Bloodwork on Pitavastatin + Glutathione vs Without

[Elektrobot]

My creatine kinase was 773 on my last labs. They put in my chart to discontinue statins.

I was performing aerial straps friday and saturday night, blood draw was monday morning. I'm pretty sure it was just from a hard weekend. It had never been that elevated before. But the unexpected outcome was a prescription for repatha..... so ..... if anyone is trying to figure out how to do that...........just run you CK up real high and your Dr will think the statins are causing muscle damage

 

[Ghoul]

My creatine kinase was 773 on my last labs. They put in my chart to discontinue statins.

Good time to ask for ezetimibe. Zero liver impact. Doubt they’d have any objection.

A lipid lowering “freebie”, in terms of no side effects. A good addition to all lipid stacks, though everyone should be on this, imo. It’s all upside. they should be putting this stuff in the water.

Used to be $600 / mo for years. Countless articles back then about how you could quarter the $20 pills and stretch it out so it’d only cost $150/mo lol.

Now a dirt cheap generic.

 

[Elektrobot]

Good time to ask for ezetimibe. Zero liver impact. Doubt they’d have any objection.

A lipid lowering “freebie”, in terms of no side effects. A good addition to all lipid stacks, though everyone should be on this, imo. It’s all upside. they should be putting this stuff in the water.

Used to be $600 / mo for years. Countless articles back then about how you could quarter the $20 pills and stretch it out so it’d only cost $150/mo lol.

Now a dirt cheap generic.

Awesome, thank you, I will ask for that

 

[Ghoul]

I stopped taking Ubiq, is it true that I need to be taking fat alongside it? If so, how much? I’ve read that without fat it doesn’t get absorbed but I haven’t dug deep to see if it’s rly trye

A1C at 5.0

Will re-take thyroid after 8 weeks from cutting off t3 and supplementing with t4 to see how my thyroid is taking it

400mg in MCT, high soluability formula. You won’t need any other fats for absorption, and a large enough dose to cover any deficiency.

CoQ10 can really hold you back if insufficient.

https://a.co/d/6xzr45n

 

[Photon]

I stopped taking Ubiq, is it true that I need to be taking fat alongside it? If so, how much? I’ve read that without fat it doesn’t get absorbed but I haven’t dug deep to see if it’s rly trye

Yes it needs fat.
I was planning to add Ubiquinol and VIt K2 to my oils to reduce the pills i'm taking lol. Ive read that the bioavailability is horrendous too.

You can find injectables at 20mg/ml suspended in oil.
Figured i'd just add it to my oils.

 

[Photon]

For reference my natty AST/ALT were always 55/75. Ofc no supplementation.

I'd try and get it much lower, do you know why's it so high?
Im suspecting NAFLD

This is mine on TRT with 700mg of glut daily.


And this without glut

 

[Deadpool99]

I'd try and get it much lower, do you know why's it so high?
Im suspecting NAFLD

This is mine on TRT with 700mg of glut daily.
View attachment 360899

And this without glut
View attachment 360900

Possibly, I have no explanation tho. I have also tested 15points less on ALT previously just by testing on a rest day, so ik my ALT can be lowered easily.

Don't consume alcohol, was obese 2.5 years ago, ever since been healthy with a low fat diet.

I think I should strive to lower them but I think I have to focus on the GGT value more maybe from now on?

Cuz I wanna try anadrol during the end of my bulk for the first time, done anavar before and liver was basically around 90, nothing crazy.

Since I don't use orals, not concerned on my lowering it ASAP, do u recommended I attempt 700mg gluta or try keeping it at 400mg?

Would we consider gluta working for me based on the AST?

Issue with gluta is holy shit I go through 2.3 vials per week.

 

[Deadpool99]

I'd try and get it much lower, do you know why's it so high?
Im suspecting NAFLD

This is mine on TRT with 700mg of glut daily.
View attachment 360899

And this without glut
View attachment 360900

Ur blood tests on halo with gluta was why I pulled the trigger tbh

 

[Deadpool99]

Holy shit, chase irons on 18ius got IGF-1 at 2348, says never went above 300.

Put's into perspective what I should expect, I was very concerned with that previously, thought it meant I had bunk shit.

 

[Deadpool99]

Come to think of it, having my AST almost within reference mid-cut and lower than my natural levels was pretty significant.

I’m trying to search up glutathione and study it further, I have a few things to add:

On the surface level, gluta injections seem inferior to nac for example:

- They do not enter liver cells effectively.
Apparently it stays in the bloodstream and It gets broken down by GGT and only fragments get reused and they don’t rly become intracellular liver glutathione

- Technically it only raises extracellular glutathione briefly

- Liver protection depends on intracellular glutathione — which NAC raises, not gluta injections.

Quick chat gpt:


1. Glutathione is broken down by GGT before it reaches liver cells

GGT (γ-glutamyltransferase) is an enzyme sitting on the outside surface of liver cells.

It’s designed to break down extracellular glutathione.

So when you inject GSH (IM or IV):

GGT immediately chops it into:

• glutamate
• cysteine
• glycine

Almost NONE of the intact glutathione molecule enters hepatocytes.

This is a textbook biochemistry fact, taught in med school metabolism:

“Glutathione must be broken down extracellularly before its components are used for intracellular resynthesis.”

This is why GSH itself is NOT taken up by liver cells efficiently.

2. Hepatocytes lack a transporter for intact glutathione

The liver does NOT have a membrane transporter capable of pulling full glutathione (GSH) inside the cell.

This has been confirmed repeatedly in liver physiology research:

• Hepatocytes export glutathione
• But they do not import intact glutathione

Meaning:

Injected GSH cannot enter hepatocytes directly

It cannot raise intracellular glutathione efficiently

Only cysteine (from NAC) can do that

This is why NAC is the only clinically effective way to raise intracellular GSH.


3. Plasma glutathione has a short half-life (~10–20 minutes)

Studies measuring blood GSH after IV glutathione show:

• Levels spike FAST
• Peak around 10–30 minutes
• Drop sharply
• Return to baseline within a couple hours

That’s because:

• It’s rapidly oxidized
• Rapidly broken down by GGT
• Rapidly filtered by kidneys

This is why IM/IV glutathione only gives a short-lived antioxidant spike, not lasting liver protection.

Bonus: Human trials confirm very low hepatocyte delivery

When researchers give IV glutathione:

• Blood GSH increases
• Intracellular liver GSH barely changes
• ALT/AST do not drop meaningfully
• Protection is minimal unless doses are extremely high (in hospitals)

BUT when they give NAC:

• Intracellular liver glutathione rises strongly
• ALT/AST drop
• Survival in acute liver injury improves
• It protects hepatocytes directly

This is why NAC is a medically approved antidote
and glutathione injections are not.

Final Clinical Claim (with mechanisms)

Injected glutathione is rapidly degraded by GGT before reaching liver cells

Hepatocytes cannot import intact glutathione

Plasma glutathione has a short half-life

Therefore, bioavailability to hepatocytes is poor

NAC raises intracellular liver glutathione far more effectively

This is not theory — this is biochemistry, hepatology, and toxicology 101.




But what rly annoys me is ur anecdotal experience and tests on it. I’m torn.

I’m thinking of switching to high dose nac maybe, tudca and sam-e are good but holy shit a bit expensive to run at high doses

 

[Photon]

I think I should strive to lower them but I think I have to focus on the GGT value more maybe from now on?

GGT could also be alot lower but it is technically within range vs ALT. I don't think you should switch to look at a different biomarker just because it looks better lol...

Since I don't use orals, not concerned on my lowering it ASAP, do u recommended I attempt 700mg gluta or try keeping it at 400mg?

I think 400 is fine.

Would we consider gluta working for me based on the AST?

No, if you see my log, my AST was influenced alot more by working out vs ALT.

3. Plasma glutathione has a short half-life (~10–20 minutes)

Studies measuring blood GSH after IV glutathione show:

• Levels spike FAST
• Peak around 10–30 minutes
• Drop sharply
• Return to baseline within a couple hours

Yes, I've mentioned a few times that the 1/2 life is extremely short, which is why i pin it daily.

Bonus: Human trials confirm very low hepatocyte delivery

When researchers give IV glutathione:

• Blood GSH increases
• Intracellular liver GSH barely changes
• ALT/AST do not drop meaningfully
• Protection is minimal unless doses are extremely high (in hospitals)

BUT when they give NAC:

• Intracellular liver glutathione rises strongly
• ALT/AST drop
• Survival in acute liver injury improves
• It protects hepatocytes directly

Both NAC and Glut have been shown to decrease ALT values.
However I am not sure which is better to inject, given that it is not clear what % of NAC actually converts to glut. There is indeed injectable NAC from pharma, but it'd be from India Pharma probably and is not as easy (or cheap) to obtain like how glut is from KR Pharma.

I'd probably take a look at IM NAC at some point -- the raws are 3x cheaper and its more stable chemically lol.

Were you on reta pre-blast?

 

[pewex]

@Deadpool99 Just a friendly heads up: your screenshots seem to have some identifying info. You might want to contact @Millard to get them removed.

 

[RockyP]

AST / ALT can take several days to return to baseline assuming they are from muscle breakdown. It’s fairly common for anyone who trains hard to have AST / ALT around 2x normal if no rest days prior to blood draws. Your ALT pre cut was higher than I’d expect however. Being a large fellow makes this more pronounced. If you’re chasing these enzyme markers you should consider taking 3-4 days rest before testing them (I know - I ain’t doing that shit either but for completeness’ sake…) That said, if you want to get a picture of how things are on cycle then waiting the extra time is prob. It worth it.

Big picture wise these labs are really not bad at all considering the stack you were running. You could prob get similar results with 1/3 of the tren dosage and likely have much better lab markers too. Something to consider for next time.

 

[Biglittlejoe]

AST / ALT can take several days to return to baseline assuming they are from muscle breakdown. It’s fairly common for anyone who trains hard to have AST / ALT around 2x normal if no rest days prior to blood draws.

Just got my lab results with ALT=129 and AST=75. I am on 280:360 mg test:mast per week, with no rest days before labs were drawn. These enzymes have been high for me the last few years. Doctor wants me to get a liver ultrasound but I don’t know if I should be concerned. Thoughts?

 

[BigDadd7]

Just got my lab results with ALT=129 and AST=75. I am on 280:360 mg test:mast per week, with no rest days before labs were drawn. These enzymes have been high for me the last few years. Doctor wants me to get a liver ultrasound but I don’t know if I should be concerned. Thoughts?

Your doctor wants to do an ultrasound, and you don't know if you should be concerned?

 

[Biglittlejoe]

Your doctor wants to do an ultrasound, and you don't know if you should be concerned?

Correct, this is a new doctor for me and he is young. My previous doctor just retired. I was not completely honest with the new doctor about my PED use because I don’t want it in my medical record, so I just told him I am on TRT. I have seen some serious incompetence and lack of knowledge regarding PED use among doctors.

I suppose there is no harm in doing the ultrasound other than the inconvenience and possible cost.

 

[Guzmanus]

Interesting to see the changes with the different support supps. The GGT marker is a good addition.

 

[Ghoul]

Correct, this is a new doctor for me and he is young. My previous doctor just retired. I was not completely honest with the new doctor about my PED use because I don’t want it in my medical record, so I just told him I am on TRT. I have seen some serious incompetence and lack of knowledge regarding PED use among doctors.

I suppose there is no harm in doing the ultrasound other than the inconvenience and possible cost.

Because I try to be aware of the latest, best practices for whatever I’m having addressed, I often encounter doctors reluctant to do imaging that could shed some light on whatever’s going on. Most of the time, it’s because the guidelines themselves are against imaging unless certain conditions are met.

For instance, you could have 250 LDL, 1000 CAC score, implying the widowmaker is one flight of stairs from clogging just enough to kill you, and the guidelines advise not doing an angiogram to check how blocked it is, which could reveal the need for an urgent bypass since it’s 95% blocked, unless you’re having symptoms. Never mind that the first symptom could be death.

In my mind, if there’s a 1% chance of finding a problem, I struggled to understand the rationale behind this “better not look” approach.. Ok, limiting “radiation exposure”, that makes sense. Except it applies to non or very low radiation imaging too. So that’s not the root of the guideline driven anti-imaging philosophy.

Cost to benefit ratio? Of course that’s always a factor, though when it comes to my health, if there’s any chance of a benefit from testing, I don’t give a crap about saving the insurance company money. Improve your balance sheet with some other sucker, not me. But even offering to self pay often doesn’t overcome the reluctance and insistence in following guidelines.

I finally discovered the primary reason guidelines avoid imaging unless all the factors put together meet some threshold is the harm of potentially *unnecessary procedures* resulting from seeing something in the imaging.

After giving that a lot of thought, I concluded that for a patient actively involved in their own care, it’s MUCH better to have all the information possible, then if something is discovered, make the decision as to whether it’s worth treating with some procedure or not.

There’s just no way I can see having less information is preferable to having more. At least not for a proactive, engaged patient with a couple of functioning brain cells who won’t panic, demanding surgery without weighing the risk to reward. I don’t need to be “saved from myself” by “not knowing”.

There’s no harm in seeing what’s up with your liver. It’s painless and radiation free. I’d see it as an opportunity to get a free diagnostic and be armed with more insight about your body so you can make better decisions going forward.

 

[Scruf]

@Photon @Ghoul

I am interested on ur thoughts.

For Pita:

I got similar lipid values regardless of using it, do u think I should suspect my Indian pita or wait more time? 5 Weeks seems a good amount of time to assess. I was mainly looking for the HDL increase. @Ghoul.

I had all time low liver enzymes mid-cut when using nac/tudca/sam-e. Lower than my natural liver values, even during an aggressive cut of 1300 calories + 120-160mcg clen + 80mcg t3.

However 4 weeks on Glutathione 400mg yielded same values I had before adding tudca/sam-e. So do u feel like I'm doing smth wrong @Photon?

Hey Deadpool, what are you taking during your cut. How consistent have you been with your trainging and cardio over the past 6 months.

 

[Deadpool99]

GGT could also be alot lower but it is technically within range vs ALT. I don't think you should switch to look at a different biomarker just because it looks better lol...


I think 400 is fine.


No, if you see my log, my AST was influenced alot more by working out vs ALT.

View attachment 360932


Yes, I've mentioned a few times that the 1/2 life is extremely short, which is why i pin it daily.



Both NAC and Glut have been shown to decrease ALT values.
However I am not sure which is better to inject, given that it is not clear what % of NAC actually converts to glut. There is indeed injectable NAC from pharma, but it'd be from India Pharma probably and is not as easy (or cheap) to obtain like how glut is from KR Pharma.

I'd probably take a look at IM NAC at some point -- the raws are 3x cheaper and its more stable chemically lol.

Were you on reta pre-blast?

Reta was used all throughout this process at the same doss.