What causes high liver enzymes?

You can read about all the possibilities here.

I don’t think hepatitis is his main problem.

He needs to deal with the alcoholism.

I’m not trying to scare you but I came down with hepatitis in 1980. Ever since then when I have a liver panel done it always shows high enzymes. That’s not to say your friend has hepatitis. That is something best for a doctor to look into.
@Marina is right. He has to tackle his drinking problem. Don’t let the fact that the liver is the only internal organ that can rebuild itself make you think you don’t have to take care of it. Nothing makes you feel sicker than a liver ailment. Believe me, I know.

He knows he has to deal with his alcohol problem. Im just also worried about him having hepatitis. I didnt know you can get hepatitis from drinking alcohol. I just thought it was a virus that you have to catch I didnt know alcohol can cause it. Now hypothetically if alcohol caused him to have hepatitis I can still get it even though I dont drink? Its still infectious?

Does hepatitis go away eventually on its own becayse ive heard that it does. I also heard that it doesnt. ??

I don’t believe you can really get true hepatitis from alcohol but there is something called Alcoholic hepatitis. It’s a progressive liver ailment where the liver becomes very inflamed and is associated with excessive alcohol drinking. You basically can get the same symptoms as genuine hepatitis. Is he jaundiced?

High liver enzymes do not mean that he has hepatitis, it means that his liver function is not normal. That can be caused by a great number of things, of which drug use and alcoholism could certainly contribute.

As I said, this is for a doctor to determine. And I don’t mean our friend Dr. J.

There are different kinds of Hepatitis. The word just means “Liver Illness.” Some types become chronic and some types can be overcome by your immune system. However, blood banks can’t take the chance on what type of hepatitis you had and so cannot accept blood donations from anyone whose has had hepatitis.

Elevated liver enzymes simply mean that your liver is not functioning as it should. Hepatitis can do this, but so can alcoholism, cirrhosis of the liver, and anything that causes inflammation or damage to the cells of the liver.

As the Mayo Clinic says:

“Elevated liver enzymes indicate inflammation or damage to cells in the liver. Inflamed or injured liver cells may leak higher than normal amounts of certain chemicals, including liver enzymes, into the bloodstream, resulting in elevated liver enzymes on blood tests.”

As the inflammation goes away or liver cells heal, the elevated enzymes generally go away. However, sometimes the situation is chronic or the liver is too damaged to repair itself.

“Hepatitis” just refers to inflammation of the liver and is usually reflected by elevated liver enzymes. There are many causes of hepatitis, including viruses (ie “Hepatitis A”, “Hepatitis B”, etc.), autoimmune disease, alcohol and other toxins, and obesity.

Hepatitis caused by alcohol can be acute and reversible (the liver, up to a point, is pretty good at recovering from damage), but it can also become chronic and permanent. If your friend has been drinking and has elevated liver enzymes, then it’s pretty safe to say he has hepatitis at that point in time, but it may not yet be permanent.

Prolonged liver damage can lead to cirrhosis, which is permanent scarring of the liver. Once the liver is really badly damaged, liver enzymes may actually go down because the liver is simply no longer producing them.

My ex-husband had a high liver enzyme result on a routine physical—he was an alcoholic, and also took a lot of Tylenol (at that time we were unaware of it’s liver-damaging properties). The physician told him to quit drinking for a month and they’d retest. According to my ex, those retest results were normal.

What I remember most of the first and only time he was sober in our decade together, was not the change when he was sober, but the change when he went back to drinking. His own best friend (a partier in his own right), looked my ex in the eye and said, “You know what? You’re an asshole when you drink.” That was the beginning of the end of our marriage. And I will remind you that he died of liver failure at the age of 39, when our son was 7.

I am sorry to hear that this young man you care so much about is having such difficulty. I guess he’s out of rehab and has relapsed? If you haven’t already, please find Al-Anon meetings near you to help you learn how to detach from his addictive behavior to avoid developing co-dependent behaviors.

Will school start soon for you? Will you be teaching this year?Remember to put yourself first… your own health and well-being must be your first priority. Your goals and dreams are within reach; please don’t get sidelined by the drama of this relationship. I wish the best for you both.

I drink occassionally and a few years back I had high liver enzymes. Doctors did all sorts of tests and didn’t find anything. Checked for hepatitis and nothing. All my tests came back normal. There was no explanation for the high liver enzymes. Happened to my cousin too and nothing was found.

@theabk- Hepatitis is permanent. It never leaves the blood. People who’ve had hep have a higher chance of relapse. Those with serum hepatitis have a greatly increased chance of cancer of the liver.

Hepatitis means inflamation of the liver. It can be acute or it can be chronic. The word hepatitis alone does not mean viral infection with hep B or hep C for example. There are many causes of hepatitis. (Pregnancy, drugs, bacterial infections auto immune diseases)

If he is drinking a lot of alcohol this will be the likely cause of the hepatitis. If he stops drinking the hepatitis will go.

@AstroChuck Viral hepatitis isn’t nessesairly permanant. For example 95% of adults who become infected with hep B will clear the infection and develop immunity (for children it’s slightly lower). Hep C is much, much harder for the body to fight off itself but is still possible. There are also treatments that can clear the infection.

@Lightlyseared- Anyone who was jaundiced from a scarred liver (hepatitis) after the age of 12 can never give blood, marrow, plasma, anything cardiovascular, because it’s always in your system and remains with you for life. Period. Believe what you want.

I agree with lightly.

@AstroChuck: It sounds like you’re talking about viral hepatitis (serum hepatitis is an old term for Hepatitis B virus). Viral hepatitis is definitely not always permanent. Almost everyone who gets Hepatitis A and Hepatitis E clears the infection on their own. Even with Hep B, as @Lightlyseared said, 95% of people clear the infection, and about a quarter of people who get Hep C do too.

Other forms of hepatitis can also be temporary, including alcoholic hepatitis.

As for blood donation, the Red Cross guidelines only refer to jaundice caused by viral hepatitis or an unknown cause (unknown is included because it could be viral). (People who have had jaundice from other forms of hepatitis can donate.) This is not because the virus can never be cleared but because it is possible for a test to miss a low level of virus; blood donation guidelines are generally very conservative. From the link above: “All blood donations are tested for hepatitis B and hepatitis C with several different tests. But because these tests are not perfect, it is still important for people who may be infected with hepatitis viruses to not donate blood.”

Also, just to clear up any confusion – hepatitis does not refer to a scarred liver but to inflammation of the liver – (“itis” means “inflammation”). Cirrhosis is a scarred liver, and this is a permanent condition. It can result from prolonged or severe episdoes of hepatitis, and, as you mention, it is a risk factor for liver cancer.

Wrong. If you’ve had hep after age eleven your blood is permanently contaminated and barred from giving blood.
And you’re right. I’m talking about viral hepatitis. It’s still in my 29 years later.

That is the exact same information I linked to. It does not say anything about your blood being permanently contaminated. The point is, if you have had viral hepatitis, there is a chance you are still infected (ie your blood is still “contaminated”), and the RC does not want to take that risk.

What exactly do you suppose is the reason I can’t give blood? Anyone who has contracted viral hepatitis, infectious or serum can never give blood or anything else that is cardio-vascular. That just leaves the eyes (I have a donor card for that).

For the reason I said above: “The point is, if you have had viral hepatitis, there is a chance you are still infected (ie your blood is still “contaminated”), and the RC does not want to take that risk.”

And I’m sorry that you have Hep – I hope it’s not causing you too much grief…

Just leaking enzymes.