High AST serum liver levels

[mary1111]

My husband is not on medication yet but is being pressured to go on it for hypothyroidism. I intend to get him to have private blood tests first before he makes a decision. He has no obvious symptoms. However, he has just tested very high for ast serum levels and I’ve read that it could be caused by hypothyroidism. Has anyone any knowledge of this?

[greygoose]

Why would he hesitate to take thyroid 'medication' - which isn't 'medication' at all in the usual sense of the word. It isn't a drug, it's thyroid hormones, replacing the hormones his thyroid can no-longer make enough of. You cannot live without thyroid hormones.

He may have no obvious thyroid-related symptoms, but he could have some that you wouldn't think to connect to the thyroid. But thyroid hormone is needed by every single cell in the body to function correctly. So, if there's not enough to go round, all sorts of weird things can malfunction. Like the liver, for example. I don't know anything about liver enzymes but I do know that the liver needs good levels of thyroid hormone to do its very important job. As do the heart, the brain, and everything else. Not to take thyroid hormone replacement when needed seems like shooting yourself in the foot, to me.

[humanbean]

You might find these links helpful in explaining what AST is.

labtestsonline.org.uk/tests...

labtestsonline.org.uk/tests...

Quote from the second link :

Very high concentrations of AST (more than 10 times the upper limit of normal (ULN)) are usually due to a rapidly developing liver disease called acute hepatitis, which is often caused by a virus or by toxins/drugs such as paracetamol overdose. In acute viral hepatitis, AST concentrations usually stay elevated for about 1–2 months, but can take as long as 3–6 months to return to normal.

Moderately high levels, often less than 4 times the upper limit of normal (ULN) are seen in the slowly developing variety of liver disease, chronic hepatitis, as well as alcohol abuse, cholestasis and heart, kidney or skeletal muscle damage The AST level can also be increased following the breakdown of red blood cells (haemolysis). In chronic hepatitis, AST often varies between normal and slightly increased, so doctors might request the test regularly to determine the pattern of change.

In some diseases of the liver, especially when the bile ducts are partially blocked, fatty change in the liver or with cirrhosis and certain cancers of the liver, AST concentrations may be slightly high or close to normal.

In chronic viral hepatitis, chronic alcoholism or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease a high AST/ALT ratio may be used to predict long-term complications such as cirrhosis.

Cutting out alcohol or cutting it down is always a good idea if the liver is struggling.

And cutting out sugar and reducing intake of high carb foods would also be well worth it.

Doing the above will reduce the amount of fat in the liver and that helps it to function as well as possible no matter what the cause of the liver disease is.

Anyone who knows or suspects their liver is struggling should see a doctor.

Has your husband recently been put on statins? If someone has untreated or under-treated hypothyroidism it will reduce the body's ability to get rid of cholesterol. Instead of treating the hypothyroidism which caused the high cholesterol doctors will often treat the cholesterol level instead. Cholesterol comes from two main sources - the liver and one's diet.

Read the following, and take note particularly of the reference on the page to "underactive thyroid" :

nhs.uk/conditions/statins/c...

If cholesterol and statins are part of your husband's problem then statins aren't going to help him anyway. Higher cholesterol helps people to live longer. See the left hand graph of this page and read the article as well :

drmalcolmkendrick.org/2012/...

[radd]

mary1111,

Abnormal liver enzyme readings are common on this forum because can result from insufficient thyroid hormone.

The body protects in other ways (FT3 levels can even raise during this time) so although your husband may superficially feel well, there risks many unwanted changes taking place behind the scenes that might all catch up if he doesn’t replace his thyroid hormone deficit.

Ensure to test TSH, FT4 and FT3.