Liver and keto question

(Ashley Armstrong) #1

I’ve got a friend at work who wants to join keto with me and the science behind the diet is a bit over my head (I get the basis of it). She had a blood test done a few weeks into her new way of eating and her doctor called her in saying her liver was shutting down and asked what she was doing. She said she was cutting carbs and he told her to stop immediately. She wants to get back into keto but is afraid with what her doctor said to her. What can I tell her to reassure her she fine? I believe she has Gestational diabetes

#2

interested in this, what sort of stats did they give? blood results etc??

#3

Gestational diabetes means she’s pregnant - is that the case? Which means she needs to work with her doctor and get more specific information as to how her health is being impacted.

(Ashley Armstrong) #4

She no longer pregnant but she had it when she was. Her dr makes her do blood work twice a year as a precaution

(Ashley Armstrong) #5

Good questions I’ll have to ask her and get back to you

#6

Yes, please let us know. Liver “shutting down” is fatal (and definitely wouldn’t be a natural result of going keto) so either he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, or something serious is up.
I wonder what he saw in the blood test? There are plenty of folks on here (I’m not one of them!) who can give a pretty clear explanation of the role of the liver in our processing of sugars and what might be happening in the first few weeks of going keto.
Also, if she’s losing weight, her cholesterol numbers might be way up (though I don’t know how that would be reflected in his liver comments…).

#7

Agree - the cholesterol was what I was wondering about. However a look at the liver enzymes would be most interesting.

#8

Her liver was probably “shutting down” BEFORE keto, and a few weeks is not long enough to see an improvement. I used to have elevated liver enzymes (from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), and my first sets of lab work (at one month and four months in) showed no improvement. But when I had lab work at 10 months in, my liver enzymes were completely normal.

(Jenn Monaghan) #9

With something that serious, I’d get a second opinion.

(Bunny) #10

“Shutting down?” (is that all he or she told her?)

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