please clarify and help put my mind at rest

[u24mf]

hi there

i am a med student and about 5 weeks ago i got blood (0.2ml or less) splashed on my face while taking blood from a patient. The patient was recorded as hep c pos. It was an intact skin and i don't think any went in my eyes or mouth. I then panic like crazy for the next 3 weeks like the most scared i have ever been in my whole life!! after about 1 week and 4/5 days i got a wierd upset stomach...after eating my stomach would rumble for ages and i would feel full of gas...i also had some diarrhoea. I have also felt some pains in my stomach and up in to my right chest...really on and off. This just worried me more about having got hep c from this patient. i then found out that the patient when diagnosed with hep c was in fact antibody posative but hep c DNA PCR negative 5 years after the contaminated blood products he then had a further 2 PCRs done over the next 2 years with the last in 1997 being neg. His LFTs have been normal since. This stopped me worrying a bit but can Hep c come back in a resolved case with out reinfection just hidden for 10 years. I am still having funny gut probs and one doc said it was probably IBS from the stress of the situation...i can't put it out of my head though! What are my risks of having hep c in this situation...is IBS likely?? i am 22 yo male. Could hep c present acutely like this? thanks

[hilikus]

I don't think you have anything to worry about.  I recently had a cancer scare.  Within 4 days of finding out I had a small tumor I had tremendous pain in my arms, legs, back plus abdominal pain with some constipation and a lot of gas.  I went to the emergency room one morning because I was in so much pain.  I had convinced myself that the cancer had spread to my liver, lungs, and bones within a matter of 4 days.  I was diagnosed with myofascial pain which is brought on by extreme stress.  I had my CT scans 3 days later and they came back normal and within 12 hrs a majority of the pain was gone.  I am still having IBS symptoms but I have had those on and off for 2 years.  You just have to remember how much stress can take a physical toll on the body and it takes time to recover.  A book that has helped me is called "Hope and Help for the Nerves" by Claire Weeks.  It talks about recognizing how much of a physical effect stress can have on the body and learning how to take control one day at a time.  Another book that has helped me is "The Healer Within" by Roger Jahnke.  It gives some advice on breathing exercises and simple self-massages to help calm you and put your body into a "healing" state.  Obviously, see your doctor but as a med student you should know that hep c doesn't work that fast.  And my mother in-law had the most aggressive form of Hep C diagnosed a year and a half ago.  She just stopped her treatment because she is now negative for the virus.  Treatment for hep c has come a very long way in just the last two years.  I hope I was able to help you a little.

[georgie439]

Why not just get tested???