Liver Function Test results approx 100 - not sure what tests

Gav I'm so sorry you're suffering so badly. Drinking a bottle of gin will not give you cirrhosis of the liver. Is it possible that you've become allergic to something which has caused these marks and swellings.

I'm not being nosey and you don't have to answer, but why are you in hospital? Are the whites of your eyes yellow. Am sure the medical staff at the hospital would know whether or not you've got jaundice.

It sounds to me that, rather than having cirrhosis of the liver, some of your symptoms are alcohol withdrawal. Hope you start feeling better. Is there anything you could do to try and take your mind of worrying about your health.

i agree with paper fairy about you having health anxiety and using that forum as well. Good luck

Hi vickylou,

I had tachycardia.

While I was there (on Saturday), I woke-up with a strange rash on my chest.  It was painful and unlike anything I've ever had or seen, but a doctor examined it and put me on anti-biotics.

Then, on Sunday the strange physical symptoms started to emerge: a spider vein on my forearm was first and I knew what it could mean.

Then itchy skin, change in my hands and fingers, hair loss on an arm, a burnt look and feel on my arms - and more.

So, felt that the very least is a fatty liver, but more likely cirrohsis.

Now I know that there is professional medical opinion, based on liver function tests, but they are not infallible.  When I drank heavily before, I had no symptoms during or after other than intoxication, hangover and occasional withdrawal.

To my mind, these symptoms trump LFTs which are not infallibe - especially witth the symptoms and the elevated AST enzyme which is very important in diagnosing liver disease.

I see my GP next Monday and will talk to him and ask him to do a physical examination.  I think it will also require some sort of scan.

Of course I hope I haven't got cirrohsis, but I must at least have a fatty liver because of the symptoms, which naturally I hope disappear.

Thanks for your good wishes! 

Just to add more symptoms that came to mind: quite extensive and unexplained bruising, changes to my genitals (some shrinkage and darkening of them), and eyes have turned a lemon colour.

So, yes, I know that these could be symptoms of fatty liver (though probably quite a serious version of that), but also could be cirrohsis.  I know there's a possibility of some sort of allergic reaction, but I think the number and type of symptoms matching liver disease makes that highly improbable.

I also know that liver function tests were done when I arrived at the hospital on Friday evening, and these were only somewhat elevated.

The tests were repeated yesterday and they had already dropped.

But highly suspicious symptoms had appeared and I still feel or see all of them while typing this.

I don't really think I can do anything until next Monday with the GP.

Right gav firstly are you still in hospital now? If not when did you come home and was season for admission tachycardia? You had LFTs done on admission which were only slightly elevated. They would certainly have shown if you had cirrhosis of the liver.

secondly you had the same tests repeated yesterday and the levels had already dropped. The slightly elevated levels on Friday were probably the result of the bottle of gin you consumed on that day.

when you woke up in hospital on the Saturday with a rash, what did the nurses/doctors say about it? Were they concerned? You recently had a physical examination where the Dr couldn't feel an enlarged liver and said it was soft and supple. Why then do you need another physical exam, cirrhosis is not going to develop and show up just like that.

you also said on admission you had no sign of jaundice, but your eyes are now yellow. Cirrhosis is a very serious condition and in all the tests you've had, don't you think the drs at the hospital would know if you had it, of course they would. There is absolutely no evidence that even suggests you have it.

whilst obviously not quite the same, I suffer from psoriasis and have raised lumps and constantly itch all over sometimes, it can affect my scalp, my hands feel hot, I can sometimes lose hair from my scalp. If I googled cirrhosis of the liver, I would have loads of symptoms that match those for cirrhosis, but I know it's down to my psoriasis and not cirrhosis.

you are worrying yourself to death, and yes ok you've got problems with your skin which could be caused by any number of things.

paper fairy has explained to you about spider naevia (excuse spelling).

i don't know what I, or anyone else on the forum can say to you. I myself, going on what you've told us, am certain you've not got cirrhosis. However I do think you need some help/counselling for health anxiety because this is taking over and dominating your life

Hi again vickylou.

No, I'm not still in hospital.  I was released after lunch today.

My heart was beaing really fast - probably due to a mixture of alcohol and anxiety.  My blood pressure was also really low, and the combination of the two aspects wasn't a good thing.

I only knew they had done liver function blood tests on Friday night / Saturday mornng yesterday when the doctor repeated them, together with a full blood count and clotting test.  I knew the clotting test would be OK because I stopped bleeding within about 5 seconds of the nurse completing collection of blood - and that was reassuring to me.

Then the rash emerged.  It was really painful and horrible looking, but I didn't get too worried about it (apart from the series pain) and took the anti-biotics I was given.

Then I got a throat / chest infection and couldn't speak to be heard and was weasy for a couple of days, so the anti-biotic probably worked on that for a couple of days.  That was also when the suspicious symptoms for liver conditions emerged.

So, finally, yesterday one of the junior doctors was talking to me and agreed to do another liver function test.  The results were lower enzymes than the earlier one and he said not cirrohsis an defintely not alcoholic hepatitis.

I'm going to see the GP on Monday.  He was supportive during the HIV scare two years ago and has been over my growing problems with alcohol.  I don't doubt that he will do a physical exam because I'll tell him about the suspicious symptoms and he is thorough.  I'll see if he suggests a more elaborate test.

I do have health anxiety, though only over significant issues such as the two I mention.

There you have it!  

Gav, they would have told you and made an appointment at the hospital before they discharged you, if you'd had a liver problem. I have a friend who had liver cirrhosis and they didn't just discharge her. Her stomach was enormous from the swelling(looked 9 months pregnant), I've never seen such horrifying yellow eyes. She was late 40s age and looked in her 70s. As Vicki says you've got to stop this wasteful worrying or you will become seriously ill. You're very lucky to have a caring doctor so ask if you can see an alcohol counsellor and a health anxiety counsellor. CBT would be very good for you, available through your Drs. Good luck

Hi Paper fairy.

I tried CBT about various issues earlier this year and it made me worse - it just wasn't for me.

The hospital gave me a letter to give to the GP (as is usual), so that was a further reason for making the appointment.

Being honest, I had an appointment with addictions' people last Thursday and missed the appointment through drinking.

I get beset by suspicious / coincidental stuff coming on the back of risk taking.  I knew I had drank far too much last Thursday and Friday, then rotten and strange physical symptoms hit me in close succession - pretty well all of them matching those of symptoms for liver disease.

That's what happened, and couldn't stop feelng that symptoms trumped indicative liver function and other tests.

If the symptoms clear-up, I'll get over it.  If they don't, I wont.  It's just the way I am, for good or (more likely) bad.  Others worry about money, I worry about health.

Gav Further to my private message to you. How about focusing on the rest of your body which has turned out to be ok, instead of on just your hands which are the one area which are still not yet right. Do you see what I am getting at?

You are torturing yourself that you MUST have some horrible illness. If your hands go back to normal, you will find something else which you will convince yourself is a sign of impending doom. You really have to try and change your way of thinking because, it seems, nothing will convince you that you are not going to drop dead any moment now.

I don't mean to sound harsh. I am saying it for you. You can't go on with that level of stress and you certainly can't go on looking for a new reason to be stressed every time one gets resolved.

I honestly wouldn't know if I had extra lines on my palms, because I don't study them to look for signs that my health is poor. Maybe I have ten extra lines this week, I don't know and I don't care. There is enough stress in life, try not to add to it

I hope you know that I just want to help you look at things a little differently to allow you to relax and enjoy the positive things in life

Yes, and you do so with good humour and good grace which is appreciated.

I've got the impression that some posters think I am making these things up.  I wish I was. Someone even seemed to suggest that I wanted to be right and get cirrhosis - how ridiculous!!!

The hands look withered.  Other things happened, too.  Realistically it can all only have been a result of the liver 'protesting'

The symptoms DO seem to be dissapating, but things just still not right: joint pains, bruises and loads of pimples still there (though reducing), eyes still lemon where they should be right, wrists and ankles feel a bit arthritic, and that spider thingy still there and looking every bit as ugly on my right arm.  The palms of the hands just look ridiculous with the pinky-red tips

Thankfully the genitals seem to be back to normal.  :-)

I don't feel doomed, but I do feel in a bit of limbo.  The junior doctor just said I didn't have cirrhosis and definitely didn't have hepatitis because of the liver enzymes (which were elevated both times).

I need a clear and decisive message that the symptoms have been due to elevated enzymes, I have had a near miss but can move on.  Remember: I accepted previous envocations to do so, in spite of a few niggles.  This time was different: the pattern, number and actually fairly extreme nature of the rotten symptoms would have bothered most people, I'm sure of it.

So, thanks again for trying to help and even for humouring me. 

Well, I have a fractured cheek bone (including a black eye, which seems to be just additional bruising because nothing happened to my eye) and stitches in my ear, as well as a bite on my hand. I have to see a surgeon tomorrow to see if I need an operation on my cheek. All of this because I stopped my car, in the early hourse of yesterday morning, to encourage a drunk man lying in the road to get up in case another car came along and killed him. He thanked me for my concern with a violent attack through my car window. It is impossible to defend yourself when you are a sitting target and punches are coming through your window at your head. I tried to push him away and he grabbed my hand and bit it!!

When I drove away from him, I was seriously dazed and in a state of shock, so much so that I caught my new car on the neighbour's wall so that needs fixing too.

I can worry about it all (will I need an operation? Where is the £300 excess coming from to get my car fixed? How do I explain to clients why I am walking around looking like a thug with a black eye? Will this wild animal get a proper punishment?) or I can say 'it happened, just have to deal with it now.' Not a lot of choice there. No, I am not happy, yes, it hurts, but what would I achieve by worrying myself sick about it all? It won't turn out any different if I worry about it.

*hours

OMG Paul. That's aweful. Blumin drunks..but you are very positive,the glass is half full and you'll get over it. A friend of mine told me a very good true story once...2 pilots came back from the war having both suffered the loss of both legs when shot down. One said "my life is over". The other said "Thank God I've survived this". I think that kind of makes you think about who you are and to be grateful for what we have

Wow, get well soon Paul!

Thanks Paper Fairy

Thanls Joanna

 

I mean 'thanks' of course

 

Yes, get well soon Paul.  Took a break from this for several hours, so only replying now.  It's particularly annoying when you go out of your wy to do the right thing, help a person in need and then have it chucked back in your face.  :-(

As for me, I'm trrying to look at these symptoms being my liver protesting at what I was doing to it and a warning.  I obviously hope and pray that my interpretation is correct, so have been lookin at liver-friendly foods and drinks.  I've often eaten and drank plenty of them.

I just wish these damn symptoms would go away as they have left quite a lot of my body looking tired and withered.  I can't even get the hair on my head to sit properly - it's gone frazzled.

Hi gav

i hope I didn't give you the impression that I thought you were imagining your symptons. If so then I'm really sorry, that wasn't my intention. I was looking to see what would help you the most. That's why I suggested seeing someone to talk through your health anxieties. I certainly didn't want to offend you.

Hi vickylou,

Thanks for that.  I didn't really take any offence, was more concerned that people who could help might not do so if all this was just put down to my anxiety - which it can't be.

Unfortunately, I have been drinking heavily, sometimes very heavily on-and-off for a year.  The number of boxes of red wine and large bottles of either gin or vodka have have got through since about August 2013 and especially since April this year is scandalous and I was asking for trouble.

Sadly, it's only since the summer that I began to be concerned about the impact the drinking might be having on my health, especially my liver, and by then I was becoming dependant on alcohol.  I just hope it's not too late for me. 

Vicky u did not offend anyone, gav suffers from anxiety, u were only trying to help, just know u are a good woman, u have helped lots of people on this site and keep it up, every time l see its Vickylou l make sure l see the discussion, so just know u are special together with feiry, your husband is lucky to have u dear.

Hi Richard,

I'm sure vickylou appreciates your kind words, but I'd already said I hadn't really taken any offence.

I know I suffer from anxiety without having a throw-away diagnosis from you!

However, just because someone has anxiety, it doesn't mean they can't or won't suffer from (serious) physical conditions.

After a year of heavy, and sometimes very heavy, drinking on-and-off, on-going and very unpleasant physical symptoms continue to trouble me and, when I look-up and compare same on the NHS website, I continue to have good reason to fear that I have developed liver cirrohsis.

I still have lots of unexplained bruising, numerous red spots under the skin, a spider naevi on my right arm, some hair loss and more widespread hair-thinning, patches of skin-discolouration (darkening), profuse sweating on-and-off and have lost a stone (7kg) in 3 weeks.

When we're dealing with something so serious and I'm seeking advice, do you really think I would make all of this up???!!!

I wish I was ...

I too have had a problem with drinking heavy over the last two years....detox did not work but it did slow me down some....had liver levels come back at 70 and 60 last week (I drank a decent amount the day before) but everything else is normal ranges. Been totally sober since receiving the results on Thursday even attending AA several times a day. Am I dying??? So worrried I can't even eat!

Stephanie, there are a number of different liver enzymes that you could be referring to. Could you give me some more information?

Is that 70 (60) figure, your Gamma GT (GGT)? ALT? Or AST?

Whichever it is, a score of 70 would not indicate that you are dying from liver failure and most people do not irrepably damage their liver in 2 years. Let me know which enzyme you are referring to and I can advise you better.

Hi.    I am concerned because my alt level at a routine blood test came back at 56 is that high?      Repeating blood test after a month of reducing my alcohol intake of 4 or 5 glasses of wine a day to the recommended 14 units and 2/3 days off.

Hello Jenny.

Normal range of ALT is between 7 and 56. You are at the high end of normal and don't need to worry at the moment. However, it is good to reduce what you are drinking.

I'm not sure why the blood test is being repeated unless one of the other enzymes was raised.

I don't think it was as dr said alt raised.   I guess I should get a print out.  ALT  levels for NHS seem to show normal as 7-40?   Does this vary I wonder as I also read on google normal levels were 7-56!   I prefer that level!!  Will do blood test anyway as have hardly had any alcohol since last test.

The figures for normal range do differ, depending on where you look. It is important to know that these can go as high as 50x normal (although that would indicate viral or drug-induced hepatitis. Liver disease due to alcohol would not normally cause it to be more than 20x.)

However, this indicates that your slightly raised level is not something for you to worry about now, but you should be aware that it could very quickly escalate if your alcohol consumption stayed high.

It's certainly worth keeping an eye on, but no need to panic AST and Gamma GT are also important indicators of liver damage.

Thank you for that. Very helpful and re-assuring.     It is a bit of a wake up call re alcohol so that is a good thing.      One more question- by the time I have my re test I will have been dry for  7 days - is that the right thing to do before a blood test or should I just act normally and have the odd small glass of wine?  My dr seems to think it is the alcohol that has raised it but doesn't seem overly concerned.   I did have an 8 day course of antibiotics just before blood test though - maybe that pushed it up?