Hepatitis Forums

Hepatitis C Main Forums => On Hepatitis C Treatment => Topic started by: MEG on February 26, 2015, 02:12:36 am

Title: Did you see a continual drop in your LFTs?
Post by: MEG on February 26, 2015, 02:12:36 am: Hi all,

I had my 4 week on-treatment labs today. I'm kind of disappointed because I was hoping to see a further decline in my AST/ALT. They are essentially the same as at the 2week on-treatment point. AST 30(was 33) ALT 40(was 41 2 weeks ago).

They also did the first on-treatment viral load which obviously won't be back for several days. I was hoping that I would see another nice dramatic drop in my LFT's as a proxy for a dramatic decrease in my viral load...at 2 weeks my LFT's dropped in 1/2....hmmm....

What were others experiences in the early phase of treatment? Did LFT's continue to drop as time went on or did they plateau? Thanks!
Title: Re: Did you see a continual drop in your LFTs?
Post by: Lynn K on February 26, 2015, 02:39:23 am: Pre treatment 9/03/14

ALT 56
AST 45

4 weeks on TX 12/16/14
ALT 26
AST 26

8 weeks on TX 01/13/15
ALT 26
AST 23

12 weeks on TX 02/10/15
ALT 22
AST 20

I would not sweat it especially as frequently as you are testing and you are only 4 weeks in. Many factors effect LFP results not just hep c. Even if you were not treating you would see variation when having the same testing frequency.

Your AST is in normal range. Normal is normal. Your ALT is only slightly above normal.

The numbers I have posted are not statistically speaking very different could be accounted for by sample variation.

Good luck on treatment you will be fine
Title: Re: Did you see a continual drop in your LFTs?
Post by: MEG on February 26, 2015, 03:04:37 am: Thanks so much, Lynn.

For some reason I was hoping to see them both in the 20s/30s which would tell me, ostensibly, that my viral load was down to zero or close to it.......

I'm finding myself putting so much pressure on myself to have these "star wars" type numbers that others have been posting.

I need to stop and breathe and trust.
Title: Re: Did you see a continual drop in your LFTs?
Post by: Lynn K on February 26, 2015, 03:12:26 am: Just remember LFT's do not correlate to Viral load do not correlate to liver damage.

You can have above normal LFT's and no virus at all. A not equal to B, apples and oranges.

And this is why doctors are sometimes hesitant to have patients review their test results we just then then to worry about the unknown and unknowable.
Title: Re: Did you see a continual drop in your LFTs?
Post by: MEG on February 26, 2015, 02:32:12 pm: Quote from: Lynn K on February 26, 2015, 03:12:26 am
Just remember LFT's do not correlate to Viral load do not correlate to liver damage.

You can have above normal LFT's and no virus at all. A not equal to B, apples and oranges.

And this is why doctors are sometimes hesitant to have patients review their test results we just then then to worry about the unknown and unknowable.

You're right, Lynn. I'm considering asking to not have access to my labs. I'm finding it too stressful. They also did a GGT level which was twice the upper limit of normal(first time I've ever had that done) and when I google it, lots of scary stuff comes up....

Thanks again. I really appreciate your reassurance...
Title: Re: Did you see a continual drop in your LFTs?
Post by: MEG on February 26, 2015, 08:55:37 pm: Hi Lynn,

I thought I was posting in this thread..

Just got the results back: Undetectable!

Apparently, one of their batch hcv days is Thursdays. Will file this one away...Thanks again for your support.
Title: Re: Did you see a continual drop in your LFTs?
Post by: Lynn K on February 27, 2015, 12:51:53 am: That is a test result you always want to see :)

No stress from that result!

Congrats now on your way to SVR!
Title: Re: Did you see a continual drop in your LFTs?
Post by: MEG on February 27, 2015, 02:46:52 pm: Thanks so much, Lynn!

May we all SVR......