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question for Quincy

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 10/22/2010 12:27 PM (GMT 0)
Quincy, what were you enxyme levels when your Gi decided to test you for PSC.  I have been on MTX successfully to remission for almost 2 years now, and my levels are slightly elevated...AST is 50, ALT is 65, and AP is 190.....they want me to do and MRI to check my ducts....is this about where you were when they said you had PSC?  Thanks in advance
Posted 10/22/2010 6:51 PM (GMT 0)
Hi..(had to look up MTX meaning -- -- it's methotrexate..lol)

I don't exactly know what my levels were when the doc suspected and it's still up in the air whether I have PSC...it seems that my last MRI was no change and they're leaning more towards PBC (Primary biliary cirrhosis)...but I'm still on URSO.

OK...in 2006 my highest AP was 198.
My highest AST was 69
My highest ALT was 76
I also see a Gamma GT taken once which was 180 (norm is 5 - 78)

All are normal since starting the URSO.


AMA is positive and antinuclear anti is positive atypical discrete speckled pattern more than 1280 even while on URSO..don't exactly know what that means except leaning towards PBC.

My cholesterol is high and hasn't lowered much since the URSO...so is it liver disease or me...I don't want to go on statin meds..so diet change and exercise (the E word is the hardest for me).

Definitely go for the MRCP....don't do the ERCP unless it's absolutely needed.

Hope this helps.
q

Posted 10/22/2010 8:37 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks so much for the reply.  I do have an MRCP scheduled for a week from Monday.  My Gi wants me to do it since my ALT and AST have actually come down from where they have been before, even before MTX, but this last test my AP went up to 250 from 150.  I had just got done a round of Biaxin for a sinus infection and I read that that can make enzyme levels wacky.  I have no other symptoms, although they say that is normal too.  I am just a bit freaked out cause it seems like such a sentence, but I guess it is an inexact science from what you are saying.  Did you ever have a Biopsy?  It's weird, at some checks my AP is normal and my others are muc close to 100, and this one is now completely different.  My P-anka test was negative, so my Gi syas there is a 13% chance I could still have PSC.  And he also says it could just be me.  My enzyme levels long before I had UC were always a bit high, but GP always said that was just me.  He checked me once a year since I was on lipitor.  I went off of crestor before my last test and I am sure my Cholesterol is way up there...maybe I should go back on it since it seems to help the tryglycerides that can clog up in the liver. At this point I just don't know!...Thanks again for your support.

Posted 10/23/2010 4:04 AM (GMT 0)
Hi...You're most welcome. My opinion is just mine, and I'm in a limbo somewhat as well.

NO, I would never have a liver biopsy unless I had something life threatening or was totally yello.....truly, there's nothing that can be done for PSC unless one has a duct that's blocked totally and can be expanded with a stent (ERCP), and "fishing" intrusively isn't something I'm willing to put up with unless it's absolutely warranted.

I won't have an ERCP either because of the possible side effects of pancreatitis and a possible activation of PSC if one has it in a slow progressive state. One doc wanted me to have an ERCP, I refused based on literature I found....so I waited until an MRCP became available and had that test.

There are many reasons for high Alk phos...you need to do intensive info searching as to what else that could be.

I don't know what my highest numbers were before 2004...I may have asked my doc but wasn't as proactive that way until I saw others here had their test results. I always ask for mine now.

OH....when you do have your MRCP, purchase the CD for the test. I purchased mine and it's verrry cool to see my inards! I do have what I see as some beading, but not really in the common bile duct. I do have two areas that are what seems to be quite compressed, but it seems that it's possibly from something external. Nothing at all has changed from the NMRCP 4 years ago, so I guess that part is just an abnormality.

Since my ## went down on URSO, the doc will keep me on it in the event that I'll have an eventual positive diagnosis of PBC...it won't hurt me anyway, but it's trés expensive!! I think when I see my GI in March, I'll ask if the radiologist can reread for possible PBC and go from there. until then...sigh..lol.

quincy
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