Hi, how are you doing?<\/p>\n
Is your ALT high but within a normal range, or is it high and outside of the range?<\/p>\n
ALT is a test that is used to determine how healthy the liver is. If this is increased it means the liver has been\/is being damaged.<\/p>\n
Tenofovir is only known to cause liver damage if given with other drugs. These include: stavudine, didanosine and zidovudine. As you have not mentioned any of these drugs, it suggests tenofovir is not a cause.<\/p>\n
Dolutegravir can cause liver damage. How this happens is unknown but it is a common side effect. In these cases a rise in ALT is expected and different hospitals will have different cut-offs for intervention. ALT can rise a lot before there is a cause for concern, as an example some may not intervene until ALT is 5 times the normal value.<\/p>\n
When this happens, doctors would consider switching from dolutegravir or starting treatment breaks. Have you noticed any other symptoms suggestive of your liver being damaged? These include: jaundice (yellowing of the skin), prolonged bleeding, and increased weight.<\/p>\n
Reducing ALT depends on the damage and the cause. You have mentioned you drink and this can cause liver damage. Reducing or stopping this can help reduce your ALT. This can also be improved by following a healthier lifestyle with a balanced diet and exercise<\/a>.<\/p>\n Josh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My liver ALT enzyme has slightly gone high and I drink alcohol in moderation. I am on dolutegravir and tenofovir. Since I got diagnosed my ALT was always slightly higher anyway. Is anyone in the same situation and how do you decrease your ALT?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,26,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-topics","category-living-with-hiv-long-term","category-side-effects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19895\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}