My Ggt has come down to 100 from 179(had two glasses of red wine night before test, didnt know they were going to do my ggt level) all other blood work within range, except kidney function was a little off. endoscopic ultra sound showed no liver damage, three other ultrasounds, MRI, regular endoscopy and colonoscopy (within last three years) and regular blood work, show liver enzymes all well within normal range again. Should I be concerned about elevated GGT by itself? Still have pain in liver area (ongoing for 6+ years now) not horrendous pain just a grumbling with occasional stab then its gone again. GI dotor said its irritable bowel.. I was very ill with Covid back in July and still have long covid symptons, pain, aches, no taste or smell and lost most of my hair..now growing back.Yay!
Only GGT elevated ?: My Ggt has come... - British Liver Trust
Only GGT elevated ?
Hi Tuppence
As I suggest to other people, maybe your body is telling you it has had enough to drink even if you haven't. Maybe it's time to stop the occasional glass of wine completely.
It only takes one drink to get cirrhosis, but that one drink might be the 100th drink someone has or the next drink. Every sip is slowly poisoning us. Alcohol has zero benefits. All the myths about red wine being good for us has recently been proved to be untrue. Alcohol only does damage.
Perhaps you could give up alcohol. Wouldn't it be nice to see those GGT levels drop even more? 
It's always a nice morale booster and welcome good news on the forum whenever a member summons the wllpower to stop, and starts to be kind to their liver.
Wishing you well
Dave
Thank you for your input Dave, actually what would be nice is if someone in the medical field could just pin point what is causing my pain, with no other symptoms, nothing showing on any scans or tests, and I have had numerous now (let alone the cost here in the USA) its very frustrating.
Hi there Tuppence. Can't you have another test without the wine complication? I know that won't tell you what is causing your pain, but it could still be helpful information.
This link is may be helpful to you
labtestsonline.org.uk/tests...
Thank you Kakey, I plan to do that.
Hi Tuppence68. GGT is the main liver inflammation marker. Basically, a consistent high GGT points to consistent liver damage.
What is your MELD score?
The best way to lower your GGT levels is by stopping what’s causes it…in this case, possibly the wine / alcohol.
My GGT was 279. All other bloods normal. It’s now at 36. I quit drinking 9 months ago. What’s also really helped my health overall was getting my body into a high alkaline state. Drinking high-alkaline water and eating alkaline foods. Disease and inflammation loves an acidic environment.
Hope that helps. All the best! Cheers. Dan
Hi Dan, I have no idea what A meld score is 
but thank you for your advice, I had planned to start an alkaline eating plan and hope this will help me towards healing. I have had five major surgeries since 2010 and have a lot of abdominable scar tissue as well as two herniated cervical discs...in fact, if i was a horse, i'd probably be at the "knackers yard" by now, but this old nagg still has some fight left haha! Well done you for making a change for the better. All the best to you too.
Hi Tuppence68,You’re welcome. Sorry to hear about all the major surgeries!! Funny about the horse reference!
Meld = Model End-stage Liver Disease. Basically, it’s a calculation of the specific liver function blood test results. Once you know your LFT results, you can Google “MELD calculator” and compute your score…of course your Hepatologist would be able to do this for you as well.
Great to hear about your alkaline diet! I bought a book called “The pH Miracle”.
Plus I drink nothing but high-alkaline water. I feel strongly, and so do my doctors, this is what got my LFT all in the normal range.
All the best. Cheers. Dan
i have been the same with my ggt levels. other factors like medication, weight and age can affect it. Mine has always been over what it should be but my doctor said thats just the way it is for me.
All the posters are correct, GGT increase on its own is often a sign of an alcohol problem, maybe even more so that you have been able to reduce it. So keep up the good work, you say that all the other markers ie the LFTs, not just the enzymes are in normal range that is also a good sign. Now the possible other news, like you I had all the scans, MRI with contrast, ultrasound, CT etc and given the all clear. BUT my bloods were still all over the place including GGT levels, without drink. I had a fibrascan and bang, serious Fatty Liver disease. I also have abdominal problems which they say is IBS, and have had countless internal investigations. What i am saying is that unfortunately its not an exact science, and from my understanding the fibrascan is the best way of seeing any fibrosity and stiffness in the liver short of the gold standard biopsy. Since you have had all the other scans see if you can get one, they are not invasive and not too expensive. Hope this helps a bit. But great news on bringing most of your biomarkers into line.
Ruggerhead, it might often be a sign of an alcohol problem but not always. I haven't had a drink in over a year. 8/21 my GGT was around 104. Two weeks ago it came in at 311. Enzyme levels normal, bilirubin normal etc.. Like I said, not a single drink since March of last year.
Odd it some ways Push, I am not a Dr but have had a lot of experience with blood tests, various scans etc. A lot of blood tests are read in pairs or patterns and therefore often, not always can lead the Dr's to the area of concern ie ALT being more specific to the Liver than perhaps AST, so for instance if your ALT was well above normal but in isolation it could indicate acute Liver damage, if it was AST it could be from possibly another source, bones etc. So your situation seems to suggest that your liver is still doing what it is supposed too if your other bloods are normal, so that is a good start, and GGT is often associated with drink, but you are not drinking, so it could suggest bilinary duct problems? have you had a MRI, CT scan to see if bile tree is blocked, that would raise GGT on its own. Or it could be liver damage as the GGT is leaking into the blood, but on its own might lead a Dr down the bile route. As I say not an expert just passing on what the experts have told me when my bloods are out of whack..Are you on any medications..
Hey Ruggerhead. My last MRI was Dec 13th 2021. I have a few small kidney stones but pretty much everything else was fine except for my liver and portal hypertension. I have known about that issue since March of 2021 (except the hospital told me I just had alcoholic hepatitis and I will be fine, not f4). We just talked about diet and they gave me the fibroscan to confirm what the MRE suggested 6 months prior and that was Compensated Cirrhosis. It came back at 18.7 KPA and around 220ish CAP. I was given my MELD and of course to continue not drinking and workout. The working out is what I have failed to do enough. In addition, I eat extremely healthy for breakfast and lunch but for dinner we cheat and have been ordering out often. Basically I save all of my salt intake for dinner. I have a fresh shake every morning with water, Alpen or Eggs with wheat toast (mostly egg whites), non sweetened green tea freshly brewed, coffee with almond milk and water. So really I only drink coffee, green tea, and water. I only take medication for anxiety and depression. The only one added since my GGT was lower is Wellbutrin. I take a low dose of that. I'm not on any medication for my liver, edema, etc... I have a repeat endoscopy to check small grade varices in the next month. Then I go back to my specialist 2 hours away for my 6 month check-up. There was one other number higher and I can't remember what it was. My AST, ALT and Bilirubin are right there within limits.
Ok plenty of information there. It’s amazing how hospitals can dismiss people so readily with nothing much to say. I had all the tests told all was ok. Then still had symptoms so had a fibroscan and showed the issues. You must be frustrated as to what is causing the rise in GGT. It could be the new medication? When are you getting it rechecked ? Maybe it’s just one of those strange situations where they don’t have an answer. How are you otherwise
Hey Ruggerhead. My family physician runs the fibrosure test for me every now and then to make sure there are no serious indicators. Like tumor markers, elevated bilirubin etc... She's not a specialist but she has worked with many patients with cirrhosis. She tends not to tell me things that are not of huge significance because she knows I have had severe anxiety for a long time. However, I see my hepatologist in a few months and the clinic I go to runs all of their own tests. So basically when I go there I will likely have 10 tubes of blood drawn again and checked for everything, then the MRI and discuss my endoscopy.
If the GGT is still elevated I will ask her about it. I'm guessing it's the new medication or me not eating as healthy at dinner time as I once was. I'm in the USA so I could technically pay around $30 and not use insurance and get the test tomorrow. I think I might wait to see what the specialist says. She has no issues being extremely blunt. LOL I just hopes she doesn't think I'm drinking because I'm not. I even told them they can test me randomly if they want.
Yes, that hospital really made me angry because the lead Gastro doctor said if I quit drinking my liver would be as well as his in 6 months to 1 year. I flat out asked him if I had cirrhosis and he said no you don't but you will if you keep drinking. Too bad he was wrong.
How old are you PT? and were you drinking a lot, or just medium? If it was me I would pay the 30 and just see where your GGT is, I have made a point of getting my bloods done every month, because it was I that found the bloody problem. And i am a good advocate. Like you the hospital and consultants dismissed me saying no probs, one consultant just said stop taking recreational drugs which i never had in my life. So the CT, MRI, ab ultrasound missed it. My bloods were up and so I demanded a finbroscan and discoverd my liver was very damaged. Go figure, NAFLD. My GGT has also been elevated at times with new medications, and again anti depressants and anxiety meds, so check those out as they may have just caused an acute rise as the liver metablises a new drug, thats my hunch. But check your other LFT's to see if any others are up, as it is quite unusual without drink for isolated GGT rise, maybe its not even the liver, might be elsewhere and as you say could be as simple as the food you are eating, pay the 30 get it checked at least when you go back to the your Doc you have all the info..
I might just do that. I’m 39. I drank far less than many people I know but more than the recommended amount. I never drank liquor until the pandemic and that was only for year I did drink quite a bit during than time. Then you got to factor in college years which was quite a bit but not as bad as the pandemic. If there were a 1-10 scale 1 being social drinker 10 being drinking everyday all day. I would put myself at a 5 all things considered.
Thank you Like many, I had a very stressful time during the Covid pandemic and probably drank way more than I should or normally would. I have cut it completely and about to start an alkaline diet plan. Very hard being a chef, former pastry chef and now only able to taste sweet or salt..(7 months after covid) not making excuses, I know I over did it, and now hopefully can get back on the healthy track and repair some of the damage, My GI said the ERCP was as good a marker as the fibroscan...I am not so convinced now. Thank you for your kind and supportive words, and hope you too can get to a better place health wise.
Hey there,what is an ERCP?
Hi there, it’s an ultrasound method that’s goes down the throat into the stomach and can look at the organs, pancreas, spleen and liver and portals etc. it’s done under general anesthesia
I read GGt is very sensitive to alcohol and it is one of the main markers the they can use on to find out if somebody has been drinking. My ggt, ast and alt were high when I was drinking, they all went back down to normal levels with when I stopped after 8 weeks or so .
Your ggt is coming down nicely too so try not to worry as I did 👍
My GGT was 667 when I was is Hospital
Wow Dean, I didn't even know about the GGT until recently. I don't think its solely influenced by alcohol B3 because my AST and ALT are basically spot on. (one is elevated by 1 point and has been). Billirubin normal but my GGT shot up from 104ish 8/21 to 311 as of two weeks ago. I haven't touched alcohol. I even use alcohol free mouth wash. Not sure of the cause though.
I wonder what else can raise it?
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