Firmagon and liver enzymes

VascodaGama said:

Hypogonadism causes mildly elevated liver enzymes

George,

LHRH agonists and antagonists (Lupron, Firmagon ,etc) elevates the liver enzymes (AST, ALT). It is writen in these drugs' prescription as a cautionary note on the side effects. ADT with these drugs lead to a dysfunctional pituitary which will directly affect (to a certain extent) our endocrine system, specifically the Thyroid. The low levels of circulating testosterone also affect the muscle and such disorders (the thyroid and muscle wasting) elevates mildly the liver enzymes. Kidney disease is also in jeopardy.

Surely other causes could be in play. The most typical in young fellas is the famous fatty liver disease. Hepatitis (B, C) or too much iron in the diet also elevates ALT and AST. You can check in a blood test your fasting glucose and any elevated iron (which could refer to an hereditary hemochromatosis disease).

I would recommend you to be vigilant in your next shot, try finding the cause and get the attention of your doctor to the matter.

Best wishes,

VGama

I have never needed or received HT for PCa, but have a lifetime history of liver issues.   Following extreme bruising of my liver in 1986 in an accident, in which the docs at first thought I had liver failure.  MY AST/ALT are always out of wack, which I know from cholesterol and triglycerides always running very high, even when on a reasonable diet and Lipitor or other statin drug.   Plus, many chemos spike these results.

My medical oncologist, when I was on chemo, never once paid any attention to the AST/ALT results on my blood panels, although they were often double the normal ranges during my 6 months on chemo.  I asked my GP about this one day, and he responded that "often doctors are not concerned about AST/ALT until they are near x3 the upper normal range."

Many meds skew other lab results, but usually this is expected and does not therefore worry a doctor when they (expectedly) show up. When a fire truck is putting out the house next door, your tap water pressure will be a little lower than usual.  These things all inter-react and then later usually drift back to normal levels.

Other chemicals cause significant and relatively fast AST/ALT increases:  Statin (cholesterol) drugs, Tylenol, and alcohol.   Tylenol can be very toxic to the liver, and I refuse to ever take it in any amount, given what I have learned about it over the years.  Ibuprofrin too is a little bit aggrevating to the liver, but much less so than Tylenol.

I hope some of this will be relevant and of assistance,

max