ALT AST

[jac2]

Hi,
I have never done this b-4 so I may sound silly. I have Hep C (blood transfusion 1965) and I did the treatment (pegintron/riboviron) and it did not work. The Dr.s wanted me to stay on a low dose of Peg for "maintenance" I opted no to. I have been off the meds for 1 year now and I just had my blood work done and my ALT score is 118 and my AST score is 121. Have placed a call to the dr. but no response yet. Should I be as freaked out as I feel?

[CockSparrow]

Your ALTs dont seem that high to me. My ALTs have been around 200 pretty much each time I have an LFT done.

I am G3a so there may be some difference between Genotypes.

CS

[FrontRangeMom]

My last ALT was 125.  I have been infected since about 1972.  I failed second treatment round with PEG-IFN-RIBA (non-responder) and it was suggested I go on maintenance (low dose IFN no RIBA).  I opted to do that.  It hasn't been bad, and in fact some of the annoying symptons I used to have (itchy skin, mood swings) have been alleviated a great deal.  Other than the annoyance I'm having with the specialty pharmacy to get my meds to me on time, all is going pretty well.  I retested for ALT earlier this week but haven't gotten the results yet. I'm hoping for normal.

I have cirrhosis so doing nothing I was told was not an option. I didn't want to go through another round of PEG-IFN/RIBA and feel so awful with such a small chance that I would respond. I was not a pleasant person to be around and felt like warmed over dog poo.

FlGuy:  Where are you on the retreatment?

[FlGuy]

When my first try did not work, the doc gave me the opion of a lower-dose peg maintenance or to go back on to full combo again.  My liver was in pretty bad shape so I had to do something to try to arrest the ongoing situation. I elected to do the combo because finally ridding hcv with maintenance peg was not an expectation, so I figured go for it (combo) one more time.  It's not surprising that your ast/alt are out of range. The important part is the condition of your liver. When you did treatment the first time, did you have a liver biopsy? And, did you at least respond to the meds (get to undetectable viral load)?  If advisable, and you and the doc are willing, maybe time to get an up to date assessment of where you are in total.

[willows]

alt/ast is not an indication of liver health.  I'm surprise your physician wanted you on maintenance so soon after tx.  Maintenance and it's effectiveness is still a big unknown for so many doctors, I wanted to try, but my doc finally convinced me to wait for teleprevir, probably til the end of 2009.

Again, alt/ast is not really a good indicator of liver health.  Fasting can affect it, aspirin, bad weather, not being hydrated, etc.  

I think I'd have another talk with doc if I were you and then try to relax.  Relaxing is very good medicine.

Willows

[jac2]

Thank you to all of you for your quick responses. I had no idea about anything like this out here to talk with other folks like myself. Great to know you're all in here! Thanks again

[orphanedhawk]

If you called your doctor, then be patient or phone again. Your liver isn't going to shut down on you due to these elevated numbers but you should find out what's going on. If it makes you feel better, mine have been higher. What you should do is find out what you can do to help your liver. Eat as organically grown food with as little additives as possible and avoid inhaling anything toxic. Our livers are the bodies filtering system. I'd look into liver healthy diets and supplements.

[jac2]

In conjunction with my last question...I do not drink alcohol

[jac2]

I DO NOT DRINK alcohol at all. Should I be concerned or just aware that this is high and see my Hep Dr.

[Jakied]

alt of 118 and ast of 121 is high.  If you drink alcohol, STOP!