Elevated ALT and GGT Very Worried

[virgin747]

Good Morning. I'm posting for the first time after browsing the site for many months and never having the nerve to post anything.

About 2 months ago i started to feel very dizzy, the feeling you get when your in need of something sweet (Low Blood Sugar). I then had a terrible cold/virus according to the doctors. I also felt extremely tired and my muscles seemed to ache. The doctor said it was possibly a post viral fatigue. As a precaution he did some routine blood tests. The two that came back above the normal range were the ALT at 85 and GGT at 167. I know these are above normal (ALT 40 and GGT 11-51) and spoke with the Doctor about them. He didnt seem to concerned but asked me about the amount of alcohol i consume. I know its easy to say i dont drink a lot, but i honestly dont, thats what frightened me even more.Due to the high levels of anxiety i had he sent me for an ultrasound.
That came back normal albeit with the exception of fatty liver/tissue.
Again, my Dr seemed unconcerned and explained that diet and lifestyle changes will help turn it around. I told him i still felt low blood sugar feeling and tired and he said that Anxiety and worry would use up more energy and therfore make me feel that way.He explained that he would do the blood tests again in December and if they were still elevated then send me to a liver consultant. I'm about a stone over weight and my BMI is 27.6. I'm on Slimming world to loose the extra weight. I still feel very tired and almost like i have a brain fog.
I have since gone back to the Doctors as i cannot wait till December and the feeling continue. I have since had two more blood tests, the A1C for pre-diabetes and Hepatitis. The A1C has come back normal and i'm awaiting the Hepatitis result.

I have struggled with Helath Anxiety for about 10 years after losing my mum to breast cancar. Have almost completed about 8 sessions of CBT for it. This has helped give me a greater understanding of the workings of the brain and how thoughts affect your feelings.

I am however still worrying about the results and what it all means.
The Doctor is still not concerned and can find no reasonable explanantion for the way i feel other than Anxiety as all my other blood tests are perfect...His words not mine.

Has anybody else ever felt this or had something similar or maybe can offer some words of reassurance.

Sorry for the long post.
Virgin747

[Tufty]

:welcome: Virgin,
It does sound like a post viral illness with the tiredness and muscle aching. I had a similar thing many years ago, at the time I had lots of bloods that were abnormal but nothing that was harmful. It took a while to recover, pacing myself and not pushing myself too hard were the most important principles I seem to remember.

High ALT and GGT can be due to many things, I'm no expert but many drugs like Aspirin, St Johns Wort, Ibuprofen can increase these liver enzymes, were you taking anything around the time of the blood test? The liver is like a sponge with all your circulating blood passing through it every minute, anything you have ingested can affect these results.

What do you think is wrong? What is your worst fear?

It does sound like your GP has done the right thing screening for hepatitis, diabetes and even a USS. I would be reassured if the rest of your bloods are normal that it is nothing life threatening like cancer.

Can you discuss your fears with another Dr as they may be able to reassure you.
Take care
Love
Sam

[virgin747]

Hi Sam. Have just had the Hepatitis results and nothing shown for that either. It does seem like a lot of my symptoms are worry .related. I do have a fear of Cancer and something that is life threatening. However i feel a lot more reassured by speaking with the doctor this afternoon. He said that if i had waited and the GGT/ALT were still raised then a Hepatitis test would have been his next course of action, i have had that now so that's another tick in the box. He has now said lets wait till November and then repeat the Bloods and see if they are still raised. If they are then he will look at what to do then.
I wish i could get a grip of all this worry. I have just ordered a book "Self Help For Your Nerves" By Dr Claire Weekes. It came recommended by somebody else whilst i was reading the posts on this forum, I hope it helps.

Many Thanks for the thoughts.

Regards
Pete

[ShaunKGrande]

Go to a doctor or go to Councillor,they will only understand why this is so?

[guba1977]

high I have similar symptoms to yourself high ggt and weird feeling of unwell all bloods normal & situation did you ever find out what was wrong ???

[paul2013]

Hi, it seems that you guys may have "Candida Overgrowth, Candida Yeast Infection or Leaky Gut Syndrome.

I also have the following symptoms:
Mental Fogging, Difficult concentrating, Poor memory, lack of focus, recently been having nail problem, Back pain, Muscle spasm, i was diagnosed with Psoriasis 7 years ago, irritability mood, anxiety, some depression, need for sugar or sweet candies/drinks/pastries, Cold weather low mood.

I did a research about my health issues and found out that doctors wont find the real health problem triggering all sort of complications.

I started a self help treatment on October 10, 2013. (will keep up date)
1. an organic virgin coconut oil
2. Pure Apple Cider vinegar
3. Olive Oil,
4. Oregano,
5. Cilantro & fish oil.

Preparation:
Boil everything together on water and blend it, Drink a half cup as tea / it doesn’t taste good. Try to use small amount of cilantro & small amount of Apple Cider vinegar.

I am bit overweigh 180.
Coconut oil help you not being hungry all day & help loose weight.

Search all other ingredients on internet and find for yourself the benefits on your health

On my diet I am only eating breakfast and skipping dinner & at lunch I am eating vegetable, soup or light foods. (I found out that fasting help in overall health issues, but I cant go a day without food)

On first –2 day on my self help treatment I had to go to the bathroom more that often with stomach flue. Its normal as my system is cleaning.

I would like to know who else has done or doing any of the treatment so we can help each other with useful information,

[bobbyg]

Hi guys,

Just found myself here through google, while browsing about high levels of ggt.

Recently, a blood test resulted in a high level, so I was asked by my doc to have another one and still same result, just a bit less. Now, I've been reading a lot about it and found out that people get alarmed when it's in the 100's, and also some medical pages mentioned anywhere between 400-500's is very high. This led me to think that either I'm really so gonna die, or that I'm such a one-of-a-kind :-). My levels where 978 and 868u/l. Test revealed no infections and hepatitis. That's already a relief. I do not have any specific symptoms, accept some lack of short term memory and maybe some lack of focus at times, probably because I'm not that young anymore, and maybe some depression affects due to "life" related issues more than anything else.

Next step was an ultrasound, which shows no real damage but the liver does have fat around it. I am slightly overweight with around 9kg(19.8lbs) of extra fat, so the doc said the fat can be taken care of with some exercise and good diet. I am not a drinker and never did drugs, including medicines, either.

Next step is now a specialist and may be MRI or Biopsy. We See how it goes :-). I feel ok anyway. In the mean time, I included milk thistle is part of my daily intake to help liver detox, and am staying away from coffee, which is the hardest part of it all :-).

I hope that by now Virgin747 is ok :-), and Paul2013, keep us up to date with your self remedy too please ;-).

Cheers and happy Christmas to all.

Rob from downunder.

[whtglv]

hello,
i think i have similar issue. my alt is 87 and ggt is 324. usg showed that nothing is wrong with any organ in my stomach. i'm seeing my doctor in 2 weeks but i'm kinda worried and have no one to ask. it all started something about 3 months ago, i started to suffer from horrible stomach pain attacks (in the upper part of my stomach, radiating to the back) time to time. and also i feel little bit more tired, more sleepy from when it started.
now i'm on strict diet (attacks happened after spicy food, alcohol which i don't drink much, fried food, pork etc.).
i am wondering what is actually happenig to me. i must mention i take psychiatric medication from september 2012 (venlafaxinum), doctor who was doing usg told me that it may be the reason. maybe you know what it could be? i started to think it is a cancer or something...