Elevated Liver Panel

[bluejaunte]

I just requested a few blood tests run on my borderline anemic 2 year old to try and find out why he's not absorbing iron despite 3 months on high doses of rx supplements. His thyroid came back fine but his liver enzymes are elevated, particularly his transaminases. Also his glucose is a bit high, his albumin is a tiny bit high, and his BUN/creatinine ratio is quite high, although his BUN and creatinine are both within range.

I've read that elevated liver enzymes can present with celiac. I thought I'd pick y'all's brain on that. His doctor has no idea why a seemingly healthy 2yo should have an abnormal liver panel, and really neither do I. We go to a ped GI on Monday who is allegedly well versed in celiac. I've suspected it for a while -- he has a LOT of symptoms -- and the only thing keeping me from going gluten-free right now is I want to talk to the GI first and see what she thinks of his presentation & whether we should even bother testing someone so young or go straight to gluten-free and try to bring these numbers down (and his iron numbers up!).

All thoughts VERY much appreciated.

[ravenwoodglass]

It is not at all uncommon for us to have elevated liver panel results. They usually go back to normal after a while on the diet. I am glad you are seeing the GI soon. Do try the diet after all testing is done though because as you are aware the rate of false negatives in children is kind of high.

[bluejaunte]

Thanks for that. My brain's been going a bit mad with researching all the various scary reasons a liver panel could be elevated in a toddler. But he's not symptomatic for any of it. Celiac or other food intolerances, he's got a PILE of symptoms.

I definitely plan to make this house gluten-free/dairy-free and see what comes of it. I'd be interested to see what at least the blood test says, though. Wish I could do the Enterolabs testing but noooooo. I live in the wrong state apparently. Grr.

[melblondin]

Just wondering if you ever found out anything more? My 3 year old was just diagnosed with "weak positive" bloodwork and slight anemia among many other symptoms. My other son is 5 and we put him on a gluten-free diet since he also shows symptoms although his celiac panel was in range. His liver enzymes were elevated though and I know that I am DQ2.5 positive, sooooo I'm going to be proactive and hope we just catch it early.

[ravenwoodglass]

Just wondering if you ever found out anything more? My 3 year old was just diagnosed with "weak positive" bloodwork and slight anemia among many other symptoms. My other son is 5 and we put him on a gluten-free diet since he also shows symptoms although his celiac panel was in range. His liver enzymes were elevated though and I know that I am DQ2.5 positive, sooooo I'm going to be proactive and hope we just catch it early.

I am glad you are proactive. I would bet those liver panels come back better the next time around.

[Luvbeingamommy]

I know before I was diagnosed I was having some elevated liver enzymes. I really think it could be related, I was kind of baffled when I was getting these results.