The two liver numbers on every blood panel

Hi {{first_name|there}},

October is National Liver Awareness Month, and if you've had blood drawn at the clinic there are two numbers on that panel that tell us how your liver is doing day to day. Most people have never been told what they mean.

ALT and AST are enzymes. Your liver cells use them to do their work, and a small amount leaks into the blood all the time. When liver cells are under stress, more leaks out, and the numbers climb. That's all a high ALT means on its own: liver cells are working harder than they'd like to.

ALT lives mostly in the liver, so it's the more specific of the two. AST also shows up in muscle and heart, which is why a hard workout the day before a draw can nudge it up.

The reference range on your report is built from the people the lab tested, not from the people the lab would call healthy. A result inside the range can still be higher than it was last year, and the direction matters as much as the number. That's the question to bring: not "is it normal," but "what was it last time."

Severe pain under the right ribs, a fever, or yellowing of your skin or eyes needs medical care right away, whatever the last panel said.

ALT and AST rarely tell the story alone. GGT, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin, and fasting insulin fill it in, and so does a simple question about what you ate and drank the week before. A liver panel read next to a metabolic panel says more than either one read by itself.

Nurse Doza

This email is for education. It isn't a diagnosis or a treatment plan. If something here sounds like you, bring it to your next visit and we'll look at it together.