Jaundiced and high liver enzymes.

Good evening.

I first wanted to thank you for the work you do and the high quality content you put out. I have never felt the need to post or ask a question before as I have always been able to find answers by reading your articles and always learned more than just “getting an answer”.

i have been bothering by dad to start training for years now. 10 plus years ago he had encapsulated lung cancer and the surgeons took a 1/3 of one of his lungs and he has been “healthy” since. Never smoked, never been obese and generally ate healtjy( although in my opinion not enough). He lost what I referred to as his buffer weight from the cancer treatment and never gained it back. He had slowly been losing weight since. He went for his check up and had blood work done. Apparently on one of the tests for liver enzymes the normal reading is 50 ish, he was in excess of 400. He is also jaundiced. He is not a closet drunk but fully admits in the last year he has been consuming between 2.5-3 drinks daily. Prior to the last year 1.5-2. This is allowing for some days with less and others with more. He has not had a drink since that doc appointment over a month ago. I believe the average and I am a cynical jerk and don’t have rose colores glasses when it come to my parents.

He now wants me to train him and listen to my advice on excersise and nutrition. He’s 5 11 and 155. A healthy person and a basic few months of LP I wouldn’t blink but this has me a little overwhelmed. I’m thinking start with an empty bar for squats and dead’s, women’s bar or less for overhead and 2.5 lb progression 2x per and go from there. He eats decently although not enough and maybe try to get him eating extra salad and maybe some veggie/fruit smoothies.

Thanks for reading and your time.

Hi Warren,

If he’s jaundiced with rising liver enzymes, he really, really needs to follow up with his doctor as soon as possible on this. That should be an even bigger priority than training right now.

Good morning

Thank you for the quick reply. His doctor has him scheduled for an MRI and has told him to get his blood tested in another month after his lifestyle changes and then go from there. I was hoping that there was a course of action I could help him and my mother implement so they feel like they are doing something and being pro-active instead of “waiting”. I appreciate the input and the limitations of questions on a forum.

Thanks again

Warren

From a training standpoint, there isn’t much “unique” here. If his doctor evaluated him and didn’t think he needed to be sent to the hospital, then he should be able to train as you described in the initial post above.