About Me: Male, 35, Austria, member since Sep 2007
What brought me here is the uncertainty about having an undiagnosed liver related syndrome, possibly viral nature.
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Overview:
* things that worry me:
- exposure 2002, followed by elevations in ALT, AST (100-200) for several months. Retrospectively diagnosed as "undefined self limited hepatitis"
- lots of strange symptoms (from hair loss to fatigue, ill looks, palmar erythema, strange swolen feeling/pain around ankles/feet)
- elevated bilirubin ~1-1.5 mg/dl (but mainly indirect one), so docs think it is Gilbert's syndrome
- elevated bile acids (~20mmol, range <10-20, was told it's harmless, but then again, why are they elevated)
- not so great platelet count (~200)
- consistently inverted AST:ALT ratio (eg. 27:20)
- low-ish QUICK value (howering between 70% and 90%
-> am i seriously ill? am i infectious? might i endanger my girlfriend??
* things that docs tell me i should be glad about:
- all viral tests, STDs negative (Hep ABCDE, HIV etc) , by antibody, DNA, antigen etc., no hep B/C in PMBC's either
- harmless gilbert's syndrome diagnosed (heterocygot, not homocygot) which could be responsible for Bilirubin + bile acid figures (although Schiff's book says differently)
- other liver params (ALT, AST, GammaGT, Alk.Ph, etc.) normal (betwen 10-30), except for AST:ALT ratio
- normal ultrasound + duplex (repeated)
- normal fibroscan (around 5 or so)
- normal liver biopsy (2007)
- no varices found in stomach, esophagus (suspected i had them)
- what i thought are lymph nodes turned out to be lipoms (fat deposit) when analyzed by pathologist.
- even though i feel very sick and weak, i get through daily life (work, etc) reasonably well at the moment, and sometimes even go to gym.
currently awaiting the results of a liver biopsy (my second) where in addition to histology some viral tests will be carried out on.
** update **
doctor emailed me brief summary of biospy results, which say:
- normal histology
- realtime PCR did not find HCV/HBV infection
- no evidence of liver disease.
very good. but question remains. what do i have then. how do i get rid of the swolen ankles.
** thanks for any input in case you have a hint or suggestion where i might turn to. **
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