Please help with liver enzyme numbers.

[Badger12345]

Hi everyone! You guys are such a helpful and knowledgeable group, when I couldn’t find my answers on Google I knew to come here. My brother did his annual bloodwork 10 days ago and had an AST of 75 and an ALT of 169. He has been drinking very heavily since this pandemic started and he was very upset and scared at his levels. He immediately stopped all alcohol and is now on a very clean diet of lots of veggies and healthy foods. (I would also add that he drank to the point of blacked out 3 days in a row leading up to the test, so I felt like that could have artificially raised his levels.)

He decided to get just his alt retested yesterday and got the results for the ALT this morning. It went from 169 to 140 in the ten days since he stopped drinking. Is this valuable information? Does this mean anything? He plans to continue on with healthy diet and no booze, but we are really just wondering if this is a great sign or not a big deal. I think he was hoping that his numbers would magically go down to a normal range and is disappointed they are at 140.

(And if the answers here are discouraging I won’t share them with him so please speak freely!) Most important thing now is for him to continue not drinking and nourishing his body.

Thank you so so much to anyone reading this for your time.

[AyrshireK]

AST and ALT are liver inflammation markers. When the liver is being assaulted either by booze, fatty infiltration, viruses, illnesses it will become inflammed then these markers may be elevated. If the 'assault' is halted by significant lifestyle changes or treatment then the markers should come down. The liver is a very resilient organ but it will only take so much and will gradually become fibrotic / cirrhotic. It is hugely important that your brother stops drinking and as you say lives healthier.

The BLT has an excellent page on alcohol related liver disease.

britishlivertrust.org.uk/in...

Katie

[Badger12345 in reply to AyrshireK]

Thank you so much for your reply. I really appreciate you to taking the time to give me feedback!

I was hoping too that someone might be able to offer me more insight on an ALT number going from 169 to 140 in ten days. Would still love more input if anyone has any experience with this sort of thing! Thank you.

[Carp01 in reply to Badger12345]

ALT is very sensitive to Alcahol. I had bloods done 2 days after a Christmas parts and it was over 800.

Dr said re test after a month and it was back to normal.

GGT and Bilirubin levels would tell you a lot more.. Dr is the best advice

I do know that ALT and AST do not just drop overnight as the liver has to repair.

[Badger12345 in reply to Carp01]

His bilirubin score was 1.0.

Dr. did not test his GGT. Should he request that number at his next blood work up?

[Badger12345]

Hi everyone. I just wanted to update that my brother has remained alcohol-free since this whole ordeal began. He got his blood test for ALT back December 5th at 113. So in total, he has gone from 169 to 113 in about a 40 day stretch. Is this a good sign or is this a bad sign that it is taking so long to move back into a lower/normal range? I know this is all speculation and he is definitely working with his doctor for a treatment plan going forward, if necessary. I just want to seek outside sources of knowledge, as his sister who cares deeply about him.