Re: Elevated liver enzymes on blood work

[Guest guest]

Andy's have been elevated in the past, but once they are repeated in 2

weeks, they usually come back fine for him. I read once that the liver

enzymes can be altered from a growing spurt. Not sure if that was the case

for Andy, but it seemed to fit his case.

On Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 12:56 PM, kirsten <wilderhealing@...> wrote:

>

>

> Got a call from Children's Hospital, Kat's liver enzymes are elevated. Now,

> they've been slightly elevated before and her rhuemy doesn't worry, just

> watches and makes sure they go down. Of course she's on vacation for 2 weeks

> so I spoke with her nurse who is concerned. She had me bring Kat in to the

> ped to make sure everything looked okay, which of course it does. He, the

> ped, wasn't too impressed by the levels. Both markers (can't remember their

> names) are under 100 but double what they usually are for her. He said he

> sees numbers in the thousands with mono and Tylenol overdoses and such. Any

> input from the group? How high is too high in our kids? If Kat's rheumy had

> called instead would she even have mentioned this? We have an apt with the

> rheumy in 2 weeks, when she returns. Kat'll have her blood work done again

> then to re-check. I'd just like to know what I'll be walking into. Will we

> be looking at a med change or will her Dr be irritated that the nurse got me

> worried? Ugh! Doesn't help that 's been miserable the last several

> days! Thanks for any info you can share.

> Kirsten

> mom to , 6, spondy

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Last month my daughters were also elevated, I'm not sure how much but we were

told to stop taking methotrexate for 3 weeks and then recheck them.  He told us

not to be to worried because a virus can elevate them. 

From: kirsten <wilderhealing@...>

Subject: Elevated liver enzymes on blood work

Date: Tuesday, December 7, 2010, 10:56 AM

 

Got a call from Children's Hospital, Kat's liver enzymes are elevated. Now,

they've been slightly elevated before and her rhuemy doesn't worry, just watches

and makes sure they go down. Of course she's on vacation for 2 weeks so I spoke

with her nurse who is concerned. She had me bring Kat in to the ped to make sure

everything looked okay, which of course it does. He, the ped, wasn't too

impressed by the levels. Both markers (can't remember their names) are under 100

but double what they usually are for her. He said he sees numbers in the

thousands with mono and Tylenol overdoses and such. Any input from the group?

How high is too high in our kids? If Kat's rheumy had called instead would she

even have mentioned this? We have an apt with the rheumy in 2 weeks, when she

returns. Kat'll have her blood work done again then to re-check. I'd just like

to know what I'll be walking into. Will we be looking at a med change or will

her Dr be irritated that the

nurse got me worried? Ugh! Doesn't help that 's been miserable the

last several days! Thanks for any info you can share.

Kirsten

mom to , 6, spondy

[Guest guest]

The AST can be elevated from a virus; it can reflect inflammation anywhere in

the body. The ALT is the even more specific liver indicator. We've seen

's AST go up to 200 or so a couple of times, with the ALT about 100. It's

something we just watch, and recheck a couple weeks later. Each time it has

resolved back down so we've chalked it up to a virus. We do watch 's liver

close though, as she's had really high numbers in the past (ALT 1,000; AST

2,000) and that seemed to be related to medication, and we did do a change

(different NSAID). Good news is that the numbers seem to recover completely if

you change the med, or even dial it back a little, or go off it for a while. A

re-check in 2 weeks seems pretty safe to me, with those numbers. When had

really high numbers we were checking 2x/week - but her liver area (right

side/back) was really hurting her. When the numbers have been in the 100s she

doesn't feel any pain in the liver, and we usually recheck in a week or two.

Good luck!

nn (, 9, systemic)

>

> Got a call from Children's Hospital, Kat's liver enzymes are elevated. Now,

they've been slightly elevated before and her rhuemy doesn't worry, just watches

and makes sure they go down. Of course she's on vacation for 2 weeks so I spoke

with her nurse who is concerned. She had me bring Kat in to the ped to make

sure everything looked okay, which of course it does. He, the ped, wasn't too

impressed by the levels. Both markers (can't remember their names) are under

100 but double what they usually are for her. He said he sees numbers in the

thousands with mono and Tylenol overdoses and such. Any input from the group?

How high is too high in our kids? If Kat's rheumy had called instead would she

even have mentioned this? We have an apt with the rheumy in 2 weeks, when she

returns. Kat'll have her blood work done again then to re-check. I'd just like

to know what I'll be walking into. Will we be looking at a med change or will

her Dr be irritated that the nurse got me worried? Ugh! Doesn't help that

's been miserable the last several days! Thanks for any info you can

share.

> Kirsten

> mom to , 6, spondy

>

[Guest guest]

oops, I meant to say that 's ALT was 2,000 at that one point, with the AST

being 1,000. My point is that it was important that the ALT was higher, because

it showed the inflammation/irritation to be more specific to the liver. When

's AST is the one that's higher (200, with the ALT being 100) we usually

find that it turns out it was a virus causing it, versus medication. Hope this

helps.

nn (, 9, systemic)

> >

> > Got a call from Children's Hospital, Kat's liver enzymes are elevated. Now,

they've been slightly elevated before and her rhuemy doesn't worry, just watches

and makes sure they go down. Of course she's on vacation for 2 weeks so I spoke

with her nurse who is concerned. She had me bring Kat in to the ped to make

sure everything looked okay, which of course it does. He, the ped, wasn't too

impressed by the levels. Both markers (can't remember their names) are under

100 but double what they usually are for her. He said he sees numbers in the

thousands with mono and Tylenol overdoses and such. Any input from the group?

How high is too high in our kids? If Kat's rheumy had called instead would she

even have mentioned this? We have an apt with the rheumy in 2 weeks, when she

returns. Kat'll have her blood work done again then to re-check. I'd just like

to know what I'll be walking into. Will we be looking at a med change or will

her Dr be irritated that the nurse got me worried? Ugh! Doesn't help that

's been miserable the last several days! Thanks for any info you can

share.

> > Kirsten

> > mom to , 6, spondy

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the info everyone. It definately helps! I just picked up a copy of

her labs for the last year. Her ALT & AST have been slightly elevated a few

times, but this is much more dramatic. So, I'm guessing that the rheumy

would've called with the same concern if she was in town. Hopefully it will

resolve at the re-check! And very glad that the numbers are just high for her,

not scary high like some kids have been!

Thanks,

Kirsten

> > >

> > > Got a call from Children's Hospital, Kat's liver enzymes are elevated.

Now, they've been slightly elevated before and her rhuemy doesn't worry, just

watches and makes sure they go down. Of course she's on vacation for 2 weeks so

I spoke with her nurse who is concerned. She had me bring Kat in to the ped to

make sure everything looked okay, which of course it does. He, the ped, wasn't

too impressed by the levels. Both markers (can't remember their names) are

under 100 but double what they usually are for her. He said he sees numbers in

the thousands with mono and Tylenol overdoses and such. Any input from the

group? How high is too high in our kids? If Kat's rheumy had called instead

would she even have mentioned this? We have an apt with the rheumy in 2 weeks,

when she returns. Kat'll have her blood work done again then to re-check. I'd

just like to know what I'll be walking into. Will we be looking at a med change

or will her Dr be irritated that the nurse got me worried? Ugh! Doesn't help

that 's been miserable the last several days! Thanks for any info you

can share.

> > > Kirsten

> > > mom to , 6, spondy

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Kirsten,

There is only one thing that I can add. was on diclofenac by mouth

(nsaid) and solareze topical gel (also diclofenac). His liver enzymes were

elevated. I guess it was just too much diclofenac. Once the by mouth

diclofenac was changed, they went back down.

I never thought that the gel we rubbed on his ankles would affect his liver

enzymes. Maybe you may want to check any topicals as well.

Audra

14 poly 07

Peyton 12 poly 08

>

> Thanks for the info everyone. It definately helps! I just picked >

[Guest guest]

My son has never had this problem after 8 yrs on MTX. Twice he was 1 point low

and once 1 point high.The rhemy should have a chart showing everything.EX.... my

sons normal CBC was the high normal range then fell to just below normal

range.She tracked it and concluded it was just a virus.Our family has been

dealing with this for about 10 yrs and 1 thing have learned is that unless you

are highly medical skilled you can not understand the labs as a whole.Ask your

ped rheumy questions and if they do not want to clarify persist or find another.

A non educated person trying to deal with lab results is SCAREY but simple

cuts,scrapes,allergies,mild viruses CAN and WILL show up in the labs,Keep

talking to the doctor and be rest assured if they see some pattern with the MTX

and liver they will take her off.

Hugs

Becki and 12 systemic onset

________________________________

From: kirsten <wilderhealing@...>

Sent: Tue, December 7, 2010 11:56:11 AM

Subject: Elevated liver enzymes on blood work

Got a call from Children's Hospital, Kat's liver enzymes are elevated. Now,

they've been slightly elevated before and her rhuemy doesn't worry, just watches

and makes sure they go down. Of course she's on vacation for 2 weeks so I spoke

with her nurse who is concerned. She had me bring Kat in to the ped to make

sure everything looked okay, which of course it does. He, the ped, wasn't too

impressed by the levels. Both markers (can't remember their names) are under

100 but double what they usually are for her. He said he sees numbers in the

thousands with mono and Tylenol overdoses and such. Any input from the group?

How high is too high in our kids? If Kat's rheumy had called instead would she

even have mentioned this? We have an apt with the rheumy in 2 weeks, when she

returns. Kat'll have her blood work done again then to re-check. I'd just like

to know what I'll be walking into. Will we be looking at a med change or will

her Dr be irritated that the nurse got me worried? Ugh! Doesn't help that

's been miserable the last several days! Thanks for any info you can

share.

Kirsten

mom to , 6, spondy

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the additional info and ideas! Our rheumy is fabulous and will talk

at length about anything I am questioning, she just happens to be out of town

for 2 weeks. I just wanted a better sense of what might be going on with Kat's

bloodwork. I'm hoping we won't have to change the meds, that it will just

resolve on its own. We'll see..... Now I can let it go until our apt - well,

mostly anyway!

Thanks,

Kirsten mom to , 6, spondy

> >

> > Thanks for the info everyone. It definately helps! I just picked >

>