Itchy Skin

sammmo | 14:53 Wed 30th May 2018 | Body & Soul

15 Answers

My wife went to the doctors with an itchy skin problem. She has had blood tests and they came back and the doctor said her liver function was high @ 58. My wife does drink the odd glass of wine or cider but is not a heavy drinker. So my question is.. is 58 a dangerous level and what else could cause it to be high. And would this cause her itchy skin problems. Thanks in advance.

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rowanwitch

The number is meaningless without the thing it is a measure of however there are a lot of liver conditions that are not related to alcohol, is she jaundiced, I.e is she going yellow especially the whites of her eyes , is her poo pale and floaty and her wee darker. It's not that rare for the early stages of liver problems to be picked up when itching is investigated. If you can find out what was 58 I can tell you a bit more.

rowanwitch

How old is your wife that's quite important.

sammmo

Question Author

Hi rowanwitch. Don’t know what it measures. The doctor just said her liver function blood tested to high at 58.. my wife is 61 yrs old she has not got jaundice. Her pee is normal as is her poo. She hasn’t got a rash, and the itching is all over her body.

rowanwitch

They will probably want an ultrasound scan of her liver and related organs to see if there are any blocked areas. They might want an mri scan as well because a fatty liver can cause itching. Lots of things can cause liver results to go awry, if you can find out more I might be able to narrow the field a bit. Sqad will have other ideas. In the mean time it's a case of lots of moisturiser, avoid extremes of temperature and she might want to try an anti itch cream like eurax, or even calamine ointment not the lotion

NoMercy

Pruritis can be a sign of impaired liver function. Her GP should really advise her what to do next.

jakep

Just a suggestion but try googling Cholestasis and see if any of the symptoms fit your wife.

Sqad

A raised liver function test ( whichever one) in a non jaundiced patient is no big deal.
The commonest cause by far is something called Non Alcoholic Fatty liver disease.......often but not always associated with obesity, life style or diabetes.
Your GP may need to repeat the test and give you advice about dieting (if necessary) and reassure you that there is no significant underlying disease.

Sqad

P.S I cannot convince myself that your wife's itchy skin has anything to do with the raised liver function result (whatever it was).

dunnitall

IMO deffo liver related. Get her to take lactulose to help the liver....that is purely my opinion. Otherwise question doc and anyone else who is involved in this diagnosis. Good luck.

rowanwitch

Lactulose is used to clear blood in the bowel after a bleed, Not needed, there are a few very rare liver problems that cause really intense itching but one is mostly seen in men, and the other in slightly younger people. Fatty liver is getting really common even in outwardly slim people. I had mega itching with no obvious cause, liver disease was pretty much the first thing they looked at. It wasn't, but was easy to test for.