I been drinking on and off for 20 years, in the last few years being a weekend binge drinker.
In the end it gave me toilet issues and the day(s) after it felt like something was pushing from the inside, on the right of my stomach (no pain).
I tried quitting for 2 months, and tried a few drinks again to see if it went better, it did not.
Then i quit for 16 months, i even used milk thistle, and my Gamma Gt level dropped but then it suddenly raised again, also i did not start to feel any better, like most people claim.
When corona started i took a few drinks again, and i don't want to go back to the old ways, be that binge drinker, but i do want a choice of having a glass once a while, but the doctor says to just not drink, but that's a thing they are quick to say, while when i quit for 16 months, the levels raised too, implying it's not alcohol and i just think it's another cause.
The other levels are okay (one was slightly above, but can't remember if it was alt or the other one).
My GP let me do 7 bloodtests, ultrasound came out fine, Now got a specialist and lets me do just another bloodtest in 3 months, i wanted a biopsy but he didn't for now, also that pushy feeling in my rightside also remained even without drinking now ever since march.
Does anyone recognize this, would drinking in moderation really be that bad?
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lugum_
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Firstly as said many times by many people on this forum, milkthistle is of no use to the liver and can even cause more problems to a damaged liver.
Secondly your doctor is absolutely right to say to stop drinking, you obviously have some dependancy on alcohol as you have been a binge drinker and are still looking for that green light to say its ok to drink in moderation .... it won't happen. A couple of months of not drinking won't change anything by way of symptoms, you need to abstain completely, adopt a healthy diet and lifestyle including exercise to give your liver chance to recover. If 6 months down the line you are still experiencing the symptoms see your doctor again. In the meantime have all the bloodtests your doctor arranges for you.
I am new to the forum, and that's what the specialist said (Not the GP, i think he knows little) 2 months ago, that milk thistle could actually hurt the liver, so i did not know till after 18 months and been using it for over a year.
The specialist even said it could take up to 3 years (not 1) to recover.
I been sober for 16 months, i wouldn't call that a few months, enough time for my liver and symptoms that it should have recovered, when it didn't, and my gamma raised, after it dropped.
And then when corona kicked in, it created stress as i think for most people why i slipped back and had a few again.
Because of that i question if it's really the alcohol at play and not something else raising gamma gt levels why i maybe could still have a drink or not, i mean my gamma gt is high but not through the roof, nor did they found something bad when they felt my side or done an echo, i mean if it they did, offcourse i'd immediately say okay, no more drinks.
It's that there are no "real" alarm bells making it difficult except the "porring" in my side and a high gamma gt level but that could come from other things as well, i read people that have high levels for 10 years and nothing even comes out from a biopsy.
But since they didn't yeah that's the question for asking if in moderation would still be okay, and yes it's also psychological that you just might not have that "choice" anymore and if a glass could help with stress, it's better then the stress.
And a better diet and exercizing has been an issue, which i am working on.
I just got some blood tests done and had a raised Gamma GT level too, although not wildly high (think it was 75). In my case, this isn't from drinking; it's from taking too much paracetamol over the course of about 10 years. I have a problem with codeine, and took too much paracetamol when purchasing over-the-counter, codeine-with-paracetamol products, or abusing prescription-only cocodamol.
I went to the doctor and she said if I stopped taking the paracetamol now, my liver would sort itself out in the course of a few weeks (I'm 35 and otherwise relatively fit and healthy, good diet, don't drink much, etc.), livers being pretty resilient things - up to a point! She actually prescribed me pure codeine (without paracetamol) as a harm-reduction strategy, as it's the paracetamol that's hurting my liver, not the codeine. (Pretty risky, for an addict, but I now have a plan to taper off the codeine over the course of several months; I've done cold turkey before and, well, have you seen the film "Trainspotting"?! It ain't pretty!)
Anyway. That's just my story.
What I came here to say is this:
You are looking for someone to give you the green light to have a drink. You want to pin your raised GGT levels on anything other than drinking, so that you can have a drink. Even though you have pains in your liver area. Even though you have raised GGT levels, and, I would imagine, know what that can indicate. Even though your doctors are saying no, do not drink.
That sounds to me like an addiction problem. There is help available for that. A lot of people here will understand, for example, plus there'll be help available in your local area.
But also - you have clearly quite before, for substantial periods of time. So the problem doesn't seem to be STOPPING drinking; it appears to be STAYING stopped. I totally empathise with that - I think all addicts do. I would imagine it gets easier with time, but I'm not entirely sure as I've never lasted that long, lol. And drinking is a tougher nut to crack because it's so socially acceptable (boshing a load of codeine of a Friday night in the pub isn't exactly the done thing!).
So yeah. No blame, no shame, no judgement, but I just wanted to reflect back to you what your posts sound like, because I think you may not have identified yourself as having a problem with booze (which I understand, too, being from a heavy drinking culture and very boozey family in South Wales), and I think that might be an important thing to think about.
Well when you drink, you can get hangovers (i don't get drunk, i do get hangovers rather quickly) so yeah i also had my fair share of paracetamol on top of alcohol and i only knew also paracetamol is bad for the liver too only until 2 years ago.
But I have no pains in my liver area, never had, more like someone is pressing from the inside. hard to describe, if i had pains then i definitely wouldn't ask if drinking would be okay, would have been a different story.
GGT levels can also be very well because of other reasons, like something with the bile ducts, and i got reasons to think maybe that could also be it (i got trouble swallowing a domino's pizza f.e and 3 episodes like 1 year ago, twice pizza, once a piece of apple where i seriously choked) and acid reflux.
Not that i have read the whole board here, but i also see people posted stuff having a high gamma gt when they say they never even drank alcohol.
Doctors are generally prone to say don't drink, don't smoke, but i also feel like the GP is ignoring things like the whole choking thing i mentioned but also a big loss of libido in 3 years, GP's here atleast, and i hear from some others in other countries too, but they just became machines, they put you on a timer, (i even booked a double appointment once, he was 25 minutes late, and he gave me 5 minutes..).
I caved in only during corona because i saw my father had cognac (he used to have a bottle each week when he was younger) now it's rare, i was will i break this 16 month streak or what the heck? It was the latter.
Then i dunno it was because of the crazyness i think, i am in my thirties and for reasons live with my parents still, and with a niece who is mentally a bit behind with her own mood swings, it's a crazy not normal situation and when you are all together, let's say there was a lot of frustration, if i had someone to love, even some kids or just even be at peace in my own surrounding it would be different, but i think corona overall drove a lot of families crazy.
I had 2 english female friends, once i visited Devon and she had a friend from Wales along (being dutch hard to understand sometimes :p), we all drank a bunch yeah, can't really remember who had the most.
I know Ireland also has a drinking culture, and some even dying young, also some comedian a while ago.
I personally wouldn't say i have a problem with alcohol, and i can understand when others say i do, i respect that, more like i don't see the cause that my gamma is still high is alcohol because in that 16 month period it did drop only once then to increase again, but what others said even if there is something else wrong (and the high gamma says there is), i still shouldn't be drinking.
Hi I have recovered very well from being so poorly last year. Most blood test is normal my jaundice was over 300 whilst in hospital over the last 16 months it's now 16 which is normal range. My recent scan was good and consultant very happy with me. And don't need to be seen again for 6 months. I had a copy of my blood results and looked for myself the result for GGT was quite high I phoned my GP to ask why, she explained it will always most probably stay high due to what my liver had been through. She did say that I was told that all is good because they expected it to show has high but it's not a level to worry about. Also that it can go up and down even over a short time. It depends on time of day or what you eat etc. I did read that having gall stones could make it slightly high and I do have them but been told they causing no concern at the moment. I wish you good luck and hope you get it sorted.
What you need to know is alcohol is not stress reliever it causes stress and anxiety. Even if alcohol is not the cause if your liver problems, you will have to stop drinking or you will have life long, liver disease with severe pain and awful symptoms as many on here will testify
I kinda disagree that alcohol is not a stress reliever, and depends when you drink, what, and maybe even who. If it causes stress and anxiety for everyone, noone would be drinking, same as why people smoke, stress relief (i never did, never will).
I will agree that it's probably better to stop yeah.
You are welcome to your opinions but you are wrong. It causes more problems than it solves for both the drinker and family members watching their loved 1 in denial slowly killing him/herself with this poison. Take a good hard look at what you are doing to yourself
I hardly ever had a drink and my gamma gt was extremely high - dr asked me every time if I drank because my results were that similar to an alcoholic. Further tests and scans were done. I was diagnosed with non alcoholic fatty liver disease NAFLD. And no I wasn’t fat. Have you asked to see your whole lipid (fats) profile? When mine was first found my cholesterol was very good, my ALT in liver was high but other markers were ok. It was very strange. I was actually sent to a bio chemist consultant as no one could understand that certain readings were high and yet some were fine. Never got to the bottom of it - medical mystery! I was out on a statin and a feno fibrate which has brought my levels down. They’re still treble and quadruple what they should be but they’re stable. Basically my liver was struggling with processing something - prob fats. I ate a low fat diet as it was. I struggle with high protein like meat too. I’ve since gone on to develop bile acid malabsorption. Anyway your body is telling you something and drinking won’t help it. Ask for more details of blood tests and follow the doctors advice.
Hi I have the same issue as you NAFLD. I had an Ultrasound last week and waiting for results but the chap doing the check said the doctor was correct with Mild - Medium symptoms. Now to look at diet as I exercise 4-5 times per week. I have cut Alcohol right back this year and didn’t drink anything from Dec - May and a raised GGT 148. Interestingly I have taken tablets for Gout and wonder if doing more harm than good.?
I once saw the results on the screen of the doctors computer, but at that time barely could make heads or tales from it, and i thought i could view my results at home, at first i dunno, found it scary maybe.
But when i finally got that working (had to install an app, then get a code through the mail etc) just to find out the latest tests were from 2019, so yeah not very updated.
Else i could just tell what my levels were, and right now i do wish i knew what my exact gamma level is, but i have to call the reception of the GP anyway tommorow, i think they can tell the result through the phone too.
Also during the whole corona time they only did phone consults, specialist also called me with the bloodtest i did there the first time (but that was due logistic reasons as i otherwise had someone to drive me to the hospital).
But usually it's goes like it raised again (and others drop and raise) without even telling me how high.
My alt was high i believe, but not too much, and think Ast and cholestrol were fine.
Maybe i got NAFLD too, but yeah you are right maybe drinking isn't helping it.
You’ve managed to stop before so you know you can do it. That will give your liver the best chance to recover or at least not progress worse as none of us want that.
But in 16 months it did not recover gamma gt wise atleast, it dropped for like 1-2 bloodtest and then it raised again (but maybe what i didn't know then, that the milk thistle was actually doing more bad).
Also where most people say they feel so much better after quitting alcohol (even after a few months) i never had.
But i am computer person job wise (currently unemployed and doing a part time job experience thing) and hobby wise so i sit a lot and should definitely exercize more too.
But yeah i shouldn't let it progress further, the GP said for now i wasn't damaging my liver so maybe i should "quit while i am still ahead".
Maybe it takes longer than that. I think the least we can all do is try to stop it moving on to the next stage, eg stiffening of liver and then into cirrhosis. Maybe it’s not the alcohol and you have NAFLD. As said previously I don’t drink at all now and I was never a big drinker and I mean birthdays and xmas and only a couple then cos I was usually always driving, so I’m not one to comment on what it’s like to stop. I did quit smoking! My readings will never be normal but I’ve had this for 12 years now and the meds and looking after myself have stopped it progressing.
I had no symptoms at all. Just felt very tired so doctor did a full blood screen. My ALT was over 200 (it’s now 60), my gamma gt was 99 (now 37) and my triglycerides were 45 (now 3.5). This was all when I was 38, wasn’t overweight, office job but a child to look after so was always on the go. I’m now 52 and have other issues which stop me exercising much, but I try to eat healthily. I’ll always be on medication though. But as said I get scanned every 3 years and it’s not got worse so the trick is to stop it getting worse.
Haemochromatosis (iron overload) is a genetic condition that can cause liver problems and cirrhosis. It’s much more common than was originally thought and can be picked up with a simple blood test. Ask your GP run an iron panel blood test just in case.
Noone in the family has it that i know of (there is a genetic heart condition though).
Might ask, i already have the papers to test again oktober 20 through a stomach-liver-kidney specialist, dunno what comes out and if he wants to keep testing blood or do more invasive tests.
I did ask the specialist about Secundair Haemochromatosis also because of other symptoms (libido loss f.e), and it was one of three options he mentioned (hepatitis and forgot the third) but when he called in for the test results he said those three options couldn't be it in his opinion.
Fine, I often mention GH if anyone has unusual liver issues because it’s a diagnosis that can be missed.
Good morning lugum_
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