Well this thread has made me paranoid. I have a liver test in a couple of weeks. I had one before since I'd just started on Lipitor for high cholesterol. The result was a polite letter suggesting I cut back on my alcohol consumption. I laughed it off because I had just arrived back from from a very pleasant holiday with lots of nice wine in my system.

The problem is that that Doc is an AME and he might pick up the phone to talk to the Doctor in the Aeromedical centre if he thinks there's a problem. I don't want a similar letter to that of the OP!

So it's off the sauce for me, which is no hardship really as I actually don't have an alcohol problem.

Six weeks complete abstinence before a liver function test.

received the results back and all well with in limits and they give me my medical with no restrictions.

Just wait until they cotton on to metallic ions.

Well I have a test on Friday morning. I had few drinks last week and only half a glass of white last night. By any standard that is below moderate drinking. So the result will be interesting compared to previous results.

Reg.6, either you are deluding yourself or somebody has been misleading you. 20 units is not moderate, it borders on the safe limit for men of 21 units and exceeds the limit for women by quite a large margin. Alcohol recommended safe limits, units/week.
Steelcraft, that's excellent news. :)

I'm still unclear as to why LFT's are tested in pilots? The tests are neither specific or sensitive.

Testing for those on a statin is just about acceptable, at 1, 3 and 12 months, (and then never again),but, again, the science behind this is limited.

What really worries me about using this test is that it may result in a fit, healthy, (undrinking) pilot being stigmatised, whilst the hardened drinker is missed, due to the over reliance on snake oil medicine. Have the authorities created another "EEG" test?

liver test
 

funny man - the Royal College of Physicians admit they just made these numbers up on the basis of no evidence at all. In NZ the limits are more than twice as high and they are not exactly dropping dead in the streets. The WHO says below 35 units is low risk . Even supposing anybody tells the truth about how much they are drinking to any studies that are done.

I'm sure I've read somewhere, perhaps hidden amongst the musings of Robert Louis Stevenson, that anyone who feels the need to discuss their own alcohol consumption is either a schizophrenic or an addict.

Hi sherburn2LA! Where did you get that dit about the Royal College? It's not often that such a body will put its reputation on the line with an admission like that - it would be a refreshing change if it is so.

I expect The Royal College would have used a phrase such as "the evidence is less than robust," rather than, "we made it up."

Although it probably amounts to the same thing.

Interestingly though, if we look at mortality rates for chronic diseases, the lines are generally pointing down, in some cases quite spectacturely. Probably as a result of all the good work done in primary care (!), much more probable as a result of better educated kids coming through the ranks, people smoking less etc.

The exception for the line direction though, is death through liver disease.:ouch:

There is (I have had to edit this to change the verb from "was" because that seemed unfair...) a certain popular musician (no names, no pack drill) whose interview appeared on the BBC website today who admitted to previously unheard of, by me anyway, consumption with explosive consequences.

I wonder if you saw the report, gingernut.

The story I was told Gingernut was that it was 5 pm at the Royal College of Physicians and the great and good had spent all day with the civil servants drafting a policy on alcohol. The doctors were keen to get to the bar but the civil servants refused to close the meeting until a safe limit had been agreed. In desperation the doctors pulled figures from the ether and disappeared to the bar

I suspect it has validity. Certainly the recommendations are rubbish with some people able to drink much more but others getting problems with lower levels.

Alcohol is the only vice that will prolong your life - if you drink regularly in moderation you will statistically have a greater life expectancy than if you are tee total. But equally drunks in city centres at 11pm and elsewhere cause massive harm and cost to society. As this posting shows it also causes anxiety in otherwise normal people. The debate is rather political - alcohol abuse does kill but whether the increase in incidence is as much as reported or merely reflects more accurate reporting is another debate

You have obviously not had a night out on cornish cider.

You think everything is normal and there is a very small fart brewing then bang the mother of all wet farts comes out. Strange thing was the pub even had spare pairs of trackie bottoms behind the bar for such accidents.

Thankfully I wasn't the first to be hit and went for a tatical before the fart

Great story homonculus.:)

Interesting statistic, but as ever, there are lies, damn lies, and...........
(Do the tea totallers die young because there are other factors in their life which are responsible, eg chronic disease, reading Watchtower, being boring etc).

Of course, we'll be revealling more patients with elevated LFT's as we're monitoring more and more patients-('cos we're sticking more on statins.)

Still not convinced using them as a screening tool is useful. And why oh why are we measuring GGT's.:ugh:

As for Cornish Cider....me and Adam, Watergate Bay, circa 2005

Guys I need your help, I had a problem with the sauce im CC not FD and went to rehab, been tee total for coming up 2 months.
Had a company blood test 2 weeks to prove im off the sauce and it came back with hight liver Enzymes reading .

I HAVE NOT HAD A DRINK !

The company Dr has said I am still drinking and has grounded me ???? where do I stand ?

Saying that no test were taken before i went into rehab so they have no way of telling how high my readings were before.

Well it according to my sources they should expect it to go up intially then drop down over a year but more learned people on here seem to think thats pish.

I would call there bluff and say you are more than happy to have a breathalizer with you and take a test infront of the Captain before every duty or for that matter when ever they want.

Thanks for that I have offered to do that but they say a breatlizer will only show ive not been drinking in the last 24 hours.
The Company Dr at Gatwick is very well know for being useless, So im off to see a Diffrent one on Monday but still grounded:ooh:

Might be worth speaking to one of the CAA doctors then.

I know CC don't have much to do with them but they are actually pretty friendly and good and want to help.

They also have the joker in the pack telling a company AME that they are talking !!!!e.

As a none medic it would seem sensible to me that your body will be under going a period of stablisation after removing a constant input of booze.

The AA might also be a good point of contact to get references showing that whats happening is normal.