blood test results

[Sophia1968]

hi everyone, I recently had Covid , first time ever and I was worried incase it had caused my liver any more problems, so I asked the doctor to check with blood tests, I have had the results back but I’m not quite sure about a few things, so would like to pick your clever brains, firstly I know it’s not good to have low albumin especially under 35 but is it also a problem to have them too high? Mine are in normal range and have always been 40/42 but they are 44 this time , never had them that high before and it just got me wondering whether it’s a problem if high. ( higher than mine I mean) also my ast is still higher than my alt ast is 16 and alt 11 this makes a 1.5 ratio, I know people say it does not mean anything when both numbers are in range but is that really true, everywhere on line says it’s bad to be higher than alt, also my fibrinogen is high it should be between 2.8 and 4.7 mine is always high and is 6.8…..I have no idea how bad this is but I know it’s to do with the liver and clotting, I would be so grateful if someone could just explain a little about this type of test, thank you so much xx

[BritishLiverTrust3 Administrator British Liver Trust]

Dear Sophia1968,

If you would find it useful to talk things over, our nurse-led helpline is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 3pm on 0800 652 7330 (excluding bank holidays)

Best wishes

British Liver Trust

[Wolivere]

My wifes AST/ALT ratio was mostly above 1.5 but always in normal range. Similar numbers to yours. I would say AST was always slightly above ALT anytime she dealt with an infection. Her Albumin use to also move around a lot, more so since she had a AKI, so often her Albumin when her Creatin was up would drop like a rock, then as Creatin stabilized would pop back up.

[Sophia1968 in reply to Wolivere]

Thank you for your reply, do you mind me asking what your wife’s condition is x

[Wolivere in reply to Sophia1968]

My wife went into the hospital in Sept of 2020 and was diagnosed with Fatty Liver, her pain levels and weight loss continued. She went back in, in Oct of 2020. At this point, her liver had swollen to 29cm, and there was concern about Cancer some markers were elevated. Her LFTs were all normal, though. A biopsy was done, and she was diagnosed with Nash with Fibrosis F1/F2.

The determination was rapid onset NASH due to massive weight loss from her battle with COVID. She dropped 100 lbs in less than 6 months.

A follow-up Biopsy was done in June of 2021, and by then, her liver had shrunk back to near-average size, and the Biopsy came back with F0/F1 Fibrosis.

But she was greatly deconditioned from months in hospital beds and not doing well with walking.

From June 2021 to July 2022, she did well and started gaining weight. She went from her low of 95lbs back up to 160lbs. Her mobility was still poor but improving.

In July 2002, she went in for cellulitis on her left calf. She had an AKI and ESBL infection and was hospitalized for a month.

She came home but now had bed sores to heal, and we had them healed up.

At the end of November, she threw up blood, and we went to the hospital. It was not varices; a scope showed no varices, but she had grade 4 esophageal erosion, which led to a bleed. She was going to be in for 1-2 days on a PPO bid, then home. Suddenly, she was in Kidney failure with another ESBL infection. She recovered from that but then caught COVID, RSV, and hospital-acquired pneumonia, and then finally passed from Renal Failure on Jan 30, 2023.

During her last stay, a resident had written into her chart that she had Biopsy-proven cirrhosis. Where the actual wording on the Biopsy NASH Fibrosis? This led to mass confusion in the time of Dec/Jan. An Ultrasound showed a slightly enlarged liver of 18cm, a normal spleen, a normal gallbladder, and a smooth echogenic texture. The ER doctor was greatly confused as she had normal stable LFTs with raised Bilirubin, and low Albumin was in the mid to high 20s.

A different doctor looked at her at the end of December 2020 and said your wife does not have cirrhosis? I am looking at the blood work and Ultrasound; she may have a fatty liver. But her issue is physical deconditioning from lengthy hospital stays and hospital-based infections. And we have caused a severe kidney injury.

She ended up in the ICU from septic shock, pulled through that, and was well on her way home when she got a mucus plug from pneumonia and collapsed a lung that was recovering. But they had hit her with another heavy dose of vancomycin. The doctor had not yet seen her trough level and was convinced she was heading for a full recovery and home in a week or two once they had her up and walking. She died in her sleep from renal failure.

I come on here to read, to see if maybe she did have cirrhosis. Perhaps we missed something. But my wife was always a non-drinker who was slightly overweight. At 5,11, she always hovered between 190-210 lbs. At 58 years of age, our family doctor was not concerned.

We know in 2018/2019, she had fallen in our driveway and slipped on ice. She hurt her hip, the pain was terrible, and she was not recovering. Two hospitals did CT scans to check on the cause of the pain. They had checked the liver/gallbladder to see if there was radiating pain from that area. Her LFTs were normal, and the CT/US came back normal. They put the pain as soft tissue damage.

We know in January of 2020 when she caught COVID-19, a CT of the chest and abdomen came back normal for her liver/gallbladder. She had elevated AST levels double normal, associated with COVID/pneumonia.

My brother was a heavy drinker and died from Cirrhosis, but he struggled with his cirrhosis for 10-15 years and continued to drink heavily through the process. We often say he committed suicide through drinking. And it took him a long time to finally kill himself with cirrhosis.

So I look back and think? Maybe in October 2020? She did have starting Cirrhosis? was the biopsy wrong? So, say this did start in Oct of 2020, would she die in Jan of 2023 from cirrhosis? And I came here to see others' experiences. And I look at her LFT, all normal except Billrubin. Her INR while at home was always .9-1, and her hemoglobin was on the lower side of normal, as she had been since the birth of our daughter iron deficient.

During her entire hospital stay, her LFTs all remained normal, her AST, when her kidneys were giving up, shot up to about double normal, and her albumin crashed into the mid-teens on the last day.

So based on everything I read here, I do not believe she had cirrhosis. And continue to fight the hospital on misdiagnosis.

A month or so ago, I got the Doctor's notes from the ER. And in the notes, it clearly states Cirhosis work up negative.

My advice to everyone is always to get an advocate and double triple-check.

[Greengal314 in reply to Wolivere]

Wow, what a ride. You’re a wonderful person for caring so much and determination for answers.

Things aren’t always as simple as they look. The more information you can get, the better. Thanks for your story.

Have a lovely week.

[Sophia1968 in reply to Wolivere]

Oh no I am so sorry to read your story, it’s all so very sad, we can only go by and trust the doctors and if we are unfortunate to have not very knowledgeable ones or three or four saying different things then we just have no idea what is going on, peoples lives especially our loved ones are everythnig to us and we want to know that they are being given every chance and help possible, it’s all so scary, im in limbo because I’m not being see by anyone , have no real diagnosis , yet a scan shows severe liver impairment and my fibro sore was 21.5 yet I no idea at all what the bigger picture is , I’m past even trying now, I do not have enough faith in them and will just see what happens , thank you for posting your story , it was very upsetting to read though bless your heart xx