Elevated liver enzymes?

[ProgressiveOvrload]

Good afternoon everyone,

I recently had labs done for my yearly physical and my AST/ALT were 115 AST / 290 ALT. I’ve done a ton of research and found that this could be due to heavy lifting, which I train hard to failure (Dorian Yates model). My doctor wants me to now get a liver biopsy despite my more specific liver labs on a subsequent blood drawn coming up normal:

ALK PHOS - 100 unit / L
Bilirubin- 0.7 mg/dl
BUN - 15mg/
A/G ratio - 1.1
GGT - 47/L

I don’t take nor have I ever taken any PEDs. I feel a liver biopsy is unnecessary and a drastic step to rule out something which I clearly don’t have (GGT is apparently used to rule out any actual liver damage). He admittedly told me he wasn’t an expert on hepatitis and sounded like he was referring a biopsy just to cover his tracks.

I found a reassuring article from T nation below. Has anyone else had similar blood labs?

Tip: How Lifters Should Read Lab Results

Get your blood work done? Good. But as an athlete, there are some things you need to know – things your doc may not know.

www.t-nation.com

I appreciate any and all feedback,
Alex

 

[sns8778]

I have an endocrinology and autoimmune condition, and have had some really crazy liver values come back at times. Even when lean, they said that I had fatty liver and did an ultrasound. Them wanting to do a biopsy on you seems pretty extreme, especially if they haven't done an ultrasound or other testing.

For me, I used Liver Assist XT and TUDCA regularly to get my liver values back in line and it did a great job.

I was in a really bad accidently last Feb. (2022) and between being in a wheelchair and having to learn how to walk again and it getting me so behind at life and so much stress, I really let myself go health wise. I couldn't work out, ate terribly, and stopped taking most of my supplements right.

I started cleaning up my diet over a month ago and put off getting bloodwork done because my last bloodwork was terrible on my liver enzymes, so I put off redoing it because I want to get a couple months in doing my supplements properly for it before I see what it is going to be next time.

For me, I'm doing what I did before and know that worked in the past and adding one new thing in:

• Liver Assist XT - 3 caps twice per day
  • 6 caps provides 2,000 mg. NAC, 1,200 mg. Milk Thistle (80% Silymarin), 500 mg. Curcumin (95%), 200 mg. Artichoke
  • https://seriousnutritionsolutions.com/product/liver-assist-xt/
• CEL TUDCA - 2 caps twice per day (1 cap per day is fine for most people)
  • https://competitiveedgelabs.com/product/tudca/
  • Out of stock direct, but DPS has it in stock and a great price
• SNS L-Ornithine L-Aspartate Capsules - 2 caps twice per day
  • https://seriousnutritionsolutions.com/product/l-ornithine-l-aspartate-120-veg-caps/
  • You can google L-Ornithine L-Aspartate and liver health and there is some incredible data on it.
  • Important: This is not the same as L-Ornithine and don't be fooled by products that put L-Ornithine and Aspartate in them and claim to be L-Ornithine L-Aspartate because those are trying to cut costs and rip people off. The data is on actual L-Ornithine L-Aspartate.

A very important note - be very careful who you buy TUDCA from. This is one of the most commonly underdosed products on the market and there are a lot of fly by night brands and amazon brands that claim to sell TUDCA for less than real TUDCA raw materials even cost.

The supplement part of this is me sharing what I'm taking and my experiences with them in hopes that it will help you or others that may read this post in the future.

I can't give medical advice, but for me, I wouldn't let them do a biopsy myself until I did the above for at least 3 months to see if I could get my numbers back in line myself; and also, if they haven't done an ultrasound, I would ask why they'd want to do a biopsy before and ultrasound.

I hope that helps.

 

[ProgressiveOvrload]

I have an endocrinology and autoimmune condition, and have had some really crazy liver values come back at times. Even when lean, they said that I had fatty liver and did an ultrasound. Them wanting to do a biopsy on you seems pretty extreme, especially if they haven't done an ultrasound or other testing.

For me, I used Liver Assist XT and TUDCA regularly to get my liver values back in line and it did a great job.

I was in a really bad accidently last Feb. (2022) and between being in a wheelchair and having to learn how to walk again and it getting me so behind at life and so much stress, I really let myself go health wise. I couldn't work out, ate terribly, and stopped taking most of my supplements right.

I started cleaning up my diet over a month ago and put off getting bloodwork done because my last bloodwork was terrible on my liver enzymes, so I put off redoing it because I want to get a couple months in doing my supplements properly for it before I see what it is going to be next time.

For me, I'm doing what I did before and know that worked in the past and adding one new thing in:

• Liver Assist XT - 3 caps twice per day
  • 6 caps provides 2,000 mg. NAC, 1,200 mg. Milk Thistle (80% Silymarin), 500 mg. Curcumin (95%), 200 mg. Artichoke
  • https://seriousnutritionsolutions.com/product/liver-assist-xt/
• CEL TUDCA - 2 caps twice per day (1 cap per day is fine for most people)
  • https://competitiveedgelabs.com/product/tudca/
  • Out of stock direct, but DPS has it in stock and a great price
• SNS L-Ornithine L-Aspartate Capsules - 2 caps twice per day
  • https://seriousnutritionsolutions.com/product/l-ornithine-l-aspartate-120-veg-caps/
  • You can google L-Ornithine L-Aspartate and liver health and there is some incredible data on it.
  • Important: This is not the same as L-Ornithine and don't be fooled by products that put L-Ornithine and Aspartate in them and claim to be L-Ornithine L-Aspartate because those are trying to cut costs and rip people off. The data is on actual L-Ornithine L-Aspartate.

A very important note - be very careful who you buy TUDCA from. This is one of the most commonly underdosed products on the market and there are a lot of fly by night brands and amazon brands that claim to sell TUDCA for less than real TUDCA raw materials even cost.

The supplement part of this is me sharing what I'm taking and my experiences with them in hopes that it will help you or others that may read this post in the future.

I can't give medical advice, but for me, I wouldn't let them do a biopsy myself until I did the above for at least 3 months to see if I could get my numbers back in line myself; and also, if they haven't done an ultrasound, I would ask why they'd want to do a biopsy before and ultrasound.

I hope that helps.

Thanks as always! They did do an ultrasound which came back normal… this is also a repeated ultrasound, I went through the same thing last year it’s just that now the enzymes levels have doubled.

 

[sns8778]

Thanks as always! They did do an ultrasound which came back normal… this is also a repeated ultrasound, I went through the same thing last year it’s just that now the enzymes levels have doubled.

It's not a good sign that they've doubled of course but I can definitely understand your reluctance to want to do a liver biopsy.

If you're looking for supplement options that could be helpful, you could try the ones I mentioned either way.

As far as the biopsy itself, I think the thought of it is likely worse than the actual doing it, but I would be hesitant too.

 

[Rocket3015]

Good afternoon everyone,

I recently had labs done for my yearly physical and my AST/ALT were 115 AST / 290 ALT. I’ve done a ton of research and found that this could be due to heavy lifting, which I train hard to failure (Dorian Yates model). My doctor wants me to now get a liver biopsy despite my more specific liver labs on a subsequent blood drawn coming up normal:

ALK PHOS - 100 unit / L
Bilirubin- 0.7 mg/dl
BUN - 15mg/
A/G ratio - 1.1
GGT - 47/L

I don’t take nor have I ever taken any PEDs. I feel a liver biopsy is unnecessary and a drastic step to rule out something which I clearly don’t have (GGT is apparently used to rule out any actual liver damage). He admittedly told me he wasn’t an expert on hepatitis and sounded like he was referring a biopsy just to cover his tracks.

I found a reassuring article from T nation below. Has anyone else had similar blood labs?

Tip: How Lifters Should Read Lab Results

Get your blood work done? Good. But as an athlete, there are some things you need to know – things your doc may not know.

www.t-nation.com

I appreciate any and all feedback,
Alex

I had the same thing happen a few years back. I had an Ultra Sound and every thing cam back normal. I did at CEL Tudca to my daily regiment just to cover the bases!!

 

[aaronuconn]

I don’t have a lot to add here, but definitely let your doctor know if you performed very intense training near the time of the blood draw

 

[lamarclark09]

I don’t know much about it but I do think that you should consult another doctor, preferably a specialist so that he can guide you better. Because reading an article might not be the proper solution for you.