I received a call from my doctor this week and my ALT AND AST are high. They are 78 and 45 respectively. The levels are 2-3 times my historical baseline (Upper normal for standard range is 65 and 37). I have been having an aching abdominal area, below ribs throughout area, not specific to left or right side, more central on and off since December. I'm not on plaquenil or methotrexate, and have become very drug sensitive which is recent development. negative for hep b and c.
Also, a high level of eosinophils. I've always had a high percentage which is typically explained by doctors as normal for someone with allergies, but no allergies this year (so far!). Now my level is 18% (0-5% is normal) and my absolute count is 0.9 (0-0.5 is normal). This is 2-3x higher than my normal.
Of course, I haven't touched bases with my rheumy yet...
Anyone else had this constellation of results? ???
I have this exact same result pattern, high liver enzymes and high eosinophils among other strange results. My docs say this is just part of sjogrens and nothing to be worried about. When I am under treatment (plaquenil/steroids) my liver enzymes return to normal.
At one point they wanted a liver biopsy but that has long since been forgotten!
Only complicating factor for me is inflammatory bowel disease, which the liver enzymes could be part of but we will never know.
Thanks Leslie -x...I really appreciate knowing, it's just nice to hear that I'm not alone. If I ever get any answers I'll post, I should hear something next week.
For now, no alcohol and retest all blood panels in a month. The doctor is considering cellcept, but wanted to wait for a few months to let things settle down as I've been sensitive to a lot of drugs recently (plaquinil, doxycycline). And it gives me time to weigh pros and cons.
Hi Susiew,
In 1989, I had high (but not excessively high) liver enzymes. My liver doc diagnosed me with (what was at that time called Non A Non B hepatitis..this was before the Hep c test was created and the name was changed from Non A Non B to what is now called Hepatitis C. I was treated with Interferon A for the Hep C. The heavy meds required periodic liver biopsies. After the first liver biopsy, I was told that I have the beginning of Cirrhosis of the liver. Many years after my treatment, I have had various docs do a Hep C test. Each time I test negative for Hep C. If I had truly had Hep C in 1989, I would still test positive for the Hep C antibody. I have since learned that Sjogrens is often misdiagnosed as Hep C. As for my liver..I have no clue what is happening with it.. I also experience random abdominal pain, etc.
Hope you feel better and get some definitive answers.
Good luck.
SjoDry
My eosinophils are always elevated. My Rheumy just feels it's due to allergies. Allergies are also auto immune so I guess he's not too suprised.
My liver enzymes were high for a few months. They did a ultrasound and kept checking on it for a good while through labs. The only thing they could figure was
I might have been fighting some type of infection I was unaware of or it was related to maybe taking too much tylenol after a surgery.
Hope you get some answers soon.
My ALT and AST are always elevated. My GA don't know why.My blood is been tested several times on many things but that gave no answer.
Hi there my first post but been reading here for two years because I think I have sjogrens negative bloods and negative lip biopsy but I know I have it my symptoms started with facial pain and shortness of breath I have dry mouth and eyes bit I can still cry tears also some saliva but tests say drier mouth consultant said my moth looks drier my glands under my chin under my tongue and under my ears hurt like heck every time I googled my symptoms they came back with sjogrens I saw ear nose and throat doctor who diagnosed sjogrens but ruematoligist won't say sjogrens only sicca syndrome
After I pushed for more tests for my immune system I have since found out I have PBC (primary biliary cirrhosis my alt is raised also but all liver functions are normal my consultant said PBC and sjogrens go hand in hand and a lot of the ladies I have spoken to with PBC also have sjogrens Just in case you didn't know PBC is an autoimmune liver illness I also have antibodies against my thyroid
I suffer daily pain on eating and dizziness the liver test for PBC is AMA test I also have a positive IGM in my blood I too have that pain under my ribs some of the ladies I've spoken to also have autoimmune hepatitis there's also another lady on here I've been talking to for two years who has sjogrens and pbc don't mean to scare anyone my liver consultant has started me on the meds for liver now as my alt had risen last march and then again in August I also get blood blisters in my mouth sometimes when I eat which I have read is also a sjogrens symptom that others have described on here maybe you should mention pbc or autoimmune liver illness so doctors could run some tests keep well every one this site has helped me so much in the past few years sorry if this is too long x
Hi,
Thanks for all the responses! It sounds like liver issues run the gamut from wouldn't know there was an issue if not for blood tests, to the super scary PBC and auto hep. Doctors agreed to have my bloodwork retested in a month (2nd week of April) and we'll go forward based on those results. I'll check back in and let you all know the results. Wait...wait...wait...wait...wait...LOL! ;)
And welcome Wendom!
Hi Suslew thank you for the welcome just wanted to wish you good luck with your tests I do hope it's nothing serious x