Understanding Elevated ALT Levels with Statin Therapy

Question
I am a 44 year old male. I have been taken medication to control my cholesterol level for these last three years. I am currently taking '40mg sinvastatin' and 'one lypanthyl 145mg' daily. I have managed to control my cholesterol level and during my last lab test, the total HDL Cholesterol ratio was 3, #HDL:1.17mmol/l# and #LDL:2.44mmol/l#.  However in my lab tests results I noticed that my 'ALT #SERUM#' result was '71 HI u/l' when the benchmark is between 10-50.  Does this mean that I have liver disease or is the result of 71 within limit even if higher than normal? My previous lab test results for ALT Serum was also high 80 H u/l and this was about a year ago.  I am not taking any other medications and I do not smoke or drink alcohol. I train 2 times a week in martial arts and do some strenuous physical exercises. Just for information I also take two capsules of Seven Seas Fish-Oil joint care daily.  Your remarks would be appreciated.

Answer
We get a lot of elevated liver enzymes like that.... that is a minimal elevation.... if someone gets hepatitis, those numbers go up into the thousands......

but it could mean that your liver doesn't like the simvastatin.  

If I were monitoring you, I would stop the simvastatin for 6 weeks and recheck.  If it is still up, I would do some other tests, such as check for viral hepatitis.  If it is down, then possibly try another cholesterol lowering medication.  It isn't an emergency but needs to be addressed.