What Does High or Low LDH Mean?

When diseases and injuries wreak havoc on your body, lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) enters the bloodstream and the level of LDH in your blood rises. A high level of LDH in your blood can be a sign of acute or chronic damage, but additional testing is required to find the cause. Abnormally low levels of LDH occur rarely and are generally not considered harmful.

What is LDH?

LDH is an enzyme structure required in this process that converts sugar into energy for your cells. Because of this important role, LDH is present in most organs and tissues in the body, including the liver, heart, pancreas, kidneys, skeletal muscles, lymphatic tissue, and blood cells. There are five different forms of LDH, called isoenzymes. They are distinguished from each other by slight differences in their structure.
Why Is LDH High?
LDH is found in many cell types, and high LDH levels are linked to a number of conditions. These conditions are:

• Insufficient blood flow
• Stroke
• Certain cancers
• Heart attack
• Hemolytic anemia (destruction of red blood cells before completing their lifespan and leaving the bloodstream)
• Infectious mononucleosis (viral disease transmitted through saliva, kissing disease)
• Liver disease such as hepatitis
• Muscle damage
• Muscular dystrophy (genetic disease with progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass)
• Pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas)
• Tissue death
• Use of alcohol or certain drugs
• Sepsis (the body's response to infection damage to organs)
• Septic shock (shock from blood poisoning)

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  High and Low LDH Levels

  What is high LDH?
  
  High LDH indicates some kind of tissue damage. High levels of more than one form of LDH explain multiple tissue damage. For example, when a patient with pneumonia is having a heart attack. Extremely high levels of LDH may indicate serious illness or multi-organ failure.
  LDH levels alone are not sufficient to determine the location and cause of tissue damage, since LDH is found in many tissues throughout the body. . Diagnosis requires the use of other tests and images, in addition to measuring LDH levels. For example, high LDH-4 and LDH- 5 may mean liver damage or muscle damage, but liver disease cannot be confirmed without a full liver scan.
  
  LDH levels were used to monitor people who had had a heart attack before the discovery of other blood markers for heart damage. Now, troponin, a protein produced specifically in heart cells, is often considered a more accurate indicator of a heart attack.
  
  LDH levels are also often used during the treatment of certain cancers to predict outcomes and monitor the body's response to medications.
  >How to Lower LDH Levels?
  
  After diagnosing your condition, your doctor will measure your LDH level regularly to monitor the progress of your treatment. For this, you should listen to your doctor's recommendations. The most important way to lower LDH level is to solve the underlying medical problem.
  What is Low LDH?
  
  Low LDH affects how the body breaks down sugar to be used as energy in cells, especially in muscle cells. It is very rare for a person to have low LDH levels. Some genetic mutations cause low LDH levels. Some of these people complain of fatigue and muscle pain, especially during exercise. Others may not show any symptoms at all. Even if you consume large amounts of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), your LDH levels will be low.

  What is an LDH Test?

  Doctors usually measure LDH levels in the blood. In some cases, they need to measure LDH levels in the urine or cerebrospinal fluid. Some medications and supplements can interfere with an accurate LDH test. High amounts of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) can lower LDH levels. Alcohol, anesthetics and aspirin are substances that can increase LDH levels. High-intensity exercise can also raise LDH levels. For this reason, ask your doctor about medications and other conditions you should avoid before the test.
  Your doctor may request an LDH test for various reasons, such as:

  • To see if there is tissue damage and to measure how much, if any
  • To monitor for serious infections or conditions such as hemolytic anemia, kidney and liver disease
  • To identify certain cancers or to help evaluate cancer treatment Depending on your condition, you may have regular LDH tests.
  During the blood LDH test, your blood is drawn through a needle placed in a vein in your arm. For LDH tests of cerebrospinal fluid, a medical procedure called a lumbar puncture (also called a spinal tap) is applied to examine the sample. A thin needle is inserted into your lower back and the sample is taken. Before either test, be sure to inform your doctor about all medications, supplements, herbs, spices, and vitamins you use. After the LDH blood test, bleeding, bruising, infection, pain at the blood draw site, numbness and headache may be observed.

  What Do The Test Results Mean?

  Elevated LDH in the blood, tissue damage or may be a sign of disease. Your blood LDH level also gives your doctor an idea of ​​whether your disease is getting worse or whether your treatment is working. Higher-than-normal levels of LDH in the cerebrospinal fluid may indicate an infection or inflammation in our central nervous system. It can also mean that you have a disease that affects our brain or spinal cord, such as bacterial meningitis.

  What to Do with High LDH?

  If you stop using alcohol, certain drugs and supplements, your LDH level will drop. You can stop using them with the knowledge of your doctor. If your LDH levels are higher than normal, your doctor will order more tests and look for levels of LDH forms to determine where the damage is.
  If your LDH levels are found to be high, your doctor may also order ALT, AST or ALP tests. These help in the diagnosis or help determine which organs this damage is.
  High LDH level in the blood does not always indicate a problem. It can also be the result of strenuous exercise. Even if the blood sample is handled carelessly in the laboratory or is not stored at the appropriate temperature, your LDH level will be high. Finally, if your platelet (small blood cells) count is higher than normal, your blood LDH level may be high. Normal or below-normal LDH levels are usually not a problem.
  

  The Higher LDH Is Dangerous?

  LDH levels vary according to age and individual conditions. Babies and young children, also Ha have much higher LDH levels than older children or adults. LDH is reported in units per liter (U/L). In general, the normal values ​​of LDH in the blood are as follows: Age / Normal LDL Levels : 
  

  • 0 to 10 days - 290-2000 units/liter
  • 10 days to 2 years - 180 -430 units/liter
  • 2 to 12 years old - 110-295 units/liter
  • Above 12 years old - 100-190 units/liter
  Cerebral spinal cord normal LDH is 70 U/L or less for newborns and 40 U/L or less for adults. It is dangerous for adults if it is higher than this value. You can use the contact form on our website to reach us.

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