liver enzymes elevated should i stop?

[s.norman]

i've been on for a long time and my AST/ALT levels are high..they are doulble the high end of normal and i didn't use orals..should i stop or get a supplement for it?

 

[BEASTZ6]

Since you are not taking orals, I don't think the AAS are causing your liver enzymes to be elevated. My enzymes are way high too. Twice I have gone in for a liver scan, only to be told that I have a "fatty" liver. Now I am told that my gallblader needs to be removed, and that may be the cause of my elevated liver enzymes...Are you taking any Milk Thistle or other liver protectant?

 

[T TOTAL]

My ast/alt enzymes have been elevated a number of times. I attend a specialist clinic for athletes to have bloods done and im told although they are elevated it isnt a concern ( theyve been double the high end aswell ) for us as bodybuilders. Its quite the expected norm' but not that it should be taken lightly still. They can be elevated by a number of factors, one being heavy resistance training so would need to be taken with at least a week off from any training.
Alcohol consumption would elevate them more too.

I went for a stomach scan just as a precaution via my own Dr who didnt understand or appreciate that we as bodybuilders have out of sync readings to that of a ' normal ' person, to check liver, kidneys etc and all came back 100% without any fatty liver whatsoever, it was perfect. Which had my Dr scratching her head. My creatinine, urea and creatine kinase levels were high too which would suggest renal failure, doh. The norm for CK levels is about 200 whatever. Mine were 3000 initially, after a hard session as theyre indicative of muscle damage. The Dr explained Laura Radcliffe ( the marathon runner ) would be in the 20'000 or so region after a run. I said so what do you expect of me??? After 3 days off only they dropped to 400 and she admitted they would likely be normal after a prolonged rest. As a laugh i said if i sat on my backside doing nothing you would probably be telling me i need excercise...one can't win eh ...

But guess what??...yep, all perfect... These blood tests tend to take readings from a ' pool ' as opposed to whats actually circulating. Dr Bernadi has done an article which explains quite alot of this...

Just be wary of it and take some liver protection as a precaution.....

 

[Researchstop]

^^^ What he said.

Your muscles let go the same enzymes as your liver. So if you are weight training those particular blood tests are not valid. Have your doc test CK and GGT to determine whether or not your liver is stressed. Doc's forget sometimes. Like a lot.

Clin J Sport Med. 1999 Jan;9(1):34-9.

Anabolic steroid-induced hepatotoxicity: is it overstated?

Dickerman RD, Pertusi RM, Zachariah NY, Dufour DR, McConathy WJ.

The Department of Biomedical Science, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth 76107-2699, USA.

OBJECTIVE: There have been numerous reports of hepatic dysfunction secondary to anabolic steroid use based on elevated levels of serum aminotransferases. This study was conducted to distinguish between serum aminotransaminase elevations secondary to intense resistance training and anabolic steroid-induced hepatotoxicity in elite bodybuilders. DESIGN: This was a case-control study of serum chemistry profiles from bodybuilders using and not using anabolic steroids with comparisons to a cohort of medical students and patients with hepatitis. PARTICIPANTS: The participants were bodybuilders taking self-directed regimens of anabolic steroids (n = 15) and bodybuilders not taking steroids (n = 10). Blood chemistry profiles from patients with viral hepatitis (n = 49) and exercising and nonexercising medical students (592) were used as controls. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The focus in blood chemistry profiles was aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT), and creatine kinase (CK) levels. RESULTS: In both groups of bodybuilders, CK, AST, and ALT were elevated, whereas GGT remained in the normal range. In contrast, patients with hepatitis had elevations of all three enzymes: ALT, AST, and GGT. Creatine kinase (CK) was elevated in all exercising groups. Patients with hepatitis were the only group in which a correlation was found between aminotransferases and GGT. CONCLUSION: Prior reports of anabolic steroid-induced hepatotoxicity based on elevated aminotransferase levels may have been overstated, because no exercising subjects, including steroid users, demonstrated hepatic dysfunction based on GGT levels. Such reports may have misled the medical community to emphasize steroid-induced hepatotoxicity when interpreting elevated aminotransferase levels and disregard muscle damage. For these reasons, when evaluating hepatic function in cases of anabolic steroid therapy or abuse, CK and GGT levels should be considered in addition to ALT and AST levels as essential elements of the assessment.

 

[Zeus10]

Stop drinking Rockstars or any other energy drinks! If you are drinking them.....

 

[T TOTAL]

Stop drinking Rockstars or any other energy drinks! If you are drinking them.....

Any particular reason other than perhaps they give you wings....well red bull atleast???

 

[Ehren]

I've had this too, unrelated to gear. Twice I was tested for competitions in seperate sports. One was Crew (rowing) and I was on NOTHING at all. The doc called me all panicky to come in for tests as my liver enzymes were out of whack. Turned out half the crew got the same call...it was just the intensity of the sport that caused it in all of us, like the marathoner above.

Last time was a couple years ago before I began cycling again and just went in to see where I stood on the bloodwork. Liver enzymes (different ones) were jacked again, but a different one (leukotrienes (sp?) were 600% of normal. ALT and AST were fine. Creatinine was way high. But the doc could see I was a BBer and put the creatinine level down to that, and the Leuko-whatevers down to some slight asthma. But if I were on gear at the time, I would have panicked too.

IMO, keep an eye on it as you've been on for a while. I just wonder if you took a week off training and got retested, would you show improvement on AST/ALT? If not, then maybe consider the gear as a factor and act accordingly...

 

[RalphMalph]

this is why i think baseline test are important.

if all else is the same, but values are higher on cycle, I would say get off. If that is just your normal levels as a result of training, then stay on.

 

[Zeus10]

Any particular reason other than perhaps they give you wings....well red bull atleast???

O sorry I forgot to say why! The high fructose sugar does is hard on the liver. I was drinking one a day for a couple months and got sick. When I got my blood test back my AST/ALT were out of wack! I was not on anything or coming off anything either. Anyway I have read about it as well that the type of sugar is horrible for us.

 

[boggs67ss]

O sorry I forgot to say why! The high fructose sugar does is hard on the liver. I was drinking one a day for a couple months and got sick. When I got my blood test back my AST/ALT were out of wack! I was not on anything or coming off anything either. Anyway I have read about it as well that the type of sugar is horrible for us.

What about the ones with zero sugar/carbs?

 

[Oldlifter]

Your muscles let go the same enzymes as your liver. So if you are weight training those particular blood tests are not valid. Have your doc test CK and GGT to determine whether or not your liver is stressed.

This is what they usually look at to determine if damage has occurred to the liver. Those other stats are always flexing from what I understand. Whether you do juice or not. Heck, just the air and crappy food/water supply in this country alone causes your liver enzymes to flux. The GGT is what you want to concentrate on. Just my opinion.





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[Zeus10]

What about the ones with zero sugar/carbs?

Well I guess you would be gtg then! Smartass! LOL