Crohn's Disease and High Liver Count

[RHGal]

My mother, 47, has lived with Crohn's disease for 20 years now. She has also undergone six bowel resections over the years, and last December was operated on to remove a hernia and a cyst (in the same spot!) from her small intestine. She just received the results of routine blood work from her specialist, who said that the results were normal - except for a slightly elevated liver count. The doctor doesn't seem to think that there is cause for concern, but with all her other health problems my mother would like to been 100% certain. What does a high liver count mean, and is there something that we should be doing about it?

Thank you!

[mjray56]

I just read the threads on this.  My mom has had elevated liver counts the last 3-4 times her blood has been tested.  She has to be tested about every 6 weeks because she takes blood thinner since heart surgery in 1995.  She also has trouble sleeping at night and has short-term memory problems.

The doctor has had 3 different tests run on her in the last 3 weeks and so far hasn't found anything causing the elevation: cat scan of abdomen; ultrasound of gall bladder, liver, and pancreas; some radioactive test of her abdomen area.

Any ideas?

[RHGal]

Thanks for the advice. It's the first we have heard of the elevated liver count, so I'm assuming (and hoping) that it was an isolated incident. I don't believe she's taking methotrexate, but she has been having great difficulty sleeping. I plan on making sure this is monitored - don't need any other problems!!

Thanks again!

[kimbacat]

it would depend on which lab test result was elevated, by how much and for how long.  usually, one isolated elevated result isn't a problem.  and most gi's will just continue to monitor things.  if it persists for more than 6 months or spikes suddenly, then she should get further testing.

I have Crohn's disease (26 yrs), lots of surgeries, along with pulmonary fibrosis and fibromyalgia, etc, etc....  I know how distressing it is to have one thing after another go wrong.  If she isn't taking methotrexate and she isn't having any symptoms, I'd say just follow up in a month or so.