Nurses/Doctors, routine yearly blood test question

K

Katerchen

Cathlete
My husband always tells the doctor he is a light, every now and then, drinker. In reality, he drinks an average of 6 beers (ice), 6 days a week plus 32 oz of table wine, 4 days a week. He does not appear drunk and must have built tolerance over the years.

I ask him how his bloodwork went and he says everything is normal except for his High Cholesterol. He doesn't give me any numbers besides Cholesterol. I get bloodwork done and I ask for numbers, also in regards of liver etc. I get answers like "ideal".

Can a person have a normal/average blood result of liver etc. if he drinks so much on a daily basis?
 
I know heavy drinkers who have good liver stats. A lot of it is genetics. Some people can drink heavily all of their lives and not be affected. That being said, are you sure your DH is getting a full physical and that the Doc is looking for EVERYTHING? Maybe you could go with your DH to the doctor's to discuss the results. You could tell him that you're simply interested in his health. That's a lot of booze, seriously. More, even, than the heavy drinkers I know.
 
That's a good question. If someone says that they don't drink much, would they still look for liver problems?

DH doesn't want me to go to the doctor with him.
 
Most every full physical involves feeling the liver and its borders to make sure it isn't too big. One thing that is a sign of liver problems is jaundice...yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes.

-Becky
 
I also have a similar question for nurses/doctors. What is considered a high liver function number? And, by the time a person has jaundice, isn't it just about the end of the liver/drinking game?
 
My brother drinks like a fish, probably more than your DH, smokes, eats fatty processed meat, plenty of sweets, and no veggies. His liver (and all other test) results are always normal. He's totally honest with his doc about his consumption, last year (my bro is 62 now), his doc even called him up and asked him to come back in for ONE more round of blood tests, the doc couldn't believe his results were so good. The second blood tests came back even better than the first and the doc told him he envied him being able to "get away" with so much. I think a good deal of it is genetic, one man's meat is another's poison. You're lucky that DH goes in for regular physicals so they can catch anything early.
 
Yes, it's possible to have completely normal liver enzyme levels with him drinking so much. In fact, it's actually not a good thing that his liver enzymes are normal due to his heavy drinking. This definitely means that he's built up a tolerance over the years and won't appear drunk.

What you need to be especially concerned about is if he has to be admitted into the hospital for any reason.

As an ICU nurse, I see this all the time where the patient minimizes the amount of alcohol he consumes, but then when they are admitted, they run a HUGE risk of going into withdrawals, which are very life threatening by themselves!!!

If he's admitted, please, please, please for the sake of his doctors and nurses, tell them the truth about how much he drinks. They can prescribe medications that will help his DT's and make them easier on him and you (they are horrible to watch and could even kill him if the staff doesn't know about his alcohol consumption!) DT's on top of what he's in the hospital for really puts your husband at risk for MAJOR health problems.
 
Just a thought: Isn't it possible that, just as he lies to the doctor about his alcohol consumption, he is lying to you about the test results? I would think that alcoholics (and if he's not an alcoholic, I don't know what you'd call it) would sometimes be in denial about their condition, and both these lies would fit into that.
 
Well, on the flip side, my husband is having some issues with his liver, apparantly. He NEVER drinks. His probs started with a uric acid level that kept rising. Every year we go have labs drawn for our own FYI. We both don't eat the best, but I tend to eat healthier, and more fruits and veggies. Most recently, his uric acid level was 12.0 which is strinkingly high. Back when it was 10 the doc advised him that he was on his way to gout. Asked him if he drank a lot. My husband was bewildered. He chalked it up to too much red meat, but honestly, it does not seem like we eat it enough to cause that.

Well, this blood test his liver panel, specifically his ALT and AST came back elevated. Only around 20-30 points. I told him maybe he should go to the doc just to be safe. Well, the doc said "it doesn't look good" and it testing him for hepatitis!! Seems like he would have drawn labs one more time before he put the fear of God in my husband.

Point is, he has never drank and all of a sudden he appears to have probs. With the uric acid level, since we eat almost the same foods, it appears to just be genetic. A genetic tendency to have high levels. Why it keeps rising, I don't know.....:eek:
 
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