Sj?gren's symptoms with Mildly elevated LFTs ! Please advice

[anitakon]

Hi, I have been diagnosed with Sj?gren's by the early Sj?gren's markers. One of the early marker was abnormal. How reliable is this test? All the other tests have been negative. My doctor said I probably have seronegative Sj?gren's. Lip biopsy came out as maybe  questionable Sj?gren's. But I have been having dry eyes and dry mouth for over 4 years now. Recently since a year, my LFTs were mildly elevated. Could this mean something? Could something else be going on? My doctor  thought it might be fatty liver and I got liver ultrasound done but it looked normal. We repeated LFTs again in 6 months and they were again mildly elevated (2.5 times the normal upper limit of Alt and Ast). I don't smoke or drink alcohol and I am on no medications yet so the abnormal LFTs  (AST and ALT) concern me. I am 32 years old with a little kid. It concerns me if I could have autoimmune hepatitis. The normal bloodwork screen for hepatitis and related antibodies came negative. But I constantly live in fear of what this means, how it's going to affect my life expectency and constant worry if there is something else going on? I need to be there for my kids at least till they are adults. Please advice if anyone knows or has a similar situation. Thank you .

[Tharrell]

Hi Anitakon and welcome! First off, breathe. Stressing out is not good for you and will only send you into a flare. I know, easier said than done. Sounds like your doctor is staying on top of your liver function, just remember that the ultrasound was good. If you are very concerned, ask for a refferal to a liver specialist. They will run every blood test under the sun on your liver. They did with me. You say you are not on medication, what about Tylenol? Are you taking any over the counter pain meds, herbs, supplements? Some of those, like plain tylenol, can raise your lft's. in my case it was a certain antibiotic to treat non tb m.kansasii lung infection so they switched it out to another med the blood tests returned back to normal.
Your doctor is correct that you have early markers for sjogren's as proven by lip biopsy and blood tests. I hope he plans to treat your symptoms any way!

[anitakon]

Thank you  Tharrell. I don't take Tylenol too. My pain isn't so bad yet. Main symptoms are dry eyes and dry mouth. I just use eye drops for eyes ,  biotene mouth wash and fluoride paste for my teeth. We still don't know the reason for elevated LFTs. I saw a liver specialist, he did some bloodwork but all came negative. If they continue to elevate he said he would do a biopsy of liver. I was wondering if elevated LFTs are common in Sjogrens or could it mean I have something more serious.

[Tharrell]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22157220
This article shows that up to 49% of sjogren's patients have abnormal LFT's and symptoms are usually mild. So I don't know, but I hope some more members will pipe in. I would think if it was something more serious your tests wouldn't come back negative and your LFT's would be way up there. All you can do now is oet the doctor monitor you by running the blood test on a monthly basis.

[anitakon]

Thank you Tharrell. That is an interesting article. I hope it remains mild.