LandsUnknown
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2014
- Messages
- 1,077
For perspective, I know what a weekend of modest binge drinking does to my liver enyzmes: the ALT and AST soar into "dangerous liver damage" territory, but going clean for just a week restores them to normal levels.
I don't think this is accurate information. In fact, it can't be. I get drunk nearly every night and have been doing this for a long time, with no problems honestly. Never throw up or black out or anything like that. To me, alcohol is kind of a dual purpose thing, it helps me chill out and relax at the end of the day. The night before my last blood test, I got a bit drunk. Certainly at the level that the CDC would consider "binge drinking". If I remember correctly, I had four cans of Trader Joe's Double IPA (8.5 percent, so equivalent to probably "6-7 standard drinks" or so. Above the threshold of "binge drinking". Part of the reason for my alcohol habit is to chill out and relax (and also to sleep, as I have a way of staying up very late on nights that I do not drink, but I can go a day or occasionally even two or three without drinking and have no negative symptoms from it other than sometimes wanting a beer) And at the time of my blood test, I drank this amount of alcohol for around 6 months or so every night without fail. Prior to this, I cut back to drinking two beers a night for a year or so until I began drinking more heavily again which I still am. Prior to that, I had drank this amount on a nightly basis as well for several years. Given my alcohol habit, I was somewhat concerned about the liver test and even googled "symptoms of liver issues" due to being a bit of hypochondriac.
Despite this, my doctor not only said that my liver enzymes were in the normal range but that my "liver and kidneys are in excellent condition", indicating that not only was it in the normal range but in the upper end of the normal range. Therefore, clearly liver enzymes are not universally elevated by heavy drinking. In order to become more informed about health risks of my alcohol habit that I very much do not wish to give up, I have done a lot of research on the subject online. Around 80% of very heavy drinkers do not develop liver issues at all to a medically significant degree (even if they drink very large amounts of alcohol). These people effectively are not going to need to worry about having a problem with it no matter how much they drink. However, the other 20% or so of people can develop very serious, even fatal liver problems from heavy drinking and it often does not take as much alcohol as one may imagine. And if someone stops drinking altogether, yes the liver can heal if it hasn't progressed too far. But if it has, the damage can be permanent. Unfortunately, there is no way to know whether or not one is vulnerable to develop problems.
However, if OP was told that his liver function was in the bottom 1%, that sounds like a problem. As a result, I would be concerned. If I were in this position, as difficult as it may be for me, I would stop consuming alcohol altogether. I also would get a second opinion from another doctor. If this second opinion said that the first doctor was wrong and my liver was fine, I'd probably stop for a beer on the way home from the doctor's office. But until I got the official word that the doctor was wrong, I wouldn't attempt to speculate about the possibility of the doctor that gave the bad news being wrong. Because in my research, one can have severe liver damage and no symptoms. No jaundice, liver pain, nausea, nothing at all. Generally feeling well but suffering from serious liver problems that could become extremely severe and swiftly. Liver damage in general is nothing to fuck around with. If you are concerned about your doctor lying, that's even more reason to get a second opinion. Sadly, I can't say it is impossible. So, get a second opinion. However, don't assume that your doctor lied or is wrong. They may be, but they could also be right.
To expedite things, you could ask for your own bloodwork results from the other doctor and take them with you to an appointment to the other doctor. And act very concerned on the phone, I would be too if I were in that position. And ask for the soonest appointment. Go in with the results and ask the other doctor what they think of the situation. And say that you were on a binge at the time of the test. If they say it looks fine, then they're likely correct. Perhaps, they'll order more tests. And if so, I'd just go through with it. Hopefully, that doctor was wrong or lying. But since you don't know that, err on the side of caution as difficult as it may be.
To Scrofula, for HR sake, don't encourage him to ignore this doctor's advice due to the mere possibility that he/she was wrong or lying. There is no clear evidence of this, therefore assuming that the doc is lying or wrong is taking a very serious chance with what I would personally consider to be an unacceptable level of risk and many people would agree with this.