Bulking and Doctor's Concern

I am 21 years old. I started lifting 3-4 months ago, and I have made some very good progress. I gained 30 pounds within that time frame and I can’t see much fat on me. I feel good and I feel stronger.

Now as a part of my physical, I spoke with my Dr about my lifting routine, and informed that I take 6 gr of fish oil 4 scoops of whey, and 2 gr of creatine daily, in addition to a centrum. As far as my bulking is going, I might be indulging too much with dairy and peanut butter, but I eat little to no fast food and I eat healthy. I hardly drink and don’t smoke (last drink was a week before my visit).

I got blood taken from me, and my liver enzymes are deviated from what they are supposed to be. My doctor told me that I need to lay off all supplements for a month and then retake the test.

MY QUESTIONS: Has anyone had a similar problem or have any idea what this liver deviation could be a part of? And secondly, how much is my progress going to suffer without whey, creatine, etc… and are there ways of working around it?

THANKS! :expressionless:

A month off supplements will not make you shrivel up. Any losses is probably mental.

I personally doubt its the supplements that are causing you any issues. There are a lot of doctors out there that think creatine and whey protein is the devil. Dropping creatine for a month wont make much difference to your training and change the whey out for egg whites if you like. 4 cups per day will be about 100 grams of protein. Close to the same as the whey.
Bring some more information here and others may be able to help more.

Like Bushy said, depends on what’s elevated.

Some of my last blood work was a little off center, but within reasonable limits. And I know why the stuff that odd was that way, so no big deal.

I’m guessing that its something other than your supps thats the problem.

Maybe creatine. Back off for a while and get re tested. You’re new to lifting, you’d make the same gains without the supps. Its about the rest of your diet, not the supplements.

When was the last time you lifted before you got blood drawn?

 Appreciate the feedback. I will call the Dr. on Monday and get more information regarding which enzymes are elevated. In response to some of your questions.

 I did chest and tris the day before (approx 12 hours before my blood test). Whey can have adverse effects on the liver at high  concentrations, but only taking 4 scoops a day, I do not that that would be of great concern. Also, in response to the AST comment, I had a fair amount of tendonitis in the arm which blood was drawn, but really no injuries to skeletal muscle.

I will still continue eating like a madman, but in order to get the bottom of this, I would rather take a systematic approach and drop one sup at a time, starting with creatine, and then retesting. Creatine, just because I know the least about it.

Alkaline Phosphatase 154 normal range 45-128
ALT 75 10-55

I was banking on an elevated AST count, but no luck. So I will stop all whey, creatine, and fish oil for a month and retest, then reincorporate them one at a time. Those numbers seem not too large of a deviation, but then again I’m not a doctor.

Any indication which of these sups could be the culprit?

What should I expect in terms of losses and what are good ways to combat them?

ALT levels can be elevated after strenuous exercise. Heavy lifting would fit that.

for your next blood test you could stay away from the weights for 4 nights beforehand (e.g. workout monday, blood test friday)

Some nice recuperation for you and plenty of chance to ‘normalise’ in case of any after effects from the training.

I expect all your doctor wants is to double check your ‘normal’ counts without any notable stressors or too many dietary variables so he can focus on the medical interpretation without having to second guess other influences. Hope it goes well.

You won’t lose anything, just keep on going and dont mind if you feel a little less ‘full’ from the creatine emptying.

I would not eliminate the fish oil, though. 6g per day is onthe low side anyway. If anything, that will improve some numbers. (probably not in the specific values that are out of range for you, though)I take 35g daily. I haven’t had a blood profile, but I’m betting it’s not adversely affected by FO.

[quote]badman926 wrote:
Any indication which of these sups could be the culprit?[/quote]

FWIW I have an autoimmune liver disorder.

Creatine made my numbers go crazy.

Liver Doc said get off of that – numbers went back to normal.

Fish oil, Whey protein? Liver Doc says no problem – as long as is a pure whey protein w/o creatine.