The Fenofibrate can cause bloating indigestion, stomach pain, and increased liver enzymes or liver problems in addition to other side effects. The Zetia can cause some of these too. Have they tested your liver enzymes yet? If so were they normal? There are other drugs for lowering cholesterol and triglycerides that work as well. You can ask him to have you try Lipitor (generic) and there is now a generic Niaspan. I know because my husband is on it.
Statins work in the liver and every commercial I have seen advises not to take if you have liver problems. Zetia works in the intestines.
Was the Zetia working?
If my memory serves me correctly, MikeS is taking statins and he had a TP. He is far more knowledgeable on the subject than I am and hopefully he will see this post and give his input.
Zetia is part of a class of drugs called cholesterol absorption inhibitors.
I had a bad reaction to the statins- ended up in the hospital with very high liver enzymes. Recently, I have been getting very lightheaded and experiencing pain in my upper arms. My doctor refered me to a cardiologist who performed the heart ultrasound and the holter which came back normal. The stress test however was abnormal- 1 millimeter st segment depression. My cardiologist would like to a heart cathetrization and possibly insert stents.
Liver Enzyme Elevation
All statin drugs have been shown to elevate liver enzymes to some degree. Liver enzymes include aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), which are monitored before beginning statin therapy, three months after beginning statins, and least every six months while on statin therapy. When your liver enzymes are elevated, may not experience any symptoms.
Statins work by controlling the production of cholesterol in your liver while Zetia works by preventing cholesterol to be absorbed in your digestive system.
Of the two, Crestor is the stronger of the two. In addition, recent trials have shown that adding Zetia does not improve the performance of Vytorin over Simvastatin alone.
potential to increase liver enzymes and cause liver damage, patients must be monitored for normal liver function. At least, that's what the label used to say. Now the FDA has removed this long-standing warning and ruled that patients taking statins no longer need routine monitoring of liver enzymes, but instead can have liver enzymes tested before starting the drugs, and then only as clinically needed.
If it were me I would give pravastatin a chance, but if I had the same side effects and I could not live with them, I would try something like Zetia. You could also add a fenofibrate like Tricor to lower your TGLs as well, very safe and no side effects. This will help lower your overall number but will not impact your LDL which is you main issue. You really need to get that under 130 with no other risk factors.
But it must be emphasized that higher-than-normal levels of these liver enzymes should not be automatically equated with liver disease. They may mean liver problems or they may not. The interpretation of elevated AST and ALT levels depends upon the whole clinical picture and so it is best done by doctors experienced in evaluating liver disease.
The precise levels of these enzymes do not correlate well with the extent of liver damage or the prognosis (outlook).
I went for my regular physical with my regular doctor and my liver enzymes were up; ast 60 alt 40 alkaline phosphate 128, these wer high last year as well. My doctor says my liver enzymes were always kind of high, even before being diagnosed with sarcoid. Now my doc wants me on synthroid for this and my triglycerides went up to 240? Is the sarcoid still in my body, perhaps in my liver, causing the high enzymes, low thyroid, etc...
Thank you.
The two enzyme panels are mildy high, and certainly can be from fatty liver. Fatty liver can be caused form everything from obesity to extended drug useage to hereditary factors. I have heard that long term useage of some antidepressants can produce hepatic manifestations - like elevated enzymes. Some show the effect promptly and others more insidiously.
Elevated Liver Enzymes can be the result of damaging liver disease, acute or prolonged use of medications or alcohol, or harmful exposure to a wide variety of environmental toxins (many of which you are probably exposed to every day). Livergenex is your safe, natural choice for lowering elevated liver enzymes and putting you on the path to a healthier more energetic life.
Elevated liver enzymes indicate inflammation or damage to cells in your liver.
So, my doctor just got the results of my blood tests, and apparently I have underactive thyroid, and three times the normal liver enzymes. I couldn't ask him a lot of questions and it will take a few days before I can go and see him, but I have a lot of questions that just won't stop bugging me.
For instance, one of the symptoms that bothers me the most is that I keep having hot flashes a lot. But shouldn't it be the opposite with hypothyroidism?
Hi again,
i just wanted to let you know that before I joined this Forum I had left a message on the FDA's question line. They had not gotten back to me so I thought I'd never hear back. Today, however, I did hear back from them. I asked them about whether the meds. and supplements that I've been taking, and especially Verapamil, Zantac and Prilosec OTC could possibly cause an elevation in liver enzymes.
Is this a pattern in your serum data as well, with fluctuations between normal and elevated. What was the original reason for the ERCP and MRI if the enzymes were ok, pain/jaundice? I assume when you say they are doing another MRI that they will also be doing a MRCP along with it? Sometimes seeing the bile duct system in it's undisturbed (not artificially extended/inflated) state is the key in determining what's wrong.
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