Many have little to no symptoms from hep c except many report being tired a lot.
Symptoms of cirrhosis include:
" Fatigue
Bleeding easily
Bruising easily
Itchy skin
Yellow discoloration in the skin and eyes (jaundice)
Fluid accumulation in your abdomen (ascites)
Loss of appetite
Nausea
Swelling in your legs
Weight loss
Confusion, drowsiness and slurred speech (hepatic encephalopathy)
Spider-like blood vessels on your skin"
I have had cirrhosis since Jan 2008 I have lower leg swelling (edema) and also mild ascities visible on ultra sound only which I take a diuretic Spironolactone to treat.
I have had upper endoscopies to monitor for esophageal varicies which i did develop grade 3 varicies that required treatment to prevent a life threatening bleed. I underwent 4 upper endoscopies in as many months to band the varices to prevent a bleed. I am now monitored every year to check to see if they have returned.
Easy bruising is caused by portal vein (liver vein) hypertension which causes the spleen to enlarge and sequester platelets. Normal platelet levels are 150 minimum. Mine are around 80 to 90 I have seen some report as low as 50 or lower.
Another serious cirrhosis symptom is as mentioned above hepatic encephalopathy (HE) which can lead to confusion, coma and death.
We are also at increased risk of heptocellular carcinoma (HCC) aka liver cancer but with cure of hep c our risk is reduced.
I am assuming you have compensated cirrhosis right now. Do you know your MELD score or your Child-Pugh score? These are used to stage severity of your liver cirrhosis. Your doctor can tell you your score but it is based on some specific lab test results you probably have taken like bilirubin, creatinine and INR for the MELD while the Child-Pugh uses your bilirubin, albumin, and INR along with if you have ascities and if you have HE.
Cirrhosis is liver scarring to the point that the liver has difficulty performing its functions. Eventually the liver becomes so severely damaged it can no longer do its jobs and symptoms of cirrhosis begin to develop. Liver cirrhosis due to hep c is the leading reason for liver transplant in the US.
If you want you can check out the cirrhosis of the liver community to learn more about this serious medical condition and ask any questions you may have.
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Cirrhosis-of-the-Liver/show/1390
I have been living with cirrhosis for 8 years now so we can live many years with liver cirrhosis. With cure of hep c we won't be having any more liver scarring form hep c so with care we can hope to live a normal live span we will need to be monitored with blood testing and abdominal ultrasounds every 6 months to monitor for the possibility of HCC to catch it in its early stages.
Good luck
Lynn