Hep symptoms but not Hep...?

[caitycatherine]

Hello-

My name is Catherine.  I am a 27 y/o caucasian female.  I am a military officer, and until about a year ago, I was in excellent health.  The change a year ago was that I had a baby.  I had very bad toxemia during my pregnancy.  My health has been up and down since.  My blood pressure, in fact, did not return to "normal" (120/80 or less) until about a month ago...

In February, I had a routine physical, and my LFT revealed no problems.  Levels were all between 15 and 25.  I lacked energy, but had started feeling better around this time.  I began to take up running again (had stopped during my pregnancy) and was beginning to believe I would get my body and health back.  

My husband deployed to Africa in mid-April, and just 3 days after he left, I woke up on a Saturday morning with what felt like the most massive hangover I had ever had.  Except that I had not been drinking the night before.  No alcohol, not even cough meds or Tylenol.

I assumed it was caffeine withdrawl, so I drank some coffee and tried to go on with my day.  My daughter and I went to an herb farm with a friend, and returned home around 4pm.  By this time my head was pounding beyond anything I had ever experienced, had body aches, and I was very nauseated.  I put my daughter down for a nap and I went to sleep as well.  

I woke up 2 hours later feeling MUCH better.  Had a normal evening, but woke up the next day again with the "hangover" feeling.  I have since woken up with these symptoms every single day for the past 4 weeks.

My urine started getting darker, and when I told my doctor about this, she ordered a new LFT on me.  The reults came back with ALT and AST in the low 200s.  The GGT was normal.

Hep was the first guess, especially since I seemed to have so many symptoms:  Dark urine, body aches, headaches, nausea, night sweats, hot flashes, extreme fatigue.

But today my Hep tests for A, B and C all came back negative.

A liver ultrasound was done on me with no signs of tumors or enlarged organ...

I do no have a gallbladder--it was removed when I was 16.

My kidney functions are normal.

Some days I wake up feeling almost normal.  Others I am barely able to get out of bed to even go to the bathroom.  

My in-laws are coming this weekend because I am unable to care for my daughter about 75% of the time.  

On the days when I feel good, I think I am getting better, but then suddenly I will get a massive headache and it will all go downhill from there.

With the body aches, it is generalized pain, but my legs and neck hurt the most.

Please help me!!  I am so sick and the doctors don't know what is wrong!!

Could this been from the stress on my body of having a baby?  Does this sound like some other disease or syndrome that mimics hepatitis??  Could it have been something I ate?  I eat a lot of organic foods...??  Could not enough sleep for the past few months with having a baby and deployed husband strain my liver?

Any help would be so wonderful!!

[Kevin Pho, MD]

There has been a clear elevation of the liver enzymes.  I agree with the possibility of heptatitis.  There can be several causes of this outside of viral hepatitis - including ingestion of medication or herbs.  

Tbe negative ultrasound as well as blood tests are reassuring.  However, without a clear cause, a liver biopsy can be considered for a more definitive diagnosis.  

Another consideration would be a blockage of the biliary ducts, which can be imaged via an MRCP.  

These options can be discussed with your personal physician.  Another opinion can be obtained, preferably at a major academic medical center.

Followup with your personal physician is essential.

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - the information presented is for patient education only. Please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Kevin, M.D.
kevinmd_

[gritsgirl]

Sorry to hear about all your problems.I'm not a medical person so I cannot give any medical advice.What I can tell you is almost 2yrs ago I had a gastric bypass surgery.After having had cancer,no diet in the world could help me.I started to lose the weight but the only problem was I kept losing because I could not digest any food I was eating.My weight got down to a low of 92lbs.I was in a lot of pain because my muscles were wasting away.My husband thought he was going to lose me.
A friend of his told him about an all fruit product called Monavie and how it was helping people with all sorts of medical conditions.Anything from back pain(which I know it helps,my husband is pain free for the first time in years)to helping people fight cancer.I began taking this fruit drink 6 weeks ago and am glad to say my weight has now started to increase again,I can now work out again and work on rebuilding my muscles again.The friend who introduced this to us has a web site  http://www.mymonavie.com/knight06  
Check it out,lots of information about the wonder juice as I call it.Hope it might be a help to you.

[caitycatherine]

Gritsgirl-

It makes me mad that I donated money to this forum and have a REAL medical problem, and you are trying to sell me a fruit drink.

First of all, I AM A RAW FOODIST.  I stated this in my medical inquiry, and if you had read it, you might have realized that I would not be interested in a PASTEURIZED FRUIT DRINK.

I would appreciate it if you would not try to sell me more stuff.

Anyone with REAL comments is more than welcome to post and I look forward to any help/insight/comments any of you might be able to provide me.

Thanks,

-Catherine

[Kalio1]

Sorry you are feeling so sick, if I was you I'd get to a liver specialist ASAP, your LFT's are pretty high, there are other liver problems that can cause your symptoms, you need further testing. Your symptoms do sound like some kind of hepatitis but there are other things it could be going on in your liver that cause similar symptoms.
Some viruses can cause raised LFT's as can medications and some dietary supplements and herbs but all your symptoms together are troubling, I dont know how you do it with a litte one. I have had hepatitis and I know how awful that can make you feel so hang in there. hopefully it will clear up but I'd see a gastro or a heptologist right away.
I hope your family can help you thru this difficult time since your husband is away. Good luck to you.

[Biskie2]

Are you taking any herbal products? My father-in-law had exactly those same symptoms and docs still could not figure out what was wrong - they even tested him for heavy metal poisoning. He was also taking Red Yeast Rice supplements at the time and has stopped that. He is now slowly recovering. He was in severe pain - his legs, back and neck hurt.

[caitycatherine]

I haven't been taking any herbal supplements, but I do take what I call a "green food" supplement--basically a bunch of things like seaweed, wheatgrass, spinach, etc. all ground into a powder.  But nothing seems weird to me about this...so yeah, I don't know.

I have thought a lot that maybe I was exposed to something...some chemical, food that was bad and attacked...

I drink organic wines about twice a week (used to anyway...), but I don't know if something like that could have made me this sick.  I am just not a heavy drinker.  

I hurt so much that my hands hurt typing this!!!  

Thanks for your support...and when I go back to the doc next week I will push for a specialist.  With the baby, I just really cannot afford to be this sick.  I feel that at times I am neglecting her.  I have a nanny who is here from 7am-5pm daily, and some friends have been coming by to help in the evenings.  My mother-in-law is coming for a week tomorrow afternoon, so that will be my lifesaver for the next week.

Thanks so much for your support.  To me, that is worth as much as a cure...to have people out there who know how this feels and how frustrating it is!!!!!

[Kalio1]

I would definately stop any and all alcohol consumption and I would stop taking that green supplement. Alcohol is VERY bad with any liver problem or infammation going on. You dont have to be a big drinker for alcohol to be a big problem if you have a liver issue, organic or not doesn't matter it is all bad for your liver which is clearly under stress right now. You don't know for sure what is in those supplements no matter what the label claims, there is NO regulation of the supplement industry so you don't know for sure what is in it, only what they say is in it so be VERY careful. My liver doc said he sees people all the time who use suppements and throw their livers into trauma because they take these things and they don't know if what is labeled is really what is in it.
Clearly something is going on with your liver, I'd stop taking it so you can be sure that isn't causing your symptoms. The doc will have you stop any supplements or meds anyway to see if it helps.
I'd get to a specialist fast and if they stil don't know what is happening I beieve they wi recommend a biopsy to try to find out. Good luck, hope you get a diagnosis soon.

[Linda J]

Just wondering if you have been checked for mono? Mono can present with symptoms as you described and go on for weeks and weeks. I had it as an adult and it took me awhile to recover. You said your hands hurt while you type. Could this be some type of auto immune reaction? Maybe you should consider seeing a rheumatologist to rule out things like fibromyalgia.

Hope you feel better soon.

Linda J.

[ved10]

This may sound silly but a friend of mine had simular symptoms and for about 6 months doctors couldn't figure it out and then realized it was from her breast implants leaking. It sounds unrelated but it was the cause of her "hangover" feeling all the time.

[holly101612]

Hi Catherine,
I was diagnosed with Autoimmune Hepatitis 3 years ago. The whites of my eyes started to turn yellow and my urine was dark.I also had awful headaches, nausea and I also could not get out bed. I went to the emergency room and the blood tests for Hepatitis A,B, and C came back negative, but the doctors there sent me to the hospital and I had to have additional tests taken and that is when they sent a liver specialist in and they confirmed the next day it was autoimmune hep. Now I am not saying that is what you have but I would definitely see a Gastrointestinal Doctor and have them take additional blood tests. Sometimes people go along time before any symptoms appear with autoimmune hepatitis, but just the nausea and "hangover" feeling was something I had as well and then I started with the jaundice, but some people never end up with the jaundice so dont wait because if it is something like that you need to treat with meds right away.
Hope this helps and let us know how you make out!

[medically annoyed]

Catherine:
I am like you.  I had a baby and have been sick since, still trying to figure it out.  I have posted most of what has been going on with me but it is under (upper right quandrant pain).  Some things not included in my info may be: racing heart rate, higher blood pressure rate (but still in normal status-mine regular is really low) at times and severe short term memory loss.  I did not have toxemia, but 3 weeks before delivery I got very ill and was put in the hospital to stop the vomiting. They weren't sure but ruled it as the 24hr flu. A couple a weeks after that they discovered sugar in my urine which showed that I had lost more than half of my amniotic fluid.  They are not sure what happened with that because the baby was active and I showed no signs of leakage.  I ended up in an immediate induction.  I had a difficult delivery including a missed epidural which had to be completely removed after a trial and error period and a new one inserted.  I don't know if there is a link.  Please follow up with reading my other comments if you would like to know what else has happened to me.  Mono is included.  (I also had an RH factor pregnancy did you?)

[jfig]

My father is in the hospital rigth now. He has been there for five days now. He is 47 years old and he smokes about 1 to 5 cigs a day. He is very healthy otherwise. He is somewhat stressed out in his life. He is divorced, he is a production manager at his work and he has three kids, one son-in-law, and one grandchild. The doctors don't have a clue what is wrong with him. He has been having attact since 1988. By attacts I mean he gets hot, throws up, gets cold and repeats this for hours. No medicine seems to help with the acid. He eats healthy. Never a drinker. Only occationally, holidays. The doctor mentioned hep. in the ER on Thursday. He also mentioned that he has either a high or a low count that has to do with his emzimes. As times goes on, this problem gets worse. He is on some prescibed meds for ant-acid. The have done an MRI, MRA, CT, blood work, urine test, a scope in his throat, and a scope in his colon and barium watched through an X ray. Everything turned out good. Nothing they can see is wrong. Tomorrow he gets an ultrasound, another CT, and they are going to disect his liver. At first they all thought that it was his pancras. Now come to find out they know it has to do with his liver. The question now is what? I don't know what to do or what it could be. I am sick of him hurting. Is there anything that I can do to help? What could be the problem? Should we travel to another hospital to see a specialist? WHAT IS THERE THAT I CAN DO???

[medically annoyed]

Out of curiosity?  I noticed that you said that they can seem to see anything out of the norm. Have they told you how they know that it has to do with the liver or are they just guessing?