver is damaged, it will release more ALT into your blood and levels will rise. (ALT used to be called serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase, or SGPT).
Doctors often give the ALT test along with other liver tests.
The fact that both of these are elevated along with your GGT would indicate that your liver is possibly currently inflamed for one reason or another. You are certainly/have certainly been drinking WAY in excess of guideline levels. Of course there can be other reasons for a liver to become poorly but the alcohol is going to be the first thing doctors would mention and rule in or out. I would definitely be seeking some further medical advice to check out your liver.
very useful post Katie, it's interesting that some people have high GGT levels and symptoms and other people with higher readings have no symptoms. I recall some years ago when I first joined this forum I had GGT levels of 180 with digestive symptoms -took months of abstinence to get down to 160 and all symptoms had disappeared....strange beast the liver.
When your doctor orders a standard set of blood test they normally would include kidney function as a matter of course. If you watch tv hospital programmes you often here them calling for :- LFT's (liver function tests), U's & E's (Urea and Electrolytes - kidney function tests), FBC's - full blood count and more.
That would be a standard set of bloods so as you've had liver function you probably had kidney function done at the same time.
The blood tests I got are from an independent clinic. They offer different "packages" such as alcohol package, liver function package, mens health package etc etc. I originally did the Alcohol package a week before I did a "dry October". All looked ok, apart from the three results I posted here. Once October had finished, I went again, but this time I just took the three tests which were showing as high. The ALT and Amino levels had dropped to slightly above normal, and the GGT had dropped but was still in the "red" zone.
As I'm doing "Dry Feb" I went again, and was shocked to see that the levels had risen to above what they were when I first took the tests at the end of September
I'll have a look at those alcohol package results and see if LFT is featured and what it shows.
One other thing I'm thinking of. Seven years ago I got sepsis from a throat infection. I was in a coma for a week, and hospital for six weeks. Pretty much all my internal organs shut down, and I am lucky I survived that (also got pneumonia while I was in hospital). Obviously i was on a lot of drugs while in hospital and my organs had taken a beating, but I would have thought that after seven years, they might have recovered from that experience.
Anyway, thanks again for all your help and advice. It gives me a lot of questions I will ask my doctor on Friday.
Basically anything over 1 and a half times the upper limit of normal is considered high enough to prompt further investigation if its is sustained at that level. The usual first step is to repeat the tests after a few weeks just to rule out the more simple stuff that may have caused an acute rise like an infection. So in answer to one of your questions, yes many thanks can affect those results, lol, including lots of medications - ibuprofen being the most common one.
The numbers themselves are not always an indication of the severity of any disease either. High in one form of liver disease may not be considered very high in another. Indeed, in some cases the level can actual help steer a diagnosis. I cant though remember for the life of me what those would be for alchohol induced liver disease compared to other diseases though. It's also probably not that accurate a guide either. Just part of painting a big picture.
Irrespective of all that, having a consistently raised level does point to something not being right that does need investigating.
You're right that if your numbers are still elevated and not reducing then the next step would normally be an ultrasound to get a bit of a look at what your liver looks like. If your numbers are reducing then they may just suggest a further repeat of the blood tests in a month or so before taking that next step. That may then give a better clue as to whether the cause of the raise in you was down to lifestyle or not.
Good luck with the gp. Sounds like you started taking the right steps anyway. It's now just a case of working through the process to an eventual diagnosis.
I had similar experience to you, my reading was 170 but came down to 50 after 4 weeks abstinence. I had an ultrasound and all was clear, the levels can be elevated after a heavy weekend. I was lucky but it scared the life out of me. I still drink too much socially but am much more aware. Need to do better though and get a grip long term. Get an ultrasound and try not to worry. Good luck.
Hi carper - please don’t ignore the warning signs - I did and regretted it - well still do - immensely. Being aware is a good start but I’m sure you know the only real answer....
When i stopped the sauce my nimbers were as high as yours. I also had hepotamegally (swolen) and fatty liver.
I got my bloods taken every 3 weeks or so and with abstinence, my AST, ALT and GGT all returned to normal levels after about 7 weeks. The Alt took the longest to come down.
After about 5 months since diagnosis, weightloss, excersize and abstinence i had another ultrasound 2 weeks ago saying normal size liver with only a small 5cm patch of fat.
If you are overweight and or drinking heavily then you probably have a fatty liver too, to some extent.
Id bet if you completely stop drinking and maybe go on a clean food, diet then your blood numbers will be down to normal within 2months
Hi tallinn123, my advice would be to quit alcohol and eat healthily. My brother was diagnosed with cirrhosis last year, despite a prognosis of 20% he survived. It was a massive wake up call for us all as we all like a drink. However if you view your liver as a sponge, it can only absorb souch before it can't function any more. It's not worth it - trust me, what we went through as a family last year was the most horrendous and scary time. Being given that prognosis, getting a solicitor into the hospital to write my brother's will was surreal and heartbreaking.
Hi Tallinn123
Welcome from me and please take everyones message as good advice but also as a STRONG warning. Stay off the booze!
I've been a member of this forum for around 14 months due to none alcoholic autoimmune liver disease.
Since joining this forum I have made many close friends who have become family in my eyes and when you constantly read some of there daily messages about themselves I can guarantee you will never touch another alcoholic drink again if you stay on this forum and do nothing but read...Its one of the best never ending books to READ👍
If your looking for possible constant pain which will change your life forever then YOU DECIDE which route you want to take! Drink or Pain! My first husband took the pain route of cirrhosis and ended up having numerous heart attacks who eventually died at 56.
I'm sorry if my message is harsh which is not my usual style of writing, but I guess I'm feeling delicate this morning about those suffering with awful liver disease pains as I write and some are not caused by alcohol but medications or bad life style.
Finally I'm going to wish your strength for your road ahead and let's see if you can reduce your GGT bloods to a healthy level which somehow I've managed to do by losing over 3 stone and exercising.
Now behave and enjoy what life has to offer.
Love
Shropshirelass who's still feeling delicate towards others! ❤
Went to my doctor, and she agreed the results of my last blood test are not good, and somethings up. I'm going for a scan of my internal organs (liver, kidney, stomach the full works), and also taking a full blood test to try and eliminate whats not wrong and find out what is.
Of course I'll be nervous heading in for that scan, but I want to get to the bottom of this, and I'd rather know the problem than ignore it!
Thanks for all your help and advice Will keep you posted.
Everyone is so different, our causes of liver disease is different but no matter the cause we all find support here. Non of us want to be members of the BLT but we are and are so thankful for it. When I was first diagnosed I basically was looking for a shovel as I thought it was an automatic death sentence. Good luck with your appointment and bring a list of questions with you.
Hi. So I went to the blood test lab, as today is my last day of "dry Feb" and I wanted to see how my numbers have improved.
I'm sad to say, and I am completely puzzled and shocked, that my GGT has risen from 232 which it was on the 10th of Feb, to 272 as of today.
During that period, 10th-28th, I have had no alcohol (and before it, I have not had any alcohol since the last day in January), have walked instead of taken the bus, and have been taking liver supplements such as milk thistle and other so called remedies. I've been doing that all month.
My other numbers have fallen a bit: Amino 78, dropped to 77, ALT 158 dropped to 131. But the GGT has risen. I am very very crestfallen about this, and obviously worried.
I have a ultrasound scan in two weeks time.
Any ideas why that GGT is climbing?
James
An elevated level of GGT could be the result of liver diseases such as scarring, necrosis, tumors, ischemia or hepatitis.
Other medical conditions that could cause it include pancreatitis, diabetes or heart failure. Lung disease and the blockage of bile from the liver are other potential causes. The use of drugs that are toxic to the liver or alcohol abuse may also increase GGT levels.
I would ditch Milk Thistle & other so called remedies, more harm than good.
I do smoke. And I wonder if its a good idea to have one just before I give blood
I don't have diabetes. I was checked for hep, and don't have that. I don't take drugs.
It's just really weird though, that the GGT went up by 25 points, and the Amino only dropped by 1. Last time I did a dry month (October) all the readings dropped by half, and I haven't been doing anything differently this time. If anything, I am exercising more, drinking more water, and taking stuff that's meant to help my liver.
We aren't told but I've read a few articles on fasting prior to bloods.
Gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) shows the level of the GGT enzyme in your system. A high reading may indicate liver disease, bile duct problems, or alcohol abuse.
Your doctor may ask you to fast for at least 8 hours beforehand. You also may need to avoid alcohol and some prescription drugs the day before the test because they can affect GGT levels. Talk to your doctor before stopping any prescribed medicines.
I never eat before the blood test, so it's about 11 hours since my last meal.
When I did the dry October, all my levels dropped by half. I just don't understand what is different this time. For the GGT to increase by 20 points, without alcohol, is a real mystery.
As I have mentioned before my last bloods taken Apr19 at the Liver clinic was 267 down from my horrendous high. He didn't see fit to repeat 7Feb20 and said 150 would normal for me. Ignoring Lab range quotes. 🤔
Hi Guys, went for the ultrasound today, and all good. Tested all the organs, and there's no problems, and no fat on the liver.
Makes me wonder what the hell is making my levels go up though? I still think it's something to do with this soft muscle injury I have on my shoulder. I am getting physio for that, and I read that sometimes this could affect the GGT levels. I also got blood tests from my doc, who told me that my Cholesterol levels are a bit on the high side, and I'm not drinking enough water - so I will be addressing both of those things.
A friend of mine says theres a further test I could push for, that has a look at the structure of the liver to see if there's any scars. Know anything about that?
Anyway I am very relieved about the scan, but will go for more if the Doc suggests it.
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