Two years ago, my liver enzyme was 69. The upper limit of normal is 40. That’s seventy-three percent above the ceiling — while I was on medication supposed to be helping me.
The result came back marked “Satisfactory.” No phone call. No letter. Just silence.
That was December 2023. I was on dual cholesterol therapy — atorvastatin and ezetimibe — and my cholesterol was 8.0 mmol/L. Higher than my pre-medication baseline. I was eighteen stone, pre-diabetic, and on six medications daily.
This post documents what happened to my liver over the next twenty-three months. Every number is from a real NHS blood test. I made the decision myself and showed my GP the bloods afterwards.
My Liver on Statins: What blood tests going back to 2012 Actually Showed
I’m going to walk you through the timeline, because this is where the pattern becomes impossible to ignore.
April 2012. First blood test in my records. ALT: 37. Within normal range. Liver’s fine. Not on statins yet.
October 2016. On atorvastatin and ezetimibe for some time. ALT: 39. Still technically normal, but two points higher than 2012. Nobody flags it. It’s within range.
December 2023. ALT: 69. Seventy-three percent above the upper limit of 40. Marked “Satisfactory” by the system. I found out via an online portal, not a phone call.
At that same blood test, my total cholesterol was 8.0 — the highest it had ever been. Higher than my pre-medication baseline of 7.5 in 2012. So the medication designed to lower my cholesterol hadn’t lowered it. And my liver was showing signs of stress.
I want to be fair here. Statins are one of the most prescribed medications in the UK for good reason. The evidence shows they reduce cardiac events in high-risk patients — that’s standard, evidence-based medicine. Professor Janet Lord, immunologist at the University of Birmingham, points out they have real anti-inflammatory benefits and may improve immune function in some people. This isn’t me saying statins are bad. This is me saying: what happens when the side effects aren’t being tracked closely enough?
Boxing Day, Eighteen Stone, and a Decision
December 2023. I was eighteen stone. HbA1c was 46 — one point from a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis. On six medications daily: statins, ezetimibe, allopurinol for gout, two asthma inhalers, cetirizine for allergies. Doing everything by the book. Getting worse.
Boxing Day, I looked in the mirror and said out loud: “This ends now.”
I started 18:6 intermittent fasting. Cut ultra-processed food. Switched to whole foods. My prescriptions had ended when I moved GP practices in October 2023 — I had enough medication to last until February 2024. February 2024 is the real cessation date.
Here’s what I need to be upfront about. I didn’t discuss stopping the medication with my GP beforehand. I changed, then sat down with my new GP sixteen weeks later to explain what I’d done. If you’re considering changing your medication, please do what I should have done — have that conversation first, not after. Once we did talk, he wanted to see the next set of bloods. Monthly bloods for three months, then quarterly. The data would decide whether this was reckless or reasonable.
The Liver Numbers: Three Months, Twelve Months, Two Years
This is the part that made my GP pause.
March 2024 — three months off statins (WMTWL-EVID-145). ALT: 28. Down from 69. A fifty-nine percent drop in roughly ninety days. Back within normal range.
January 2025 — twelve months. ALT: 29. Holding steady.
April 2025 — fourteen months. ALT: 23. The lowest I’d ever recorded. Better than any blood test across the whole record of monitoring.
November 2025 — twenty-three months. ALT: 10. On a scale where the upper limit is 40.
That’s not just normal. That’s optimal. An eighty-six percent reduction from the peak of 69.
Let me put the two snapshots side by side:
December 2023 — on dual cholesterol medication:
- ALT: 69 (73% above normal)
- Total cholesterol: 8.0 mmol/L (highest ever)
- HbA1c: 46 (pre-diabetic)
November 2025 — off all medication:
- ALT: 10 (well within optimal range)
- HbA1c: 37 (normal)
- Kidney function: greater than 90 (excellent)
Why Did the Liver Recover? What the Research Actually Says
Professor Sarah Berry’s research explains part of this. Refined carbohydrates get converted into fat in the liver — triglycerides — which puts extra burden on liver function. When I switched to whole foods and cut ultra-processed food, I wasn’t just removing the medication load. I was removing the dietary burden at the same time.
Professor Janet Lord describes fasting’s cellular effect in terms I find genuinely useful. She calls autophagy “like a little Hoover going around the body, hoovering everything up and getting rid of the rubbish.” She’s seen it in three-to-six-month human studies: inflammation drops, cardiovascular risk factors improve, lipid profiles change. That timeline matches mine almost exactly.
I’ve got an analogy I use for this. The Council Round. Your cells are like a house where the bins haven’t been collected in months. Black bags piling up — junk proteins, damaged cells, metabolic waste. Fasting is the bin lorry finally turning up. Clears the lot. Hoses down the pavement. You didn’t realise how bad it was until it’s gone and you can breathe again. My liver going from 69 to 10? That’s what happens when The Council Round finally gets through.
What This Means — And What It Doesn’t
I need to be honest about what this data is and isn’t.
This is my data. N equals one. It doesn’t prove statins damage everyone’s liver. It proves that in my case, liver enzymes were significantly elevated on statins and recovered dramatically after stopping — alongside fasting and whole food eating.
I also want to be transparent: cholesterol itself remains elevated at 6.77 mmol/L as of November 2025. That’s still high. Professor Sarah Berry’s research shows diet can lower cholesterol by as much as thirty percent through a portfolio diet approach. There’s more work to do there, and I’m not pretending otherwise.
But the liver recovered. Dramatically. And the conversation I had with my GP at that first review appointment — he opened the results, paused, looked up, and said: “Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.” No lecture. No concern. Data validated the decision.
The Takeaway: Data Beats Assumptions
This isn’t an argument against medication. If statins are working for you — liver enzymes stable, cholesterol improving, no adverse markers — brilliant. Keep going.
But if you’ve been on medication for years and your biomarkers are getting worse rather than better, you’re allowed to ask why. You’re allowed to bring data to that conversation. And your GP should be willing to look at it with you.
Track your biomarkers. Six months minimum. Then have a proper, evidence-led conversation with your GP. That’s not medical rebellion. That’s a reasonable approach to your own health.
<div class=”video-embed”> <iframe width=”100%” height=”480″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/[VIDEO_ID]” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen> </iframe> <p class=”video-caption”>Watch the full video breakdown above (Duration: 10:38)</p> </div>
🎯 Key Takeaways
- ALT 69 → 10 over 23 months — An eighty-six percent reduction in liver enzyme levels after stopping statins, fasting, and switching to whole foods
- Biomarkers were deteriorating on medication — December 2023 showed both liver stress and the highest cholesterol ever recorded, despite years of dual therapy
- Data beats assumptions — Track six months of bloods, then have a GP-led conversation; changing medication without medical supervision isn’t recommended
- This is N=1 — My own results, tracked by me and shown to my GP afterwards, not a general case against statins. Your situation may be different
Ready to Track Your Own Biomarkers?
If you’re on medication and wondering what to actually measure, how often, and what the numbers mean, I’ve put together a free biomarker tracker template. Everything I use, structured so you can take real data into your next GP appointment.
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⚠️ Important: This is educational content based on evidence and personal experience. It is not medical advice. Speak to your GP before making changes to your fasting pattern, diet, or medication.
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