Aa
Hepatitis?
About 2.5yrs ago I unrepentantly got sick. The only symptoms were extreme fatigue and a small silver dollar size area on my right abdomen that hurt. From the center of me, it was about 2" to the right and along the bottom rib. First the abdomen pain started and then about a week later I started having fatigue and the fatigue just kept getting worse. A LOT of blood tests were run, including a liver enzyme test, viral hepatitis (A, B, and C), mononucleosis, thyroid, iron levels, HIV, and many others. After a few months my doctor was inclined to believe that I had "zebras" and that we might not find anything. Nothing was ever found and the extreme fatigue and abdomen pain continued. I slowly and incrementally got better. It took a 1.5yrs to feel normal! Recently I hurt my knee while weight lifting. My doctor prescribed some exercises and for me to take aspirin for two weeks. After about a week the same abdomen spot from before slightly hurt and maybe I'm slightly more tired than usual. This concerns me a lot. I have discontinued the aspirin and will check back with the doctor next week. I'm sure the slight abdomen pain and fatigue will go away in a few days. However, I am concerned about why this happened. Could this be anything but liver inflammation? If I had another liver enzyme test done and it came back normal, does that rule out liver inflammation? If 2.5yrs ago I had an acute heptic reaction to something would it have shown up in the liver enzyme test that were run 5 weeks after the incident? And if it was an acute reaction, would there be any permanent liver damage?
I'm sorry you are having so much trouble. I can tell you the biopsy is not a big deal. It takes about ten minutes to do. They numb an area on your right side at about the second rib. They use ultrasound or a CT to locate the area. They inject anaesthetic into the spot, and there may be some stinging when they do that. The liver itself has no nerve endings, so there is no pain there when the needle goes in. However, the liver is enclosed in a fibrous sheath they call a capsule. You will feel pressure when they break into the capsule. They told me I might feel referred pain in my right shoulder as the capsule is broken into, but I've had this procedure done twice now, and I never felt any of that pain. Once the needle is in, they run in the biopsy tool inside the needle to remove a sliver of liver. They will probably take two samples. That's all there is to it. The hard part is you have to lie on your right side for about 4 hours after the procedure so they can make sure the bleeding has stopped. The bleeding must stop before you can leave. A lot of blood goes thru the liver and it can bleed profusely, so they are very careful about making sure it has stopped. You'll be told to rest for the remainder of the day, and no heavy lifting for the next one or two days afterward.
As far as your husband is concerned, if you don't want him to go with you, tell him so. Is this him trying to be supportive?
Maybe others on the board can advise you on that.
Best of luck to you, and be sure you can come here for support. We have all been where you are.
cghamm
As far as your husband is concerned, if you don't want him to go with you, tell him so. Is this him trying to be supportive?
Maybe others on the board can advise you on that.
Best of luck to you, and be sure you can come here for support. We have all been where you are.
cghamm
Hey, I did have pain in the same area where you are hurting. My Gp said my gallbaldder needed to come out, so I did that before I started to my liver doctor and started tx. I hope that's all it is for you. (fingers crossed). Please keep us informed. Many ppl on here will tell ya, their liver doctors will tell ya "you're liver can't hurt"!!!! It's been a topic of laughter here. But we do know it hurts sometimes exactly where your liver is. My 2 cents is, if your liver is swelling, may be it isn't your liver hurting, but the area around it recieves the pain. Dang it "WE KNOW WHERE IT HURTS"!!!!
I had what I thought was a good liver doctor, but I've sinced learned that because you get a long well with your doctor doesn't actually mean he's a good doctor. He told me to let Him worry about the numbers, and never explained any of my test results! How STUPID was I? LOL I knew nothing of hep c when I was diagnoised...I didn't find this forum until after the fact and I had been on tx for about 7 months. I did 48wks of combo and @ 4 months post tx..I begged him for a blood test. He always waited until the 6 months post tx to do a blood test. He let me go do a 4 month post tx test, and Yep...I had relapsed. He suggested I go to Duke University to see if I qualified for a clinical trail. The doctor @ Duke told me I need more tx.
My first liver doctor only treated for 48 to 52 wks...no more. And boy am I glad now, since I have been on this forum I have learned sooooooooo much. As soon as we got outta the parking garage I was on the cell phone and made an appointment for the 21st of this month. I asked the doc @ Duke if he had ever heard of a Dr.Rinedollar? He said yes, so that's who I called. He is a hepatologist, who only treats HEP. So I think I've found a Great doctor now. I'll keep ya informed when I go to my 1st appointment. His office staff has treated me better already, than my last doctor's office. They sent me a letter and an appointment card in the mail!
You've found the right place here! This is the best ppl in the world. You can laugh, cry, whine, ask any questions and we'll all do our best to help YOU! You now have a new family, and we all stick together! The best advice I can give you, if ya do have hep...find a hepatologist!!! I wish you the best, and you will be in my prayers always!!!!! Much love and many prayers, Cindee
I had what I thought was a good liver doctor, but I've sinced learned that because you get a long well with your doctor doesn't actually mean he's a good doctor. He told me to let Him worry about the numbers, and never explained any of my test results! How STUPID was I? LOL I knew nothing of hep c when I was diagnoised...I didn't find this forum until after the fact and I had been on tx for about 7 months. I did 48wks of combo and @ 4 months post tx..I begged him for a blood test. He always waited until the 6 months post tx to do a blood test. He let me go do a 4 month post tx test, and Yep...I had relapsed. He suggested I go to Duke University to see if I qualified for a clinical trail. The doctor @ Duke told me I need more tx.
My first liver doctor only treated for 48 to 52 wks...no more. And boy am I glad now, since I have been on this forum I have learned sooooooooo much. As soon as we got outta the parking garage I was on the cell phone and made an appointment for the 21st of this month. I asked the doc @ Duke if he had ever heard of a Dr.Rinedollar? He said yes, so that's who I called. He is a hepatologist, who only treats HEP. So I think I've found a Great doctor now. I'll keep ya informed when I go to my 1st appointment. His office staff has treated me better already, than my last doctor's office. They sent me a letter and an appointment card in the mail!
You've found the right place here! This is the best ppl in the world. You can laugh, cry, whine, ask any questions and we'll all do our best to help YOU! You now have a new family, and we all stick together! The best advice I can give you, if ya do have hep...find a hepatologist!!! I wish you the best, and you will be in my prayers always!!!!! Much love and many prayers, Cindee
Hi and welcome! As someone said, we aren't doctors here..just some of us know a bir more about the virus as some doctors do. We tend to have more time to do more research. I would go to the doctor ASAP and have a liver panel done. Then your mind will be at ease. We all will always be here to answer any questions you might have. We are a loving and caring group yu have found. Best wishes and please let us know what you find. Take care and in the mean time we will send up some prayers for you. And until you get some answers stay away from any alcohol. Love, Cindee
No, I have never had a sonogram of my gallbladder or surrounding area. After doing a lot of research I kind of wonder why it was never done. It could have helped eliminated gallstones, panceatitas, and inflammation of the bile ducts.
My intuition says that I am sensitive to just about anything. Aspirin isn't the only thing that can cause pain in that area. Creatine, a weight lifting supplement, also caused pain after a week of continuous use. And the couple times I took whey protein shakes, within 30 minutes I felt heavy fatigue that persisted for several hours.
I took creatine and whey protein shakes for years before initially getting sick. And before then, I never had a problem with aspirin or anything else for that matter.
Since originally being sick I have avoided everything over the counter and any supplements for fear that it might cause fatigue. But recently I was forced to take something for the inflammation in my knee. It wasn't getting better on its own.
Because of the length of time it took to initially get over the fatigue, I strongly associate pain on my right side to fatigue. That's why any time it starts hurting now it scares that heck out of me--even if it is just a little.
On a positive note, my right side has stopped hurting and I feel no fatigue today! Yippee! From past experience, I'm sure it will start to hurt a little as the day goes on and then tomorrow I won't have any problems.
I feel frustrated because neither I nor my doctor seems to know what happened or what is going on. His best guess on why I got sick was that I had a long lived virus. I don't believe that.
My intuition says that I am sensitive to just about anything. Aspirin isn't the only thing that can cause pain in that area. Creatine, a weight lifting supplement, also caused pain after a week of continuous use. And the couple times I took whey protein shakes, within 30 minutes I felt heavy fatigue that persisted for several hours.
I took creatine and whey protein shakes for years before initially getting sick. And before then, I never had a problem with aspirin or anything else for that matter.
Since originally being sick I have avoided everything over the counter and any supplements for fear that it might cause fatigue. But recently I was forced to take something for the inflammation in my knee. It wasn't getting better on its own.
Because of the length of time it took to initially get over the fatigue, I strongly associate pain on my right side to fatigue. That's why any time it starts hurting now it scares that heck out of me--even if it is just a little.
On a positive note, my right side has stopped hurting and I feel no fatigue today! Yippee! From past experience, I'm sure it will start to hurt a little as the day goes on and then tomorrow I won't have any problems.
I feel frustrated because neither I nor my doctor seems to know what happened or what is going on. His best guess on why I got sick was that I had a long lived virus. I don't believe that.
Your gallbladder and pancreas are attached to your liver. Panceatitas (SP?) takes sometimes years to feel better from (extreme fatigue). My father has chronic pancreatitias and I have taken him to the hospital with both attacks, it ain't pretty, sick as a dog, not just a little pain, I would think that would have shown up in some blood work. Did they do a sonogram of your gallbladder to check for slush or stones? It has been 7 years since my dad had his 1st pancreatitias attack, had his gallbladder out about 3 years ago and he still gets tired easily. I'm no doctor but that is what I would have them look at. Good luck to you.
The biopsy is no big deal for most. the only pain I had was when I touched the area. I skipped the Gym that week but was at work the next day after the bx. Tell your husband the arrangement was already made with your daughter and he can go to the follow up appointment afterwards, when you might have to decide whether to treat or not.
You really need to stop letting the fear dictate your actions. The family may be tired of hearing it because they can't do anything to assist and they see that you are doing nothing to help yourself. You are going through a time of just talking about it, maybe to psych yourself up, but they don't want to hear the" psyching" speech. Prayers are fine, but how does the saying go? God helps those that help themselves?
I know is easier said than done, but you need to relax.
Let us know the results of the biopsy.
You really need to stop letting the fear dictate your actions. The family may be tired of hearing it because they can't do anything to assist and they see that you are doing nothing to help yourself. You are going through a time of just talking about it, maybe to psych yourself up, but they don't want to hear the" psyching" speech. Prayers are fine, but how does the saying go? God helps those that help themselves?
I know is easier said than done, but you need to relax.
Let us know the results of the biopsy.
I was diagnoised with hepatitis c. I have been scheduled for a
3D cat scan guided liver biopsy. I was shceduled to have the biopsy done March 2, of this year. When the day came to have it done,I got sick. I wound up in the hospital for 2 days. They did many tests on me. I had a terrible anxiety attack. My pulse was 130 and it wouldn't come down. Since then I have scheduled 2 more biopsies and have canceled both of them. I know I have to do this. I do not have a good marriage. My husband is not supportive in this. When I make appointments to go to do the biopsy, he wants to go. It may sound crazy but I think he makes me have the anxiety attacks. I don't want him to go with me. Now I have pain in the upper right quadran. I have Lichem Planus all over my body. Yesterday I got hemorrhoids. I never had hemorrhoids. My feet and lower legs are numb sometimes and sometimes they have sharp pains run through them. The doctor said it is neuropathy, a side effect of Hep C. I am obcessed with this illness. I talk about nothing else. My family is tired of hearing it. I am scared. I asked God to please help me through this. I do a prayer list on the internet.I belong to two prayer groups. There are many people praying for me but I am still scared to do the biopsy. Maybe if my husband didn't go with me. I didn't know he wanted to go until I told him my daughter was taking me. I think he felt guilty that my daughter was taking me instead of him. I am sorry to babble on. I was even so scared to write this to you. I worry myself to death because I don't know what to expect. Thank you for listening.
3D cat scan guided liver biopsy. I was shceduled to have the biopsy done March 2, of this year. When the day came to have it done,I got sick. I wound up in the hospital for 2 days. They did many tests on me. I had a terrible anxiety attack. My pulse was 130 and it wouldn't come down. Since then I have scheduled 2 more biopsies and have canceled both of them. I know I have to do this. I do not have a good marriage. My husband is not supportive in this. When I make appointments to go to do the biopsy, he wants to go. It may sound crazy but I think he makes me have the anxiety attacks. I don't want him to go with me. Now I have pain in the upper right quadran. I have Lichem Planus all over my body. Yesterday I got hemorrhoids. I never had hemorrhoids. My feet and lower legs are numb sometimes and sometimes they have sharp pains run through them. The doctor said it is neuropathy, a side effect of Hep C. I am obcessed with this illness. I talk about nothing else. My family is tired of hearing it. I am scared. I asked God to please help me through this. I do a prayer list on the internet.I belong to two prayer groups. There are many people praying for me but I am still scared to do the biopsy. Maybe if my husband didn't go with me. I didn't know he wanted to go until I told him my daughter was taking me. I think he felt guilty that my daughter was taking me instead of him. I am sorry to babble on. I was even so scared to write this to you. I worry myself to death because I don't know what to expect. Thank you for listening.
Thank you Cindee. I appreciate warm thoughts and prayers my way. I have read through many other postings here. I am glad that everyone is able to support each other, especially those going through interferon treatment. That sounds particularly rough.
I will talk to my doctor next week. I know this is primarily a patient to patient forum. However, I feel a little better just venting about my situation. I'm frustrated with not knowing what is going on. Even without fixing the core problem, I'd feel much better with an answer as to what it is that I went through and why I have to be careful with what medicine I take.
I know many here have gone through terrible fatigue. If I did not have my grandma to sympathize with a couple years ago, I would have found it unbearable. About a year before I got sick, she was suffering from severe fatigue and pain on her right abdomen. It turned out that she had autoimmune hepatitis. It went on long enough before they figured out what was going on that she now has permanent liver damage and will always live with fatigue.
After I initially got sick, some days the fatigue was so bad that it felt like I had only gotten two hours of sleep instead of the 12 hours I had gotten. And there were some days that I would go home for lunch and would be so exhausted that I would wait a couple of minutes just to get out of the car. Luckily on those days I figured out that a bowl of ice cream or a big candy bar helped a little.
I feel very lucky to have eventually recovered from the fatigue. I'm not 100% like I use to be. I use to lift weights 5x a week for an hour and a half in the mornings and run 2-3 miles 3x a week in the evenings. I'm finally back up to lifting weights 5x a week. And before I hurt my knee I was doing some aerobics a couple times a week.
I will talk to my doctor next week. I know this is primarily a patient to patient forum. However, I feel a little better just venting about my situation. I'm frustrated with not knowing what is going on. Even without fixing the core problem, I'd feel much better with an answer as to what it is that I went through and why I have to be careful with what medicine I take.
I know many here have gone through terrible fatigue. If I did not have my grandma to sympathize with a couple years ago, I would have found it unbearable. About a year before I got sick, she was suffering from severe fatigue and pain on her right abdomen. It turned out that she had autoimmune hepatitis. It went on long enough before they figured out what was going on that she now has permanent liver damage and will always live with fatigue.
After I initially got sick, some days the fatigue was so bad that it felt like I had only gotten two hours of sleep instead of the 12 hours I had gotten. And there were some days that I would go home for lunch and would be so exhausted that I would wait a couple of minutes just to get out of the car. Luckily on those days I figured out that a bowl of ice cream or a big candy bar helped a little.
I feel very lucky to have eventually recovered from the fatigue. I'm not 100% like I use to be. I use to lift weights 5x a week for an hour and a half in the mornings and run 2-3 miles 3x a week in the evenings. I'm finally back up to lifting weights 5x a week. And before I hurt my knee I was doing some aerobics a couple times a week.
The questions on your first comment are too specific to your case for anyone here to answer or comment on. Those need to be answered by your GI or PCP, as for the second one, you might get anecdotal input from some. You really need to ask an MD the medical specific question, we are patients or family/friends of patients in this forum.
vicki: where are you? are you ok?
vicki: where are you? are you ok?
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