
Originally Posted by
AnabolicDoc
I saw more than a few cases of drug induced hepatitis in med school and residency. Unfortunately, too often it will develop very suddenly and severely, in less than a matter of days. In those instances, the patient presents to the ER with classic symptoms of hepatitis (right upper quadrant abdominal pain, fever, fatigue, nausea & vomiting, sometimes jaundice, and only mildly elevated LFTs) with a sudden skyrocketing level of LFTs in the days following admission.
My point is that sometimes the LFTs trail behind the clinical manifestations so you could get a false sense of security from LFTs that are high normal or mildly elevated. And certainly this can happen within the 2 weeks between tests during which you won't have LFTs to guide u if ur symptoms are only mild. By the time your symptoms become severe, its too late - acute drug induced hepatitis will ensue even with abrupt discontinuation of the offending drug. Have you decided at what level of LFT increase you will discontinue the MT?
Of course this is a risk with any AAS, which increases with some of the orals and certainly with MT. So plz be careful. Also, many ppl on this forum have spoken to the effect of liver support supplements as a prophylactic measure. Some sites are advocating ursodial as well as it may help prevent hepatobiliary obstruction which is hypothesized by some to be the cause of AAS drug-induced hepatitis. I am not very familiar with the benefits of any of these measures, but it probably wouldn't hurt to get some advice about this from vets on the site. Anyone want to comment on effective liver support strategies?