Severe inflammation of liver

[Steve5332]

I am 52 years old. I have had hep c since 1993. I was in a car accident in 2010 and have been on a lot of medications. I wanted to know if the trauma and being on several medications can cause my liver to become severely inflamed?

[BoceprevirGal]

  It's not actually the viral load that causes the inflammation, but our own immune systems attacking the virus that causes the scarring. The viral load is only important, in terms of showing how Treatment is working, and if it has come back again.
    My Doctor mentioned once that she thinks that after we take(treat with) the pharmaceutical Interferon, that it "trains" our bodies own natural Interferon to work more effectively,thus it teaches our own imune system how to attack the Hep C virus very effectively, but it still cant do the job on it's own, and this attacking leads to the scar tissue (fibrosis)
    Always check with your Doctor, to try to fins the most possibvle "liver friendly" meds to be on.  Pain meds, like Norco (extra strength Vicodan) include tylenol as one of their ingredients, the same also goes with codeine w/tylenol.

[Mollyrae]

While medication can certainly play a role in your liver inflammation, the Hepatitis is your biggest culprit.

I have had the disease since the 80's and have gone through treatment 3 times. Each time I thought I was successful, the Hep came back with a vengeance and increased the inflammation in my liver ten fold.

This last treatment was thought to be the one where I would finally be free of this disease but unfortunately that wasn't in my cards. My liver has gone from grade 1. stage 1 to grade 3, stage 3 in just the last 3 years.

So what I'm saying is that the Hep can take the liver very quickly if the viral load is high enough.

I'm betting on your Hep as the cause of the inflammation.

My best,
Mollyrae

[ceanothus]

It depends on the severity and type of injuries, on the condition of your liver going into the accident, and it depends on the medications you've been given. The short answer is probably yes, but there are many variables that we don't know. It is really critical that all the doctors involved in your care need to be aware of your hep c, and as a patient with Hepatitis C it is also really important that you be seen at least once per year by a specialist in liver disease, so the condition of your liver can be monitored. The best specialist would be a hepatologist, but you need to at least be seeing a gastroenterologist. A primary care physician is probably not going to have enough training to be able to evaluate and care for your liver condition well enough. None of us are doctors here, but many of us are very well-informed about hep c and the liver, so if you can provide more details we may be able to offer more specific answers to your questions. Welcome to the forum!

[Idyllic]

Hepatitis C can cause inflammation of the liver. It might be a good idea to have a starting point. The VA site says, "Liver biopsy provides the clinician with confirmation of the diagnosis of hepatitis C, as well as a determination of the amount of inflammation and fibrosis..."

How was it determined you have severe inflammation of the liver? When was your last biopsy? Also what is your genotype? Have you ever treated?

Not sure about your accident but some medications are less liver friendly than others. Please post more details. That way responses can be tapered to your particular situation.