Can Elevated Liver Enzymes Be Caused By The Pill?

Elevated liver enzymes can be caused by various factors, including medications like cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins) and acetaminophen, fatty liver disease, hemochromatosis, hepatitis A, B, C, alcoholic hepatitis, and autoimmune hepatitis. Herbal supplements and vitamin supplements, such as chaparral, comfrey tea, iron, and vitamin A, can also cause liver damage from an overdose.

High liver enzyme levels can signal inflammation or damage in the liver, which can be temporary or a sign of a medical condition like hepatitis. Hormonal contraceptive users have been observed to have a statistically significant higher mean value of liver enzymes assessed compared to non-user control groups. Estrogens and oral contraceptives are both associated with several liver-related complications, including intrahepatic cholestasis, sinusoidal dilatation, and high cholesterol.

Research has shown that hormonal birth control increases someone’s risk of developing liver tumors and cancer, jaundice, and clotting of the liver’s membranes. Taking birth control pills has not been found to be safe for the liver, as they can trigger various liver problems over a prolonged period. Liver damage is a rare side effect of the pill, but if it occurs, symptoms such as sluggish, toxic liver or liver congestion linked to birth control pills may include rashes, psoriasis, eczema, boils, acne, or moles, itching.

Unintended pregnancies may occur if liver enzyme-inducing medicines are taken with contraception. The main liver enzyme responsible for these symptoms is CYP3A4, which is responsible for the production of bile acids. It is essential to recognize these signs early to take steps to prevent more severe liver damage.

Can taking pills affect liver?

Some drugs can cause hepatitis with small doses, even if the liver breakdown system is normal. Large doses of many medicines can damage a normal liver.

Many different drugs can cause drug-induced hepatitis.

Painkillers and fever reducers that contain acetaminophen are a common cause of liver injury, particularly when taken in doses greater than those recommended. People who drink alcohol to excess are more likely to have this problem.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, diclofenac, and naproxen, may also cause drug-induced hepatitis.

• Amiodarone
• Anabolic steroids
• Birth control pills
• Chlorpromazine
• Erythromycin
• Halothane (a type of anesthesia)
• Methyldopa
• Isoniazid
• Methotrexate
• Statins
• Sulfa drugs
• Tetracyclines
• Amoxicillin-clavulanate
• Some anti-seizure medicines
• Disulfiram
• Niacin
• Azathoaprine
• Ketoconazole

Can your liver recover from high liver enzymes?

About one-third of people with elevated liver enzymes will have normal liver enzyme levels after two to four weeks. If your liver enzymes stay high, your provider may order more blood tests, or imaging tests such as ultrasound, CT scan or MRI. They may also refer you to a liver specialist (hepatologist).

What does it mean to have elevated liver enzymes?. If you have high levels of liver enzymes in your blood, you have elevated liver enzymes. High liver enzyme levels may be temporary, or they may be a sign of a medical condition like hepatitis or liver disease. Certain medications can also cause elevated liver enzymes.

What are liver enzymes?. Liver enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions in your body. These chemical reactions include producing bile and substances that help your blood clot, breaking down food and toxins, and fighting infection. Common liver enzymes include:

• Alkaline phosphatase (ALP).
• Alanine transaminase (ALT).
• Aspartate transaminase (AST).
• Gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT).

When to worry about alt levels?

What is the normal range for ALT? Different labs use different ranges, but the typical range is about 7 to 56 units per liter (U/L) of blood. What level of ALT is concerning? Anything above or below the normal range may lead your doctor to order additional tests.

The alanine aminotransferase (ALT) test is a blood test that checks for liver damage. ALT used to be called serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (SGPT). So, it’s sometimes called an SGPT test. Your doctor can use this test to see if a disease, drug, or injury has damaged your liver.

Tracking your liver’s health is important because of all the things it does for you. Your liver:

• Makes a fluid called bile that helps your body digest food
• Filters your blood to remove wastes and toxins
• Makes substances that help your blood clot
• Stores vitamins and minerals until you need them
• Removes excess sugar from the blood

What are the 10 worst medications for your liver?

Prescription drugs:Statins. Antibiotics like amoxicillin-clavulanate or erythromycin. Arthritis drugs like methotrexate or azathioprine. Antifungal drugs. Niacin. Steroids. Allopurinol for gout. Antiviral drugs for HIV infection.

Toxic liver disease, or drug-induced liver injury (DILI), is damage to your liver. It’s also called hepatotoxicity or toxic hepatitis. It can cause serious symptoms or liver damage if you don’t get help.

Medications, herbal supplements, chemicals, solvents, and alcohol are all possible causes of hepatotoxicity.

Your liver filters everything that goes into your body. It clears out alcohol, drugs, and chemicals from your blood. Then it processes the unwanted bits so you can flush them out through your urine or bile.

Can hormones increase liver enzymes?

Sometimes, factors such as hormonal changes or reactions to medications can cause temporarily elevated liver enzyme levels. Elevated levels caused by these factors will generally return to normal in about 2 to 4 weeks without treatment.

Your liver makes proteins called liver enzymes that help your body perform necessary functions. For instance, liver enzymes help your body:

• Fight infections
• make coagulation proteins that are necessary for blood clotting
• break down the food you eat
• break down toxins

Do birth control pills cause elevated liver enzymes?

Hepatotoxicity. While early formulations of OCCs were associated with frequent serum enzyme elevations, current formulations and hormonal replacement therapy have not been linked to ALT or alkaline phosphatase elevations at rates any higher than occur with placebo.

Abbreviations: OCC, oral contraceptives; FNH, focal nodular hyperplasia; BRIC, benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis.

Zimmerman HJ. Hormonal derivatives and related drugs. In, Zimmerman HJ. Hepatotoxicity: the adverse effects of drugs and other chemicals on the liver. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1999, pp. 555-88.

(Expert review of effects of estrogens and birth control pills on the liver).

Which birth control is safe for liver disease?

Progestin-only contraception is a method that avoids estrogen risks and is available in various forms such as progestin-only pills (POPs), depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) injection, and long-acting reversible contraceptives like the subcutaneous implant and hormonal intrauterine device (IUD). POPs require more consistent daily dosing than CHC pills and have a similar failure rate to CHCs. They can be safely used regardless of underlying liver conditions, including decompensated cirrhosis and patients with BCS.

DMPA is an every 3-month injection with a typical failure rate of ~6. Concerns with DMPA include a decrease in bone mineral density, which reverses upon cessation of use. It is less favored in those at risk for osteopenia/osteoporosis, such as patients with cirrhosis, cholestatic liver disease, chronic steroids, and those who received liver transplant. A recent case-control study found that progestin-only contraceptives do not increase venous thromboembolism risk, except for DMPA.

Among all forms of hormonal contraception, those with the lowest failure rates are safe regardless of the type and severity of liver disease and can be left in place for 3-7 years. Patients with chronic anemia and thrombocytopenia can benefit from the levonorgestrel IUD, which may decrease or eliminate menstrual bleeding. Copper IUD, like the hormonal IUD, has a failure rate of 2 and can be left in place for up to 12 years.

Should I worry if my ALT is high?

Your provider usually compares your ALT results with the results of the other liver tests to evaluate your liver health and to decide if you need other tests to make a diagnosis. In general, high levels of ALT may be a sign of liver damage from hepatitis, infection, cirrhosis, liver cancer, or other liver diseases.

What is an ALT Blood Test?. An ALT test measures the amount of ALT in your blood. This test is commonly used to help diagnose liver damage or disease.

ALT (alanine transaminase) is an enzyme, a protein that speeds up certain chemical reactions in your body. It is found mainly in your liver. Usually, you will have low levels of ALT in your blood. But when liver cells are damaged, they release ALT into the bloodstream. High levels of ALT in your blood may be a sign of a liver injury or disease. Some types of liver disease cause high ALT levels even before you have symptoms of the disease. So, an ALT blood test may help diagnose certain liver diseases early, when they may be easier to treat.

An ALT test is usually ordered as part of a group of liver function tests.

Does I pill affect liver?

Among all family planning methods, oral contraceptive pills are a more popular and effective solution to avoid pregnancy. Not only for birth control, it has other health benefits like reducing acne, regularising menstrual cycles and easing menstrual cramps etc. Hence it is in wide range of use among women. These pills consist of estrogen and progesterone hormones, mainly acting on ovaries and uterus. However, like all other medicines, it has to get metabolised in the liver. Taking any medication impacts our liver and so does oral contraceptive pills. Since these are to be taken daily, you are giving drugs to your body daily. This might not go down well with your liver. Onlymyhealth reached out to Dr. B Gowthami, Consultant – Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Milann Fertility & Birthing Hospital to understand how birth control pills might harm liver health.

The main role of the liver is to process whatever we consume like food, medicines, liquids etc to convert them into simpler form so that the body can easily clear them in urine and stools. In that case the liver is the main organ which encounters the insult or injury by the consumed medicines.

Most drugs when used for a long term, can cause slight increase in liver size and enzymatic functions. These changes are temporary and reversible, once we stop taking medicines the changes will revert back to normal. Same applies for oral contraceptive pills also.

Can birth control pills cause fatty liver?

Oral contraceptive pill use is associated with reduced odds of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in menstruating women: results from NHANES III.

Published in final edited form as: J Gastroenterol. 2012 Nov 28;48:1151–1159. doi: 10. 1007/s00535-012-0715-8.

Background. Higher prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in men and postmenopausal women than in premenopausal women has suggested a potential role of sex hormones in the pathogenesis of the disease. We sought to evaluate the association between oral contraceptive pills (OCP) and NAFLD and to determine whether adiposity mediates any effect.

Methods. We included 4338 women aged 20–60 years who were enrolled in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1988 to 1994 in a population-based cross-sectional study. We defined NA-FLD as moderate–severe steatosis on ultrasonography in women without excessive alcohol use or other identifiable causes. OCP use was based on self-report and was categorized as never, former or current use.