 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Hepatitis / January 2007ALT results
When I get my lab results, the results have the normal range listed in the border. My lab says the range should be 10-40 U/L I have a friend that gets his labs done at a different lab. His wife is trying to make sense of his labs. I told her to find this place and ask her questions here. She says his labs came back with a note that the ALT was abnormal. Someone want to enlighten us more on why the doc is so concerned with the ALT number and what the range should be? This is kind of a head start message for her. Some of you guys explain this stuff so much better than I ever could. I guess is she chimes in we will know is she has found us. I hope she can get as much info and support from this group as I have. > When I get my lab results, the results have the normal range listed in > the border. My lab says the range should be 10-40 U/L [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > I guess is she chimes in we will know is she has found us. I hope she > can get as much info and support from this group as I have. Terry - My ALT has never gone down to normal (for my lab normal is 0-31). Right now it's at 40 and I have one week left of treatment. My doctor is not too concerned about it though. He said there can be other reasons to have a higher ALT and the fact that it used to be 155 and has gone down over 100 U/L is significant. Di >When I get my lab results, the results have the normal range listed in >the border. My lab says the range should be 10-40 U/L [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >I guess is she chimes in we will know is she has found us. I hope she >can get as much info and support from this group as I have. ALT measured in the blood is significant because it is a substance released due to tissue injury. The causes range from muscle injury through heart damage to liver damage, so an elevated ALT is something that really must be investigated to come up with a root-cause. Each lab lists their "normal" ranges as a way to help correlate any variations between their procedures/specific brand tests and their patient population against other labs (eg: there are many commercially available liver enzyme test kits that each lab could be using) and other populations. That said, ALT tests aren't going to vary much from lab to lab, so you/she could use the same "normal" range with her actual test results. A few weeks ago a lass posted her blood work here as she was concerned that she might be infected with Hepatitis C. Her labs showed only a moderately elevated ALT, but there really wasn't anything else much out of sorts. I think the consensus was she likely didn't have HCV, and indeed the HCV-specific tests later showed she wasn't infected. Now I'm wondering if that could be her? Cheers /greyhackles So Grey - Are you saying you think I should try to figure out why my ALT is still slightly elevated after treatment or do you mean in general? I was thinking I didn't have to worry about it since the elevation is minimal. What do you think? Di > >When I get my lab results, the results have the normal range listed in > >the border. My lab says the range should be 10-40 U/L [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > > /greyhackles Hope you don't mind me butting in here with my two cents, but I would think you should finish your tx and get all the drugs out of your system before getting concerned about your ALT. There's a good chance that's what's causing your slightly higher numbers. Alot of people experience a spike in their LFT's while on the tx drugs, not to mention all the other drugs prescribed to combat side-effects. Most of all, relax.... elmo /////////////// So Grey - Are you saying you think I should try to figure out why my ALT is still slightly elevated after treatment or do you mean in general? I was thinking I didn't have to worry about it since the elevation is minimal. What do you think? Di greyhackles wrote: When I get my lab results, the results have the normal range listed in the border. My lab says the range should be 10-40 U/L I have a friend that gets his labs done at a different lab. His wife is trying to make sense of his labs. I told her to find this place and ask her questions here. She says his labs came back with a note that the ALT was abnormal. Someone want to enlighten us more on why the doc is so concerned with the ALT number and what the range should be? This is kind of a head start message for her. Some of you guys explain this stuff so much better than I ever could. I guess is she chimes in we will know is she has found us. I hope she can get as much info and support from this group as I have. ALT measured in the blood is significant because it is a substance released due to tissue injury. The causes range from muscle injury through heart damage to liver damage, so an elevated ALT is something that really must be investigated to come up with a root-cause. Each lab lists their "normal" ranges as a way to help correlate any variations between their procedures/specific brand tests and their patient population against other labs (eg: there are many commercially available liver enzyme test kits that each lab could be using) and other populations. That said, ALT tests aren't going to vary much from lab to lab, so you/she could use the same "normal" range with her actual test results. A few weeks ago a lass posted her blood work here as she was concerned that she might be infected with Hepatitis C. Her labs showed only a moderately elevated ALT, but there really wasn't anything else much out of sorts. I think the consensus was she likely didn't have HCV, and indeed the HCV-specific tests later showed she wasn't infected. Now I'm wondering if that could be her? Cheers /greyhackles http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum Elmo - No problem "butting in" as you say - that's what this forum is for, right? I am not going to worry about the slight elevation of my ALT. I've been through so much this year that seems really minimal and not worthy of alot of attention. I'll just keep an eye on things with my post-treatment labs. As long as I'm SVR, that's all I really care about! D > Hope you don't mind me butting in here with my two cents, but I would > think you should finish your tx and get all the drugs out of your system [quoted text clipped - 46 lines] > > http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum Wellllll...... you were asking Grey for his opinion, not mine. I was more concerned about stepping on HIS toes. Last time I said something that irritated Grey, he wouldn't speak to me for a year. LOL. elmo ////////////// Elmo - No problem "butting in" as you say - that's what this forum is for, right? I am not going to worry about the slight elevation of my ALT. I've been through so much this year that seems really minimal and not worthy of alot of attention. I'll just keep an eye on things with my post-treatment labs. As long as I'm SVR, that's all I really care about! D elmoemerson@webtv.net wrote: Hope you don't mind me butting in here with my two cents, but I would think you should finish your tx and get all the drugs out of your system before getting concerned about your ALT. There's a good chance that's what's causing your slightly higher numbers. Alot of people experience a spike in their LFT's while on the tx drugs, not to mention all the other drugs prescribed to combat side-effects. Most of all, relax.... elmo /////////////// So Grey - Are you saying you think I should try to figure out why my ALT is still slightly elevated after treatment or do you mean in general? I was thinking I didn't have to worry about it since the elevation is minimal. What do you think? Di greyhackles wrote: On 6 Jan 2007 07:24:06 -0800, "Terry" <kilowatt@charter.net> wrote: When I get my lab results, the results have the normal range listed in the border. My lab says the range should be 10-40 U/L I have a friend that gets his labs done at a different lab. His wife is trying to make sense of his labs. I told her to find this place and ask her questions here. She says his labs came back with a note that the ALT was abnormal. Someone want to enlighten us more on why the doc is so concerned with the ALT number and what the range should be? This is kind of a head start message for her. Some of you guys explain this stuff so much better than I ever could. I guess is she chimes in we will know is she has found us. I hope she can get as much info and support from this group as I have. ALT measured in the blood is significant because it is a substance released due to tissue injury. The causes range from muscle injury through heart damage to liver damage, so an elevated ALT is something that really must be investigated to come up with a root-cause. Each lab lists their "normal" ranges as a way to help correlate any variations between their procedures/specific brand tests and their patient population against other labs (eg: there are many commercially available liver enzyme test kits that each lab could be using) and other populations. That said, ALT tests aren't going to vary much from lab to lab, so you/she could use the same "normal" range with her actual test results. A few weeks ago a lass posted her blood work here as she was concerned that she might be infected with Hepatitis C. Her labs showed only a moderately elevated ALT, but there really wasn't anything else much out of sorts. I think the consensus was she likely didn't have HCV, and indeed the HCV-specific tests later showed she wasn't infected. Now I'm wondering if that could be her? Cheers /greyhackles http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum Was it really that long? ahahahahahahaha! ;-) Step away, but it seems we were in agreement anyway :-) Cheers /greyhackles >Wellllll...... you were asking Grey for his opinion, not mine. I was >more concerned about stepping on HIS toes. Last time I said something [quoted text clipped - 58 lines] > >http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum I wasn't counting the days, or anything, but it sure felt like a year. :-) elmo ///////// Was it really that long? ahahahahahahaha! ;-) Step away, but it seems we were in agreement anyway :-) Cheers /greyhackles Wellllll...... you were asking Grey for his opinion, not mine. I was more concerned about stepping on HIS toes. Last time I said something that irritated Grey, he wouldn't speak to me for a year. LOL. elmo ////////////// Elmo - No problem "butting in" as you say - that's what this forum is for, right? I am not going to worry about the slight elevation of my ALT. I've been through so much this year that seems really minimal and not worthy of alot of attention. I'll just keep an eye on things with my post-treatment labs. As long as I'm SVR, that's all I really care about! D elmoemerson@webtv.net wrote: Hope you don't mind me butting in here with my two cents, but I would think you should finish your tx and get all the drugs out of your system before getting concerned about your ALT. There's a good chance that's what's causing your slightly higher numbers. Alot of people experience a spike in their LFT's while on the tx drugs, not to mention all the other drugs prescribed to combat side-effects. Most of all, relax.... elmo /////////////// So Grey - Are you saying you think I should try to figure out why my ALT is still slightly elevated after treatment or do you mean in general? I was thinking I didn't have to worry about it since the elevation is minimal. What do you think? Di greyhackles wrote: On 6 Jan 2007 07:24:06 -0800, "Terry" <kilowatt@charter.net> wrote: When I get my lab results, the results have the normal range listed in the border. My lab says the range should be 10-40 U/L I have a friend that gets his labs done at a different lab. His wife is trying to make sense of his labs. I told her to find this place and ask her questions here. She says his labs came back with a note that the ALT was abnormal. Someone want to enlighten us more on why the doc is so concerned with the ALT number and what the range should be? This is kind of a head start message for her. Some of you guys explain this stuff so much better than I ever could. I guess is she chimes in we will know is she has found us. I hope she can get as much info and support from this group as I have. ALT measured in the blood is significant because it is a substance released due to tissue injury. The causes range from muscle injury through heart damage to liver damage, so an elevated ALT is something that really must be investigated to come up with a root-cause. Each lab lists their "normal" ranges as a way to help correlate any variations between their procedures/specific brand tests and their patient population against other labs (eg: there are many commercially available liver enzyme test kits that each lab could be using) and other populations. That said, ALT tests aren't going to vary much from lab to lab, so you/she could use the same "normal" range with her actual test results. A few weeks ago a lass posted her blood work here as she was concerned that she might be infected with Hepatitis C. Her labs showed only a moderately elevated ALT, but there really wasn't anything else much out of sorts. I think the consensus was she likely didn't have HCV, and indeed the HCV-specific tests later showed she wasn't infected. Now I'm wondering if that could be her? Cheers /greyhackles http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum >> >When I get my lab results, the results have the normal range listed in >> >the border. My lab says the range should be 10-40 U/L [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] > >Di As the OP never actually said anything about HCV with respect to his friend's current status in this thread, I hope it's clear the context of my comments were for an undiagnosed condition. In contrast, you were diagnosed as HCV+. As is well known, there is a wide variation of ALT expression with respect to HCV infection. Some people get truly hammered during the acute phase pushing ALT well into triple digits (raises hand) and then show moderately elevated levels through the chronic phase, while others never have a clue during their acute phase and then go through decades without their ALT getting much if at all out of the normal range. We also have seen a wide variation of on-therapy ALT expression related here. Some folks have their ALT plummet early in therapy, others drift down, some had their ALT actually jump up (!) before falling, and finally at least one person here *ended* tx with an SVR - and an end-of-therapy ALT reading almost four times the upper end of normal before it started falling (man, I'd be a nervous wreck about that ;-) Given that, I would expect there to be significant variation of post-therapy ALT expression, leaving some folks at the upper side of the normal range, others at the lower end. And I'm not sure there's any easily correlated reason - I don't think it's existing liver damage that drives it - I was F2-F3 pre-tx, my ALT dropped from 166 to 26 in the first four weeks of tx, and is now below 10 g/dl, 15 months post-treatment. So...with all that to consider, and you being near the end of therapy, I certainly wouldn't worry about your modestly elevated ALT for the time being. When you have your 6 month post-therapy blood tests, make sure they include your LFTs. I bet if you get your SVR you'll totally forget about your ALT :-) Cheers - and good luck! /greyhackles Re: ALT results Group: alt.support.hepatitis-c Date: Sat, Jan 6, 2007, 12:29pm (CST+1) From: greyhackles@NOSPAMyahoo.com (greyhackles) When I get my lab results, the results have the normal range listed in the border. My lab says the range should be 10-40 U/L I have a friend that gets his labs done at a different lab. His wife is trying to make sense of his labs. I told her to find this place and ask her questions here. She says his labs came back with a note that the ALT was abnormal. Someone want to enlighten us more on why the doc is so concerned with the ALT number and what the range should be? This is kind of a head start message for her. Some of you guys explain this stuff so much better than I ever could. I guess is she chimes in we will know is she has found us. I hope she can get as much info and support from this group as I have. ALT measured in the blood is significant because it is a substance released due to tissue injury. The causes range from muscle injury through heart damage to liver damage, so an elevated ALT is something that really must be investigated to come up with a root-cause. Each lab lists their "normal" ranges as a way to help correlate any variations between their procedures/specific brand tests and their patient population against other labs (eg: there are many commercially available liver enzyme test kits that each lab could be using) and other populations. That said, ALT tests aren't going to vary much from lab to lab, so you/she could use the same "normal" range with her actual test results. A few weeks ago a lass posted her blood work here as she was concerned that she might be infected with Hepatitis C. Her labs showed only a moderately elevated ALT, but there really wasn't anything else much out of sorts. I think the consensus was she likely didn't have HCV, and indeed the HCV-specific tests later showed she wasn't infected. Now I'm wondering if that could be her? Cheers /greyhackles ////////// She was suffering from a number of other afflictions that had her labs turned inside-out. But not hepc. elmo http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.