has anyone heard of lyme disease causing adverse liver reactions such as unusually high liver enzymes? Also, what is a herx, exactly? Sorry, not up on all the terminology on here yet.
Posted by tdtid (Member # 10276) on :
I'm not really the one with the technicals for answering these types of questions, but will write a quick bit until someone more qualified comes along.
Basically, from what I have been told, Lyme can effect any and all organs in your body. And yes, the liver would be one. I always had raised liver enzyme levels but at the time, they didn't know what was causing it.
They as they started putting me on meds, it would creep higher. But after my diagnosis, it's looking to my LLMD that it is lyme related. He does keep running blood work to keep an eye on it though.
As far as what a herx is....basically it's a die off and some say that our symptoms can get up to 3 times worse.
It sounds bad, but if you can look at it as it being a good thing....since when this happens, it means we are killing off a bunch of these suckers, it really helps us get through it in a more positive light.
You may get more responses if you post these kinds of questions in the medical section, since that's where most hang out. Good luck and I'm glad you found us.
Cathy
Posted by minoucat (Member # 5175) on :
Hi there, and welcome. In general you'll get a better response to these kinds of questions in the Medical Questions section (because more people read that page).
A herx is short for Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction, which is a (usually) short, intense reaction by the body to die-off of bacteria. The reaction is both to the sudden release of dead bacteria in the blood, and to the toxins that are released upon bug-death. See The Herxheimer Reaction for a good explanation and more info.
People often find they herx at 4-weekly intervals when treating borrelia -- this is thought to be because of the slow way in which Bb reproduces (bacteria are most vulnerable to abx (antibiotics) when reproducing).
Sometimes -- too often -- people mistake adverse reactions to the antibiotics they are taking for herxes. It's important to look up the drug side effects for yourself -- even the best doctors often aren't up on all the details. I use http://rxlist.com
Liver dysfunction is common with Lyme disease.
And my 2 cents -- Lyme disease is often much more than a borrelia infection -- it is a constellation of tick-borne diseases, each causing its own problems. There's a good overview of the coinfections at http://www.lymeinfo.net/coinfectionarticle.html Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
YES you can get Lyme induced Hepatitis but it is reversible with antibiotics- 40% of early Lyme patients have elevated liver enzymes- that is a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!
QUOTE: After antibiotic treatment, elevated liver function tests improved or resolved in most patients.
1: Hepatology. 1996 Jun;23(6):1412-7.
Liver function in early Lyme disease.
Horowitz HW, Dworkin B, Forseter G, Nadelman RB, Connolly C, Luciano BB, Nowakowski J, O'Brien TA, Calmann M, Wormser GP. Department of Medicine, Westchester County Medical Center, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA.
To evaluate the frequency, pattern, and severity of liver function test abnormalities in patients with Lyme disease associated with erythema migrans (EM), 115 individuals with no other identifiable cause for liver function test abnormalities who presented with EM between July 1990 and September 1993 were prospectively evaluated.
For individuals with abnormal liver function tests, common causes of hepatitis, including hepatitis A, B, and C, were excluded.
A local control group was used for comparison.
Forty-six (40%) patients had at least one liver test abnormality, and 31 (27%) had more than 1 abnormality compared with 19 (19%) and 4 (4%) of controls, respectively.
gamma-Glutamyl transpeptidase (28%) and alanine transaminase (ALT) (27%) were the most frequently elevated liver function tests among Lyme disease patients.
Anorexia, nausea, or vomiting was reported by 30% of patients, but did not occur more frequently in patients with elevated liver function tests compared with those with normal values.
Patients with early disseminated Lyme disease were more likely to have elevated liver function studies (66%) compared with patients with localized disease (34%).
After antibiotic treatment, elevated liver function tests improved or resolved in most patients.
Liver function test abnormalities are common in patients with EM but were mild, most often not associated with symptoms, and improved or resolved by 3 weeks after the onset of antibiotic therapy in most patients.
PMID: 8675158
1: Klin Med (Mosk). 2000;78(4):36-40.
Clinical characteristics and risk factors of hepatic damage in lyme borrheliosis
Bessonova EN, Lesniak OM, Podymova SD, Bazarnyĭ VV.
The study is based on the study of data on 33 patients with Lyme Borrelia infection in the presence of typical erythema migrans in whom elevated levels of serum bilirubin or transaminases were detected simultaneously with erythema or just shortly. The obligatory criterion was no history evidence of hepatitis and abnormal hepatic functional tests. Higher levels of serum aminotransferases were a major manifestation of Lyme hepatitis in the Sverdlovsk region. In 32 patients, ALT was increased, on the average, up to 176 U/l, and AST activity was up to 113 U/l within the first 2 weeks of the disease in the absence of clinical manifestations of hepatic and biliary diseases. There were changes in the levels of serum transaminases and bilirubin following 3- and 8-month antibiotic therapy. The presence of viruses A and C in moderate chronic hepatitis induced long-term increases in the activity of transaminases in 3 cases, as evidenced by histological studies of hepatic biopsy specimens.
PMID: 10833889
1: Presse Med. 2002 Feb 23;31(7):319.
Lyme borreliosis hepatitis
Nicolas X, Granier H, Zagnoli F, Bellard S. PMID: 11899689
1: Gastroenterol Clin Biol. 2001 Dec;25(12):1125-
Hepatic injuries related to Lyme borreliosis: response to 2 cases presented by I. Dadamessi et al
Necrotizing granulomatous hepatitis as an unusual manifestation of Lyme disease.
Zanchi AC, Gingold AR, Theise ND, Min AD. Division of Digestive Diseases, Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, New York 10013, USA.
PMID: 17638077
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Have your dr check your liver enzymes frequently while on abx.
Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :
Are you on antibiotics? If you are on antibiotics or other drugs, I would look at those as the first likely cause of elevated liver enzymes.