husbands liver panel

[mparrish28]

my husband went to the doc on march 12th and had a physical and was called back that day about his blood work. everything was fine except his liver enzimes were slightly elevated. when we asked what could cause that they said that certain meds and alcohol could.my husband then told the doc that cause he had been on vacation all wk. that he had drank some mixed drinks.and that he usuall has about 2 beers a night.they told him to come back in 6 wks for a retest.he did and they said that it had inproved but it was still slightly elevated.they told my husband to come back in 1 yr. well this morning the doc called and said that they wanted him to come back and do another test and be tested for hepatitis. when i called back they told me not to worry,but i am .should i be or is this routine? please help!!!!!

[motheroffour]

Very similar experience to my husband.  Went for a routine annual physical.  For the first time since he was young, his liver enzymes were slightly elevated.  He had just started an injection medicine for psoriasis and he is a moderate drinker.  Doc told him to stop any alcohol and retest in 3 months, retested and enzymes were slightly elevated down alittle.  Doc told him to stop injection drug and retest in 3 months, retested and again still slightly elevated although less so than the original test.  Then H was tested for all the different Heps including autoimune.  The Hep C came back positive.  From there is was many other tests, which is a different story to determine level of liver damage.  All together from the time my H's liver enzymes were discovered elevated to the time he actually started treatment for the Hep C was almost a year.  I suspect that when my husband was in his twenties and his liver enzymes elevated was probably when he got Hep C and at that time he was acute, but back then they did not know what they know know. The elevated enzyme levels are noted in his medical records but no cause is attributed except the notation suspect non-A/non-B Hep.  When his liver enzymes lowered after the acute attack they did not elevate for another 30 years. In those 30 years H was never tested again for Hep.  I agree your doc is doing what he should be doing,

[copyman]

"IF" your husband has hepatitis is not the end of the world. he could have a lot worse things then hepatitis. i hope he has nothing but just trying to show you there is a few positives here, first if he does have hep it is good he is finding out now and 2nd if you had to pick a serious disease this would be the one you would want instead of cancer, etc.
Praying that he has nothing serious, best of luck to him

[sindog]

Your doctor is being prudent. It's hard not to worry when something like this comes up, but generally doctors diagnose like a car mechanic. By ruling out what isn't wrong. So, while there is probably nothing worry about, if he does happen to have hepatitis, he should know about it now.