Stubbornly elevated ALT and AST

I am not sure what could be causing your numbers to elevate.. maybe post to liver or transplant group bc they are a knowledgeable group and some may know why. Good luck. Someone will answer soon.

Have you been tested for hemochrombtosis? This is a hereditary condition where your body absorbs too much iron. The iron eventually stores in your vital organs, including the liver. My husband was diagnosed with this over twenty years ago. There is no medication only periodic phlebotomy.

Many doctors don’t know much about this and you may have to insist on these blood tests:

TIBC (total iron binding content)
ferritin
% Saturation

This is not part of a normal CBC and blood goes to a separate lab (I believe).

If you do have this condition, you should get genetic testing done and if you have relatives, they should too. Knowledge is power.

Best wishes to you, Cindy

Hi Cindy!
Thank you for the reply!

This is the first time I'm reading about this condition, so it goes without saying haven't been tested for it...
My iron levels have always been in the higher end of normal, I don't know if that is relevant?

Hi and thank you for the reply!

I will post into that group as well, thank you for the suggestion

Yes, Liver Transplant Group is the place to go to.

Try hemochromatosis test. While I do not have this, have two friends who had same symptoms as you. They have to go periodically to basically have blood drained. When it was diagnosed, for both, other family members discovered they also had it. good luck and this was great advice.

Yes, it's a good idea to post in the Transplant group. I have had 2 liver transplants over 24 years because of an unusual and rare Hep C, genotype 3. My ALT and AST was very high before transplant. However, after about a year after my 1st transplant they found issues with my bile. My bike duck was not working as well as my pancreas ducts. They performed another surgery to redirect my two ducts from my stomach to the too of my small intestine. That solved the issue. But the Hep was untreatable for another 15 years. Finally we found a med to treat it and a year later it was gone. But I still needed a 2nd transplant around a year later. Now it been find for the past almost 7 years.

My iron levels are on the higher end of normal, but still in the reference range. It has been like this for years.

For the hemochromatosis: Are iron levels actually out of range with this condition?

Hi and thank you for the reply.
I'm glad that they were able to figure it out and I hope that you feel better now 🙂

On the ultrasounds, both my pancreas and my gallbladder looked just fine... If you don't mind me asking, how was the issue with the bile ducts found? Ultrasound or lab tests?

I copies a paragraph from a Google search that sums up my issue years ago:

Changes in biochemical test results due to biliary obstruction are generally marked by elevated ALP, GGT, and bilirubin levels. Generally speaking, within 24 hours after obstruction, AST and ALT levels are markedly elevated.

Here is the link:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9648910/#:~:text=Changes in biochemical test results,are markedly elevated %5B6%5D