34 year old male, drinking since age 18. Pretty good shape, not overweight, pretty active, eating fairly healthy.
Started drinking at parties and socially and went 2 + years in the span from 18-24 without drinking at all. Started drinking heavier (usually 4-5 drinks per night) around 2013-2014. Since then it's only been an every night thing for maybe 6 months total of the last 8 years. I took numerous week long breaks, a few month long breaks, one two month break and probably a total of a year's worth of that drinking were weekends only. It did ramp up for me in the last year but I still have been maintaining occasional breaks of up to two weeks here and there in my drinking.
I up and called it quits on the drinking on 7/12 pretty much out of nowhere. Threw away every last beer can and bottle. Googling alcohol recovery tips led me to pages on cirrhosis and liver failure and I fell down the rabbit hole. Since, I've hardly slept (not withdrawal, just sheer panic and anxiety). I may have had a little yellow in the corner of my eyes and under the lids on the 13th but it has mostly subsided (anti-redness drops decreased the appearance so is that even possibly bilrubin?). I ended up with abdominal pain later in the week which turned out to be a stress ulcer but that led to even more panic.
Other than lack of appetite due to the ulcer (much better after taking Pepcid), nausea (started with anxiety), and potentially the slightly yellow eyes, I have no other symptoms I could chalk up to liver failure or cirrhosis. I have been drinking about a gallon of water a day and my urine has been pale yellow the entire time (never cola colored unless it would look that way if I stopped drinking so much water but I refuse to do that), my stools have went from loose and diarrhea-like to solid but have always stayed brown.
I was able to get to Urgent Care on Saturday to ask about the ulcer and get blood work taken. They ran a CMP on me and all my liver enzymes were in normal ranges. ALT: 17, AST: 25, Alk P: 42, Alb: 4.5, tBil: 1.2 ,TP: 7.9, and eGFR: above 90. I understand the AST/ALT ratio is just under a 1.5 which means a fatty liver which I would expect (there was some pretty heavy drinking the previous two weeks) and can deal with. The Dr. said everything looked ok and they saw no reason to send me for further testing as the values lined up with alcoholic fatty liver and I was extremely relieved and went home.
Unfortunately I somehow ended up finding a few pages that said that cirrhosis did not always present abnormal values on a CMP and I am now back to being just as anxious as I was before. There were other pages that stated AST and ALT levels would be raised in any case of a liver injury. All seemed legit.
What is everyone's experience with CMP tests and liver enzymes values? Should I be worried or should I take the Dr.'s word that I should be good? Is the amount of water that I'm drinking skewing the tests falsely? Does a fatty liver even make sense for me to have at this point in my drinking career or is it likely cirrhosis?
Sorry for the novel but I have done and seen some serious and scary things in my time on this earth but have never been more anxious and terrified than I am right now. Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated.
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mrm8676
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Take the doctors word for it. They have oodles of years experience and will have seen thousands of patients come through their doors. They also have access to information and protocols developed from the experience of many thousands of doctors and clinicians from the UK and around the world.
There is always the exception to every rule, and yes you do hear the odd time when someone says, 'well I never had any of that'. Indeed some on this very forum. Again this is very rare and you also don't know their full story. Your doctor knows yours, and that is all that is relevant. They have done the tests and are happy all is OK. Take that as truth that is relevant to you and forget Google and even what you read on here.
If you continue with symptoms or start experiencing anything new then by all means go back to your doctor and I'm sure they'll be happy to take a further look to see if they can pin point the cause. In the mean time, get on with life, maybe with a bit more moderation on your drinking front, and just enjoy what you have.
Thank you for your encouraging response but I have no intentions of ever drinking again regardless of the outcome here.
I had such peace of mind walking out of the doctor's office after getting the all clear but made the mistake of asking Dr. Google and am back to square one. I really wish I was able to accept the opinion of the medical professional who examined me in person rather than going with the Google search results.
Hi if you are concerned about the alcohol in your life than I would definitely do what you just said and give it up because no one knows your habits or your body better than you. I can tell you I went to hospital to have blood tests 3 weeks before my liver gave up and was told my enzymes were slightly high and nothing to worry about, now as Kistian says there is always an exception to the rule but if I had seriously thought about it and stopped drinking I might have got away with it but history now I’m waiting for a liver transplant. Now all of this was nearly 18 years ago , just waiting. I wish you the best of luck in your decision and life style 👍.Stay Safe All
Thanks to everyone for their replies and great news to report: The anxiety of not knowing what was going on with me was driving me crazy so today I went to the hospital to get checked out again.
Despite me coming off as clearly paranoid, the staff was beyond helpful and immediately got me scheduled for labs. The labs came back pretty much perfect across the board and my AST/ALT ratio had dropped to a 22/17 = 1.3 since Saturday. PLT and MCV were right on the money also.
Despite this I was still not convinced I didn't have cirrhosis or liver distress so the Dr. ordered an abdominal CT scan. The CT scan came back negative for any type of liver issues, not even fatty liver. Between the labs and scans, the Dr. have me a completely clean bill of health and congratulated me on my decision to quit drinking. For the first time in a week, I feel like I can breathe and don't feel completely crushed.
TLDR: Dr. Google can completely destroy your world if you are like me. Try to remain objective and ask the Dr. for clarification if you aren't understanding what is being said. Also, the AST/ALT ratio is not worth freaking out about if your levels are at or below normal range.
Wow... you had a very short adventure in the world of liver concerns and stress. It took almost a heat for these things to get anywhere near ironed out for me with similar symptoms
I’m reading your post and trying to calm down. My enzyme levels are normal but my ratio is 1.4. Did your doctor say the ratio is not worth worrying about if the numbers are normal?
Best advice would be stay away from Google!!! Nearly every thing I read when I found out that I had decompensated liver was that I had about 3 months to a year left !!! Listen to your docs eat and drink healthy ( this sounds abit harsh don't mean it to but I got to a point anxiety ect and now although obviously have concerns but take docs advice but don't over think as it may be the infamous bus tomorrow instead of your liver taking you out ) eat and drink healthy and try to enjoy life as best you can ( sorry again if sounds harsh really don't mean it to )
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