Morgan Miller7 said:Hey there, hope I’m not bothering any of you good folks who might actually take a second to help me out here. So, I just went in for my routine physical and the docs flagged some elevated ALT and AST levels, which is kind of a bummer because everything else—my full liver panel, blood work, the whole nine yards—came back totally fine. It’s got me wondering if this stuff always points straight toward some form of hepatitis, or if there’s some other weird diagnosis out there that could cause those specific numbers to jump up without messing with anything else.
Thanks a bunch!
ALT or Alanine Aminotransferase
REFERENCE RANGES:
Women (>20 yrs)
10 to 36 U/L at 37°C
Men (>20 yrs)
12 to 48 U/L at 37°C
Women (13-18 yrs)
10 to 29 U/L at 37°C
Men (13-18 yrs)
10 to 33 U/L at 37°C
(8-12 yrs)
11 to 37 U/L at 37°C
(> 1 yr)
9 to 40 U/L at 37°C
(<1 yr)
11 to 68 U/L at 37°C
(10d -3mo)
8 to 60 U/L at 37°C
EXTREMELY ELEVATED IN:
liver cell necrosis, shock, acute anoxia, extensive skeletal muscle trauma, myositis,
myocarditis
ELEVATED IN:
cirrhosis, liver tumors, muscular dystrophy, myopathy, myocardial infarction, hemolytic diseases,
chronic alcoholism
LOW IN:
pyridoxal phosphate deficiency
AST or Aspartate Aminotransferase
REFERENCE RANGES:
Women (>20 yrs)
8 to 30 U/L at 37°C
Women (13-18 yrs)
14 to 32 U/L at 37°C
Men (13-70 yrs)
11 to 38 U/L at 37°C
(8-12 yrs)
14 to 39 U/L at 37°C
(> 1 yr)
10 to 45 U/L at 37°C
(<1 yr)
14 to 55 U/L at 37°C
(newborns)
12 to 78 U/L at 37°C
EXTREMELY ELEVATED IN:
fulminant hepatitis, especially viral hepatitis
ELEVATED IN:
liver cell necrosis, cholestatic and obstructive jaundice, chronic hepatitis, hepatotoxic
medications, alcoholic hepatitis (in alcoholic hepatitis AST>ALT, whereas in acute and chronic
viral hepatitis ALT>AST); necrosis, inflammation, or trauma of the heart or skeletal muscles, acute
myocardial infarction (AST>ALT).
Cut back on carbs, fats, alcohol, and soda.