Hepatitis Forums
Hepatitis C Prevention, Transmission and Testing => Am I Infected? => Topic started by: woh27 on July 31, 2015, 04:43:55 pm
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I've been suffering from a lot of health issues the last couple of years. The first ten years with bad gut issues and the last four with terrible fatigue, muscle twitching and more. My symptoms are very strong and I have made numerous efforts to try to figure out why I have them. I have tested my liver several times during these years without any remarks, my liver enzymes are fairly low. But a while ago I got to do a test that suggested that something was wrong with my bile acid synthesis which resulted in another liver enzyme test including bilirubin which came back normal.
It got me thinking and I started panicking and thinking that I might have hep-b or c. What I want to ask is if it's possible to have hep-b or c with strong symptoms for several years without ever having elevated liver enzymes? Is that a likely scenario? I'm very scared and confused and I don't know what to believe.
Should I be worried? What do you think?
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Hi woh27. And welcome to the forums!
I believe it is possible to have Hep B or C with symptoms such as you describe, but without having elevated liver enzymes. I have certainly read that. But rather than guess, the thing to do at this point is to be tested for Hep B and Hep C antibodies. It is a simple blood test that will quite quickly confirm whether you need to explore that path further. If you DO have antibodies for either Hep B or Hep C, then you need a subsequent blood test to confirm whether you actually have active virus in your body, or whether you simply contracted the virus at some point in the past but cleared it on your own (in which case no virus will be present but you will continue to have the antibodies forever).
And if it turns out you have Hep C, at least the cure is here.
best of luck to you,
kim
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Thank you for answering so soon! That's why I'm dreading B :-[ I know there's other ways to contract C without the use of needles but I also know it's a common way of infection, and I haven't been in contact with needles other than for medical issues. I try to keep telling myself that chronic B in adults are rare, but I'm terrified.
I know I should just get tested but I'm too afraid of what the results may show. But if it somehow would be C it does feel comforting that there's a cure out there, even though it's not avaliable for everyone.
Do anyone on the forum have experience with an infection that didn't show elevated liver enzymes?
Thank you again kim!
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yes you can have hep c and have normal liver enzymes but most do have at least slightly elevated enzymes.
How long ago do you think you were exposed to hep c?