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Pregnant, Having Severe Dry Cough. X-ray Shows Pleural Effusion, Prescribed TB Tablets. ALT Not Responding Good. Anything Serious ?
Hi,
My wife is pregnant & having severe dry cough in December. We had visited several times to GP but they couldn't able to figure the problem then we had decided to visit midwife in emergency. Somehow doctor & midwife realized there is some less breath noise from right side of chest & then she did chest X-ray.
In X-ray, doctor found large quantity of fluid(pleural effusion) in chest then Doctor has admitted my wife in hospital for 5-6 days & they took some fluid out with needle. She again had X-ray then doctor realized there is still some fluid remaining in chest.
Doctor tried to take sputum test but because of dry cough, they couldn't able to diagnose properly. At last they had decided to start TB medicine & given few tablets & told her to take these medicines daily empty stomach & doctor has suggested these medicines are safe in pregnancy also.
After taking these medicines her cough gone. In mean time doctor has suggested to do LFT test regularly & they saw her ALT count is going up(you can see in below chart) so they stopped TB medicines(around 7 tablets) and after few days they again started with 5 TB medicines when they realized her ALT is normal but after taking medicines for few days her ALT goes again high & again doctor suggested to stop medicines... same process continues again... now she is having 3 TB medicines but yesterday she had LFT again & her ALT is again very high & doctor suggested to take Vitamin K & Urso deoxycholol acid(450mg) tablet.
Date ALT
5Apr 168
25Mar 42
22Mar 33
20Mar 42
15Mar 111
11Mar 197
7Mar 234
5Mar 204
27Feb 72
25Feb 54
21Feb 63
18Feb 88
15Feb 103
13Feb 126
5Feb 175
30Jan 167
28Jan 146
25Jan 152
23Jan 151
14Jan 134
9Jan 129
3Jan 107(Started TB medicines)
30Dec 87
29Dec 119
12Dec 27
Having dry cough from 1st week of December.
I am very must tensed & worried about my wife's treatment. I believe every time the way her ALT is responding is not good. In this way something serious might happened to her Lever.
Can you please suggest something.
My wife is pregnant & having severe dry cough in December. We had visited several times to GP but they couldn't able to figure the problem then we had decided to visit midwife in emergency. Somehow doctor & midwife realized there is some less breath noise from right side of chest & then she did chest X-ray.
In X-ray, doctor found large quantity of fluid(pleural effusion) in chest then Doctor has admitted my wife in hospital for 5-6 days & they took some fluid out with needle. She again had X-ray then doctor realized there is still some fluid remaining in chest.
Doctor tried to take sputum test but because of dry cough, they couldn't able to diagnose properly. At last they had decided to start TB medicine & given few tablets & told her to take these medicines daily empty stomach & doctor has suggested these medicines are safe in pregnancy also.
After taking these medicines her cough gone. In mean time doctor has suggested to do LFT test regularly & they saw her ALT count is going up(you can see in below chart) so they stopped TB medicines(around 7 tablets) and after few days they again started with 5 TB medicines when they realized her ALT is normal but after taking medicines for few days her ALT goes again high & again doctor suggested to stop medicines... same process continues again... now she is having 3 TB medicines but yesterday she had LFT again & her ALT is again very high & doctor suggested to take Vitamin K & Urso deoxycholol acid(450mg) tablet.
Date ALT
5Apr 168
25Mar 42
22Mar 33
20Mar 42
15Mar 111
11Mar 197
7Mar 234
5Mar 204
27Feb 72
25Feb 54
21Feb 63
18Feb 88
15Feb 103
13Feb 126
5Feb 175
30Jan 167
28Jan 146
25Jan 152
23Jan 151
14Jan 134
9Jan 129
3Jan 107(Started TB medicines)
30Dec 87
29Dec 119
12Dec 27
Having dry cough from 1st week of December.
I am very must tensed & worried about my wife's treatment. I believe every time the way her ALT is responding is not good. In this way something serious might happened to her Lever.
Can you please suggest something.
Mon, 15 Apr 2013
Hi Kuldeep arora.
Thanks for coming to HCM.
Tubercular treatment in pregnancy is safe and constitutes combination of isoniazide, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, ethambutol for two months followed by isoniazide and rifampicin for next four months. Drug induced hepatitis (raised liver enzymes i.e ALT/AST and serum bilirubin) is known complication of Anti tubercular drugs especially isoniazide, rifampicin and pyrazinamide.
Once hepatitis develops ( as raised ALT told by you), the treatment has to be stopped till the enzyme level comes to normal value and then the abovesaid three culprit drugs are introduced one by one. Liver function has to be checked after 7-10 days of introduction of the drug each time and culprit drug is identified and discontinued. Further treatment is then continued with modified regimen.
In your wife's case the pattern of rising ALT is such that it rises when therapy is given and decreases once it is withdrawn, so it's a clear case of drug induced hepatitis and has to be managed as stated above.
Consult your doctor for the same....
Best wishes...
Thanks for coming to HCM.
Tubercular treatment in pregnancy is safe and constitutes combination of isoniazide, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, ethambutol for two months followed by isoniazide and rifampicin for next four months. Drug induced hepatitis (raised liver enzymes i.e ALT/AST and serum bilirubin) is known complication of Anti tubercular drugs especially isoniazide, rifampicin and pyrazinamide.
Once hepatitis develops ( as raised ALT told by you), the treatment has to be stopped till the enzyme level comes to normal value and then the abovesaid three culprit drugs are introduced one by one. Liver function has to be checked after 7-10 days of introduction of the drug each time and culprit drug is identified and discontinued. Further treatment is then continued with modified regimen.
In your wife's case the pattern of rising ALT is such that it rises when therapy is given and decreases once it is withdrawn, so it's a clear case of drug induced hepatitis and has to be managed as stated above.
Consult your doctor for the same....
Best wishes...
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