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Smckay87 10-23-2016 08:11 PM

Liver enzymes
 
I quit drinking 7 days ago and drank heavily for a few years daily. The last 7 months or so I was drinking 14 - 18 beers during the nights. After quitting I ended up in the hospital from withdrawals where they did several blood test. The thing that bothers me is that my enzymes came back completely normal the day of quitting drinking. I am 29 years old and I guess I am young but is this normal haha?

Dee74 10-23-2016 08:22 PM

sounds like a great question for your Dr, Smckay.

Your question really is asking for medical advice as defined under our rules and we cant give you medical advice here.

D

Elfie312 10-23-2016 08:22 PM

My liver enzymes were tested last month when i was in the hospital for alcohol poisening, everything was completly normal, which surprised me as well. I just considered myself lucky and figured that this a great time to stop, no permanent damage has been done. I'm 30, so around the same age as you.

ScottFromWI 10-23-2016 08:37 PM

I'd be grateful your liver is healthy despite your drinking. It's a pretty amazing organ but there are always limits as to what it can take. Don't find out the hard way, right?

Smckay87 10-23-2016 08:56 PM

exactly I am done with alcohol it isn't something I am going back to I'm tired of worrying about my health

MelindaFlowers 10-23-2016 11:42 PM

I had full bloodwork done at 27 and it was totally fine, normal enzymes. I had been drinking 10-12 drinks a night, every night for about five years.

I continued drinking.

At 31 my enzymes were between double and triple the limit (140 ALT and 85 AST) and I was diagnosed with an inflamed liver aka alcoholic hepatitis.

Step 1 is fatty liver. Step 2 is alcoholic hepatitis. Step 3 is cirrhosis.

I have been sober 2 1/2 years and my liver is healed. Normal size, shape, enzymes. This was confirmed during a CT scan with contrast.

I am never drinking alcohol again. We're only given one body.

FBL 10-24-2016 03:58 AM

If you stay stopped for good, you won't have to worry about it again.

KAD 10-24-2016 05:36 AM

My liver enzymes were always normal...until about the last 5 months of my drinking. You'd be wise to consider yourself fortunate and not take any more chances. I wish I had. My blood tests are normal now after a year and a half sober, but I know several others who kept pushing their luck and now have full-blown liver cirrhosis, even though they're sober.

August252015 10-24-2016 05:44 AM


Originally Posted by ScottFromWI (Post 6183957)
I'd be grateful your liver is healthy despite your drinking. It's a pretty amazing organ but there are always limits as to what it can take. Don't find out the hard way, right?

Exactly.

The only way to keep your liver healthy- or get it there again, as I did- is to not drink. Ever.

I was on the brink of cirrhosis- truthfully, I am shocked that I hadn't crossed the line because drs told me I was infinitesimally close three years before I quit (!!)- in Feb. I got all of my stats retested around 90 days and was smack in the middle of normal on everything. Don't know where in that time period things "cleared" but I am never going back to the dark side.

Again, there is no insurance about what can happen to our livers, even in sobriety. I know of more than one person who had been sober quite awhile and then had liver cancer and/or a transplant. By that point, not alcohol related per se....but previous abuse certainly can't have "helped."

Stay sober.

Good luck.

Zeebs 10-24-2016 12:43 PM

I first found out my liver enzymes were elevated in December 2014. Doctor told me to quit drinking. I did not.

In early January of this year, I went to the hospital for detox and my liver enzymes were of course way higher. They were back to normal after about three months of sobriety.

Youth helps, but committing to sobriety helps a lot more.

Nevertheless 10-24-2016 05:20 PM

I went to the funeral of a friend I have known for over 30 years a month or so ago. He died of liver cancer. We were like brothers,and we drank a lot of booze,and other mind altering stuff over the years. He quit drinking about 5 years ago. (not because of cancer)
I hope I don't sound like I am coming across as harsh,but booze plays for keeps. You were admitted to the hospital for withdrawals. That should raise up a huge red flag. It kind of sounds like you are thinking in the back of your mind like I used to. "My liver enzymes were fine. Gime another beer" You say you are worried because your enzymes came back normal,but you aren't worried you were admitted to the hospital? Be glad your liver enzymes tested normal,and take it as the man upstairs was firing a warning shot.
Like I say I'm not trying to come across as harsh. But you are young,and will probably be just fine if you stay stopped.
I wish you the best.
Fred

Rob32u 10-25-2016 04:37 PM

It's possible for damage to be occurring while the enzymes remain normal. Often when they go up its after damage has already been done.

ThatWasTheOldMe 10-26-2016 11:52 AM

When ethanol is metabolized in the liver, it is converted into a substance called acetaldehyde and then to acetic acid. Some of the acetic acid is converted to CO2 and water, and some of it is excreted in urine.

This is regular work done by your liver when you consume alcohol. Unfortunately, acetaldehyde and ethanol itself are toxic to cells in your body. Even more unfortunately, the process is not immediate. These substances hang around and kill cells. Or other cells in your body. That's why chronic ethanol consumption can also cause complications like various cancers and pancreatitis.

Alcohol also stimulates the production of fat in the liver, especially if you are inactive while drinking. This leads to hepatic steatosis, hepatitis, and eventually cirrhosis or scarring of the liver.

When the doctor measures your liver enzymes, he is measuring the level of those enzymes that escape your liver and enter the bloodstream. Usually, elevated levels indicate dying or dead liver cells. But you can be doing damage to your liver and still have normal enzyme levels. Hepatic steatosis (fatty liver) can occur without significantly elevated liver enzymes, for instance.

If you drink alcoholically, you are damaging your liver. Even if your liver enzymes are normal. And the thing about your liver... it's an extremely important organ. Let's just say that it is aptly named :)

BrendaChenowyth 10-26-2016 11:56 AM

I only just recently thought about the word "liver" myself. Kind of funny.


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