Elevated ALT - Question and Answer Forum - Elaine Moore Graves' Disease and Autoimmune Disease Education

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Wednesday, February 08, 2012

..:: Q & A ::..

THE Q & A

Welcome to The Q&A with Elaine Moore. Registered members are invited to ask any question of Elaine Moore on autoimmune diseases, Graves' disease, other thyroid diseases and subconditions, laboratory work, traditional and complementary medicine, triggers and environmental influences, thyroid and immune disorders in pets and animals, and other relevant areas of inquiry.

Each thread represents one question with one answer and will only appear at the time it is answered. Once answered, further replies cannot be made to the same thread since each thread represents only one question. A new thread will need to be started for additional questions.

Questions are answered solely by Elaine Moore, a medical writer and clinical laboratory scientist, MT, CLS, with more than 30 years of experience in immunology. Moore has also authored and edited over a dozen books in the area of health sciences and is an editor for McFarland Publisher's Health Topics Series.

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The Q & A with Elaine Moore

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7/2/2010 11:46 PM

DG1979

Joined: 2/18/2010

Posts: 24

Elevated ALT

Hi Elaine,

I hope all is well.

Just a quick recap: I have Graves' and was treated w/ RAI in July 2008. Started levothroid replacement in October of 2008. I am currently on 100 mcg of levothroid. My dose was lowered from 112mcg to 100mcg three weeks ago due to the following labs: TSH was 0.66 (.5-5.5 normal range) and Free T4 was 1.3 (0.8-1.7 normal range). My Endo felt I was on a "hyper" trend because my numbers had been trending hyper over the last couple months on the 112 mcg dose.

I have been having a lot of GI issues. A really upset stomach that I've been told over and over again is IBS and GERD. I am currently on prilosec and it's not really helping.

Due to the upset stomach, I went in to see my doctor last month and she ran a bunch of tests all of which came back normal except for the liver tests. My ALT last month was 63 (normal range <36). My AST last month was normal at 32 (normal range 10-40u/l). I went in for labs today and my ALT is still elevated, although it has come down, it is now 50 (normal range <36). And, again my AST is normal at 25 (normal range 10-40u/l). The Bilirubin test she ran as well as the ALP test were normal.

I am very concerned about this elevation of the ALT, and wanted to get your thoughts as to why it might be elevated.

Please let me know what you think. I truly appreciate all of your help!

Best,

Danielle

7/7/2010 12:05 AM

Elaine

Joined: 8/1/2008

Posts: 3174

Re: Elevated ALT

Hi Danielle,

Many medications including estrogens can cause a slight rise in ALT.

Overall, though, the most common cause of elevated liver enzymes in the U.S. is fatty liver disease. In this case, dietary changes, particularly avoiding high fructose corn syrup, can return liver enzymes to normal. Since your ALT is falling and the elevation is slight, you may not need to do anything. Best, Elaine

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