In need of help-possible hepatitis

[Al420]

Hi, I went to the ER for high heart rate. Just had a physical a week earlier and blood work was fine. I was then referred to be seen right away by a new dr who told me my blood work showed low rbc, low calcium, ast of 8, alt of 19, INR of 1.08. She said based on that I may possibly have hepatitis. Does anyone see numbers that may indicate that? My symptoms are no appetite, exhausted, high heart rate, and low blood pressure. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[KimInTheForest]

Hi Al420. Hepatitis is not the first thing that comes to mind for me with those symptoms and lab results. But Hepatitis (all 3 Hepatitises  - A, B, C) is very easy to test for and confirm or rule out. Just a simple blood test. So I would suggest getting that done, and then you will know.

Good luck,
kim

[Al420]

Thank you so much for your response. What would it appear to be to you?

[KimInTheForest]

Thank you so much for your response. What would it appear to be to you?

I am not a doctor or any sort of a medical person, so I had better not venture a guess. But symptoms I might associate with hepatitis would include high AST and ALT. Most people here would kill for numbers as low as yours. (Although low AST/ALT does not disprove hepatitis.) I also don't think of high heart rate and low blood pressure as being typical hepatitis symptoms.

Still, it is very easy and painless to check for all 3 of the viral hepatitises. And I would hope your doctor might check you for some other things at that time too.

I have been struggling with a very complicated medical situation post-treatment (although I seemed fine going into treatment). And I have just been tested for a whole boatload of possible viruses, from parvo to cytomegalo virus to epstein barr virus and much more. Like you, I have low RBC, low blood pressure and high heart rate (resting rate of about 100!). In my case I have iron-deficient anemia that I have not been able to resolve for 10 months. And that is the cause of the 3 symptoms I just mentioned (although I also have many other symptoms and issues post-treatment, not just anemia). So I hope your doctor will check your iron levels - serum ferritin in particular, but there are other iron tests as well.

best,
kim

[Lynn K]

Not sure what your doctor is thinking your ALT AST and INR are in normal range as far as I know unless your lab is using a different scale.

The lab my doctor uses normal range for ALT is 0-32 and AST is 0-40

My INR of 1.1 corresponds to a protime score of 11.6 with 8.8-12.0 being normal.

However as Kim said people can have hepatitis and have ALT and AST in normal range. The best way to know if you have been exposed to hepatitis is have a hepatitis antibody test. Not sure which one you are concerned about but commonly you would be tested for Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C

Otherwise I have no idea what you health problems might be. We here for the most part are not medical professionals we are a community of patients who are waiting to treat are on treatment or recently post treatment for hepatitis c. We are not doctors and cannot diagnose your medical condition.

Best of luck to you