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Anonymous said:Hey Reddit,
Can anyone shed some light on elevated urinary amylase levels? I’m currently stuck on a month-long waiting list to see an internist.
Basically, my urine test shows amylase levels that are 3 to 4 times higher than the upper limit. My bloodwork looks totally fine—serum amylase is normal, bilirubin is fine, and my ALT and AST levels are all within range. Everything else in both my blood and urine tests came back perfectly normal too. My primary care physician is starting to suspect it might be pancreatitis.
I have been feeling some weird, minor abdominal pains lately.
Thanks!
Did you ever figure out what was causing those high amylase levels in your urine?
Lisa Moore7 said:Look, I'll tell you since I've been dealing with this exact same mess for three years now. If your serum amylase levels are normal, your pancreas should be fine. Those urine levels just mean the function is off, even if there isn't full-blown inflammation yet. I went through doctor after doctor, ultrasounds, GI scans... did all five tests, and that number stayed high. I stuck to a strict gallbladder diet for six months and it finally dropped. But now? I've put on weight again, stopped watching what I eat, and the levels are back up... sitting around 750 right now.
Man, are you actually in pain with a level of 750?
Lisa Moore7 said:Mine hit around 960, I think... though I've seen people topping 1100. My guess is 400 is the baseline, and that 91 might be showing up in the serum. Not totally sure though, don't have my lab results handy. Just watch out, you gotta distinguish between the two—amylase in urine versus amylase in serum. The latter usually means the pancreas is totally shot.
Are you dealing with digestion issues, yellow stools, or anything like that?
Bloating. And I can't lose weight even though I barely eat anything.
Lisa Moore7 said:Doctors couldn't figure out why my amylase levels were spiked. Everything seems fine, but they just stay high. It's probably just the extra weight... I don't get why they're showing up in my urine but not in my blood, though I guess the blood levels are what actually matter if there's some kind of issue with my pancreas.
Wait, if someone actually has Gilbert's syndrome, can they even gain weight?
I’m dealing with the exact same thing. When the pain hits, it’s a brutal ache right above the navel—enough bloating that I’ve had to head to the ER. This has been going on for two years now. I’ve had two endoscopic ultrasounds on my pancreas and an MRCP, but they came up completely clean. My blood work looks fine too; lipase, amylase, CBC, sedimentation, and CRP levels are all totally normal. The only outlier is my bilirubin, which sits around 27/39, though sometimes it drops back to a normal 14. It feels like a tiny stone is just wandering around in there somewhere, but even after ultrasounds and a HIDA scan, the only thing they ever found was a tiny 3 mm polyp in my gallbladder.