FML: Heavy lifting made me look like I was in liver failure

[georgealston]

@halifax24 Whoa! This is so cool! My blood gets monitored monthly because of an autoimmune issues and my liver enzymes have been acting up recently. Never thought that a new lifting program could be contributing to this.

 

[halifax24]

@georgealston Same here (autoimmune disease); It's tricky right, because it could also be med related!

 

[doyola38]

@halifax24 Crazy! What did your GP say about it?

Def from lifting, not one of these things? Maybe one of the weirder one? http://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/elevated-liver-enzymes/basics/causes/sym-20050830

 

[halifax24]

@doyola38 It was for a clinical trial, not through my primary doctor, though I'm definitely bringing the results to my next visit just to share the knowledge!

 

[3john3]

@halifax24 Interesting, I train fairly hard and last year when I had a needlestick injury from someone with Hep C, I had my LFTs tested twice - they were always well within normal range. Mind you, that was during my usual routine, it's not like I had tripled my regular workouts the day before.

 

[daveman2186]

@halifax24 Wow so... This is a different yet similar issue as rhabdo? Similar potential issues or additional ones? were you just told not to lift as a precaution, or are you in danger of the levels rising again? I'm part of the community that gets all the publicity for rhabdo and that's the only context I've seen for these kinds of bloodwork related issues from lifting. The CK is the one that seems to come up on those occasions.

 

[halifax24]

@daveman2186 It's a totally different issue than rhabdo, which can have the unfortunate effect of putting people into AKI; on the other hand my kidney function (BUN/creatinine) were both normal, just the CK and LFTs were elevated. I was asked not to lift just because I'm still not used to it and waxing/waning levels of my LFTs could obfuscate the results (who knows if it was from my lifting vs the meds, etc).

 

[daveman2186]

@halifax24 Wow, it sounds like kind of a fortunate coincidence you happened to be getting this bloodwork.

 

[clydin]

@halifax24 That is SUPER interesting. Thanks for sharing.

 

[mein007]

@halifax24 Interesting stuff! Fellow RN here. I'm aware of rhabdo being an issue in similar circumstances and elevated CPK makes sense but I had no idea your LFTs could go up.

Honestly though, I've been lifting for 3 years and I have lab work done 3-4 times a year and have never backed off prior to the labs being drawn, and I've never had an issue with my lab results. So I think it's going to be relative to someone's fitness level.

 

[readingrambo]

@mein007 Yeah, I have seen liver transplants for severe rhabdo.. just another reason to listen to your body and increase training in increments.

 

[fredg61]

@mein007

Keep in mind I went from absolutely zero physical activity to this.

Key phrase here.

 

[halifax24]

@mein007 Same here! Yeah I totally think it's more related to the fact I went from 0 -> 100 in no time flat, although other studies I found while I was researching this have found that men who regularly exercised could have distorted LFTs if they did some sort of weightlifting program, though what type and the duration that causes the LFTs isn't really well established. Good to know, though!

 

[dawn16]

@mein007 Same, I was on Accutane for 9 months, which also elevates liver enzymes and I workout pretty hard (two a days on Tues/Thurs) and never had abnormal labs.