Liver dysfunction

[adelay]

My family Dr. called today after I had a regular check up with him with a complete CBC and he said my liver numbers were high so he has ordered an ultrasound for next Tues. I had a check up the end of August with my Onc. and all my tumor markers were good...is this how liver mets. is found? Anyone else have this happen? I'm still on Tamoxifin but have finished up all my other treatments. Knew someone here may have a similar experience, thanks in advance for any input. Of corse my mind immediately went to Mets. although I guess that is a normal reaction.

[adelay]

Just bumping this up, didn't get any replies last night. Have a good day!

[michka]

Hello Anna. An elevation of liver numbers can have all kinds of reasons but your doctor is right to investigate.
When my mets were discovered, all my liver parameters were normal. It is a slight raise of my CA15-3 markers that led to investigate with a Pet/scan. You have a good doctor. He just wants to check everything. Michka

[yanyan]

My nurse said liver numbers can go up during treatment. My oncologist said a slight elevations do not cause concern. Now that you are 2 years out, you may wanna detoxify your liver from all the chemo drug. I know milk thistle is an easy one. Good luck with everything :)

[adelay]

Talked to my onc. today and although he is not too concerned with my numbers he would rather I do a CT scan instead of the ultrasound. His thinking is if the ultrasound shows nothing I'm still going to be concerned and will end up wanting a scan so why not just do it from the get go. I go Monday afternoon.
I will check into the Milk Thistle...thanks for the input.

[Sandra in GA]

Anna,
The same thing happened to me when I was two years out. My liver numbers were slightly elevated and my onc had me come back for a scan. Everything was OK. But, I wanted to let you know what I discovered. My extra vitamin D caused the elevation. After my doctor became alarmed, I thought and thought about what could be causing the higher liver numbers. I ruled out Tylenol and alcohol and then learned that vitamins are broken down in the liver. I quit all vitamins and my next liver tests decreased by 50%! I just wanted to share this with you in case you are over-loading on what is usually a good thing!
Sandra

[adelay]

Sandra, oh my...I do take vitamins daily...guess I need to look into that. Thanks!

Yanyan, just looked up milk thistle and it sounded okay until I read about the estrogen...I am ER/PR+ so this may not be for me, thanks anyway.

[Melissa]

Hey just wanted to say I also had elevated liver enzymes two years out from treatment. It turns out everything was fine and my oncologist said tamoxifin or arimidix can cause elevated liver enzymes in about 2% of patients. My numbers are still evevated at times.
Best Wishes - Melissa

[ElaineM]

If you do not want to take milk thistle there are some foods that may help detoxify the liver.
I think Kale, broccoli, beets and bittermelon are some of those foods. You might also want to do an internet search and find more.
Take care.

[ElaineM]

Just a note---------- I went to the livestrong website after I logged off here yesterday and looked up foods to detox the liver. I found onions, leeks, shallots, tumeric and of course crucifious vegetables like broccoli, and other crucifious vegetables.
We could make a detox salad, soup or detox stir fry !!!!!!!!! Lovely !!!!!!

[chrisy]

Don't forget the carrots:)

[Pray]

Anna, Gods blessings to you and your family. Please know you are in my prayers!

[adelay]

Thanks again for all the helpful information and for the prayers, I will let you know how my scan goes. Have a great weekend~

[adelay]

Just wanted to let everyone know that scans came back clean...yeah! Praise the Lord. I will go for more blood work in a month to see if numbers are still high. In the meantime I've cut out some of my vitamins and will look into cleansing my liver with some healthy foods. Could just be the Tamoxifin. Thanks for the many prayers.

[BonnieR]

Or it could just have been a bump in the road. I had some elevated numbers recently because a different lab ran the test differently. We redid the lab work and it was fine.
Keep the faith.

[NEDenise]

Yay!
So glad everything checked out fine!
(I've been following the thread, but until now, I had nothing useful to add. LOL)
Be well!
Denise

[michka]

This is good news Anna! Michka

[harrie]

Anna, how high were your numbers? My labs always come back with my bilirubin indirect and bilirubin total just above the normal range. My onco and internist are both fine with this and attribute it to something like Gilbert's syndrome, which is a genetic high genetically high amt of bilirubin and is not necessary to treat. you can google it for a better discription.