raised ALT?

lynnemarie

Hi

I have sero-neg arthur, and are on sulfa. after a recent visit to my consultant, he said my ALT had shot up from around 24-25 ish to 58!
he said they dont normally worry until it gets to 40?

He asked if i had been drinking heavily which i hadnt i am a strictly a couple of martini's at the weekend girl.

have to have another blood test to check.

has anyone else had something similar and do i need to be concerned?

thanks muchly x :roll:

tillytop

Hi Lynnemarie
I have just had the same thing happen to me so might be able to reassure you a bit. Apparently normal range for ALT is 10 – 45. Recently mine suddenly went up to 78. I noticed it when I asked my GP for a copy of my routine blood tests and his comment on the paperwork was “acceptable”. When I asked him about it he said that, at this level it isn’t anything to worry about. All these drugs can, I think, have a potentially harmful effect on our livers – hence the regular blood tests. In my case, my body was, I think just continuing to shout about the Humira – which I have now stopped and the most recent test shows the ALT at 59, so coming down. Obviously different docs “worry” at different levels and I guess that you only need be concerned if continues to go up (or it doesn’t come down again). These tests are intended to pick up any potential problems before they become irreversible so your consultant is obviously taking the right steps to make sure that the medication is not having a long-term adverse effect on your liver.
Funny how, when these drugs are known to have the potential to damage our livers that drinking is the first thing the consultant asks about isn’t it!
Hope this helps some – try not to worry!
Love Tilly x

dreamdaisy

Everyone's tolerance levels are different. The ideal range is 0 - 30, according to my hospital, they start to fret if there is a sudden, sharp rise (yours may be sudden but I'm not sure it's that sharp) and it stays high. It's the liver that processes all the med poison we feed ourselves, which is why one is advised to steer clear of alcohol so that the liver is not over stressed.

My current figures (taking humira and meth) vary between 12 and 32, and that has been with a steady intake of white wine. When I was off all alcohol they rose remarkably (in the very low hundreds) settled down again when back on the white wine. They went seriously haywire when I was on enbrel, my figures were then in the upper hundreds and I was warned of the risk of liver failure. I chose not to believe them. They can go to thousands if you have liver disease.

It's an indication that something is not right. Ease off the alcohol, for some it is an absolute no-no, even one glass of something lovely causes a huge response in ALT. See if they settle - it could well be the meds. Dreamdaisy