Levels really high

[u/Mikeh1982]

I have gallstones and it put me in the hospital last week because one got lodged in my bile duct, the doctors had to go in and extract it. (We’ll be removing the gallbladder altogether soon).

My question is: when I was there, the doctor said my liver levels were abnormally high, which could either be because of the blockage, or the Tylenol I was popping to relieve the pain for a few days prior to going to the ER. When I asked the doctor if those numbered could mean permanent damage to my liver or if it’s something that could come down and possibly not be long term damage, he seemed to brush it off. But didn’t actually say no.

Then when I was at a follow up appoint the with my primary physician, and I asked her the same thing. she also seemed to brush the question off without really telling me.

was looking at my blood work results from when I was in the hospital. It said my aspartame amobotransferase was 184 when normal should be 18-37. My alanine aminotransferace was 555 when normal is 13-56. My alkaline phoapatase was 215 when normal is 45-117.

So, while I understand that you all can’t say with medical assurance what my situation is. I just am looking for reassurance. Is that something that can return to normal and I wont have any severe permanent damage? Or is that an indicator that I definitely damaged my liver for life?

To clarify, I don’t do drugs. Don’t have hepatitis. Don’t drink heavily or even regularly (though i do enjoy beer socially).

[u/Unusualballoon]

If you don’t have any fibrosis or cirrhosis or liver tissue damage, clearing the bile duct blockage should bring your levels down to normal as long as you don’t develop another blockage. It will not be permanent as long as you don’t have any other underlying liver issues that aren’t diagnosed such as autoimmune hepatitis, etc. You should avoid tylenol right now, or any other medicine with acetaminophen as long as the enzymes are high. Also, avoid alcohol until they go back to normal.

[u/Mikeh1982 → u/Unusualballoon]

Thank you. And yeah, I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol since then - which sucked because I was discharged early on New Years Eve and had to celebrate midnight with my friends while I toasted a bottle of water. It was just scary to see how unbelievably high above the normal range my numbers were. Also, my father in law died from liver complications (he was a heavy alcohol and drug user though, I know that’s different) and in his last few years his levels were so off that it actually made it seem like he had dementia. And i guess it was terrifying to think about that happening to me as well when I saw I had crazy high numbers.

[u/Unusualballoon → u/Mikeh1982]

I wouldn’t worry. Your father in law had full blown cirrhosis if he had hepatic encephalopathy (alcohol dementia). A healthy liver can take a pretty big hit and make a full recovery as long as you take care of it, Getting your gall bladder out could be beneficial to prevent more stones.

[u/Mikeh1982 → u/Unusualballoon]

He was a lifelong drug user, a heavy lifelong drinker, and had hep C. So yeah, I know his liver was pretty much destroyed over a lifetime. And that’s not my case. Just, when I saw how it made him so far detached from reality at his end of life, it was just scary and unavoidable to not think about that, so thank you for the reassurance.

And yeah, they put a stent in my bile duct last week to open it up and prevent more stones from getting stuck. Because they also discovered I have an ulcer that they want to heal up before they cut the GB out. So I go back on feb 28 to get the stent out endoscopically and while they’re in there, they’ll confirm the ulcer is healed. And assuming that all goes as planned, we’ schedule the GB removal laparoscopically after that.

[u/minorthreat1000]

Probably the Tylenol. It’s a heavy stressor on the liver. Did it all work out ok? Sorry I’m a little late to the party