What your Blood can Reveal about your Liver Health (E23)
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Gill discusses routine blood work. She explains what your yearly blood work can tell you about your liver health, what normal levels are, and what to do if your levels are elevated. You’ll learn what each test is and what it’s measuring. She ends the podcast with a discussion on cholesterol, what good and bad cholesterol is, how it relates to alcohol and fatty liver, and what you can do to improve your numbers.
Key Takeaways
ALT and AST are liver enzymes. If your levels are elevated it means there is likely damage to the liver and some of this enzyme is escaping into the blood. Elevated levels are typically 2-3 times the upper limit in the range, so for ALT that’s 110 units/L or above and for AST that’s 80 units/L or above. Some liver diseases can cause these values to be 50 times the upper limit.
When the liver is damaged it becomes swollen, and this swelling prevents bilirubin from being removed from the liver. Elevated bilirubin signifies long term damage to the liver, and something you should take very seriously. With abstinence, the liver can recover, the swelling will reduce and bilirubin levels will decrease.
Something that springs drinkers into action is pain in their right side. The liver is located in the right side of your abdomen. The liver doesn’t have many nerves, so it can’t feel pain. What the pain actually is is the result of the liver becoming swollen and pressing on the things around it. If you have pain in this area it could mean that your liver is swollen, and it is critical to stop drinking at this point and go to the doctor.
Cite this episode
Tietz, G. Episode 23: What your Blood can Reveal about your Liver Health. Sober Powered. 2020
Sources
Rasineni K, Casey CA. Molecular mechanism of alcoholic fatty liver. Indian J Pharmacol. 2012;44(3):299-303.
Harvard Health Publishing. The Truth about Fats: the Good, the Bad, and the In-Between. 2019.
Avon and Wiltshire. Alcohol and your Blood Test Results. Bristol Specialist Drug and Alcohol Service.
